How to get your edits sounding as good as possible.

[Torque]

well for extra bassdrum use a sidechain compressor on the original track triggered by the new bassdrum (play a bit with moving the new bassdrum some milliseconds forward to trigger before the original bassdrum starts). if you use a loop you can draw an eq controller into the clip for killing just the bassdrum without effecting the bass inbetween if necessary.
or use both

I don't like this idea at all. Why would you compress a signal more when it's already been compressed once? Compression is destructive, all you're doing is creating more square waves and noise in the track which causes listener fatigue. Compression should only be used on sounds that have dynamics that are out of control. If an electronic track is made up of mostly programmed sounds the dynamics shouldn't be a problem in the first place and you shouldn't need compression unless a part is played live and the dynamic range is too wide and not popping through in a mix.
If you're adding a kick into a track that's already mastered then you should just make it fit better in the mix with an eq on the kick rather than compressing anything. That way you don't lose presence and depth in the overall mix. Compression makes bad sounds act right but also destroys good sound in the process. It's like dropping a carpet bomb on a track.

[hydrogen]

anything goes imo. look for sound replacement techniques as well as eqing stuff and doing replacement on that. Difficult to touch the source material honestly... i don't get good results when I'm eqing stuff...

but if i'm gonna add in a bass, i make sure to subtract it from the original or at least be in the same key.

i find the delay and reverse effect most useful in an edit.

[deccard]

well for extra bassdrum use a sidechain compressor on the original track triggered by the new bassdrum (play a bit with moving the new bassdrum some milliseconds forward to trigger before the original bassdrum starts). if you use a loop you can draw an eq controller into the clip for killing just the bassdrum without effecting the bass inbetween if necessary.
or use both

I don't like this idea at all. Why would you compress a signal more when it's already been compressed once? Compression is destructive, all you're doing is creating more square waves and noise in the track which causes listener fatigue. Compression should only be used on sounds that have dynamics that are out of control. If an electronic track is made up of mostly programmed sounds the dynamics shouldn't be a problem in the first place and you shouldn't need compression unless a part is played live and the dynamic range is too wide and not popping through in a mix.
If you're adding a kick into a track that's already mastered then you should just make it fit better in the mix with an eq on the kick rather than compressing anything. That way you don't lose presence and depth in the overall mix. Compression makes bad sounds act right but also destroys good sound in the process. It's like dropping a carpet bomb on a track.

i just told him a possible method. if you dont like it dont do it
but it can work. depends how you make your edits.
generalisations never help.

[solconnection]

im all for intentional and creative destruction using compression at times, sometimes destroying a signal can be just what it needs. in this case im looking to preserve the original track as much as possible though, it's a fairly live sounding track by a band,but it is so dancey, just needs a heavier kick and bass.

ill look in to sound replacement, that's another option i had not considered thanks for the advice.

it's sounding like the easiest way is to simply down the volume of the source material, try and eq the new layers in as well as possible to avoid major spikes and render a slightly quieter version out. I guess i could always boost the playback volume when playing out, as there will be a limiter squashing it at some point again anyway.

[pizzamon]

You are playing too much with timbre and not enough with pitch.

?? what do you mean?

I don't know how else to put it for you. When I splice tracks together I have to pitch them correctly first. You can splice together anything you want if they are pitched correctly. that means everything from bpms to transposing. I don't come around much so sorry for the late or no reply.

[solconnection]

You are playing too much with timbre and not enough with pitch.

?? what do you mean?

I don't know how else to put it for you. When I splice tracks together I have to pitch them correctly first. You can splice together anything you want if they are pitched correctly. that means everything from bpms to transposing. I don't come around much so sorry for the late or no reply.

thanks for the reply

not sure if we are talking about the same thing, all the elements i want to add are in key and it sounds right musically. Im more concerned with preserving volume levels without degrading sound quality too much.

[eggnchips]

First of all, I would make sure to have a good original recording of the song to be reedited for example taking it from vinyl, through a nice mixer and into the computer at a higher sample rate.


As for adding a beefier kick why don't you try splitting the track into two frequency zones then have a side chain duck the lower frequencies only. This way you're not pumping the whole thing and you're able to keep the character of the song's original kick by not losing it's high end.

[simonb]

I don't like this idea at all. Why would you compress a signal more when it's already been compressed once?

Didn't you get the memo, sidechain compression is the solution to EVERYTHING