Production Tips

[Periwinkle]

I'm pretty new to the forum and perhaps too new to start making suggestions. However, I've recently been listening to the songs in the Reason Music thread and there is some really great material being produced.

I was just wondering if any of these people had thought about putting together short tuition videos focusing on certain aspects of their Reason production tips and tricks.

Speaking for myself (which is normally the best thing to do), I know I would learn a lot. Maybe it could even be a monthly thing. It would give people something to look forward to.

[miyaru]

Would be nice indeed, to share tricks and stuff...... But for myself I would not know how to make a video, and don't know if I'm skilled enough to be inspiring for others.......

[aeox]

I spend too much time learning, there is no time to teach.

[littlejam]

hello
@Periwinkle:

spend as much time as you can reading / watching in the Tutorials and Techniques thread

there is a vast amount of information there from some of the best reason users in the forum

especially the Stickies

i check that category every day

mahalos,

j

[diminished]

Hey. I recently managed to set up live streaming to YouTube using ASIO (yay!) so in theory there would be nothing stopping me from showing someone around Reason or simply letting people watch me do things, except for time and self-consciousness maybe.

The question is, what would those things be and would I even qualify for an audience.
I'm very open to suggestions on topics I could address. So, anyone reading, feel free to shoot me a message or answer in this thread.

[Oquasec]

I learn & teach at the same time.
Helps me retain a shitload of information in minutes.

[Creativemind]

We could always use some music production tutorials using Reason 11 as well as previous versions.

[bitley]

I've made a few on my YT channel, think I listed them here somewhere when I was making them but you can find them on the channel https://youtube.com/bitleytm - I demonstrate some NNXT programming and track making. There are tons of this on YT and you may simply go there and search for "Reason tutorial". Doesn't matter so much which version is used in any video since Reason doesn't change much - it just grows. I occasionaly demonstrate other things too - synths & samplers if that might be fun

[motuscott]

This James Bernard stuff is a good place to start. 52 vids in 52 weeks. Herculean!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 134198A5E9

[jlgrimes]

I'm pretty new to the forum and perhaps too new to start making suggestions. However, I've recently been listening to the songs in the Reason Music thread and there is some really great material being produced.

I was just wondering if any of these people had thought about putting together short tuition videos focusing on certain aspects of their Reason production tips and tricks.

Speaking for myself (which is normally the best thing to do), I know I would learn a lot. Maybe it could even be a monthly thing. It would give people something to look forward to.

Reason Studios blog section has some of the best production info I've seen for about any DAW.

Also certain tips such as how to use EQ, compressor usually can be applied to any program.

[Benedict]

I have a lot of material about mixing & Composing on my website and YouTube.

How about starting with my Mix Walkthrough video series as all the work is actually done in Reason (R11 now)

[ShelLuser]

I don't do videos and prefer to blog at best, guess I'm old fashioned

One good production tip I can give is that a good (external) audio card can make quite a difference Now, this may sound obvious enough but then again.. I've been using my PC audio card for quite a while util I got fed up with the lack of options and so I bought myself an "el cheapo" Sweex USB audio card. It may have been cheap but it was rock solid for all the stuff I wanted to do, had tons of fun with it.

Recently I upped the ante a bit and got myself a more professional sound card (Komplete audio 6). Well... it can definitely make a difference where latency and such is concerned. It line ins are most definitely a whole lot better than the 'consumer products' (you know, the classic 3.5mm jacks), though I also had decent results (ab)using my Samson G-Track (= usb microphone with build in line-in).

[dioxide]

I'm pretty new to the forum and perhaps too new to start making suggestions. However, I've recently been listening to the songs in the Reason Music thread and there is some really great material being produced.

I was just wondering if any of these people had thought about putting together short tuition videos focusing on certain aspects of their Reason production tips and tricks.

Speaking for myself (which is normally the best thing to do), I know I would learn a lot. Maybe it could even be a monthly thing. It would give people something to look forward to.

I'd second some of the thoughts previously posted. There's already lots of information both here and on YouTube, so it's up to you to have the motivation to read and watch all this stuff, rather than have someone else teach it to you. If you want that, you'll probably have to pay for a course of some sort, online or in real life.

I used to get more involved in helping people on forums but stopped when the web became more mainstream and there was a seemingly never ending stream of people wanting help, many of which never bothered to even say thanks. It was just a change in culture that happened on the net from early 2000s to now, where people seemingly forgot that there is someone else, another person, taking time to help you.

Anyway, there's load of good content on here. Dig around and you will learn a lot. Sadly people don't post their Reason files very often, as I learned a lot from ReasonStation in the early days, when people would actually share files.

[dioxide]

I had a copy of Peff's book when it came out also. It's very old now but some of the techniques might be work looking through, just to open your eyes as to what can be done (mainly with CV). The files are available here:
http://www.peff.com/journal/powertoolsforreason

Peff's main archive is here:
http://www.peff.com/reason/

I always liked picking through people's files more than tutorials as it's something you can interact directly with. And that was all before YouTube also, so there's that also ha ha.

I put together a big list (2010-14) in the old PUF. You should expect a lot of dead links though, as this is all web 1.0 stuff, when people used to share files on their own websites. Maybe there are some useful things there still.
https://www.reasonstudios.com/forum/sho ... p?t=119476

[Djstarski]

Try and learn the info you need in the right order . For example, don’t skip to multiband compression or parallel compression if you don’t understand basic compression . The first thing you need to do is listen to a lot of music and get the feel of it . Do not get to caught up in plugins. Biggest mistake I made . It made me think plugins came first and music came after . Hope this helps

[WarStar]

I'd start out with basics: Octorex and Subtractor.

Find a couple drum loops and write some basslines with it. Remember to mono your bass which Subtractor is already mono so you're good there.

Then I'd mess around with composition with Malstrom and Thor.

[Mode7]

The first tutorial ever is the Operation Manual. Some great producers started learning by justreading the manual (the trendy french producer NkF, for instance, have read its MPC manual thousands time back in the days to understand all the features. He's now multi platinum and one of the most requested man in french music).

It gathers every most of the answers and useful tips. When you want to learn something new about a device, just read it first.

Then you got to know your devices, presets and samples. Try every one in the Factory Sound Bank, make fav directories so you can find them easily.

It takes hours and days, but doing that, you saved months watching random tutorials. And it will provides you tons of ideas, maybe you will find "THAT" sound (the one you are looking desperately through tutos for hours).


The tutos i found the most usefull are already linked that forum and the late "Reason France" community which was great but offline now.
Reasonexperts site by Hydlide is also very great, with hundreds of templates, examples, patches and refill. He explores every kind of features, from the basics of every devices to complex and creative uses.

Kickback Couture Youtube Channel is also great for making hip hop beats. She can make videos dedicated to one device, but also on a single element (bassline, hats, etc...)

You got plenty of Youtube Channels dedicated for general composition.

I always read every single interview from artists I like, because there is always one or two tweaks to learn there.


Then, basically, to be efficient everytime I launch Reason (soimetimes i only got 15 minutes free), I've customised the rack and the directories for years.
That means I made "favorites directories" for my common drum samples, bass and piano presets (btw hundreds of refills). Those are my go-to tools for starting something.

Then, i got a starting template track that evolved through years. Nowadays it's plain simple.
I cleared all the "mastering inserts", leaving just a limiter on bypass, and all the "send effetcs" section (the lighter the faster for my CPU).
Every track of mine having a beat, i always put a Drum machine in my template. The one i Use the most is Umpf Drum Club, which I initialized (don't want to bother remove the sample from the device every time i start a project). A drum sequencer player is routed to the Umpf.
I routed all the tracks of the drum machine to individual mixing channels, routed to a bus I called "beat". That way, i can apply any effect I want to every individual drum sample (stock, RE, VST).
So every time I start a project, i just have to find a Kick and a snare in my fav to have a beat.
The Parallel Out of my kick Channel is routed to a Spider Audio to split the signal between the Main Compressor Sidechain (bypassed by default) and my Bass channel compressor sidechain.

I've also put on my template a Piano (I use Parsec, but you can do the same with a combinator patch, an Id8 or whatever...). Because to me piano is the most efficient instrument for finding basic composition ideas.
Not being a musician at all, I routed the Piano to an Auto Theory Harmonic Engine (previsouly a Scales and Chord player), and to a CV Player Tap, so I can lay some fine chords or strumming, then copy them in the sequencer to play around.

A bass preset is also put in the template, with a sidechain compressor bypassed by default.

The devices I use usually depends on the style of the track i'm about to make. I never use Octorex to make hip hop / trap or cloud beats for instance. In that context, I only use it to play samples i just sliced and chopped.


So when i open Reason, i strike F4 to have my virtual keyboard then in can play around in few seconds, not wasting time and inspiration on complex routings etc..., and i can sandboxing with ideas found in tutos in a musical context easily.

To me, that process is the sum of all tutos I've been reading through the years ( andI'm still a rookie though !)

[Zac]

Just a quick one:
If you mix on headphones a lot like me, I find it helpful to have a Selig Gain on the Master bus so that I can quickly check the mix in mono.

There are lots of good reasons for doing this but the most important for me is when I've got a lot of wide sounds they sound great in stereo but often sound too quiet or weak in mono so I adjust them up and my mix sounds better when I switch back to stereo.

When I check on speakers these mono checks have always helped... the wide elements are loud enough now.

[Mode7]

Try and learn the info you need in the right order . For example, don’t skip to multiband compression or parallel compression if you don’t understand basic compression .

I could add that having a visual feedback (meters, curves, etc...)sometimes makes things easier to undertsand.