The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Nx1
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by Nx1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:58 pm

music should be produced with dynamics and quality in mind, not who can make their song loud as fuck

Angstrom
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by Angstrom » Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:27 am

Nx1 wrote:music should be produced with dynamics and quality in mind, not who can make their song loud as fuck
Sometimes it's fun to crush the fuck out of something though, there are times and places where I'll happily listen to a pulsating squarewave at teeth shattering volumes. Generally not, but sometimes.

To my mind: If a track suits crushing then crush it, if it doesn't then don't. If a track suits being played through a giant cathedral reverb I'll happily do it. As long as it serves the track. I assume this particular fellow is producing for a certain market, and his output suits that.
Everyone has their own production strategies of course, and style. It's all allowable.

Note: I do not actually produce 0db squarewave music

xuoham
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by xuoham » Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:03 am

... For the past 4 years I have done all my production & mastering 100% on headphones (Sony 7506)...
:!:

chris vine
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by chris vine » Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:35 pm

xuoham wrote:
... For the past 4 years I have done all my production & mastering 100% on headphones (Sony 7506)...
:!:
:mrgreen:

xuoham
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by xuoham » Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:44 pm

xuoham wrote:... For the past 10 years I have done all my production & mastering 100% on headphones (AudioTechnica ATM50 & Sony 7506)...
:D


... and TB Isone is a good medication.

Anyway, interesting read, thank you.

The Carpet Cleaner
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by The Carpet Cleaner » Sat Jul 30, 2011 11:22 pm

hum sausage fattener, it just increases the bass ?

chris vine
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by chris vine » Sat Jul 30, 2011 11:37 pm

The Carpet Cleaner wrote:hum sausage fattener, it just increases the bass ?
Nah, obviously it increases yr sausage so you can make it fuck as loud.

Angstrom is right, of course, when he talks about "horses for courses" but c'mon, really, mastering on headphones and flatlining everything? I guess it's only good for pumpin' club tracks (in mono, I assume) where dynamics don't exist (according to the article). Hmm........ Inflator? looks interesting, however. So thanks for the link.

abl385
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by abl385 » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:30 am

Image

Angstrom
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by Angstrom » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:51 am

chris vine wrote:c'mon, really, mastering on headphones and flatlining everything?
yep, I agree.
mastering on headphones is where my philosophy of "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" turns into me just saying "You what???, say again ...you did WHAT!?? NO NO NO. NO!!!"

I often like making stupid destruction sounds for my own amusement, but even then I'll check them on a range of speakers and do all the other crap we traditionally do.

Well, as my grandmother would say: it takes all sorts, and there's nowt as queer as folk.

ikeaboy
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by ikeaboy » Sun Jul 31, 2011 11:52 am

I use that Inflator plug in. Usually just in my home mastering after the Voxengo Elephant, I tend to forget about it during production. It does offer something other processes can't. A sort of cross between tube warmth and low threshold gentle ratio compression that can, in turn, be combined with both those processes for further results. Does introduce ugly distortion in about 1 out of 5 cases though.

Another thought, I'm not into loudness as I've always believed in the power of the DJ mixer gain control. But with digital DJing you haven't got a track by track analogue gain stage so maybe stuff does need to be competitive in a set without adequate head room to boost something to subjective balanced levels to previous track without crushing it. :?

darzhliebek
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by darzhliebek » Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:22 pm

Angstrom wrote:
chris vine wrote:c'mon, really, mastering on headphones and flatlining everything?
yep, I agree.
mastering on headphones is where my philosophy of "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" turns into me just saying "You what???, say again ...you did WHAT!?? NO NO NO. NO!!!"

I often like making stupid destruction sounds for my own amusement, but even then I'll check them on a range of speakers and do all the other crap we traditionally do.

Well, as my grandmother would say: it takes all sorts, and there's nowt as queer as folk.
I think his years and years of experience in clubs and studios allow him to use the headphones only - he knows exactly how it should sound and look on the spectrum analyser for the sound he wants in the club. Working solely on headphones might not be as advisable for people without that experience (myself included).

Also, there are quite a few rules of how things should sound within this style of dance, so once you know those rules it is a little less important to check it on some Genelecs.

I always find it refreshing when people make well-received music on a laptop and headphones/cheap speakers - just shows its more about how you use the tools. Although I'd choose some genelecs and a load of hardware any day :)

Cheers for reading guys, got some more masterclasses coming up on the blog in the future

Angstrom
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by Angstrom » Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:28 pm

Yeah, I'm fine with other people working in unusual ways.
It's just that when I imagine me doing it ...I can see my boundaries.
I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
I'd be more likely to at least test- run a club track through a friends rig before calling it done.

anybody human
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by anybody human » Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:05 pm

Loud is one word for it, heavy would be another word for it. The loudness of each element and obviously excellent EQ'ing combine to make his tracks really heavy and cohesive. Dynamics just don't apply to this type of music apparently. That is neither good nor bad in my opinion. I don't make dance music so it's just an interesting side note to me. It figures that everything is basically either as he says, "sucked up" to 0 or limited to 0.

It's also interesting that every track has the same effects applied. It's almost a technology meets generational thing, "these tricks work". Like online gamers hammering away on the same combination of buttons that work every time, or teenage football bloggers tweeting away all night long to gain more followers. I don't mean this in a negative way at all, his tracks sound great.

Thanks for the link, it's good to know what's going on.

technochris81
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by technochris81 » Mon Aug 01, 2011 5:07 am

what does it mean to "truncate the audio properly"? it says this in the article.

chris vine
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Re: The Art of LOUD – Production masterclass with Thomas Penton

Post by chris vine » Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:28 pm

technochris81 wrote:what does it mean to "truncate the audio properly"? it says this in the article.
Dithering?

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