too stiff?

that kid

Keep Diggin'
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 2
now that I'm starting to get a trained ear from hours of making beats I've noticed a problem with some of my beats they sound too stiff or there is no bounce. Is there a way to add some bounce or feel to my tracks. I use swing and compression and eq also, need some tips on how to make beats with a more hip hop feel or bounce you know the head nod. I'm using fl 6 but from what I hear this is why people don't like fL because the program makes stiff sounding beats. any help will be apprechiated- that kid
 
O

open mind

Guest
fl cant make beats! u cant give fl the reason for how your beats sound.u make the beat!
trust me u can achieve any sound with it like other sequencer can.its the mix and the quality of the samples.

one important thing that makes u bounce is the..................... BASS kick n snare.
i heard some of your beats u have basslines but they must come stronger your whole low end must come stronger and cleaner.same with the mid and high.

keep working on the MIX.
 

bigdmakintrax

BeatKreatoR
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 123
Man there are plenty of ways of unstiffening your joints, you need a lil rhythm and a lot of soul Naw JK, that is always my complaint "a lot of folks make stiff sounding beats" I hear it all of the time no matter how dope, to me the element of stiffness is overlooked in a lot of producers works which sort of astounds me because a lot of times there is no soul added or personality to the track, I mean a little of yourself added into the beat is what I am saying is what you need and in many ways thats the difference between a masterpiece and just your average jo track or ok production...add some bounce and a little energy.
Fruity loops is not the culprit though....
There is nothing worse than a well orchestrated joint fully composed masquerading as hip hop and it has absolutely no feel or life or it sounds like a keyboard demo song LOL this is something that in many ways can be taught but in some ways it won't happen by luck, you have to inject a little bit of musicianship and apply basic concepts common to all music....you can use dynamics, forte's, mezzoforte, pianissimos and use different velocities...tones have different signatures and voicings so since music is an expression so if you want to express a feeling or point in your music you have to apply a lot of different things from the above than just pull out the sequencer and go....

This is a good reason why using samples and vinyl(backbone of hip hop btw) made by musicians do the work for you and assist you in constructing a dope track in a lot of case, if the loop is natural and prebuilt on its own befor adding drums how can you mess that up???? LOL arrange or add your pieces but a good sample has all of the ingredients if left alone shouldnt come across as stiff unless you not looping correctly....some might disagree but thats a big part of sampling, if you compose and play then you have to do that to each of the instruments you put into the sequence and mimic the instrument, it's behavior and how a musician that has mastered that particular instrument might play.
If you can't do that then try all of the above or just start finding samples and riffs that convey the feeling....if the stiffness is in your drum track(the drum track in my opinion is what give the whole track the right feel for head nod factor if you not a good drum programmer you can get better but it does involve some practice and listening to breaks and drummers) but if you want to try and work on your programming then you might use a variation of an unquantized 4 bar sequence you do by hand using your click track or metronome and get it sounding hot then copy and paste and move things around to make the track seem varied, also for pianos and such I never use quantize......anyhow thats just some of my advice and observations.....
 

that kid

Keep Diggin'
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 2
I'm not blaming fL for my stiff beats I,m just saying I've heard some people say that is the problem with the program makes stiff beats. thanks big d and open mind. I pretty much sample to make beats maybe need to program my drums or work on the mix.

what are some ways to make the low end stronger or cleaner?
 

NobleWordz

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 4
You have to think like a drummer, a drummer is never on time with ever hit, he never hits the drum with the same force.

Make you hits slightly off time and with a variety of velocity's.

I find the hi-hat can really set it off, you can get a nice flow. Check out "whop that trick" the hi-hats set the bounce for that beat IMO.

The bounce of my tracks greatly improved when I got a MPD16 (Pad controller), maybe you could check it out.

Anyway, Good Luck with your beats.

~NW~
 

that kid

Keep Diggin'
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 2
funny you said that noble cuz i'm thinking of buying one, is it worth the 100 dollars.
 

NobleWordz

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 4
Yeah I think its worth it, it takes a while to adjust to using pads, but when you get into the grove its a great tool.

I don't just use it for drums, I use it to play chops and even synths.

If you do get one make sure you order a longer USB cable because cable that comes with it is kinda short.

~NW~
 

Chrono

polyphonically beyond me
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 5
many things.. turn your quantizing to like 1/32, or off, so it doesn't place everything at the begining of the bars or whatever. Also use hihtats to create a little melody; nothing special but something more than just hit, hit, hit, hit at the same time for each bar. Sometimes your melody can be used to offtime your percussion which does work.. but the more offtime you set them for more hairy it gets. try a totally sampled beat, then try a 100% composed beat, then try sampling 60% composed 40%.. all the time using different drum banks and different drum/hat patterns. it'll come.. i think stiffness comes from doing the same thing everytime. experiment
 

that kid

Keep Diggin'
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 2
how do you turn the quantizing to 1/32 in FL. chrono I understand bout the hats hitting at same time that's how I got them in most of my beats and it sounds stiff now that I'm developing my ear. Today I changed the velocity and when they hit and that helped alittle. I will probably get more out of a controller than an mpd. I guess what everone's trying to say is timing is everything. thanks to all any more suggestions.....holla.
 

Sanova

Guess Who's Back
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 9
Try massaging ur beats around the the shoulder area and the back. losen up that spine. Tell it to stretch regularly. That should help out wit that stiffness.
 

Chrono

polyphonically beyond me
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 5
that kid said:
how do you turn the quantizing to 1/32 in FL.

aye, I use an mpc1k for my percussion an samples. I bought fl feburary of 03, as my 1st beatmaking experience, and thought it was the dopest thing since roughin'up my suspect.. but after 4 beats I started to realize how un-natural it is. If it wasn't for me writing and using music as therapy for shit in my life cause my old crew is gone than I would probably have never developed my studio with an mpc, firewire, whatever.. i don't know. I can't even imagine making beats for other people, so i've noticed i'm really not a beatmaker and honestly look up to the illmuzik crew producers as the young grasshopper. haha i could go on all day about myself!! errgg have a had a nip to sip?? hahah

my point is some people work great in the fl enviroment! it's fully able to make very lively beats if understood correctly. The drink forced me to use something more hands on and less neural. You want to avoid buying an mpc if you are able to use fl, it's a waste of cash. But if you find making beats is a freedom for you and hate fl then look at the trigger finger or some other controller.
 
O

open mind

Guest
yes without a midi board or a pad kontroll its bit harder to make them sound naturall just by clickin mouse and paintin shit.but once u got the midi or pads coming in then its a whole diffrent story.but thats not only a prob in fl studio.
try to make a beat in sonar,cubase,ableton,samplitude or wuteva sequencer of your choice with just the mouse then they sound stiff too.sure u can move notes here and there but its not the same like u playin those keys.
 

KurtisRich

Pussy Monster
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 13
that kid said:
how do you turn the quantizing to 1/32 in FL. chrono I understand bout the hats hitting at same time that's how I got them in most of my beats and it sounds stiff now that I'm developing my ear. Today I changed the velocity and when they hit and that helped alittle. I will probably get more out of a controller than an mpd. I guess what everone's trying to say is timing is everything. thanks to all any more suggestions.....holla.

Try this.. just quantize only the snare.... as for the rest... don't quantize anything and just play it out. That's what I usually do.... I hardly quantize anything besides the snares and sometimes the kicks. It also depends on what type of track it is too.
 

that kid

Keep Diggin'
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 2
I don't know how to quantize or what it is? can FL even do this.
 

5th Sequence

Hip Hop Head, Certified
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 198
FL can quantize. The "Grid" thing in the step sequencer is probably the culprit to your stiff sound.

I don't use the grid at all in FL.

everything.. all instruments, drums, basspiano roll. Every kick, snare and hihat are manually placed and intentially pushed behind or before the beat to exaggerate the natural flow of the track.

and dont be affraid to fuck with some really early or late settings to really see where it takes the beat.. you'll find the sweet spot and it'll open up everything.
 
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