Music production is the method behind every track in your library.
It covers each part in the creation of a song from writing to the final master.
In this article I’ll undergo every part you need to know to understand the basics of music production and get began as a music producer. Continue reading →
The two most essential aspects of sound in mixing are dynamic range and frequency balance.
In terms of controlling frequencies in your mix, EQ is your main tool.
However, once you dial in your dynamics there are more options—gates, expanders, compressors, and limiters.
Of these four, limiters are maybe the least effectively understood.
In this article, we’ll explain what a limiter is, the way it’s different from a compressor, and how to use limiters in your tracks.
Let’s get started.
A limiter is a hardware or software audio processor that stops a signal from increasing in loudness above a set threshold.
You may think of a limiter like a compressor with an extremely high ratio—∞:1 to be exact!
I’ll go over the basics in this article however if you need a refresher on compressors and dynamic range. Let’s take a look at a guide to audio compression from LANDR.
Looking at the graph for a limiter you may see how the two types are related:
Because the ratio increases, so do the amount of gain reduction that happens when the input signal passes the threshold.
Where a compressor would only attenuate the signal above the threshold, the limiter won’t let any material through.
Compressors typically have ratio settings of 1.5:1-10:1, however, true limiters always have the same ratio of ∞:1.
Compressors typically have ratio settings of 1.5:1-10:1, however, true limiters always have the same ratio of ∞:1.
Limiters feature similar controls to many compressors.
The threshold sets the level where the limiter will begin work. Bring this down until the limiter begins stopping the signal where you want it.
The attack and release settings control the timing of the gain reduction—how fast or slow it comes in or out.
Slow attack times mean the limiter will kick in more gradually, letting more of the initial transient of the sound through.
Fast attack settings sound aggressive and clamp down on the signal almost immediately.
Fast release settings bring the gain reduction out quickly after the signal decreases below the threshold. This can improve the feel of rhythmic material when set correctly, however, it creates an unnatural pumping sound in case you’re not careful.
Slower release times gradually ease off on the gain reduction and can sound more transparent.
Limiters sometimes include a knee control that makes the onset of the limiting more gradual. However, that is less common since most of the time you’ll be using a limiter to stop a signal in its tracks.
Finally, since their impact can be so extreme, limiters often feature a lookahead control that allows them to close down on the signal a few milliseconds before the transient.
This can help when fast attack times sound unnatural however you still need to limit the earliest moments of a signal.
Limiters can be used in any situation where you want to cap the intensity of a signal at a defined level.
For instance, they can work effectively on percussion in situations where some hits are much louder than others and need to be tightly controlled.
This may happen on vocals as well if the singer’s style is extremely dynamic. Try using a limiter if other methods like automation or clip gain aren’t working.
Some engineers use analog limiters or DSP limiters while tracking to ensure that stray peaks don’t clip the recording medium. That is much less common with the high headroom available in digital recording.
Avoid limiting on the way in unless you’re extremely confident with your gear or you’re recording a highly dynamic source.
Probably the most common use for limiters is on the master bus of your entire mix.
Some producers do this in every session, however, the practice is pretty controversial. Here’s why.
Adding plugins to your master bus can create sweeping changes in your mix very quickly.
That is completely fine if you’re only adding a band or two of EQ to sweeten the mix or a few dB of gentle compression for extra weight.
Any master bus processing like this that gets you closer to the feel and character you want for your track shouldn’t cause any problems.
However, as soon as you cross over into huge changes like limiting, you can do real damage.
A limiter is a very aggressive way of reducing the dynamic range of a signal. Once you flatten those dynamics, you’ll never get them back.
A limiter is a very aggressive way of reducing the dynamic range of a signal. Once you flatten those dynamics, you’ll never get them back.
And many limiters are designed to trade those dynamics for an extra level at the output. In any case, the less dynamic the signal, the closer to the available max you can push it.
This is a method that limiters work during the mastering process. However, using limiting to reduce dynamic range and boost levels during your mix is always a bad idea.
The tools used in the mastering process are much better equipped to take care of this delicate job of raising levels and turning headroom into raw volume.
If you limit your mix so hard that there’s nowhere left to go, there won’t be any space for the mastering processors to work their magic.
If you limit your mix so hard that there’s nowhere left to go, there won’t be any space for the mastering processors to work their magic.
And once you get close to the maximum like this, other issues come out of the woodwork too.
Does your limiter handle inter-sample peaks correctly? Does it have effective oversampling to deal with aliasing and lookahead? What about pre-ringing?
These issues are complex and technical however you can avoid them completely by skipping the limiter on the master bus.
Limiters are just like another tool in music production. They play an essential role in an excellent mix when used properly.
Now that you know how limiters work and once they’re wanted in a mix. Get back to your DAW and keep producing.
In this article, we will go through how to make a Lo-fi beat with AI with example from LANDR – one of the huge musical sources. We will come back with using Selector – the world’s first AI sample recommendation tool.
We will start this session with a jazzy guitar lick from a sample pack known as Lo-fi Melodics on LANDR.
This sample is one of the 10 best lo-fi sample packs according to an analysis on LANDR for an article.
This one stuck out to us for its quick runs and jazzy chords.
The lo-fi texture of the sample inspired us, It should be the place where you should begin building a beat.
So, in this session, we will use Selector to help us discover the loops I need to construct a lo-fi beat that complements this starter loop.
We’ll put Selector to the test and see what loops AI suggests we use in our beat.
At the end of the article, you may hear the final product!
We’ll put Selector to the test and see what loops AI suggests we use in my beat.
Since we began with a guitar loop, the following thing the track needs is a percussive element to drive the beat along.
To complement the higher frequencies in the guitar loops we will discover a hi-hat loop to get the high end of the percussive elements in my beat started.
We put a hi-hats only filter on the Selector results from our starter loop and wound up with about two pages of samples.
We put a hi-hats only filter on the Selector results from my starter loop and wound up with about two pages of samples.
After going through pretty much all of them we finally settled on this washy sounding loop that seems to incorporate sidechaining and reversing effects.
It’s not your typical hi-hat sound, however, that’s kind of what I like about it!
The hi-hat loop has enough rhythm to drive the track along and the sound complements the lo-fi elements in the starter loop.
Alright, we have half a drum kit and a guitar loop to play within my DAW.
Now it’s time to add kick and snare.
We hit the Selector button on my hi-hat loop however this time we filtered the results pages for just kick and snare.
Again, the Selector returns about two pages of kick and snare loops.
Sifting through the loops we settled on this bottom loop because it leans into that classic lo-fi sound.
Aside from the crunchy and subdued sound of the kick and snare, I like the rhythm itself.
The loop uses that classic minimal R&B rhythm inspired micro delayed MPC style quantization that was pioneered by beat-making legends like J Dilla.
You hear in a lot of lo-fi beats today too.
The result is pretty satisfying once I put it in my DAW.
Alright, we have a full kit going and it complements our loop pretty well.
Now it’s time to roll the dice a little bit and try to discover something in the low end to complement our guitar track.
To complement our guitar loop we may put a bass guitar filter on our Selector results.
To complement our guitar loop we put a bass guitar filter on our Selector results.
Nice, we get about 26 bass loops on our Selector session.
I’m looking for something that matches both the melodic and rhythmic elements of our guitar loop and two of those samples from the Opium Lounge works best.
The bass guitar loops are both in the same key and they seem to use the same tone.
I like how the bass in these loops have funky long and short notes that may line up with the chord hits and runs in our guitar loop once we chop them up in Ableton.
What drew us to the loops in the first place is their tone. Somehow they both remind me of funk and jazz bass legend Jaco Pastorius’ tone.
Jaco’s track A Portrait of Tracy comes to mind in particular.
The bass loops come in A# minor, so once we throw it in my DAW we will have to transpose them down a couple of steps to match the guitar in D minor.
They match okay however we will need to spend some time tweaking the bass loops to make them suit the guitar track a little bit better.
It might sound counterintuitive, however, sometimes putting limitations on yourself can help with sparking creativity in your songwriting.
I this case we limited ourselves to using only the recommendations that an AI tool gave.
It was pretty fun to work with these limitations and I think it produced an interesting result.
To finish our beat we will do a little bit of arranging, EQ, and sidechaining in my DAW.
Plus you can master your track once you bounce the final version.
There’s nothing better than finding the perfect samples for your track.
However, scrolling aimlessly through random sample packs using text-based search is boring and barely ever works.
Selector is the brand new AI tool that allows you to discover the suitable samples faster.
A selector is your crate-digging companion and your guide to the millions of samples now available on the Internet. We recommend you to check this source – LANDR Samples.
In this article, we will show you use Selector to find the right samples that compliment each other perfectly—and use them in your production.
Mastering is the crucial and final step in the music production process.
It’s the part where your track gets its last polish and presentation for release.
However, mastering isn’t just an extension of the mix. And it’s much more than window dressing.
Mastering plays an important role in your listener’s experience—in more ways than you may think.
In this article, we will explore the top 5 reasons mastering is crucial to how we listen to music today.
In case you’re on the fence about whether to master your track before people listen to it, this guide will explain why skipping mastering is a mistake.
Let’s jump right into!
You can find inspiration and routine are completely different. However, they don’t have to be.
In reality, to make a creative product as a musician, working regularly in an inspired and exploratory is the best choice for you.
Each musician works in another way in terms of making music, however, we’re all better off creating and refining our work as often as possible.
Discovering real inspiration in your day-to-day musical routine is the only strategy to create consistency and passion.
Here is how you build a songwriting routine to find inspiration for your music career.
There are some times in life, you will find it hard to create and perform music, even for musicians who do that job for their living.
If you’ve ever been in this situation, it should not feel bad about it. Sometimes, it’s normal to be disconnected from creative work and motivation.
Make music long enough and you’re bound to wander through creative deserts now and then.
Some musicians feel frustrated to find audiences for their music.
For whatever reason, some people can’t feel the same inspirational passion that used to fuel their music.
If you believe that inspiration is something that magically appears out of nowhere, feeling creatively stuck can be especially frustrating.
Luckily, this mindset only tells one part of the story.
Here are three great strategies that help you to take meaningful musical motivation back into your life.
In the previous part of this series, we have known what a song hook is and how to write a catchy hook for a song. Here in this part, let’s check out 6 interesting ideas to create catchier song hooks.
There’s a ton of inspiration and interesting ideas out there for you to create your song hooks.
LANDR took notes from some famous artists then provided us with a list of song hook tips.
Let’s check it out!
Have you ever found hummed to yourself a song that you heard years ago? That song has a catchy hook.
Writing hooks for your song is essential.
Your audience is listening to your song for one. Then they won’t remember your track if they can’t find anything connected to them in it.
However, which way for you to write something catchy? You should have skill and creativity to make a memorable vocal line or instrumental melody.
In this article, we’ll see how hooks work in music, concepts to keep in mind when you write them. In the next part, we will look at how to show your creative identity while making hooks through 6 ideas.
Let’s dive in!
One of the most important parts of music theory is the time signatures which is a great way to feel the beat.
Time signatures are the first thing a musician looks for on a piece of sheet music before playing a note.
But if you are just a beginner, you may find it difficult to understand what time signatures are.
Understanding what the numbers mean behind the strange fraction-ish looking symbols can be difficult.
