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NERD ALERT – Great EQ Tutorial

Published July 21, 2010 Nerd Alert 1 Comment
Tags: EQing, Fab Filter Pro-Q, Nerd Alert

As any Nerd Alert follower knows, we sing the praise of well thought out subtractive EQ. However, I remember a time not all that long ago that the concept completely overwhelmed me. I think a lot of the problem was not fully understanding the idea of masking and such.

Yesterday, while killing time, I was perusing youtube videos. I came across this tutorial for Fab Filter’s Pro-Q EQ. Hands down it is one of the best and most straight forward EQ tutorials I have ever checked out. If I had seen this a few years ago things would have been way easier.

Now of course you don’t have to use the Pro-Q EQ – these principles will apply to any EQ – however I do hear good things about the Pro-Q.

Nerd Alert! Joris Voorn in the Studio

Published July 7, 2010 Nerd Alert 1 Comment
Tags: Future music, Joris Voorn, Nerd Alert

I love Joris Voorn’s productions. The mixes are cleaner than your sister before prom night, his arrangements tease the crowd, and they hit on the dancefloor in the most tasteful of ways. That is why I was stoked to stumble on this video of him going over his track “Sweep The Floor” with Future Music. He goes into great detail on a track by track basis on how he wrote the track.

Producer nerds, do yourselves a favor and watch and learn. Also be sure you check the other parts in his series.

NERD ALERT! Please Listen to My Demo (Part 2)

Published May 26, 2010 Nerd Alert , Uncategorized 2 Comments

When I posted a link to the last Nerd Alert on the Erol Alkan forum, the thread got a surprise contributor from Mike Mind of the infamous Turbo label. He chimed in with a very helpful and well thought out response and I think it really closes up this chapter of Nerd Alert.

On an additional side note, Mike recently did a stellar remix for Nacho Lovers new single “Deeper” – which is available now on Fools Gold and highly recommended. Buy it on Beatport.

Read Mike Mind’s 8 demo tips after the jump.

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NERD ALERT – Please Listen To My Demo (Part One)

Published May 19, 2010 Nerd Alert 3 Comments
Tags: advise, Demos, please listen to my demo, record contracts

Normally NERD ALERT touches on production techniques and tips – but I think this week we will post up something a bit different.This week we’d like to share some tips on approaching labels with your material. Of course, Solid Bump being a 100% DIY label – we probably are easier to get your material to than a huge dance label like Ministry of Sound. As the label has gotten more popular in the last year, the amount of demos we get sent are growing substantially. As this happens, I notice some things that make us more enthusiastic to listen to a new artist’s material… as well as some things that make us put it on the back burner.

By no means is this a comprehensive list of stuff to do to get signed – but I do think paying attention to these ideas will give you a better chance at “getting your foot in the door” with any label.

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Nerd Alert – Harmonic Saturation in a Digital World.

Published May 12, 2010 Nerd Alert 1 Comment
Tags: 112db, Harmonic Saturation, PSP Mix Saturator

After a bit of a hiatus, Nerd Alert is back! It’s our ever so popular series of production tips specially formulated to be a basic introduction to concepts related to production.

Often you hear about colorization of sound – sometimes this desirable while other times – not so much. In the world of analog gear (EQ, compressor, mixing board, etc) would introduce a certain level of harmonic distortion into the signal. Part of what made classic gear like Neve and SSL so desirable was the manner it colored the sound.
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NERD ALERT – 2 Buss Compression – The Glue

Published March 31, 2010 Nerd Alert 1 Comment
Tags: 2 buss compression, cytomic, glue

Hey geeks, it’s been a minute since our last nerd out. The blog has been so saturated with goodies from Pleasure & Pressure Vol.2 that there just wasn’t the space. But… here we go again – our series of quick and basic looks into elements of production nerdery. As always, these columns are just a fast intro to concepts. If something catches your interest, do some research and you will find much more in-depth articles.

2 Buss Compression – The Glue
Previous Nerd Alerts have looked at compression basics, parallel compression, and how compression and limiting can ruin your tracks. Now let’s look at a somewhat advanced use of a stereo buss compressor.

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NERD ALERT: Compression – The General Idea

Published March 10, 2010 Nerd Alert 2 Comments
Tags: Basics, Compression, Nerd Alert

So after taking last week off from NERD ALERTING to rant on how amazing the label is shaping up for the coming year (Pleasure & Pressure Vol.2 drops March 16th), I realized we have explored Parallel compression but maybe we have not covered the basics of what Compression does? Contrary to popular belief, compression does not just make things louder. In fact it can destroy your dynamic range and make your track a mess of bloated noise. So really the question is, do you know what your parameters on your compressor are even doing? A compressor is basically a automated volume control. When you think it got louder – it is usually just that the peaks of your sound wave have been tamed back. Here is the most basic overview of the parameters that all compressors have. It gets super nerdy after the jump.

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NERD ALERT: Ski Beatz Ableton Tutorial

Published February 24, 2010 Nerd Alert , Video Leave a Comment
Tags: Ableton, DJA, Nerd Alert, Ski Beatz

There is nothing I like more than a good nerd tutorial, especially one that comes with a free preset. Ableton has made leaps and bounds in the area of managing beat slices. Especially regarding the ability to make your own customizable presets. I stumbled onto this tutorial a couple months ago, then forgot to install the preset. Yesterday, Mad Decent’s in house engineer, DJA tweeted this video, which reminded me to install it. As DJA states, with this preset “you get the style of a MPC set to ‘mono’ but without hours of carefully dialing in the ADSR in live”.

Ski was the man behind many of the best tracks from Jay-Z’s debut album as well as Camp Lo’s “Luchini”. Dude knows something about chopping beats. Watch the video, then head over here to grab the preset.

NERD ALERT: Subtractive EQ – cut that sh*t out!

Published February 17, 2010 Nerd Alert 3 Comments

Last Nerd Alert we talked about mixdown leveling. I quickly introduced the idea that to help clear space in your low end, to allow the bass and kick to hit harder, you should consider using an EQ to roll off all your non-bass/kick channels below 200hz. The idea is that all frequencies require their own space in the mix. If you have multiple noises competing for the same space, that space will become congested, and all the sounds will mask each other making the mix sound muddy or flat.

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Nerd Alert: Mixdown Leveling – TURN IT DOWN!

Published February 10, 2010 Nerd Alert 2 Comments
Tags: leveling, mixing, Nerd Alert

Okay, I am sure no one out there has a mixer like the one posted above – instead you are mixing in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). If you do have something like this SSL Console and you need to read this edition of the Nerd Alert then you don’t deserve it. Anyhow, when you are just starting out doing mixdowns, your natural instinct when you want to make something louder is to simply turn it up. While that makes logical sense before you know it your audio spectrum is bloated.

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