Equalizers have always been one of the main tools that are used in mixing and mastering. Their role is to control the harmonic spectrum of our sound. An Equalizer employs various types of filters to attenuate, boost or remove a range of frequencies. The common DAW Equalizer is a parametric equalizer that would have a few filters that can be applied and controlled independently of each other. Thus we can use these filters to control multiple frequency bands at the same time. In this article, we will take a look at 7 steps that will help us to bypass a lot of confusion and get good results. These techniques are not absolute in their applications. Feel free to experiment with these tips to get different results.

Step 1: Rolling off undesirable bass frequencies

It is important to EQ out all the low rumble of certain instruments with a high pass filter. In the picture above we can see an Equalizer with a high pass filter engaged, filtering out all the frequencies below 140Hz on a mid-frequency dominant percussion hit. This will help our sound sit better in the overall mix because the unwanted low frequencies will not clash with our bass or kick. Making our low end as tight as possible helps us to achieve better results on mediocre speakers that struggle to produce bass frequencies cleanly. Background vocals, claps, guitar melodies can muddy up our lows and low mids if we don't roll off their low end. Moderation is key here we do not want to overdo this bass roll-off. Check where the fundamental frequency of your instrument lie. If we filter out our fundamentals then the character of our sound will change. If this is not desired then only filter up to the point where you can hear the signal audibly changing from there onwards.

Step 2: Find troublesome frequencies and remove them

A sound will usually not have nice sounding frequencies all across the frequency spectrum. There will be certain frequencies that create harshness or muddiness in our tone. If we look at the images above, the Equalizer at the top is highlighting unpleasant frequencies in our signal. In the EQ on the bottom, we are attenuating these frequencies in a controlled manner to make them quieter in the mix. To detect problematic frequencies you will need to use a bell curve with a high Q value so that we can pinpoint them and control them without affecting other frequencies. You can always lessen the Q value to broaden it once we have identified them. We need to keep ourselves in check because it is very easy to overdo the number of cuts. This might lead to a thin-sounding tone, lacking in character.

Step 3: Boosting with a broad Q and Cutting with a narrow Q

As a general rule of thumb, cuts work better than boosts in an Equalizer for many reasons. Boosting can harm our headroom if we don't have much to spare initially. In that case, we would have to turn the volume of our signal down. Boosting can also add distortions and artifacts while reducing the resolution when pushed. Provided we have enough headroom, it is wise to boost with a lower Q value so that the frequencies are boosted along with their neighboring frequencies, giving us a more natural-sounding result. Cutting with a broad Q does not work as well. A wide-cut can attenuate a lot of frequencies in our mix that are required for the character of the sound. It can also make our instrument much quieter in the mix. As a result, narrow EQ cuts work much better as it preserves the tonal characteristics of our signal.

Step 4: Don't let high-frequency harshness get too overwhelming

Certain instruments do not require top-end presence in our mix. Sub-bass for example does not require an abundance of high frequencies. A lot of noise can creep into our mixes if we do not control the top end of every instrument. Clearing out the highs will make space for our cymbals, hi-hats, and crashes. No listener never appreciates ear-piercing sounds in a song. Using a low-pass filter in every situation is also not a feasible solution because a scenario might arise where the maintenance of the tonal characteristic of a signal would mean that we cannot use a low-pass, as the same time the sound might be conflicting with perhaps a hi-hat; in that case, we would need a high shelf to attenuate the high-end of our sound, while not completely eliminating it.

As we can see in the image above, we are using a high shelf to attenuate the high mids and highs of the signal. We are not using a low pass because then the frequencies from 3KHz to 5KHz might be removed. This is the area in the spectrum where a very important tonal characteristic is lying, that is why we wanted to preserve it.

Step 5: Using different Equalizers together

Different types of Equalizers have different characteristics. Our stock EQ plugin sounds absolutely different from a plugin emulation of an EQ. Instead of using different types of curves on a single EQ, you can do the narrow cuts with your stock Equalizer and your wide boosts with plugin emulation. This technique can add a lot of subtle details to our sound.

In the images above, we are using the first Equalizer to do all the correctional work, while the second EQ is just gently boosting the top end overall so the signal is more present in the mix.

Step 6: EQing on the Bus

Equalizers can add a similar sound profile to a group of instruments that are being sent to a bus. This technique helps us to maintain the tonal characteristics of each layer/instrument along with adding a similar overall frequency spectrum so that they sound related to each other and work better in the mix. EQing your FX bus is also important so that you can control any low-end issues or frequency masking issues with your dry sounds. Automations work great on Bus EQs because it adds a layer of extra tone sculpting abilities. For example, we can have a higher presence for our vocals in the chorus and then we can roll back the presence in the other sections of the song.

As you can see in the image above there is an EQ placed on the drum bus that is being used to boost and attenuate certain frequencies, so everything in the group sounds better in relation to the other instruments. The change in the EQ is very mild (less gain and low Q value) because we do not want to drastically change the sound of our drums. Think of this EQ as a Fine-tuning EQ which will help us to set the right values.

Step 7: EQing your FX

A reverb placed on a return track can make your instruments/drums sound muddy. Adding an EQ on the return after your Reverb can help us attenuate the problematic frequencies, thus making space for our dry sounds. Similarly, you can use your EQ as an insert FX after distortion in your tack to control any nasty frequencies being added. You can also experiment with adding your EQ before the FX to shape the sound going in. This can be useful to sculpt a signal going into perhaps an autotune effect so that only the required frequencies are tuned. This will greatly increase the accuracy of your Autotune plugin.

In the images above, you can see that we have added an EQ after our reverb. This gives us an extra level of control and sculpting opportunities for our sound.

Equalizers are among the most commonly used plugins in mixing and mastering tasks. Equalizers can be used for tone shaping, controlling problem areas in the frequency spectrum and enhancing certain frequencies to add presence. Equalizers have different filters that can attenuate or boost different parts of the frequency spectrum. In this article, we are going to take a look at the different types of Equalizers used in music production.

A parametric EQ contains various filter types. Let us get accustomed to them first:

a. Low Cut Filter (Highpass)

f. Peaking Filter

Ableton Live has a lot of tools for creative sound design. In this article we will explore an interesting technique to create your own unique percussion samples from scratch using any sample of your choice. This technique is extremely simple and effective for cooking up new perks quickly removing any need for incessant sample pack diving. We will be using Ableton's simpler for the main sound design aided with some audio effects.

Selecting the Sample

Theoretically you can use any sample you want but we will make the most out of this technique if we use loops or long samples that varies over time and has a lot of textures. Fx Loops are a great choice, so are vocal and bass loops. We have chosen the Acid Birds Ambience Fx loop from the Drive and Glow pack that comes with Ableton Live 11 Suite.

Processing the Sample with Ableton Simpler

Our percussion samples will really start taking shape from this point onwards. Add an Amp after you Simpler. I have selected the Lead setting on my Amp and adjusted my Gain and Dry/Wet controls. You can look at the image below for a reference. The Rock, Lead and Heavy setting work very well. The Amp provides a woody texture to our percussion.

We will process our sound further by adding some waveshaping. We will insert a Saturation effect in our Fx chain and select the Waveshaper setting from the drop down menu.

As you can see in the image above we have adjusted our Drive and Waveshaper controls according to our taste and then adjusted the Dry/Wet. If your sample is clipping a bit then turn on the Soft Clip option. The Saturator adds some character and harmonic richness to our sample.

Adding a Filter Envelope in the Simpler

Now is a good time to go back to the Simpler and add some filtration. You can go through the various filter modes and add some filter drive for some added texture. Also adjust the Filter Envelope according to preference. I like to set my filter cutoff Frequency at a lower value and the Filter Envelope amount at a moderately high value. I have also adjusted the Decay control which has an interesting effect on our percussion sound.

Adding Some Creative Fx Processing to Further Enhance Our Sample

The Erosion audio effect is an extremely handy addition for any percussion sound design. I am using the Noise setting to add some character and fill up the harmonic spectrum of the sound.

As a last step to our sound design, I like to group everything into an Instrument Rack. If you look at the image below then you will see that I have also mapped Simpler Decay and loop Start controls to Macro 1 and Macro 2 respectively. This technique really shines at this step because now we can adjust our loop Start macro (S Start in the image) and create huge variation of different percussion sounds. We had chosen the initial sample because it had a lot of variation over time. Playing around with the Start will play different parts of the whole sample, creating different sounds and textures. You can also adjust the decay to create different characteristics in your percussion.

Download Link: Click Here

All DAWs, no matter how basic, implement some form of automation. Automation means having a computer take control of a parameter within a DAW and change it's value over a period of time set by the user. Automation can refer to the turning of a knob, the sliding of a fader and the toggling of switches within our audio workstation. To carry out any form of Automation the user draws automation curves in the DAW timeline (commonly in an automation lane) which defines the movement of the selected parameter for a certain duration defined by the user. In this article we will explore some creative automation tricks and tips that will improve your mixes.

1. Creating Variations For Programmed Instruments

There are countless advantages of using MIDI, but one of the areas where this technology fails to deliver is in the realm of humanization. A programmed instrument most likely would have all notes playing in the same velocity, with the same articulation. A real instrument played by a person would naturally have a lot of variations in dynamics and articulations. The same can be done for MIDI instruments but the process often takes a lot of time and patience. Automations can be a great tool to create these variations quickly and efficiently. Automating the volume of a hi hat for example can help make it sound more natural, letting some hits be louder than others, similar to accents performed by a drummer. The pitch can also be automated to simulate articulations like vibrato and pitch bends. The pitch can also be automated in cents for instruments like drums to simulate the drum stick striking different regions of the drum skin. These techniques can add a lot of expression and dynamics to robotic MIDI sections.

4. Automating Reverb And Delay   

Reverb and delay are two of thew most common audio effects used while mixing. But, overusing them can lead to loss of clarity. A bit of automation can clean up these problems with ease. Using a separate bus for the Reverb, we can automate the send level of the channel where the reverb is required. This gives us the option to manually reduce the send level at the beginning of a signal, therefore bypassing any leftover reverb tail from the previous signal in the channel. This is very common in vocals where the sends can be raised at the end of phrase to fill silences or gaps in the performances, similarly we can also bring the reverb send level down for a busier section of the performance where more clarity is required. Similar techniques are used for delays as well known as "delay throws", where a delay in added to a bus with a quarter note or eighth note setting. The delay send can be raised for particular words and phrases which would ring out in the mix for a longer time. This is a great way to fill empty spaces in a performance, add some ear candy to the mix and also hold the audience attention during the quieter sections of a track. When using reverbs and delays in this way it is common to have the timing synced to the project tempo.

Any live performance will have lots of tempo variations. It is only natural for musicians to play quieter sections of a song at a slower tempo, in relation to the the louder parts of the song that tend to increase in tempo as the volume level increases. This change in tempo will be missing for songs composed within a DAW for obvious reasons. Most DAWs give their user the ability to automate project tempo. This feature is useful to make a studio recording feel more like a live performance. The tempo can be lowered during the intro and outro sections while during the choruses the tempo can be increased to give the feeling of a rise in intensity. It is recommended that the tempo automations are gradual and have a diminished range. Drastic tempo changes are only used if that is the intended effect. In case of a live performance the change in tempo is a natural consequence of the situation, hence it is not intentional. Keeping the tempo changes mild will emulate this phenomenon much better in the context of a mix.

Lo-Fi is a type of music where imperfections are introduced into the audio signal deliberately to achieve texture or character. Lo-Fi is an abbreviation for Low Fidelity, so music producers often employ plugins that artificially degrade the audio to give their sound a vinyl quality. In this article we will explore 6 easy steps to compose a lo-fi hip hop beat.

Step 1: Creating the right Chord Progression

Lofi chords are a huge part of their sonic quality. Most loft producers sample old jazz and soul records to create a nostalgic feeling. We will be creating our own progression from scratch and then we will sample ourselves. Lofi hiphop can be anywhere from from 70-100 BPM, sometimes even slower than that. The BPM for our project will be 75 BPM. For sound selection, try to remember what type of instruments old jazz and soul records would use. Using those sounds to create our sample will help us create a more old timey vibe.

Look at the chords that we have drawn in the image above. We are using a rhoads preset to create these chords. You can use an acoustic guitar or any other instrument but the way you create your chords will change according to that instrument. Here we are using the chords Em7 - Am7 - CM7 - GM7 for the first four bars, in the second four bar cycle, we are substituting Em7 with Emadd9. You can experiment with the added notes on these chords, also use vinyl or modulation fx on the channel to make things sound more aged.

We are using the phaser-flanger device of ableton, as shown in the picture above, to modulate our Rhoads sound.

Step 2: Turning Your Chord Progression Into a Sample

Once you are happy with how your chords are sounding, freeze and flatten them to convert into audio. There are a few ways we can sample this. You can do manual edits in your Daw to create MPC like chops.

In the image above, you can see that we have made quite a few edits to our original sample after freezing and flattening. Have your metronome on for this section as it will help you to flesh out interesting patterns. We are also applying crossfades at clip edges to prevent any clicks and pops. Alternatively, you can add your freeze and flattened sample into a simpler and use the slicing mode to create patterns using midi.

In the image above, we have added our sample into a slicer and then turned on Slicing Mode. You can play around with the sensitivity and slice by settings for different sets of chops. You can now program you sampled melody using midi.

These are the notes we drew in with our piano roll for the simpler. We are going to use this as a variation on the main melody.

Step 3: Drums that sound old

The tone of your drum samples play a huge role in lofi hiphop. The drum programming itself is fairly simple. Go for drum sounds with some audible background noise, You can use some processing to lessen the high frequency response of your drum sounds. We also like to add distortion to our drums to make them sound more crunchy. Once you have your drum sounds selected you can arrange them directly on the track according to our grid, but we will use a drum rack. We are using a kick, snare and hit for our beat.

This is the pattern we have created, shown in the image above. Do not forget to vary the velocities of your hits as required. You can also use some saturation on the drums to fatten them up and add some more character to the sound. You can also experiment with different grooves on your drums, which will offset our midi from the grid, giving the beat more human touch.

Bassline in this genre of music is very different from one song to another. Tonally the bass sounds mellow and has much rhythmic variation built into it. Select a preset that has a solid low end with some subtle harmonies in the mids. For the notes in your bassline, you can follow the root notes of the chord, and then develop it further from there. We like to use a lot of octaves and melodic runs to keep things interesting.

As you can see, we have added our bass notes along with some melodic and rhythmic variations. Do not forget to add some processing to your bass if it is too quiet in the mix even when the volume is unchanged. We are using a saturator on our bass channel with the settings shown in the image below.

Step 5: Adding Fx and Foley

Textures are a major part of Lofi sound. The signature vinyl crackle is present on every track to give the listener the perception, that the song is being played from a vinyl record player. We are using a little bit of vinyl distortion on our main sample to simulate the vinyl crackle (image below).

You can also layer your sounds with foley to create more texture along with the vinyl crackle.

As you can see in the image above, the drums that have been programmed with midi is being layered with different foley samples to add depth and character to our drums. Vocal chops and one-shots also spice up your beat in a major way, making it more memorable for the listener. You can sprinkle in some more details with risers and down lifters for transition sections.

As you can see in the image above we added an impact sample and a white noise riser sample for our project. The impacts are placed at the beginning of every 8 bars, while the risers are placed at the 7th bar and 15th bar with varied lengths.

Mixing a lofi beat is fairly easy. Make sure to balance your faders first and then you can experiment with the pan pot. As long as your sound is well balanced in terms of levels and stereo image, you are halfway there. Kicks and Snares need to be able to punch through the mix. Keep the drums as dynamic as possible. Your bass would also be mixed rather loud in the mix. Other instruments and synths can be balanced according to your taste. EQ out any undesirable low frequencies to make space for your bass sound. Getting rid of the lows in your hiatus, cymbals, fx and instruments, will also reduce muddiness of the overall mix. Sidechain compression is also used in this genre often as an aesthetic tool rather than a tool for mixing. You can sidechain various instruments to your kick and exaggerate the sidechain effect to emphasise on the lofi character of your track.

As you can see in the two images provided above, the side chain settings on my melody sidechain and bass sidechain are different. The melody sidechain has more exaggerated and audible sidechain compression happening to create movement in the sound, while the bass side chain is much more focused on attenuating our bass sound whenever the kick strikes without being necessarily heard. You can also experiment with some subtle saturation or soft clipping on you master buss to further drive in that lofi feel of your track.

If you want to follow along with our Ableton project file, then click on the link provided below to download the .alp file:

Crypto Cipher Academy_Lofi Beat Tutorial (Ableton Project Download)

Trap Drums are not complicated at all. There are a few basic elements that we need to make a bouncy trap beat. A trap drum kit consists of a kick, clap and hi-hat at its core. You can add other snares, vocal one-shots and percussion samples to fit your style. Our three core drum sounds need to be punchy and short. Trap beats have a tempo of 140-160BPM. We will make our beat in 140BPM.

1. The Kick

Trap kick drum selection is extremely important. The kick needs to sit perfectly with our bass/sub in the mix. A short kick drum with a very emphasised attack would cut through the mix much easier than a sub heavy low-kick. Drag your sample into an audio track and start laying them according to Ableton's grid. You can turn the metronome on for reference.

We are also adding a saturator on our kick to add some more girth and presence. Distorted kicks are staple in the trap genre.

The melody and chord progression of our trap beat is extremely important for the vibe our beat is trying to create. Most trap beats are mostly based on minor scales. We will compose our melody in E minor.

In the image provide above you can see the notes of an E minor scale. Needless to say that our chord progression will also consist of a combination of these notes.

In Ableton, you can turn Scale Mode on so that the notes of your scale is highlighted on the piano roll. This will help us to adjust notes quickly.

We will start off with writing our chord progression. The chords that can be used in our scale are E minor, F#dim, G major, A minor, B minor, C major and D major. Our chord progression for this beat will be: E minor | G major | E minor | B minor (i - III - i - v)

As you can see in the image above, we have varied the velocities of our notes to create a realistic feel to the chords. We are using a chorus heavy Electric Piano to make our chords. We are also adding some mid-side processing to make our chords sound wide in the mix.

Once we have the basic progression programmed, we can try some 7th or add9th chords to make our sound more interesting. If you look at the image below, we have added an extra 7th to our chords also varies the length, start and end positions of the notes to add a more realistic feel to our sound.

Now that our chord progression is created, we can move onto our melody.

2. Melody

For our melody section, we need to be able to create tension and release with the notes of our scale. The 2nd, 4th and 6th notes of our scale will create tension while 1st, 3rd and 5th will create release or resolution. An easy pattern to follow is to use tension notes at the end of a bar, while starting the next bar with a note that will release that tension. Let us say we add an A note on the last 1/8th note of a bar, then we will begin the next bar with an E note which will release the tension created by the preceding note. In the image provided below, the highlighted notes are our tension notes. Trap melodies also follow a basic call and pattern, where the first part of the melody raises a musical question, resolved by the following part.

We are repeating the call part of our melody (comprised of 2 bars) thrice, before playing our answer (also comprised of 2 bars) only once, thus creating our 8 bar melody.

Another helpful tip would be to fold your piano roll according to our selected scale so that only the pertinent notes are displayed. This will help us to create melodies fast.

3. Sampling the Melody

This step is absolutely optional, but a lot of producers like to bounce their melody and chord progressions into a single audio track. This helps us is experimenting with different chops and pitch variations. You can also try reversing certain sections to make your sound stand out. To consolidate your chord and melody into a single audio track, add an empty audio track (named Sampled Melody) and route the output of the required tracks into the Sampled Melody track.

Now arm the newly added track and hit the global record button. Hit stop once your sample is completely recorded.

Now we can slice up the audio as we like and add interesting variations in different parts of the melody.

As you can see in the image above, we have reversed our sample and adding some creative warping effects to make it sound interesting.

4. The Melody Section

After programming all your melodies and harmonies, it is important to group them so we can apply bus processing on these sounds. Control the lows of your melody sound so that they don't clash with our 808's and kicks.

Trap basses generally consist of 808's. They have a long decay and are often distorted. 808 selection is extremely important for our final mix. You should always preview your bass sound with your kick in any genre of music, to see that they are not conflicting with each other. If our 808 is muffling the kick from the beginning, then processing will not be able to solve our problem.

1. Tuning 808's

808's need to be tuned correctly to the key of our beat. Once you have selected your 808, draw it into the device view of an empty midi track. Your 808 will open up in an instance of simpler. Insert a tuner after the simpler. Now we can monitor the pitch played by the 808.

We can adjust the transposition of our sample from the 'Controls' tab in the simpler. We will tune our 808 as such, that when we hit the C note on our midi keyboard, the sample is also triggered in the same pitch.

808's follow the kick drum. You can copy the kick pattern directly into your 808 and then make changes in the pitch.

As you can see in the image provided above, the 808 in being trigger along with the kick. Now we can vary its pitch so that we can follow the melody of our beat.

While varying the pitches you can experiment with the octave, fifth and fourth. You can also transpose your bassline up a few octaves to check if you bass melody is sounding good with the main melody, then transpose it back down.

3. 808 Slides

Slides add some interesting movement to your 808. To activate this function go back to the controls tab and select Glide and set the time according to your liking. Our glide time will be 107ms. This parameter determines, how much time it will take for one note to glide up/down to the next. Glide can only happen when our instrument is monophonic and we have overlapping notes.

Pitch bends can add even more expression to your 808. We can bend both up and down, depending on what sound we want to create. You can use the envelope editor to draw your pitch bend curves.

As you can see in the image above, we have bent the pitches of quite a few notes. All these changes add to the dynamics of our 808 and help its presence in the mix.

5. Pitch Envelope

Adding a pitch envelope on our 808 can further enhance its punch. A pitch envelope determines how many semitones up will the sample play when triggered and how long will it take for the sample to come down to its original pitch (determined by the Decay Time of the pitch env).

Trap 808's are distorted to make them more present in the beat. If our 808 does not have much mid and high-mid content, then it can get buried when played on bad speakers. Distortion can make up for this disadvantage by adding some crunch to our 808. We need to use this effect in moderation so that we don't lose any low frequencies from the bass.

As you can see in the image above, we are using multiple distortion types to colour our 808. The trick is to use them minimally. All three effects together will add some nice midrange to our 808's.

Now that our 808's have been processed we can start recording vocal ideas and compose additional sections to complete the song. 

If you want to follow along with our Ableton project file, then click on the link provided below to download the .alp file:

Crypto Cipher Academy_Melodic Trap Beat Tutorial (Ableton Project Download)

In this article we will create a future bass drum pattern and discuss a few techniques you can use to make your patterns stand out. Let us start off with some ground rules. Future Bass tracks vary between 130 - 160BPM. For our project we will set the BPM at 150. Our time signature will remain 4/4 just like most tracks in the genre.

Sample Selection

Future Bass has very punchy drums. So it is always ideal to start off with a good sample. Starting with a bad sample will lead to endless processing that will probably not end up sounding on par with a good sample anyways. There are a lot free resources on the internet where you will find some good samples. Once you have your samples ready we will move on to programming our drum pattern.

Programming the kick

Select a punchy kick with a short decay. You can drag your audio sample directly into your track and arrange them on the grid, but we will use midi for our project. Insert an empty midi channel in Ableton (Shift+Ctrl+T for Windows and Shift+Cmd+T for Mac). Double click on your midi channel and then double click on your kick sample. Your kick should open up in a simpler, in the device view of your midi channel. Switch the simpler to 1-Shot mode from the default Classic Mode. In this mode the sample triggered plays till the end of the sample.

Now highlight the first 8 bars of your grid and insert midi clip (Shift+Ctrl+M in Windows and Shift+Cmd+M for Mac) and double click on it to open up you piano roll.

When using midi always remember the note C3 will play the kick sample in its original form. 

Introduction

Dynamic EQs combine the best features of an EQ and a Compressor/Expander. Unlike a regular parametric EQ, a dynamic EQ boosts or attenuates a frequency band in reaction to the incoming signal. A regular EQ can remove, among other things, harshness from a signal provided that these unwanted frequencies are fixed, if they move around in the frequency spectrum then the harshness would not be suppressed in areas where the EQ is not active. This is especially true for a pitched signal where the problematic frequencies may move up down parallel to changes in pitch. A dynamic EQ would be a smarter choice in this scenario because it would attenuate a frequency band only when the incoming signal surpasses a user-defined threshold.

In Ableton, we have the option of turning any stock or third-party EQ to a Dynamic EQ by using stock plugins. In this article, we will explore some options on how to implement dynamic EQ with devices like EQ Eight, Channel EQ and EQ Three.

Ableton's Envelope Follower

The Envelope Follower is the main component for making any EQ react dynamically to the incoming audio signal. It is located in the Modulators folder in Audio Effects under Categories. This device can be mapped to any parameter within Ableton. The mapped parameter would then be increased or decreased in reaction to the levels of the input signal. Consequently the magnitude of the boost or cut adjusts itself in relation to the magnitude of the input signal.    

As you can see in the image above, the envelope follower has a simple interface. We can use the Map button on the top left corner (beneath the device header) to map this device to any device parameter within Ableton. Moving to the right from the Map button we find the range controls (minimum and maximum respectively). This can be used to set some limit within which the mapped parameter will operate. On the top right corner we have the multi-map button that gives us seven more mapping options with their dedicated range controls. At the bottom, starting from the left side we have the Gain button that sets the amount of gain (positive or negative) to be applied to the mapped device parameter in reaction to incoming signal's volume envelope. Moving to the right of Gain, we have the Rise and Fall parameters that set the attack and release of the mapped parameter respectively. Moving to the right from Fall we have the Delay knob which delays the envelope of the incoming signal. Now that we are familiar with Envelope Follower interface, let us see how it can be paired with other Ableton Stock Plugins.

Dynamic EQ8

To turn EQ Eight into a dynamic EQ, let us create a track and insert an Envelope Follower followed by an EQ Eight. We will map the the Gain parameter for Filter 3. Select Filter 3 first, then click on the Map button on the envelope follower. After clicking the Map button click on the Gain parameter for Filter 3 in EQ Eight. Now we have successfully turned this filter into a Dynamic EQ band.  

To make this work smoothly, we will also set both the maximum and minimum settings of the Range in the Envelope Follower to 50%. If we want our dynamic EQ to attenuate this frequency band when the amplitude of the incoming signal increases, then we will lower the maximum value for the range and vice-versa. If we increase or decrease the minimum value then the Dynamic EQ will work in reverse, which can be useful too. A good way to familiarise oneself with how the changes in the range controls affects the mapped parameter, use a four bar hi-hat pattern, where the hi-hats are paced 2 beats apart for four bars. Then activate the loop switch. Now you will be able to see exactly how the EQ reacts to the incoming signal in respect to the changes in the minimum and maximum value of the Range control. Now we can send any musical signal through this device chain and boost or attenuate different parts of the frequency spectrum according to the changes in amplitude. We can also adjust the Rise and Fall parameters of the Envelope Follower same as we use the attack and release controls of a dynamic EQ to make the response smoother.

We can also explore some more experimental mappings with our EQ Eight. One powerful addition we can make to our setup is to dynamically affect the resonance of the mapped EQ band. We can do this either with a second Envelope Follower (if we want more control) or by using the multi-map options on the existing device.

As you can see in the image above, the Envelope Follower is mapped both to Filter 3 Gain and Filter 3 Resonance (Q factor). This setting will now have a higher bandwidth at higher levels of attenuation and vice-versa. By inverting the range you can reverse the behaviour of the Resonance control.  

We can also map other parameters of the EQ with the Envelope Follower to create interesting and experimental sonic variations. Look at he image below, the Envelope Follower has been mapped to the Scale control of EQ eight. The frequency bands are flat when no sound is playing, but whenever there is any incoming signal the bands two and four will get boosted while bands 1 and 3 will be attenuated.

Other Stock Dynamic EQ Options in Ableton

We can use the Envelope Follower to dynamically affect other Ableton stock EQs like EQ Three, Channel EQ and Auto-filter. 

As you can see in the image above, the envelope follower is being used to control the High Gain knob for the Channel EQ. This chain is great for creating broad tonal changes in the spectrum but not suited for more surgical tasks.

Similar to the previous example a dynamic EQ Three can also be very useful for live performance scenarios where a broad frequency band might have to be removed from a track to make space for leads, vocals, drums etc.

In image above, these settings would remove the mid frequencies of the incoming signal when played at normal levels but when the level falls below -30dBFS the frequency band will gradually come back up to fill the spectrum.

Conclusion

Using a third party dedicated Dynamic EQ might be an easier fix rather than using the Envelope Follower every time. However, it cannot be overlooked that this method gives us a greater level of control on the EQ band and its movements. This is extremely useful for both surgical and experimental tasks like removing harshness, boosting desirable frequencies, frequency based side-chaining and even sound design.

In this article we will focus on the Chords, Leads and Basses used in the drop section, take a look at the music theory and explore a few tips that can make the process of coming up with melodies or chord progressions easier.

In case you have missed Part 1 of this series, we recommend that you read that first and then come back to this article.

Chord Progression

We will be making our drop in G Major Scale so go ahead and turn on the scale function within your DAW. You may also want to fold the piano roll of your DAW to the selected scale (shown in the image below).

Major 7th and minor 7th chords are used frequently in Future Bass. Extended chords like Add 9th chords are also quite common. For our track we will be using the Chord Progression:

|| G Major 7th | G add 9 | B minor 7th | D add 9 || 

As you can see in the image above we have altered the standard voicing of the chords to make them sound better. As long as we stay in the selected scale, we can experiment with these voicings till we get the right feel for our chord progression. 

Once we are happy with how the chord progression sounds, we can alter the rhythm of certain chords to add more energy to the composition and compose a B section for the drop. Along with altering the rhythm we can also add some extra notes in the higher or lower registers to add more movement to our music. It is important not to add to many notes at this stage. We need to maintain space for other elements and keep things interesting. As you can see in the image below, we have largely kept things similar to our initial progression, only adding some variations in the 2nd and 4th bars.

At the moment we are using a default saw wave from Wavetable (check image below) to map out chords, we will be covering sound design in the next part where this basic sound will be altered into something much more complex.

Main Melody or Lead

Now that our chord progression is ready, we can start experimenting with different melodies that will be in scale with our chords and also fill in the empty spaces in between. For our composition, we want our lead to be slightly offset from the rhythm of drum pattern. To achieve this, we will use the concept of syncopation where certain notes in our melody will land on the upbeat to create rhythmic variations. We also want the melody to sound uplifting, so we are using the G Major Pentatonic scale (G, A, B, D, E) instead of the regular G Major. As you can see in the image below the melody is kept very simple and with the chord progression they almost act like a call and response but it is not very obvious.

Another important trick that has been used here, is to always rest on one of the chord degrees (notes played in the chord), this makes the lead resonate better with our chord progression. We have also varied the velocity of the notes according to taste to add a bit of humanization.

We will also create a variation for this melody so that the drop does not sound repetitive. We are using a few notes out of the G Major Pentatonic scale for this section, other than that we are keeping the feel similar to our first melody (as shown in the image below). 

For both the melodies we are using the default triangle wave from Wavetable. We will alter the tone in part 3 of this series, when we explore sound design.

Bass

The bassline for our track will be extremely simple. We will be placing the bass notes on beat to accent the downbeats. The main role for the bass is to thicken the sound of the chord progression. Hence we have used the root notes of our chords as the main bassline with some minute additions (shown in the image below).

We will also create a variation for our bass part like we had done for our chord progression and lead. In this version we are going to keep things similar to the first pattern but we will add some more syncopated notes to create contrast (check image below).

We have made the bassline using the default sine wave from Wavetable as shown in the image below.

Conclusion

Thus we have created a chord progression, lead and bass section with a variation for our Future Bass track while exploring some tips to help us be more expressive and efficient with our note selection. In the next article we will explore various sound design techniques to give our music the Future Bass sound. If have not read our previous article in this series, please click the link provided below.