Microedits and rythmic presicion in Ableton. Skrillex etc

[prime_id]

Hi,

If you listen to modern electronic music the last years I have noticed a very shift in the level of detail on rytmic matching in the track of drums,synths, FX etc. Especially on some dubstep, Mord Fustang, Zedd , Skrillex etc.

I have been experimenting with turning down BPM while editing so that its easier to hear the small variation when doing automation and shuffling the different elements / notes. But I feel its more to it..

Would been very nice hear your technics on this subject? I think there is as allways...many roads to Rome ....

[Wunjo]

I've posted several threads on this subject and no one answers. Seems like people are more interested on speculating the release of Live 9 and whether it will support 64-bit

But to address your question I think it is a combination of layered basses with certain frequencies sculpted out to achieve the sound and as for the technique it is a series of very intensive automation of the synth's parameters, the arpeggiator's, and the fx on the instrument's channel. There obviously is a science to it because it is instantly recognizable among those artists you mentioned but apparently nobody knows how to succesfully create it here.

[dalvare1]

im not an 'expert' by any means but ive focused a lot of my studio time on this subject..

the above poster is right... lots of automation tweaking for those complex timing changes. And also, lots and lots of careful layering of bass with careful EQ'ing and Filtering...

that last part (layering) is the difference between something relatively simple and straight forward like Chrispy and something with more depth like Mord Fustang/Skrillex... if that makes sense.

Making enough headroom for each layer to stand out isnt easy

[oddstep]

resampling as well. so you've got a bit of complex highly automated basswarp. freeze it to audio and use that as a wav in sampler. nice for retriggering and edits/cuts.

[Wunjo]

resampling as well. so you've got a bit of complex highly automated basswarp. freeze it to audio and use that as a wav in sampler. nice for retriggering and edits/cuts.

This works really well too. Also you can make extensive use of side-chaining instruments.

[prime_id]

resampling as well. so you've got a bit of complex highly automated basswarp. freeze it to audio and use that as a wav in sampler. nice for retriggering and edits/cuts.

Thanks for all the answers.

Whats your favorite instrument and effect plugins for doing this?.. I have been using massive, but it sometimes get to "digital".

[anybody human]

I think you guys have hit the nail on the head. I haven't listened to a lot of dubstep, but what I have heard just seems like a tremendous amount of clever soft synth automation, bounced to audio and then edited. Interesting point about the layering & eq of bass tracks, that would make perfect sense as well. This probably helps with the crispy-ness and width, as you can apply distortion and widening effects like short delay or chorus to the different frequency layers of bass.

[anybody human]

Joker even has a song called Digidesign. Obviously this stuff can be done well in any music program, but it perhaps speaks to the amount of time he spends automating and editing in his DAW. There are some good video tutorials out there on layering bass in Live.

[Wunjo]

Some of the best tutorials i've seen on the subject are by DjVespers. Look him up on youtube and visit his site. He's go in depth and he definetely has the credentials to be showing you the way.