How to Sidechain in FL Studio (3 Ways)
What is Sidechaining? Sidechaining is a signal processing technique where we use the amplitude (volume) of one signal waveform to control some parameter of another signal. In electronic music like trance, house, and techno, we usually do it with the kick and the bass. The kick signal is used to control the presence of the bass in the mix so the two are not competing against each other in the bass regime of the frequency spectrum (40 Hz to 250 Hz). The bass volume “ducks” under the kick when the kick is triggered, and this effect makes the low end […]
How to Fix Blips, Pops, Clicks, and Crackling in FL Studio
Blips, pops, clicks, and crackling are the terrorists of the music production world. They lay hidden and silent in the mix, striking with explosive and unexpected fury to decimate the eardrums of anyone unfortunate enough to hear them. As irritating as they are though, you will not need to invade a country to fix them. They’re relatively easy to understand and fix in FL Studio, and this quick tutorial will show you how. What Causes Crackling and Popping? Blips, pops, clicks, and crackles are caused by two things that are overloading your computers processor: An extremely fast change in the […]
How to Use Automation Clips in FL Studio
Introducing FL Studio Automation FL Studio automation can be achieved by a number of different methods. One way is by using an automation clip. An automation clip (or envelope) can automatically control the behavior of a parameter or group of parameters in FL Studio. They are part of a larger group of features in FL Studio and many other DAWs that are formally known as internal controllers. This basically means they’re pieces of software code within FL Studio that can be linked to different buttons, sliders, knobs, etc. to vary the behavior of said button, slider, or knob, with time […]
How to Add/Import Samples to Your FL Studio Sample Library
Stock Samples Are Good, But We Want More! FL Studio comes with a decent selection of stock drum, percussion, and SFX samples, but as you get more and more serious as a producer, you’ll soon find that these just won’t cut it. This quick tutorial will show you how to import/add samples to FL Studio. Find Your Sample Folders When you download and install FL Studio in Windows 10, the program will automatically create a set of folders on your hard drive where all of the stock plugins and samples will be stored. Samples are really nothing more than audio files […]
How to Mix House Drums in FL Studio
The Role of Drums and Percussion Drums and percussion are an integral part of any electronic music composition. They hold the song together, provide structure and rhythm, and tell the audience when to dance, jump, and shout. In this house drums tutorial, we’ll cover how to make a drum loop using the FL Studio 12 Step Sequencer, and what you can do to add a bit of your own spin to the mix. The Step Sequencer FL Studio’s Step Sequencer/Channel rack is great for programming house drums. To make a good drum loop, we’ll need to understand how it works […]
How to Make an Epic Trance Lead Using Sytrus in FL Studio
What is Sytrus? Sytrus is one of my favorite native FL Studio plugins. It is a very versatile FM (frequency modulation), additive, and subtractive synthesizer. This Sytrus tutorial post will focus solely on designing an epic trance lead. Lets get started! Step 1: Setting Up a Default Sytrus Channel Add a Sytrus channel to the channel rack and select the default preset from the list of presets. Bring the Channel rack to the front of your screen. Click the white plus at the bottom left of your Channel rack. Find and click Sytrus from the list of plugins. FL Studio […]
FL Studio Swing Slider: A Use Case Tutorial
Why Use the FL Studio Swing Slider? Do your drum loops sound mechanical and machine-like? Can you tell a computer made your drum loops? Does every kick, snare, and hi hat just sound a little bit too perfect? We all know that live music is not like that. The imperfection of mankind makes some hits sound slightly off by just enough to make it sound better. This is where using the FL Studio swing slider can come in handy. In this tutorial, we’ll look at a quick use case for the feature when mixing house drums. What Does the Swing […]