Hints: Producing professional tunes with OMT

Poser · September 13, 2006, 16:46:28

Hi trackers,

how about collecting some hints to produce more "professionally" with OMT?

My two important hints for this are:

1) Don't use the internal EQ/Stereo/BassBoost!
Why? Because those settings are used for ALL samples and the sound is not "flat" to mix it...

2) Add an EQ-Plugin for every channel and route them to Chorus/Reverb/Delay/...
Why? So you can mix every single channel to sound perfect.

MisterX · September 13, 2006, 17:49:13

3) Drop the "old skool" mentality that tracked files should be small, since you will not be distributing your song as a tracked file anyway. Use the *.ITI format to keep your source file small, and don't worry about using large, high-quality Instruments.

4) Use the Instrument Tree to solo/mute Instruments or groups of Instruments and use the "Save As WAV" to create separate WAV files for each Instrument group.

5) Use a multitrack WAV editor to apply effects to each separate WAV, as well as to adjust panning and volume levels. Use MPT more as an instrument and less as a mixing/mastering studio. Treat your WAV files exported from MPT as raw recordings and clean them up in a program that is designed for that purpose.

anboi · September 13, 2006, 17:59:05

i'd say that using an eq for every channel is overkill - use a wee bit where needed but its much more cpu saving and sensible to use one on VSTis and VSTs to tweak the bits that they change in an undesireable fashion and to individually EQ samples that have glaring flaws - like bass in the high hats and so forth.

my top tip is reverb! get the best possible quality one you can find and use maybe 2 or 3 tops to give different groups of instruments and drums their own space. getting around modplugs greatest flaw - not being able to mix the amount being sent to a plugin per channel - will take a couple more instances of the reverb plugin but keep the settings the same except for the wet/dry mix so you can keep the space the same but move the distance for a more full and 'realistic' sound.
i tend to use one reverb on all the drums with different amounts of wet singal depending on the drum - little on the bass, lots on the snare, a wee bit on the high hats etc. i then use a more spacious reverb for synthy chords and parts that i want to feel slightly more distant. i then sometimes also use a third more subtle reverb on the main lead instrument. do what sounds good and remember to keep reverb use subtle (in general! sometimes its cool to go nuts!).

keep spacing in mind a lot and remember that it sounds kind of silly to have drums, keyboard and vocals all coming from the same virtual spot - imagine the chaos if trying that in real life! some subtle panning of instruments is also good here, sometimes i like to use non-realistic stuff like having highhats come from different sides, but i mostly stick to convention - bass in the centre, snare in the centre (often with a spacious reverb) and high hats and toms etc. panned a little bit to either side. i find it handy to imagine a real space when mixing a tune and placing the main different parts in their own areas.
keeping the bass mono and in the centre is also sensible if you are cutting stuff to vinyl - stereo bass can't be cut loud or reproduced well.
hope thats of use to someone - of course this is mostly my opinion but you can check out my stuff and if its like what you want to achieve then thats the basics of how i do it.

Matt Hartman · September 22, 2006, 03:30:49

It generally helps to have some confident song writing ability and self motivation as well.

You don't have to measure yourself against other people's abilities.
You just have to be completely honest in your efforts to create music that honestly satisfies you first. Even if that means putting yourself out there and being open to humiliation.

Any kind of happiness starts with yourself. It took me a very long time to learn that and even now I sometimes struggle with it. Self doubt is the greatest act of inner decay, it can devour you.

Yet, under the fold of humble confidence, professionalism takes on a true meaning. The rest simply follows.

LPChip · September 22, 2006, 07:23:36

One of the best hints I guess: It takes alot of time and experience to become good. So don't think that if you started to track a week ago, that you can be good. Be honest about that. If you say: Yeah guys, I'm the best cus I tracked for a week now, or a month, or a year, people will laugh at you. I track for 14 years now, and I still see ways where I can improve myself.

XAVT · September 25, 2006, 21:58:49

Quote from: "LPChip"I track for 14 years now, and I still see ways where I can improve myself.

I see them too.
And its "I still see ways to improve myself".

speed-goddamn-focus · October 05, 2006, 08:59:17

Quote from: "alpharomeo81"Excuse my ignorance, what is OMT?

Open Modplug Tracker I guess, even if it's more often called OpenMPT.

LPChip · October 05, 2006, 11:09:15

Quote from: "speed-goddamn-focus"
Quote from: "alpharomeo81"Excuse my ignorance, what is OMT?

Open Modplug Tracker I guess, even if it's more often called OpenMPT.

AlphaRomeo81 has been banned as it has been identified as a clever spambot.

KrazyKatz · October 05, 2006, 11:13:54

Quote5) Use a multitrack WAV editor to apply effects to each separate WAV, as well as to adjust panning and volume levels. Use MPT more as an instrument and less as a mixing/mastering studio. Treat your WAV files exported from MPT as raw recordings and clean them up in a program that is designed for that purpose.

What programs are reccomended for Multi-track wav editing?

MisterX · October 05, 2006, 19:51:26

Quote from: "KrazyKatz"What programs are reccomended for Multi-track wav editing?

While the best are WaveLab and Cool Edit Pro (IMHO), they are far from free, so maybe the following can help you find a program:

http://www.modplug.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?Terms=Multitrack+WAV+Editor

speed-goddamn-focus · October 06, 2006, 08:29:05

Quote from: "LPChip"
Quote from: "speed-goddamn-focus"
Quote from: "alpharomeo81"Excuse my ignorance, what is OMT?

Open Modplug Tracker I guess, even if it's more often called OpenMPT.
AlphaRomeo81 has been banned as it has been identified as a clever spambot.

No he isn't, it's AR81 from the old modplug site... he's the guy in Costa Rica teaching tracking to kids and he just posted a tutorial for making music with MPT for Orbiter the space flight simulator... Why would a spambot do that?

LPChip · October 06, 2006, 08:36:00

Are you serious? :shock:

Oh god... He made a post which was looking like a spambot, so I removed those posts... :oops:

I'll unban him immediatelly...

speed-goddamn-focus · October 06, 2006, 09:06:44

Quote from: "LPChip"Are you serious? :shock:

I know it's rare, but yes I am.

LPChip · October 06, 2006, 11:04:39

Quote from: "speed-goddamn-focus"
Quote from: "LPChip"Are you serious? :shock:
I know it's rare, but yes I am.

Thanks for the headup m8. I feel terrible for how I acted... Hopefully AR81 isn't mad...

speed-goddamn-focus · October 06, 2006, 12:58:05

Quote from: "LPChip"
Quote from: "speed-goddamn-focus"
Quote from: "LPChip"Are you serious? :shock:
I know it's rare, but yes I am.

Thanks for the headup m8. I feel terrible for how I acted... Hopefully AR81 isn't mad...

Well, at least you accused him of being a clever spambot, so it could be worse