Hey man, I love your posts on the subreddit, I've learned a lot from them. You've covered leads and basses, so I'm wondering if you have any tips/advice on how to correctly do the mid/chord layers in a progressive house drop; any EQ/layering tips you might have to fill up the mid section of the drop without muddying up the mix and covering up the other elements, etc... Thanks!
MIDS: this is the cohesive element you put above the bass, but below the leads. They don’t necessarily make or break your track however, I often hear tracks that are catchy, and have all the right things going but sound a bit thin. This is usually due to a lack of mids between the bass and the leads. This phenomenon is pronounced in alesso style progressive house. Today we will talk about mids in general, universal for any genre.
Position – Mids need to be SUPER wide to the max. This is bc it’s the first stereo element above your mono, or bass section. I prefer wide saws, with less reverb but more width. The width right above the bassline creates the illusion of both the bass, and the leads being wider, and fuller than it really is. My go to for layers, is custom banks in sylenth1, as well as a bank called samplestar mainroom. I still use nexus as well for single layers. Use the s1 from waves or free A1 to spread the stereo image. If your skilled and can use reverb, this means less spread or = phase. So if you dig a sound with verb, your verb chain on the channel should be audio fx rack with 1 channel dry, 1 wet (turn vol up/down for wet dry effect), followed by plate reverb w short decay, followed EQ by HPF at 100hz, followed by sidechain, followed by waves center, and pull the center out of the verb leaving only the sides. Heres a template
https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/4w0hgo/free_ableton_insert_reverb_rack_for_you_guys/
Octave – This is track dependent meaning its never the same. However I preferably like 1 below the lead, which I usually 1 above the bass. The option to use chords is up to you, sometimes in future bass I will start with 1 note on the mids, and later add a second note which isn’t always the same note, It creates harmonies when you do this. Subtle change leads to big result.
EQ- No matter what the mids should be HPF 100-120hz, and LPF 16k. Where you boost and cut is up to you, im not a big surgical guy, I prefer BETTER sounds to begin with, and I boost and cut accordingly, there is no specific. Just take a look at your master spectrum or eq and see where your mids are, most likely the gap between your low and the leads. Notch that part up, you can adjust the LPF down, dip where you start to notice imbalance with the leads. Its not a competition, the leads are 1st, and the mids go under. The fact* their wider gets them noticed.
Processing - I put these guys right in there with my leads bus with no additional compression on the channel itself, only whatever is on the leads bus. However if I layer my bass with a stereo bass, I will leave the stereo bass in the bass group, and still keep the mids with the leads. This isn’t a golden rule, its just how I prefer to do it.
Sidechain – this shoud be just like your bass sidechain in progressive, or your leads in a future bass style track. Make sure with your mids you adjust the ADSR to be the same on EVERYTHING, this is highly noticeable when its not in unison and can sound sloppy, when your really comfortable you can maybe sync the rel on different elements to be however you want them.
This is basic, but so are mids, this is basic theory on how to set up SIMPLE additions to your track to make it full, powerful, and more sonically pleasing.
Hope this helps.
-TR
Submitted November 02, 2017 at 01:05AM by TurntReynolds https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/7a94z9/hi_edm_prod_here_is_how_to_set_up_your_mids/?utm_source=ifttt