Production and Postproduction of VIRUS sounds

[oscillator]

Recently i'm a little bit sad 'cause i can't figure out how to mix My Virus C presets in the mix. It seems they just won't work together.

I'm thinking about that problem and i'm tempted to buy an alog synth like the tetra, but it's my opinion that i could fall in the same issue.

The question is if you had the same problem, and how you solved, with what type of production and post production technique.

I know it's a difficult question, but the Virus synthetic sounds often seems too cold or lifeless to me; you know what i mean.

My thread is about studio production, of course, not live performance, so any suggestions will be very useful for the forum!

[nutrinoland]

Hey..WHatever synth you use..u will face the same things...and it is not really an Issue as such...
YOu need to get into your EQ and only keep a certain part of the frequencies from the actual whole sound....Its upto you how you fit it in...your pad for example could be more present in the low end of the spectrum..or u could choose to put it high up or in the middle...Your original pad will sound different in all instances....but it serves a purpose in that area...all sounds have their role to play..and you decide their role in the mix...
Filters are also very useful to achieve the same thing...

Presets themselves dont know where to fit into your track...its your track..YOu decide....so use it as a starting point and then make it fit...
some sounds will be more obvious than others, where to fit them...a kick drum mostly is gonna be in the low end....unless you wanna use a High Pass filter on it to keep only the clicky part of the kick...or use a kick drum to serve some other purpose in your track...

Your Awesome Virus can sound like a lot of things...what can YOU make it do ? I dont think you know your synth yet....find out...IT can sound very analog...or digital....all depends on what you can make it do...

Watch tutorials about the virus and also synthesis in general...It will really help you..

Good Luck

[oscillator]

thank you nutrinoland, your words have been very encouraging... I know I have to learn many things, and yes i will try more the EQ section in my productions.

if you got some useful links to learn more please let me know!

[nutrinoland]

I did a useful course online about mixing electronic music...
U can look for such online courses. They can help you quite a lot.

U can also look on youtube about mixing kick and bass or mixing electronic music in general...there are many tutorials.
YOu can also post some of your work on forums such as this one, so people can listen and suggest ways to mix better.


WaTcH THiS...all 7 Parts...It WIll Definitely help you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ouHe0OuBFw



Try to get some people's sessions or full tracks for your particular DAW. YOu can open up their projects and study what they have done.
I use Fruity loops and it comes with many demo tracks by other Users.
I used to open up the project and look at it in detail..I learned a lot about electronic music and mixing and effects and automation through doing that.

Also JUst Experiment a lot with all your tools and software and hardware...

By the way..Tetra is a great Synth on its own..I got a Mopho..I love it....Yet I love my Virus too... they are both great synths... The Virus can do a lot of things the Mopho or Tetra cannot....The MOd Matrix on The Virus is Awesome...also the effects and wavetables and great...Filters are also really nice...If YOu can Have Both YOu should...BUt an Analog Synth Is not gonna help you achieve better Mixes...Only YOuR Ears, Experience and tools such as EQ's , Monitors and a good mixing environment can help you with that..Not New Synths...

Once YOu play around with your synth a bit, You can watch The Virus Boot Camp Videos on the Access Virus Website...They are intermediate to advanced level but very nice information


Good Luck

Dont Be Sad...U'll Get There sooon

[oscillator]

Yeah, EQ mission started!

Very useful videos and suggestions, now i'm really starting to color my sounds!

What you told about the tetra and the virus is true, i think i will buy one little analog box as soon as i got experience with eq and mix.

thanks again!

[Rick Boogie]

A Virus and a MoPho make for a great pair of synths, each with it's own flavor and stregnths- but a big +1 to studying the tutorials, and learning the basics of mixing and mastering. Lots of great info available- we'd all be fools for not continually learning.

[oscillator]

Yeah learning and experimenting it's great, and the sense of this thread is to share some useful little tips.

Would be great to read some interesting combinations, even suggestion for better sounding patches.

[feedingear]

if you link your music it would make it a lot easier to comment and give feedback on .i tend to find i use a healthy mix of virusTI and other soft synths (alchemy, omnisphere, ni massive/reaktor, zeta) in most of the tracks ive produced.

[TweakHead]

I've bought my Virus C a few months ago. It was easy for me, because I've spent years making music with software synths before. The problem isn't the synth in itself, it's your approach. You should really take your time and learn about synthesis - to the extent that you will be able to create sounds, pretty fast, for a specific ocasion on a mix, to be able to create a good dialogue between sounds. And that has to do with understanding synthesis, and the performative side of them (even if you're recording it all to audio, like myself) and learning how to sequence. Don't forget that filters are a simple form of Eq. Things should sound acceptable on their own, even before the mixing stage - when you go into Eqs, compressors, gates, fx, etc. But there's a point to what's been said here. Good mixing is about finding a place for everything, otherwise things can get pretty muddy and unclear. As sounds hitting similar frequencys mask themselves. A good starting point, would be to use a highpass filter on everything but the kick and bass sounds. Use a high shelf eq to smooth the high frequencys where the hats hit, for example, on leads and pads... You get the idea. Be patient. And don't forget to enjoy your music and your learning process.

[oscillator]

Hi, yes the high shelf eq gives a very good help for what i need, and now i am more conscious of what i want to do and of course how.

I just bought a Tetra and i discovered that every synth got a distinctive timbre, as human voice. I mean the Virus seems to me more high frequencies oriented, while the Tetra is warmer because is mid range oriented.

What i wanted to do maybe was change the timbre of the Virus, which is not the best deal. I was unhappy with a 100% Virus produced track, and that was my mistake.
Mixing different kind of synths, as feedingear said, is the best and now i must say obvious choise for a better track, since every synth got a timbre and that timbre got already a place in the mix.

I'm producing some cool tracks with different sounds and synths and i'm happy