Energy

[::BLM::]

Yeah what Marc said is important. Not just on the drums though, but you have to think about it for each sound.

[steevio]

What for? You will never listen to most channels on their own. So why should you get your head around making smth sound good that no one else will ever hear?

you should do both. if you've got a good ear, you will be able to hear if there are any doubled up frequencies in any of the individual parts, if you havent, you can always spectrum analyse.

how can you say this about minimal music ?, quite often you can clearly hear individual parts, it totally depends on the individual tune.

dont be lazy, use every technique at your disposal.

[Stomper]

try to make every part to sound good on its own with the kick and bass and not programming everything together.

What for? You will never listen to most channels on their own. So why should you get your head around making smth sound good that no one else will ever hear? Ofc, I sometimes solo channels to hear if there are disturbing noises or such, but I never focus on making a channel sound great on its own. There is no sense to it anyway. If you finished editing all the channels so they sound good with kick and bass and then turn all channels on, all you will get is a very unpleasing mash of noise and lot's of digital clips. Bravo. Oh, I forgot. The first thing you would adivse someone to do is surely to put a limiter on the sum

no one said you need you should focus on that all the time. the op asked about getting more energy and drive and for that you need to listen to thing separately to find the part that ruins and feel and energy you want. than you can swing it, reprogram that part or whatever to keep the drive.

dont be narrwo minded, its not a rule but a guidline. of course you also listen to it with other parts. if you program parts without listening and considering the other parts playing with it they wont work together. after a while you start doing that automaticly and these things becomes part of your workflow and doesnt feel like your stuck.

[742617000027]

Sorry, I was a bit upset because I read through some German producing forums beforehand where people were talking silly and I guess I just needed to say something - in my opinion - roughly intelligent to give vent to my annoyance (being silly myself). No personal offense intended. You are of course right, you just have to get used to your mixing and producing techniques just like you have to get to know your monitors. Once you know what you have to pay attention to, it's doesn't really matter how you achieve your goals. Having all channels turned on 95% of the time is just the way I feel works best.

So, am I mistaken or did someone just call me a Richie Hawtin? I guess a 'thank you' is appropriate then

[Dusk]

*Shuffle / groove quantise

*Hats/claps/percs either late or early (turn off quantise, play around)

*A wide variety of short, percussive sounds / timbres - rather than just 16 claves, use 5 glitch sounds, 3 claves, 4 click sounds, etc

*Poly-rhythms - most simple being, a 3/16th perc pattern with the 4/4 kick (search for Steevio's excellent old posts for more ideas)

And the big one some people overlook...

*Experiment with the LENGTHS of every sound - esp kick / bass

*Remember that a cone takes a few ms to recover after a kick or bass hits, so leave an EXTRA few ms between them when programming

*This makes a big difference because the groove becomes more staccato. again, experimentation is key as there is a subtle balance between this and the 'unity' or consistency of the groove

*often a combination of some staccato hits and some longer hits to 'drag' the groove from one place to another is important

[steevio]

And the big one some people overlook...

*Experiment with the LENGTHS of every sound - esp kick / bass

*Remember that a cone takes a few ms to recover after a kick or bass hits, so leave an EXTRA few ms between them when programming

*This makes a big difference because the groove becomes more staccato. again, experimentation is key as there is a subtle balance between this and the 'unity' or consistency of the groove

*often a combination of some staccato hits and some longer hits to 'drag' the groove from one place to another is important

this probably the best advice in the thread on this issue.

[Alex Bizzaro]

And the big one some people overlook...

*Experiment with the LENGTHS of every sound - esp kick / bass

*Remember that a cone takes a few ms to recover after a kick or bass hits, so leave an EXTRA few ms between them when programming

*This makes a big difference because the groove becomes more staccato. again, experimentation is key as there is a subtle balance between this and the 'unity' or consistency of the groove

*often a combination of some staccato hits and some longer hits to 'drag' the groove from one place to another is important

this probably the best advice in the thread on this issue.

I agree 100%