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Lately in my (hip hop ) mixes I've been finding myself EQing down the low end on the kicks and basslines (Instead of boosting, which one would assume hip hop would call for?). Even after I remove all the "muddy" frequencies.

If I don't do this it blows apart speakers. Mind, you I'm using all sampled drums and synth basslines. It sounds good. I put it next to the Dr. Dre mixes and if I'm erroring it's usually on the side of too much bass. I don't want to turn down the whole Kick drum because From studing other mixes, the attack on the kick is the highest peak in the mix.

Just trying to see if I'm on the right track here. I've found through trial and error that the key to a good mix is not "boom" but a tight, clean low end out of the monitors. Anything else breaks up speakers when running through a consumer grade system.

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anonymous Fri, 04/12/2002 - 08:18

I don't touch the sample. The sample-er already compressed it plenty. That, to me, is the biggest part of working with samples -takes the art of engineering out of the picture!
A buddy of mine, an amateur mastering engineer, overcompressed some finished tracks of mine and they came out poor and, guess what...too boomy!

T. Alan

anonymous Fri, 04/12/2002 - 10:23

Originally posted by Danny K.:
Do most people leave the samples alone (unless they're looking for some desired effect)?

Yeah, from my results it would seem that further compressing samples is saved for 'effectual' purposes.
Keep in mind, if your making your own samples from scratch, you may need compression. However, I'd finish a project and see if your successful.
One final thought: Often, your mix will be given EQ-based compressed during mastering, so I've just given you another reason not to worry about it :D
Here's a sample of my solo project from a couple years ago done at my apartment on an ol' Mac, Opcode's Vision(non-audio) and ONE synth(Roland Vintage Synth module).
http://www.paulleavesley.com/MP3_Page/mp3_page.html
The vocals were done in a 1680.

Best of fortune to you and let me know how it turns out.

anonymous Fri, 04/12/2002 - 13:34

My 2 cents:
Alan is right on. Don't fix it if it ain't broke. We use TONS of Roland and other pre-finished samples. No compression used and...our music (well, the music isn't too good) but the sound is great.

Use GOD's PLAN FOR MIXING.
One the first day, the MIX was made, and it was naked.
........Don't let the chick near the fruit tree and all should be fine.

Dress it up after you've really heard it nekid ;) .

anonymous Fri, 04/12/2002 - 14:31

I just talked to an engineer who has worked with Aaliyah, DMX, and right now, Pras from the Fugees. He uses compression on the kick/snare samples saying try "slow attack and fast release." Not for bass, but to make the attacks very present in the mix. Works damn well. I think there is a time to compress and a time to leave it naked. I guess knowing what's best is about experience.

anonymous Sun, 04/14/2002 - 14:56

I actually met the guy I spoke of above in this forum and simply dropped him an email. He's cool! You should check out his resume! He didn't seem like he was all for leaving the samples uncompressed. I may not have heard the Roland samples some of you are talking about. Even in an EQ article last year on Dr. Dre he said that he likes compression and gets his ratios up to 8 and 10! I'm not crtiticizing other techniques, just sharing different points of view. If everybody worked the same way music would be booooring!