A hybrid trap style track that I finally finished....

....some more cookie cutter ear candy, for your listening enjoyment.
<R.I.P. Pimp C.>

 

Last edited: Jan 14, 2017

You really suck and are only getting worse...what da fuck! Incredible and amazing come to mind, bro. What you been smoking? I want some.

 

good stuff Mikey Thai... got some stuff comin' down from da "pra-ted" ya nahm sayin' dawg?

nice flexin' them skills man

 

COOL

 

Sweeet

 

pretty nice funky tunes dude, good skills !

 

Oh damn. I like this. I've never listened what you produce but this is the genres I imaginated

Very good intro, the resampled voice/melody and the main intro theme (the orient-ish instrument) are really catchy!
The build up / pre-drop code is very very used but it's so damn efficient still.
The drop itself is really good, fresh and lighter than typical heavy hybrid trap.
The second drop is breaking most of the over-heard codes in this genre, it made the track even better, noice!!

May I ask you what synths did you used for the sounds in the dropped parts? And what is your mastering chain? Not your secrets, just what process did you applied on the mix?

 

Thanks for the props/kudos everyone. Im still kinda fresh (3 months or so) at this trap/future/step thing but I am finally getting decent at it. Ive been making all kinds of music for a while though and know my way around a mix. (kind of)

@RedThresh
Fist of all, thanks for the great review.
Yeah, the 2nd drop. I was trying to figure out how to change keys to the relative but gracefully. I finally gave up and just said fukit, and smacked the listener in the face with it. It was minor, BUT NOW ITS MAJOR BITCHES! LoL
Its all serum for the synths. verbs and delays are on returns, I dont use the synth fx for that. Substance kontakt lib for the subs and random "future bass" sample libs for the drums. Lots of layering, saturating, transient shaping and eqing.
But all the real magic happens in the post chains. Getting all those resampled serum sounds to gel together, multiband splitting with different chains on the different freqs then bringing them all back together for more fx. etc
Also for the drops ill use a tight reverb with only early relefections on a return with all the tails gated out. Helps bring the metallic sound out
My mastering chain? It changes from track to track. I did try hard clipping before the last limiter for the first time. I was able to push more volume out of it before the transients made the lows pump.
Ill give you some more details about the chain I made for the mastering session later, you might have to laugh at it if your head doesn't explode.
Ill post a pic of the chain with some more details. Hopefully some will chime in their .02 cause Im still figuring it all out.

 

Last edited: Jan 16, 2017

@RedThresh
Okay you asked for it. First of all a disclaimer, I have no real idea what the hell im doing when it comes to mastering. I just went with my ears pretty much. So here goes.... Also note. My mixes are on point before I even get this far, I usually end up going back into the mix and making minor adjustments from this stage.
Here is the chain.

Fist I make sure my track is hitting around -18rms and put this eq on the track in M/S mode to roll some lows off the sides and a hair off the mid. The sides I low cut at 150hz - 12db/oct. The mid is to taste, usually at around 36hz or so with a 24db/oct roll off. Linear phase on max

Now on to the Master Bus. Next is the melda stereo spreader but just a kiss of it like this

Next is the ozone multiband but im only using it to de-ess. Only the hi band squashing some highs. Usually around 1-2db of reduction but its all content dependent. You have to tweak the threshold til it sounds right
Next is the nugen monofilter monoing out the subs. Like this

Continued in the next message......due to a 5 picture limit per post

 

Last edited: Jan 15, 2017

Next is the AA D316A just cause I like the mojo it adds (shout out to @Von_Steyr for the heads up)
Next is the Lurssen Console beast from IK. This thing needs a compact view badly. It takes up way too much screen real estate for so few controls. Now I cheat and just play with the presets. The gain and boost til it sounds nice to me, and doesnt push too much into the red on the meters. Depending on the material sometimes Ill automate the drive and push to create more dynamics in song parts. I do my mix eqing here besides you really cant do much else but adjust thresholds and makeup gain. They made this plugin midiot proof. The levels were low coming out of the D316A due to gain staging so I made up for it in the input on this plug. For this track it went like this

Next is the AOM invisible limiter. I have 2 here just pushing 1db out of each one.

Now this part is new to me, clipping into a limiter. I tried Event horizon and KClip2 on this track and kclip sounded better. But that doesnt mean Ill always use it in my chain.

And for the final limiter Im using the ProL

I try to average -8 lufs for EDM. But sometimes I feel like I need to go louder to like -6 to compare with the other mixes I hear (loudness meter all in the red). Ill add a little to the AOM limiters to get it there. but never go above 2db on both for fear of the pumping artifacts.
Also there is a lot of tweaking going on in the chain while Im making it loud. Dont think you can just copy this and its some magic chain like Steve Faoki was convinced there was. Its a balancing act between all the plugs in the chain to get it loud without undesired artifacts and pumping.
Sometimes I switch different makes of plugins in and out, or kiss it with a little more saturation using the brainworx refinement plug before the melda stereo spreader in the chain to tame some harshness. It all depends on the content and what you want out of it.
And the disclaimer again, I am far from a mastering engineer and no one actually taught me this method. Im just a multi-genre musician that cant afford real mixing and mastering. Its all trial and error and ears that got me to this point.
I might add that a lot of times Im going back into the mix to fix levels and eqs that this chain brought out too much. Your mix has to be good.
I really have no idea how I got this way, tons of trial and error and 1000 tutorials. But this is my way for now. And seems to change a little every track I make. But they are sounding cleaner and louder so I guess Im stumbling in the right direction. If anyone can help me from stumbling so much Im all ears.

 

Last edited: Jan 16, 2017

I thought you guys were kidding about hard clipping into the limiter. Shows what I know.

 

I did too till I played with it. It tames the transients so you can push more out of the final limiter before you get that pumping in the audio. Not suitable for all music, works well on loud stuff EDM pop hard rock etc

Check this article out
http://onlinemixingmaster.com/secret-mastering-techniques-they-dont-want-you-to-know-1/

 

Great production Mikey.

 

Amazing posts @subMIKEY

Really interesting, our process chain is pretty similar but some of your tips are definitely gonna get tested! Are you feeling satisfied with this -8luFS for EDM? Also what is this softclipper you're using, I'm searching for one with high quality and maybe oversampling, yours seems to do that stuff. Always wanted to try mastering hardclipping.

Love the AOM Limiter, I often use it just before Pro-L (splitting settings needs of the track between the two like you do with Oxford L) But do you have this feeling too that x16 oversampling sometimes bring unwanted glue or a sluggish feeling?

Exactly me Except for the "guess i'm sumtbling in the right dir" huehue

Thanks for detailing all of this, will help a lot of people!

How is this IK Lurssen is affecting your sound? For color and dirt I use Satin or SSL emus, what Lurssen brings in? Looks pretty interesting!

 

Deep thanks for all of this

 

No, I feel like I should be trying for -6 according to meters on the other trap I reference.
Clipper? Thats the Kazrog Kclip2. I was also testing out Event Horizon from Stillwell.

I have no idea I just assumed that x16 was better. Ill try other over sampling rates. And the Pro-L.

Its nice, but for me importantly, its easy to use. It sounded better than the result I was getting with Ozone.
I was trying to master with ozone before. Then I checked out the Lurssen plug and though it was nice but wasnt loud enough. Fast forward 4 months it has evolved to this monstrous chain.
Call me a weirdo but I think my ears may have become Ozone sensitive. To me it seems like Ozone leaves a sonic imprint on tracks. I can almost pick out Ozone mastered tracks and I didnt want that sound.

 

Killer jam man ! Nice mix too \m/ >>>> Good to see you finished this one it was my favorite one on the 1hr mix we did \m/

 

its one the best ways to get cleaner level on a Master \m/ On a Finish Master i run my Rock an Metal mixes OTB thru Hardware>>> EQ into a old L2 limiter then clip my converter then catch it with a Digital limiter on the way back in usually A.O.M Invisible or IK Stealth Limiter...Yields Best results for me >>>>if im staying in the box for a quick get some level for a customer check mix>>> i Clip it a lil with a good digital clipper then hit The AOM or IK limiter last \m/

 

Killer ITB mastering chain! man very close to what i do in the box masters >>> A lil dab of many good plugs or gear goes alot further than just slamming one piece of gear to hell an back \m/ Smart Mastering bro !