10 Hip Hop Production Tricks You Should Know About
Summary
TLDRIn this engaging video, music producers David and Robert from Barrows the Sun share 10 essential hip-hop mixing and production tricks. They demonstrate techniques to enhance drums, bass, synths, and vocals, using plugins like Torque, parallel compression, and the EMI TG12345 channel strip. The session includes creative effects with snapshot sequencers and panning, as well as tips for noise suppression and vocal layering, culminating in a professional mix with Waves' IAP pusher on the master bus.
Takeaways
- 🎙️ The video features David and Robert Sun, a music production duo known as 'Barrows the Sun', sharing their mixing and production techniques.
- 🔊 They demonstrate how to enhance drum sounds using a 'torque drum tone shifter' plugin, focusing on the threshold and torque control to tighten up the sound.
- 🥁 The duo uses parallel compression to add punch and aggression to the drum mix, utilizing a famous channel strip from the 60s and 70s for a vintage effect.
- 🎹 They showcase creating bass sounds with an element virtual analog synth and adding ornamentation to keyboard parts by converting audio to MIDI for variation.
- 🎼 To add color to the music, they use a snapshot sequencer to manipulate a sound in real-time, creating a psychedelic effect with delay and pitch modulation.
- 🎤 For vocal processing, they use the 'CLA MixUp' channel strip to emulate the sound of Chris Lord-Alge's custom SSL 4k desk for a polished vocal tone.
- 🔁 They explain how to use an automatic double tracker and a pitch bender to create a fuller vocal sound, simulating multiple singers.
- 🔊 To manage background noise, they introduce the 'NS1 Noise Suppressor' plugin, which simplifies the process of reducing unwanted noise with a single fader.
- 🎶 For creative vocal effects, they use a 'ducking delay' technique combined with a compressor to ensure the delay does not interfere with the vocal clarity.
- 🎧 They incorporate panning effects and modulation to add depth and motion to the mix, using plugins like 'Briar Motion' for dynamic movement.
- 📊 Lastly, they apply mastering techniques with the 'I Am Pusher' plugin on the master bus to tighten the overall mix and add a final touch of magic to the track.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video by Barrows the Sun?
-The video focuses on demonstrating various mixing and production techniques for hip-hop music, including the use of plugins and tricks to enhance different elements like drums, bass, and vocals.
How many hip-hop mixing and production tricks are shared in the video?
-The video shares 10 hip-hop mixing and production tricks.
What is the first plugin technique discussed in the video for enhancing the drum sound?
-The first plugin technique discussed is using the Torque Drum Tone Shifter to tighten up the drum sound by focusing on the peaks and adjusting the torque control.
What is parallel compression and how is it used in the video?
-Parallel compression is a technique used to add punch and aggression to the drum sound by blending a heavily compressed version of the drums with the original, unprocessed signal.
Which famous channel strip is used in the video for adding punch to the drums?
-The EMI TG12345 channel strip, which was used in heavy road studios for songs in the 60s and 70s, is used for adding punch to the drums.
What is the purpose of using the Element Virtual Analog Synth in the video?
-The Element Virtual Analog Synth is used to create a wavy and electric sound effect that adds interest and variation to the music track.
How is the MIDI conversion technique used to add ornamentation to the music in the video?
-The audio sample is converted into MIDI to allow for manipulation and variation of the chords, which can then be further processed with effects like the Snapshot Sequencer for a unique sound.
What is the CLA MixUp channel strip used for in the video?
-The CLA MixUp channel strip is used to shape the sound of the vocals, providing a polished and professional tone during the recording process.
How does the video address the issue of background noise in the recording?
-The NS1 Noise Suppressor plugin is used to reduce background noise, such as from an air conditioner, with a simple one-fader adjustment for real-time recording.
What is the purpose of using the Real ADT2 plugin in the video?
-The Real ADT2 plugin is used to create an automatic double tracking effect on the vocals, which thickens the sound and gives the illusion of multiple vocal tracks.
How does the video utilize the I Am Pusher plugin on the master bus?
-The I Am Pusher plugin is used to enhance the overall mix by locking in the lows and adding a final touch of magic to bring the track together.
Outlines
🎙️ Hip-Hop Mixing Techniques & Plugins
In this video, David and Robert from Barrows the Sun demonstrate various mixing and production techniques for hip-hop music. They introduce 10 tricks to enhance elements like drums, bass, and vocals. They utilize plugins such as the Torque Drum Tone Shifter for drum sound enhancement, parallel compression for punch and aggression, and the EMI TG12345 channel strip for a classic studio sound. The duo also shares a link in the description for additional presets and resources.
🎹 Creative Basslines and MIDI Manipulation
The paragraph focuses on creating dynamic basslines and adding ornamentation to music tracks. The artists discuss using a virtual analog synth to generate a wavy, electric sound and then convert the audio into MIDI for further manipulation. They apply a slow-motion FM synth effect for variation and use a snapshot sequencer to create a psychedelic sound texture, enhancing the track with unique sonic elements.
🔊 Vocal Enhancement and Effects Processing
This section delves into techniques for vocal enhancement, including the use of the CLA MixUp channel strip to shape the sound during recording. The artists also explore the use of reverb for a whispering effect and address background noise with the NS1 Noise Suppressor plugin. They experiment with double tracking using the Real ADT plugin and pitch modulation with Mr. Bender for a fuller vocal sound, culminating in a creative vocal arrangement.
🎛️ Advanced Vocal Effects and Mastering Push
The artists apply advanced effects to the vocals, such as the ducking delay technique, which uses a combination of delay, reverb, distortion, and a phaser for a unique sound. They utilize the I Am Pusher mastering plugin on the master bus to tighten the overall mix, focusing on locking in the low frequencies and enhancing the song's impact. The paragraph concludes with a before-and-after comparison of the mix, showcasing the effectiveness of the applied techniques.
🌟 Final Touches and Conclusion
In the final paragraph, the artists make their final adjustments using the I Am Pusher plugin to polish the mix. They listen to the track after applying the changes, highlighting the improvements made to the mix. The paragraph ends with a summary of the 10 hip-hop mixing and production tricks shared in the video and an invitation for viewers to subscribe for more tips and tricks, as well as to visit waves.com for further learning resources.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Decibels
💡Plugins
💡Hip-Hop Mixing
💡Production Tricks
💡Drum Tone Shifter
💡Parallel Compression
💡Virtual Analog Synth
💡MIDI
💡CLA MixUp
💡Sidechain Compression
💡Noise Suppressor
💡Ducking Delay
💡Panning Effects
💡Master Bus
Highlights
Introduction of the video by David and Robert Sun, presenting themselves as 'Barrows the Sun'.
The duo shares 10 hip-hop mixing and production tricks to improve sound quality.
Explanation of using plugins and techniques to enhance drums, bass, sits, and vocals.
Invitation to subscribe and ring the bell for the latest audio production tips and tricks.
Demonstration of using the Torque Drum Tone Shifter plugin to adjust drum sounds.
Technique of parallel compression to add punch and aggression to drum tracks.
Use of the EMI TG12345 channel strip for a classic studio sound from the 60s and 70s.
Creating a unique bass sound with the Element Virtual Analog Synth.
Adding ornamentation to the keys by converting audio into MIDI for variation.
Utilizing the Snapshot Sequencer for creative sound effects.
CLA MixUp channel strip is used to shape vocal sounds during recording.
Overdubbing with whispering and adding reverb for a dimensional effect.
NS1 Noise Suppressor plugin to clean up background noise from recordings.
Using Real ADT2 plugin for automatic double tracking of vocals.
Ducking delay technique with the Mini Mannequin Delay for unique vocal effects.
Briar Motion plugin for panning and motion effects on the delay.
Vocal bender effect to add pitch modulation to the delay.
I Am Pusher plugin on the master bus for a final mix push.
Before and after comparison of the mix to demonstrate the impact of the tricks.
Link in the description for presets and more information on hip-hop mixing and production.
Transcripts
[Music]
we turning up the decibels in digital
i'm moving for my decimals it's critical
spitting letters for psalms these poems
hella quick hand hustle for cash now
watch my pocket
what is up everyone i'm david hey guys
and i'm robert sun and together we are
barrows the sun we're back again in the
studio we got a new track we're working
on so in this video we're going to show
you some of the plugins and tricks that
we use to make it sound better and along
the way we're going to give you 10
hip-hop mixing and production tricks
that you should know about we're going
to use the tricks to improve things like
the drums
[Music]
the bass
some sits
of course we're going to do some vocals
definitely
i'm also gonna hit you guys with some of
the priestess that you see in this video
so make sure you check the link in the
description below that's right now
before we get started make sure you take
half a second subscribe hit that
subscribe button and ring that bell to
keep up with the latest news tips tricks
and more
from waze audio now that we got that out
the way you ready to go to work i'm
ready to go you ready i'm ready let's
get it
i don't know let me hear those drums
again bro all right here you go check it
out
[Music]
they don't have enough ah that's what
we're gonna do we're gonna torque it up
torque drum tone shifter the first thing
you do with this plug-in is check the
threshold we want to make sure that that
kick is hidden in the yellow
so we got a hidden yellow right there
all right next thing is you saw those
peaks come up what we're gonna do is
we're gonna focus in on one of those
peaks okay and that's where we're gonna
make this shift right all right
we're gonna hit it at 140. next thing to
do with the main torque control down
here okay check this out
[Music]
right there you like that right a suite
right there same process on the snare
you want to do these jumps right of
course so we're going to slide in on
those peaks
and then hit the torque knob and and
tighten it up exactly check this out
and then just bring it down
i like it right there okay i like that
all right and all we're going to do is i
want to give it a little more boom we
just bring up the torque trim like this
check it out
all right let's get the whole thing back
with torque can we hear the difference
all right definitely
[Music]
now with torque
[Music]
still missing a little ingredient oh we
need some i feel like it needs a bit
more punch and aggression to it like
it's a bit
just too clean yeah exactly all right
we're gonna use a technique called
parallel compression all right so i've
got all the drums grouped together here
in yellow on this drums group we're
gonna insert a new return
first thing i'll do is bring this all
the way up to unity
it game
send it in hot top now down on the new
return let's just call this uh
parallel all right that's the parallel
drums right there and on this we're
gonna insert the famous emi tg12345
famous channel strip housed at heavy
road studios now any song that came out
of that studio in the 60s and 70s he was
running out of this it's running out of
this we're gonna slam it okay we're
gonna smash it let's do it we're gonna
make it angry check this out first thing
i'll do is i'll change the routing to
first hit the dynamics hit that
compressor first all right i'm going to
keep all these settings as they are but
i am going to switch the limiter okay
take a listen to what happens when i do
that let's solo the bus
check this out
[Music]
you see that
next thing we're gonna do we're going to
bring the input so that it clips going
in and then we're going to reduce the
volume going out just to match the gain
[Music]
let me see we're clipping it's just all
red right there that's what you want
though that's what i want all right last
thing we'll do is we'll bring up the
drive okay
[Music]
it's heavy huh it's like a nasty bag of
crunch and punch right there making it
angry we're making angry the last thing
we're gonna do is blend the grimy with
the original and that's parallel drums
check this out i want to bring that up
slowly as i play back the original and
you're going to hear it start to start
to come alive
[Music]
got that extra bit of heaviness an extra
bit of aggression yo bruh yo every track
needs bass right definitely i was
thinking about doing something like wavy
and electric to this
and gliding
something warping something sliding and
whatnot i got this patch i created with
the element virtual analog synth
something check this out go like
i'm just going to record it in real time
see what happens all right let's go
there's no better way to do it right
let's go
[Music]
okay bruh so we gotta talk to me talk
about your keys rocking right we got em
[Music]
now what can we do to give it some
decoration a little ornamentation you
know give it some color i see it's
getting kind of boring playing the same
sample the whole time now you can do
this in pretty much any daw we're going
to convert the audio into midi we're
going to highlight the sample right
click and then we're going to do convert
harmony
to new midi track it's going to do its
thing and boom get new midi chords just
like that now if you take a look
sometimes you get these ghost notes you
know it's not 100 perfect yeah but you
can just clean those out and keep the
body it's pretty damn close so we'll
just get rid of these ghost notes right
here we'll solo it and we get this
same clean chords
all right now what we're gonna do is
take it a step further and put slow
motion fm synth on it okay yeah all
right man so we got this sound went
through the presets we came across this
it's called ml calypso okay it sounds a
little bit like this
[Music]
butterfly in the sky kind of vibe you
know what i mean exactly i'm gonna chop
it up a little bit
give it a little variation so let's do
that so real quick let's do a little
chopparoo just to variate you know what
i mean yeah give us some difference just
like that so we did the chop consolidate
that together okay and we get basically
this
but we ain't done yet okay we got the
snapshot sequencer down here i'm gonna
trip this sound out i'm gonna take the
snapshot sequencer let's drag out all 16
steps
next thing to do
is take that same sound
copy paste off and now that sound is
pretty much laid out
all the way across on every single step
now what i want to do i want to get
psychedelic with it you ready let's go
watch as i play with the delay the
snapshot sequence is going to capture
every motion i do in real time
[Music]
i'm saying psychedelic bro all right man
let's get to these vocals dude let's do
that all right so we're gonna take it
from the top of the first verse okay and
what i'm gonna have you do is go through
one of my favorite channel strips
cla mix up right here basically it it's
a model perfectly of chris lord algae's
custom ssl 4k desk okay and you're going
to love this sound i'm going to shape
all the sound for your vocals
while you record that verse you ready
let's go let's give it a minute
bubba water cooking a jar a lot of y'all
was leaning now it's back to the bar
star raindrop hits while we breaking the
law sad chips burn mix while we counting
the cards
we turning up the decibels in digital
i'm moving for my decimals is spitting
letters for psalms these poems hell and
quick hand hustle for cash now watch my
pocket we're doing another stack all
right all right this time i want to have
you do a little overdub but this time i
want you to whisper it all right i'm
going to insert a reverb i'm going to go
with the manny reverb real quick and
then
what's great about this plugin is you
can rearrange the order within the strip
itself just like that so i'm gonna put
the reverb first so you get that nice
vibe to it just to give it that
dimension all right i'm good you ready
yeah let's go let's hit
a it water cooking a jar a lot of y'all
was leaning i was back to the bar star
rain drop hits while breaking the law
sack chips burn mix while we counting
the cards
we turning up the decimals in digital
i'm moving for my decimals is critical
i noticed when you turned up the game
we're getting a lot of background noise
especially for that noise from the air
conditioner right there yeah you caught
me man yeah and we need to clean that up
though we can do this real quick got
this plug in the ns1 noise suppressor
all right it's basically one fader you
can't get any simpler than this plug-in
right here one fader you turn it up
listen to the noise
i got you super low latency one fader
like i said okay we can record in real
time let's do a tape let's hit it
and i guess it's okay for those who
throw shade i'm blessed to be made
that's just the way it go your best to
get paid was stuck in this maze
illustrious craze yeah don't hear me
doubt all right man let's keep going
with these vocals sir let's keep it
working so what we need to do is we need
to double up with some accents okay so
you want to do a double double or
something i got the real adt plug in
here all right and basically it's an
automatic double tracker so i spit one
and it gives you two it's gonna give us
a different sound compared to when you
do two together i'm gonna show you why
you ready all right i'm ready
and i guess it's
[Music]
what we're gonna do this time is gonna
use another component of real adt real
adt to v so basically okay in addition
to that we've got our old fan vocal
bender mr bender that's right we're
gonna thicken your vocals up just put a
little modulation on the pitch and form
it
and that's gonna make it sound like
there's two of you okay and then when we
put the real adt2v on top it's gonna
sound like three at one hopefully get my
fingers crossed you ready all right
let's go
it's a dollar for a dollar cut the check
get the money and the power in respect
[Music]
i like that so yeah i think we need some
more echo all right we're going to use a
technique i like called ducking delay
what we're going to do is we're gonna
set up another return aux and let's call
this aux duck
delay
okay
and on the first plugin on this ducking
delay send that we just created it look
like you're pulling up the manny on it
pull up the mini right mini mannequin
delay and why i like this delay because
it's a delay and then something you get
a delay but you also got the verb down
here you got some distortion doubler
phaser this is what's going to make the
delay sound unique um
yeah you don't just want to go stock you
know what i mean so then we got the
delay and the second and the most
important step is the compressor we're
gonna go with a simple compressor the r
or the renaissance compressor first
thing you do is sidechain that sidechain
it to the lead so you go in here select
the main
which is the lead like that okay all
right and then what we're gonna do is
this is gonna crush it's gonna slam the
delay okay when you're spitting it when
you're not it's gonna come in between
and
pop out and so now when you spit on that
hook the delay is not gonna get in the
way and it'll only pop out when i'm not
spitting only so let's get wet in the
hook you ready let's go
i'm dripping i'm dripping i'm dripping
i'm dripping drip
[Music]
let's keep going with the hook okay so
what you want to do yeah i want to get a
little trippy this is what we're going
to do
i'm going to have you do this stack i'm
going to put some ill panning effects on
it okay i've got the briar motion
plug-in on it and what this basically is
is a whole world of panning depth and
motion effects to give it some dimension
i'm gonna put this on that ducking delay
bus we created okay all right i'm gonna
put this on after the compressor and
what that's going to do is going to make
the delay
go back and forth and back and forth i
got it all right
take it from the hook yes sir
[Music]
we're going to take it a step further
now we're going to bring back our old
friend vocal
bender that's right you remember him yes
sir we're going to pitch that effect so
every time it delays back and forth i
want it to pitch up and down so we're
going to do we're going to draw in a
little slope like this
a little slope right there
i mean all right and then we're gonna
take this mod put it on the pitch
undeform it bring that mod all the way
up
all right so now when i play it back
with bra motion okay
we get this tripped out pitch effect
check it out
[Music]
[Music]
i feel like
at this point yeah we need to give it a
big push dash of magic in there just to
yeah that's funny you're saying that you
knew you seen this what i had on the
master bus already what she got there i
am pusher
okay you got i am pushing here just a
few knobs you turn those up and you get
exactly what you need fast okay so let
me hit the fields man first thing we're
gonna do is lock the lows in okay to e
cause that's where the song is at all
right let's bring up the lows you ready
check this out
bubba water cooking a jaw a lot of y'all
was leaning i was back to the bar star
rain drop hits while we break
[Music]
[Music]
get the magic
[Music]
this push is going to bring the overall
thing up all together okay so check this
out i'll put it up
and i guess it's okay but those who
throw shade i'm blessed to be made
that's just the way it goes your best to
get paid we're stuck in this maze
illustrious
all right so we made our adjustments
with the i am pusher on the final mix
let's take a listen to the before and
after you ready let's check the work man
money trees drop leaves in a stiff
breeze immediately got sleeves like the
pip please expertise in this art no
my way swayed like the seven seas
trapping cheese and i'm back on the
course almost touching the source like a
sick with the force killing with no
remorse
[Music]
there you go guys 10 hip-hop mixing and
production tricks you should definitely
know about well we hope you guys had fun
i know i enjoyed myself indeed i had a
lot of fun too we added a ton of
creativity to it we got the tracks on it
better and definitely we kept it flowing
the whole time smooth
deep make sure you guys check the link
in the description below because we left
you with some of the presets that you
just saw in this video and to learn even
more hip-hop mixing and production
tricks
head over to waves.com
hip-hop definitely check that out before
you head over there hit that subscribe
button make sure you subscribe ring that
bell to keep up with the latest news
tips tricks and more from waves audio
until next time
thank you for watching
[Music]
you
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