How does this Digitakt user on YouTube get such a great sound/mix?

Any tips on what he might be doing to get such a three-dimensional sound? I’ve seen a lot of DT videos but his sound so much better to me than the rest (the mix, not necessarily the music). Here’s one of his videos (check out the rest of his for more examples).

Warning: very loud at the beginning of the video.

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Looks like he’s using the analog heat as well. That’s definitely playing a role in his sound.

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Looks like he has a HP on the delay and reverb, the DT is quite muddy with the bass, and can make everything sound mushy. Hope we get a notch and bandpass filter in next OS :pray:

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He doesn’t use a full spectrum of sounds either so that leaves way more room for the “mix”. If you think about it, there’s not really a “mix” of sounds ;). Heat also helps.

One thing i do is resample a lot with a hi pass to make room for the kick and bass. I also use Triggless trigs at volume 0 on bass sometimes on places where kicks hit etc. And indeed, use hi pass on the reverb vigorously.

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i guess because he is a good producer and engineer

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Definitely thinking the Analog Heat plays somewhat of a role too, but probably just a lot of what’s ITB with Digitakt and putting it to good use. This same guy is responsible for me finally wanting a Heat though. His destroying (in an absolutely beautiful way) a loop from MachineDrum sent me straight into GAS mode.

Very creative guy and great videos. Wish he put out more of them!

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Maybe he uses expertly ”prepared” samples that fit well together, hmm? Most of the tume, when it comes to samplebased music, the samples themselves and their preprocessing is key. I mean, plenty of ranty threads on forums where old beards crying that the yoof is ”cheating” by utilizing sounds from contemporary sample packs and sound ”more pro” than the beards lol

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I thought the young guys wore the beards these days

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i was expecint more then like. a few sounds and distortion.

for the noise, a proper stereo distortion helps. .so thats probably the heat.

and the reverb is nice. who know what it could be. could be some convolution verb.
maybe an EMT 140 clone ?

maybe a little bit of “mastering” after he recorded it. ? i mean he toook his time to shoot and edit this. so i probably did a bit of final work on the audio too.

also yes. if you only use a few sounds. and have sounds that don’t really compete. .say a click / bell sound and a low drone. no problems

I have to agree with one of the previous posters, it’s likely this has tweaks added during the video editing process.
Personally I try not to shove too many sounds into the same frequency range and my mixes come out pretty good on the digitakt.

agreed: who knows what have been donne afterwards ( ITB) ?

sounds to me like the OP is just asking for a good software reverb.
sorry if this sounds dumb :wink:

and yes, good samples. allways

Standard fundamental mixing rules apply.
Regarding the DT, good samples to begin with, then most critical of all is good use of eq applied to each sample to create space in the mix.
Top off with very good reverb (haven’t heard DT reverb so not sure it foots the bill) and the myriad of other effects available via DAW or good effects units e.g. Eventide

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Some of the best (subjectively) mixing I’ve heard has been in oldschool tracker modules. No EQ, filters, or reverb and you have to roll your own compression, delay, and chorus by clever use of commands and layering.

Not a dig on what modern technology offers, but just a thought that it’s not always necessary. A sampler can play any sound, and that by itself provides a universe of musical power.

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^^^^this right here.

Heavily post-processed.

so would you say that you use the hi and low pass filter usually as a workaround to eq the sound of your samples in the DT?

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Yes certainly. Sometimes resampling afterwards to free up the filter again. And you can repeat that of course.

It’s not as surgical as an eq but you emphasize frequencies a bit by using resonance or carve away low frequencies etc.

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These are the posts that make me need to grab immediatly a DT and try. Thanks!

Here’s another one of his videos:

Subscribed!

Not exactly Digitakt-related, but since there’s discussion of “rules” for mixing.

I really appreciate this video with simple heuristics to follow, when there is so much noise and ambiguity out there about mixing and mastering.