Drum n Bass Mixers/Masterers (do you spell it that way?)

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lofi

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
852
Location
Bolton, UK,
got a friend doing some of this stuff but looking to go out for some external influence (she knows theres problems in the work with the EQ's etc, but is too close to it to sit back and listen to the big picture.

then when the tracks mixed she wants some mastering done...

so i am looking for people to give here details of. i dont know all of the details, just looking to give her a set of emither addresses and deal direct with you
 
Some of the (old) Optical & Ed Rush and Matrix stuff is mixed very, very good. I'm not very much into drum and bass at the moment but I guess the newer stuff is also very good. Somehow, when looking at all "electronic" music I've heart so far, I think that the "mixing" of drum and bass (espacially those guys mentioned) has impressed me the most.
 
the bit that interests me in this one is that she plays the drums live :shock: did a gig in our local 'venue' last night and it was very good (if this stuff swings your boat).

i will deff pass your details onto her Viitalahde
 
just picked my mail up, will pass you details stright on!! but dont worry, its not a race, we all have real lives :grin:
 
You could try Jason at Transition Mastering in London. I know he does a lot of that and Dub Step ect.. He cuts lacquers too.
 
Great, I've been wanting to mix someone else's work for some time now. :thumb:
Do you have a link where we can listen to this project?
 
there all on drugs!!!

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Sigh...
 
I might suggest she looks to get advice from people involved directly with DnB. Maybe there are som useful forums with contacts there. Off the top of my head, people involved with the production of records by Krust or Roni Size might be a start with respect to "real" drums. Otherwise, any other of the big guns. It probably also depends slightly if you are wanting to go for jump-up or somthing a bit more relaxed.
 
Jaakko, Paul, Roddy etc - all good suggestions/advice.

Might want to look at this place, in Bristol - the heart of DnB.
Relatively new - can cut vinyl too.

Engineers there have worked with the likes of LTJ Bukem and Makoto - who often have 'real drums' in their material.

http://www.optimum-mastering.com/

-T
 
[quote author="TomWaterman"]http://www.optimum-mastering.com/
[/quote]

That's a nice looking room. Recording Architecture has a strong look to their rooms but I happen to like it unlike most boring corporate style rooms.

I wonder if that lathe came from Masterfonics in Nashville? Tom, do you know them? If the ground trace on the back plane has been cut in half it would be a tell tale sign. I know those lathes had a lot of subtle but useful mods done.
 
Having worked with a few DnB producers over the years - in my experience - where you get it mastered is the absolute least of your worries. Someone who makes authentic DnB, say Dj Krust, could get his material mastered by the classical guy @ Abbey Rd and it would still set the floors at the DnB clubs alight.

The biggest concern I would have is that of making the DnB 'authentic', i.e. so it doesn't sound like DnB made by someone who's from a Pop or Techno background - this is easier said than done.

Someone who's really into DnB culture, if they're articulate, and even if they're highly non-technical, will be able to instruct the engineers they work with as to what kind of sound they should be aiming for, playing examples if necessary.

In my experience, the biggest issue will be how well this person can articulate what they want.

Your biggest worry is that which I highlighted earlier IMHO - you want 'authentic DnB' - NOT an inaccurate impersonation of DnB.

I do not believe that anyone who is not fully immersed in DnB culture, i.e. frequents the clubs and listens to the radio shows fanatically, is likely to make 'authentic' DnB - it might be interesting music in its own right, but authentic it won't be.

There are a lot of tricks known to the DnB producer. Unless you have someone kind enough to show you them, you'll need a lot of dedication to work them out for yourself.

Not trying to pour water on anyone's fire here - but understand that, if you do not live and breath DnB, the chances are that you won't make authentic DnB. There are exceptions, i.e. the 'chameleons', who are able to get into the mindset of any genre, but these people are rare and often very successful / expensive.

8-bit and 12-bit sampling is your friend. Sherman filterbanks are also handy for DnB. Don't view the production process at DNA level too much - it can pay to deliberately look at the bigger picture and employ a rough-and-ready approach. Being anally retentive with a drum grid rarely makes good DnB - you'd be better off sampling all the drums as loops and playing around with start / end / general triggering / on-beat / off-beat etc.

Justin
 
If your friend hasn't been onto www.dogsonacid.com then it's probably worth her having a look on there in the first instance. It's a D&B only forum populated by well known and bedroom producers as well as general D&B heads. It'd be a good place to start to make some contacts / ask some questions I reckon.

Also, there's a subforum - 'the grid' which deals specifically with D&B production. There are some absolutely cracking threads on there. One word of warning though- they are pretty fierce when it somes to newbies asking questions that they perceive to be daft :wink:
 
[quote author="Gold"]Tom, do you know them? If the ground trace on the back plane has been cut in half it would be a tell tale sign. I know those lathes had a lot of subtle but useful mods done.[/quote]

Interesting Paul. No I do not, I know of them, but not directly. I enquired once as I thought their custom transfer console was designed by an old lecturer of mine, but sadly it wasn't.

They seem to do quite a lot, and bristol made sense to me...

Justins post is really good too - couple of guys I know produce some really good DnB and get played on Radio1 by Fabio/Grooverider quite often.

One thing the DnB guys are doing at a production level is intentionally clipping drum channels, loops kick snare etc to get things crunchy and aggressive, so on top of 8-bit and 12-bit sampling, some digital distortion or high order harmonic colouration will make it a little more 'today'. Personally it's not a sound I go for, but it's all about genre - are you working in the Jump Up style or Liquid etc?

I've mastered some DnB before (I don't claim to be a full-time pro like Paul or Jaakko) - it's relatively challenging program material, but if the production is spot on - the job is made a fair bit easier. Issues for me were things like punch, as quite often drums are swamped in all that limiting and lofi harmonics, stacked breaks etc, if a snare hit is too low in a drop then some editing/ M/S processing (last resort) was done on my part to get things to hit harder in the centre.

YMMV
-T
 
[quote author="TomWaterman"] are you working in the Jump Up style or Liquid etc?[/quote]

Mostly no. There isn't much of that over here. There is a small Dub Step scene and I've done some work for the two guys who run the party. I'm more of a rock guy. I do about 70/30% rock to electronic although some is squarely in the middle. It seems like the NY electronic/dance scene is much smaller. I don't hear as much NY house, freestyle ect coming out of cars. I think the lack of clubs has a lot to do with it. Many of the wharehouse neighborhoods in Manhattan have been taken over as expensive residential neighborhoods. You can't do a club without running into trouble. It could just be the natural cycle of things.
 
That's pretty sad - I'd always thought of NY as somesort of clubbing Mecca...

There seems to be less 'choice' available everywhere these days. Even here.
RnB or Pop/Dance. You'll have to hunt somewhat for more obscure stuff I think.

I hear Paris is pretty killer though... but not neccessarily DnB. At least the French policy on free parties seems pretty openminded.

-T
 
The most happening club in NY at the moment is probably DeepSpace: http://www.deepspacenyc.com/

I haven't had a chance to get over there yet (don't ask), but numerous clients and friends have and they tell me it's very different, i.e. friendly and touch more cultured, to the run-of-the-mill electronica clubs. Check the people who hang on the message-board. They play (mainly FK) everything from classic Dub to Dub-step and Detroit-style Techno.

Deliberately clipping the console inputs is something that a lot of DnB producers do, but personally, I'd rather use something like a Sherman or a dedicated distortion unit (that way you don't lose the girth).

Justin
 
Spent eleven days last year tracking parts of the next Krust LP.. it's really punky and trashy with real drums!

here's a fuzzy of the tiny kit:

IMG_3357.jpg


Roni get his stuff mastered by Stuart at Metropolis, I think Clipz also

Heathmans and Valve are other classic places for D&B mastering. Personally a lot of D&B sounds really over mastered at the moment.
 
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