KSHMR Production Techniques & Advice

4/20/2015
KSHMR:ProductionTechniques&Advice
KSHMR
PRODUCTIONTECHNIQUES&ADVICE
Mid-SideEQ
"Not a lot of people, including myself, knows their way
aroundmid-sideEQing.It'ssupposedtobeagreattrickto
get a full & wide sound. Have you used this technique? If
so, what do you think of it? And would you be able to
explainitanyfurther?Thanks!"
-RachelMcGrath
SureI'lltalkaboutthis.I'mnewtoit,butbasics:
1) You don't need wide audio in your low end. so take a
high pass, set it to sides, and drag up the frequency
spectrumuntilyoucanhearitaffectingthesong.
2)Alotofsynthspresetsareverywidethesedays,sointhe
finalstagesofmixingyoucanusethesideEQtopinpoint
frequencieswheresynthsarerubbingwithmoreprecision.
Youtypicallywon'tbeaffectingthedrumswhichisgreat
becausethosearegenerallycentered.
http://welcometokshmr.com/
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3) Similarly, if you do want to color your drums in

mastering,usingthemidEQtoboostyourkickworkswell
withoutaddingmesstothesideinformationinthatrange.
Lastly:
What's most important is that you've got power in the
middleaswellasthesides.It'seasytolosepowerinthe
center. Making a wide synth mono doesn't work. If you
want a wide synth to punch in the center, but when you
checkitinmonoitsoundsbad,youhavetwooptions:
a)Experimentwithadjustingtheoscillatorsofthesynthso
thattheydonotphase(checktheirdetuneandvoices.)
b) Try using Center by WAVES. It allows you to easily
remove the side information, and solo what power the
synthhasdrivingdownthemiddle(ifany.)
Hopethathelps.
-KSHMR
HowToTellWhenADropIsFull
"
Whendoyouknowwhenyouhavecreatedandlayereda
soundwellenoughtouseforadroporleadmelody?"
-MichaelLiedtke
Ithinkwithexperienceyoueventuallygetfamiliarwiththe
point at which things sound and it's best not to add any
more.Mybestadvicewouldbethis:
-Decideonamainsynththatcatchesyourearandbuild
aroundthat.
-Adjustyourmainsynthandlowerthevolumeorremove
anything that doesn't sound good. For instance,
sometimestherewillbeawhitenoiseOSCthatgetsugly
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afteryouapplydistortion,multibandcompression,etc.to
thesynthasawhole.
- Add layers to your main synth that fill up the mids and
makeitwarmer.UseanEQ,adinfinitum,tocarveoutany
partsofthesupportingsynththatarecompetingwithyour
mainsynth.
-Addlayerstobrightenyourmainsynth.Ideally,onlyone
synthwillbeaddingwhitenoiseinyourdrop.Andbetter
yet, if none of your synths are noisy, you can be in full
controlofwhatyourwhitenoiseisdoingbyhavingitona
separatesynthoraudiotrack.
- Ideally your main synth sounds good in mono. You can
then use the higher-frequency supporting synths to
achievegreaterwideness.
-Generallyspeaking,forallyoursynths,removethereverb
anddelaytheycomewith.It'susuallybettertohavethese
effects on a bus, and for all of your synths to have the
samereverb,delay,etc.
Kashmir-StyleRollingBass
"HowtomakethatrollingbassinsongslikeKashmirorLet
MeFeelbyVicetoneandNickyRomero?"
-BaberParweez
Todothis,layerasubwithafewbasssynths.EQanylow
end out of the bass synths which may interfere with the
sub.
Theyshouldallbeplayingtherootofeachchordinyour
chord progression. For instance, in Kashmir the chord
progressiononthedropis:
F minor -> C# major -> D# major -> F minor, with each
chordplayingonebareach.
Sothebasssynthsareplaying:
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F->C#->D#->F,alsoonebareach.
OnKashmir,allthebasssynthspitchbenddown(try-5or
-12) on the last beat of every bar, creating the effect of
slidingintothenextnote.
Note that although every bass synth is playing the same
notes, each synth can be playing the notes at different
octaves.Forinstance,theymightbelikethis:
Sub:F1->C#2->D#1->F1
Bass1:F2->C#2->D#2->F2
Bass2:F2->C#2->D#3->F3
Andsoforth.
Sidechain is really important here as well. The image
below is roughly the sidechain I would apply to the sub
using LFOTool. Other bass synths should be sidechained
thesame,butwithslightlylessoverallreductionifyousee
fit.
Kicks&Low-End
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"How do you get such a full low end in your mixdowns?

What do you do to make kicks so loud and such a tight
bass?ThanksKSHMR!"
-MorganCarmont
HerearesomeofthetechniquesIuseforkicksandbass.
Hopetheyhelp.
GeneralLow-EndandKicks
-UsingthenotesbetweenD#andG#willinevitablysound
themostpowerfulinyoursubandbasssynths.
-Transientdesignerscanbringmorefocustoyourkickbut
becarefulyoudon'tlosethemid/lowend.
- Use the high-pass on your EQ to cut as much low end
fromyourleadsasyoucanwithoutsacrificingtheirpower.
Dothesamefortheirreverbifonaseparatechannel.
- Kicks and sub should be mono. There is a plug-in by
Brainworx called Control that can help. Center by WAVES
also.
-Mixesusuallyendupwithalotofwideinformation:audio
that is not exactly centered and mono. This is a good
thing,butitshouldn'tbehappeninginyourlowendand
plug-inslikePro-Qcandothisforyouifyouturnontheir
Mid-Sidefeature.
Pageissafe
TotalSecurity2015
BigRoomLow-EndandKicks
- For Big Room, there are a lot of packs available with
great, huge kicks for every key (e.g. Cr2 and Sounds To
Sample).Irecommendstartingwiththose.
- Try using an EQ to make 3 or 4 dips where the kick
doesn'tseemtobemakingadifferencehelpingyourmix
whenplayedalltogether.
- Often times I'll take the first few milliseconds from a
short,punchykickandquicklyfadeitintoabigtonalkick.
Itcanhelpyourkickstickthroughthemixandyouavoid
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the potential phase cancellation of simply layering two

kicks.
- The melody of your lead will determine your sidechain
settingbutgenerallyIkeepitquickforbigroom,allowing
alittleattackforthetransientoftheleadtocomethrough.
ProgressiveLow-EndandKicks
-Useapunchykick,preferablyinkeywiththerootofyour
song
- The sub bass should be low-passed, cutting off about
two-thirdsofthespectrum,sothatcertainfrequenciesdo
not interfere with your leads and other bass synths. The
subbassshouldbecoveringonlythelowestpartsofyour
spectrum.
- The sub bass should be sidechained such that it ducks
completelywhenthekickplays,thenfillsupthelowend
as the kick fades. Essentially, their waveforms should be
theinverseofoneanother.LFOTooliswhatIuseforthis.
- Printing your bass to audio and using fades to duck its
volumewhenthekickplaysisanotheroption.
- Lower-mid bass: I usually include one or two more
basseswith"fuzz"thatcreatesabuzzsawtypeeffect.The
should be sidechained like the sub, but slightly less
extreme.
- Lower-mid bass should have saturation, OTT, widening,
whateveritneedsappliedsothatitbuzzesnicely.
- Generally speaking, try not to make your bass pattern
complicated. Simply playing the root of each chord with
therightamountofsidechainoftenworksfine.Ididthison
mysongKashmir.
- Recently I've been using an arp on the bass, triggering
1/16thnoteslikeinmyremixforGalantis-Runaway.This
alsoanoption.Itaddsalotofenergy.
-Makingthebassstrongforeverynoteisimportant.This
can be hard depending on the key. For instance, if you
needyoursub-basstoplayaC,you'llfindithardtopick
anoctave:thehighCwillfeelweak,thelowCwillfeellost.
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Thisiswherelayeringyoursubwithmid-rangebasseswill
help. They will fill out the more difficult notes, whereas a
subalonecannot.InmytrackSecretswithTiesto,thefirst
noteofthebassonthedropisC.ThesubplaysthelowC,
generallythoughtofastoolow,buttheotherbasssynths
helptofillitout.Thus,thelow-endsurvivedwithoutlosing
presence.
- Your bass synths will inevitably play different notes at
different volumes. Try compression and limiting. Another
option is bouncing your bass to audio so you can see
which notes are too soft or loud and adjust their volume
accordingly.
Makingmixessoundfull
The best to make things sound full, in my opinion, is to
keep adding synths and figure out which ones are best
fillingeachareaofthespectrum
Basics
- Very high: should be white noise, or a synth that has
whitenoiselikeasupersaw
-Uppermiddle:mainsynth
- Middle: main synth and other synths that support the
mainsynthandgiveitbody
- Lower middle: some kind of mid bass supporting the
main synth (or in the case of melodic progressive house
tracks, supporting the chords) without getting in the way
ofthesub
-Low:thisareabelongstothekickandthesub,makesure
you eq the lows out of all of the synths I listed above so
that they do not interfere with this area. The relationship
between your kick and sub depends greatly on your
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sidechainingsolearnthistechniquewell
Misc
-Thekickshouldhaveaniceattackonthetopendaswell
as the low. It may help to add a clap (with the lows and
midscutoutandafairamountofreverb)ontopofevery
kick
-Puttinggroupsofthesynthsonabus(e.g.mainsynths,
bass synths, etc), or a simply grouping them as with
ableton, and then compressing and eq'ing that group
helpsaswell
- There are plug ins such as OTT and FabFilter's Pro G
whichcanhelptomakesynthssoundbiggerusingupward
compression
Hopethathelps
-KSHMR
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4/20/2015

3) Similarly, if you do want to color your drums in

"How do you get such a full low end in your mixdowns?

the potential phase cancellation of simply layering two

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