Dance Rock...

G

get2sammyb

New member
How exactly to producers acheive a rock mix - that has a complete and total dance feel to it. I appreciate that most of that danceyness comes from the actual song itself (and our bands song are very much rock songs over dance) but I have decided I want to give the drums a real dance feel to them.

I have EZ Drummer and have worked with my drummer in programming his es exact beats into the computer, now I want to give them a dancey vibe. Would I be best focusing on the kick drum and bass guitar to acheive that feel, as this seems to be the heart of dance music. I have doubled up my EZ Drummer bass drum with something made in MicroTonic, and I would EQ appropriately with the EZ drummer kick providing the click to the sound, and the MicroTonic one giving the thump. Should I try and balance the bass guitar in between the two different kick drum sources?

Anything else I can do to put as much disco flavour in rock songs as possible?

Thanks in advance.
 
Disco = 100bpm give or take.

Try sidechain compressing the bass using the kick drum as well.

And open hihats between every beat makes for a good d-d-d-d-disco vibe.

:)
 
The most important thing is that ALL the parts must be
"in the pocket" when you are in the tracking phase. That's where the "dance" part is created. If all the tracks groove together, the mix will practically fall out of the desk.


chazba
 
get2sammyb said:
How do you mean - "in the pocket"?
Click to expand...

Now that's a question! I'll try...... It's a term that refers to a certain disciplin in playing style, where everyone's timing, dynamics, and minimalistic use of notes brings the sound into a tightly woven groove.

Best I could come up with. :D It's a feel thing.
 
Our music isn't really like that though. The actual songs aren't disco-ey at all.

But I want to get that Britney Spears style production and energy into the mixes. I'm guessing the heart of it all is bass and kick drum.
 
Here is my point, a mix I have been working on is:



Now as there will obviously be guitars etc with this - but if you imagine the finished piece being played at a disco, I'm not sure the bottom end is providing any punch at all that would get people jumping around, or dancing or anything.

Is this more a compression issue than an EQ issue?

Any ideas on how I can give the bottom end a load of energy but still space for all the other instruments I need to incorporate.

I am trying to learn mixing in stages, and giving the mix that bottom end thump is the first thing I want to do.
 
Hmmm....
First, I have to say, lower the high-hat sound, that's just harsh. The bass drum sound definitely needs some EQ work, but I'm not experienced enough to tell you what exactly. This is with programmed drums? Try finding some better samples.
 
Its EZ Drummer mainly - but I doubled up the kick with a plugin called Microtonic. I wanted the Microtonic kick to carry the main weight of the bass drum, with EZ drummer controlling the click. I EQed appropriately - but yeah no luck.

I'll bring the hi-hat down like you suggested.
 
The kick and bass need more high end. They sound too muffled.

I'm not really sure what you are asking for when you want a rock song to sound like Britney Spears. Dance drums are more fake sounding if that is what you want. Try adding some 808 samples and gating the snare or something. If you add a filter effect to the bassline it will give it more of a synth feel also.

The sound you have now reminds me of 80's new wave stuff like early Cure or Joy Division.
 
Maybe he means more of an industrial feel? Think Rammstein. You can dance really easily to some great industrial-rock.
 
Just disregard everything else in the mix and lay in an 808 kick drum sample at a steady 120 bpm pulse. Turn it way up and put a compressor on the 2 bus. Adjust the compressor until the 808 is pumping the whole mix with that whole pvvvmmm, pvvvvmmm, pvvvmmmm sound and people will be dancin' their asses off!
 
I'm probably gonna end up looking stupid here but - 808? whats that?

And - I think I have a sample of the kind of sound I am looking for - I'll post it up when I get on my proper computer.

Cheers for the help guys.
 
An improvement?:



Distorts heavily in iTunes thanks to the iTunes EQ plugin. Now I respect that people who will listen to our music may be running plugins. How do you cater for this?
 
Do that 808 kick thing on every beat (including snare), but lower the tempo to get more groove. As I said, around 100-108 bpm will groove it up!
 
Not chance I can slow it down but I think I understand the techniques now. I'll add in that extra beat on the snare. Thanks very much.
 
It has kindofa robo feel to it with the straight 1/4note feel.
If it was my project, I'd start over with a beat that had a 16th note triplet feel . Way easier to dance to. But that's just MHO.

chazba
 
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