A kinda specific, anticlimax-related problem.

[General Mumble]

When I'm making certain tunes, I'll use that technique where a short silence (or almost silence) is inserted before a big beat kicks in. However, sometimes when I do this, and only sometimes, it just sort of... doesn't climax. The volume of where it kicks in is just sort of sucked away.

I use FL Studio, and most of the time use a Soundgoodizer on the master (laziness whee).

When I take it off, the kick-in sounds more punchy but the rest of the song sounds more flat, and clips, despite being quiet. I know nothing about compressors, or why this happens, so I'd really appreciate help with overcoming this problem. I'll fetch an example...



This song has the problem. Near the beginning, the weird melody thing will play for a while, builds up a little, you hear a little break (where the track is dominated by Bitspeek for a few beats), and then a sort of anti-climactic kick-in. I don't enjoy listening to this track simply because of that. I was aware of it when making, and probably just made it worse when I tried to fix it.

HALP PLIZ

[Calamus_Dash]

bump for interest
I unfortunately have no idea how to fix this, sorry

[Stars In Autumn]

So I'm newer at this than you, but a couple things I might try (and did) is to maybe lower the volume or apply an HP filter to that Bitspeek break, then have a crash as well as a heavy bass line in on the drop with a chorus effect to give it an all-encompassing feel.

Here's my quick attempt at trying to make the drop bigger: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/128347/GeneralMumble_Drop.mp3

FL crashed on me when I was messing around with it and I didn't have a save file, so that doesn't sound much better, but another thing I would of added was a bass.

I dunno, those would be my ideas.

[General Mumble]

Newer than me or not, you may know much more than I, or just lots of different techniques, and I'm glad you've lent a hoof. I will listen to this when I get home from uni to see if it helps, and I'll try putting your tips to practise in the DAW too, since I want to get this song consistent sounding with other tracks for the next album.

[MichaelA]

So first off, dont use soundgiodizer on the master. I guess you can, but i doubt think thats good. Put a limiter ont the master(i heard this is bad, but i do it all the time, and see no problem in it). Then EQ the master before the limiter(the limiter should be the one of the last things on the track). If you dont know how to EQ, now would be a good time to learn. I dont know about things sounding more flat, that might be a problem with certain things being too loud and drowning otber things out.
Just my 2 cents, you can always try.

[Versilaryan]

If you don't know how to use a compressor, use Fruity Limiter's compressor. It's a lot easier to use than a traditional compressor, because you can see the waveform being compressed as you're doing it. You really should start experimenting with those -- compressors make kicks fatter and a lot of sounds beefier overall.

In Gator in the Tub, I think the main problem is that you don't really have any rising action going into the silent climax. The anti-climax thing works best if the music pushes into what you think is a big climax, and then after the anti-climax, comes back in HUGE.

You can make that rising action a large number of different ways. You can have the pitch rise somewhere, make the song faster (meaning have faster notes playing -- you'll hear that a lot in the drums), make the song louder (usually by adding more and more instruments, though a dramatic enough crescendo will work too). You can hear this at the very beginning of Alex S's "Party with Pinkie" -- the subdued intro enters, then the rising synth enters while Pinkie shouts something and the intro part kind of stutters in the background, before the filters disappear and the full song comes in LOUD.

Then, you can make the big entrance even louder and fuller. Maybe you could try doubling the bass and hard-panning the bass tracks left and right? Or adding side-chained pads, so that you can scarcely hear them but they fill out the sound? Just throwing some suggestions out there.

You can also do what Jeff said and apply a filter to the Bitspeek bit -- maybe a bandpass? I dunno. You should do something to add more contrast between that Bitspeek bit and the rest of the song around it, to make it more of an anticlimax and less of something that just happens. That'll certainly help a lot.

If you don't already, you should learn to EQ like Mike said. And if you don't already, make sure you pan everything a little to the left or right. It'll help things stick out more and make them less muddy.

-----

As for things clipping despite them being quiet, I can probably answer that. Soundgooderizer has a compressor built into it. =P If you lay compressors on the things with the biggest difference between peak and average volume (meaning, drum hits, etc.), you'll make it sound louder while actually making it quieter.

This article has a few pretty nifty things in it, so you might want to read through it. (Scroll down to the "Loudness Without Overcompression" section for the most relevant stuff.)

I'm kinda rambling here at this point. xD If anything I say doesn't make sense to you or is just flat-out wrong, feel free to ignore what I said.

[General Mumble]

All these tips and suggestions, so great. I will give each one a try later on, and I'll read that article too, it sounds like it will be a big help.

I don't think it's so much the contrast between the two, it's more just the instant it kicks in, everything is sucked out of the song fr a moment. I can't tell if I need to add stuff, change stuff, take stuff away. Like I said, I'll be trying what you've all suggested.

(Also, keep them coming, I need all the help I can get in this field, I've given up on entire projects because of this problem)

[ArtAttack]

Something I do when I put a climax is lower the master as it leads up to the climax, then raise it a TINY bit with an automation clip when it hits.. Another thing is a whitenoise sweep on the hit of the climax, sidechained to the kickdrum if you're doing 4 on the floor stuff.

*don't worry, i use soundgoodizer on the master too XD*

[Navron]

When I take it off, the kick-in sounds more punchy but the rest of the song sounds more flat, and clips, despite being quiet. I know nothing about compressors, or why this happens, so I'd really appreciate help with overcoming this problem.

Everything you want to know about compressors: http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=80059

I had the same issue with a lot of previous songs, because I never understood exactly how a compressor works. Judging from the problems you're describing, it sounds to me like a compressor may be what you're looking for, although it sounds like you'll have to tweak the the attack and release quite a bit if you don't want the drums as punchy yet not let the quieter parts clip.

[Freewave]

nice find navy, thanks!

[Navron]

Np. Props goes to Versilaryan for suggesting that awesome resource.