Chillstep tips?

[The Chill Fox]

Hey all

I have discussed a tad about chillstep with Brandystarbright about chill melodies and such, which I got the jist of it but the real question for me is, what sound effects should I use for chillstep? Which preset would I be better off with when making "any" type of chill song?

Sorry this isn't specific enough. I am really looking in any direction for chillstep

[brandystarbrite]

Best place for posting interesting questions like this, is in the Generals chat section of the forum.
Since alot of Lmms users hang out there and they'll see it more easily.
Don't forget Mr. Chill Frog.
Bump.

[Snarf]

Hey all

I have discussed a tad about chillstep with Brandystarbright about chill melodies and such, which I got the jist of it but the real question for me is, what sound effects should I use for chillstep? Which preset would I be better off with when making "any" type of chill song?

Sorry this isn't specific enough. I am really looking in any direction for chillstep

I haven't made any chillstep songs, but I've listened to quite a few (Blossom by Au5 and Elements by Fractal both come to mind). I have made a couple of ambient songs in the past, which have similar sounds but I don't consider myself overly experienced with the genre.

As for sound effects, adding reverb and some kind of delay/echo can be helpful. An automated lowpass filter is always a good thing to add at some point too.

I typically don't use presets directly, but if I was looking for inspiration for a chill sound I would probably start with a bell sound in the triple oscillator and mess around with it. Pads are also good things to include to get the right atmosphere. For chillstep specifically, you need some kind of smooth bass, maybe with an LFO'd lowpass filter?

[brandystarbrite]

Pads are also good things to include to get the right atmosphere.

Dang. Snarf beat me to it.

Yep. As Snarf said, Pads will help alot, to give that ambient feel, to the Chillstep genre.

[musikbear]

Blossom ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7qYg68LWbI
Imo a mash with serious dubstep and very melodic trance. I would say that the most important element is the melody. Without the effect would just be noice. It is serious difficult act to follow!

Fractal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-ERZ1kf1Qs
slower but again very melodic, the vocal is key, especially how it is chopped melodically !

But what does you think of

Hey all :)

specifically (a link) when you think chillstep?

[The Chill Fox]

those are both dubstep and frankly they don't give enough of a description. That is my fault though, I must admit for not giving any references.

Here ya go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrx6JIdMB8Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC7av1uSkoM
both are chill and these are what I aim for.

[musikbear]

both are chill and these are what I aim for.

The first example is totally vocal-driven, so that is just a brilliant track, and next to impossible to 'do the same', but the vocal is broken and with very large reverb.
Sp that could perhaps be 'emulated' but difficult!

but both are around :
* 123 bpm
* uses found sounds with lots of reverb
* uses sidechain
Dominant instruments: rhodes & piano. Silent squares in low registers as big subbass sidechain with brake-beat
Saws are not used.
Percussion is brake-beats/ 16-32 bar variations and IMPORTANT! This where the music gets the 'step' vibe

[The Chill Fox]

yeah I would definitely do a vocal break chill song just to test my skill. Hell I know it will be a pain in the ass but totally worth it!

Thanks, I'll keep the bpm, reverbs and side chaining in mind. You have tutorials about side chaining right? I should probably give that a shot cause I have no idea what to do with side chaining xP
the percussion is what I have troubles with when it comes to making a song like that. The percussion tends to be a pain in the ass too because it's hard to find that perfect beat tempo. I'll keep those components in mind though for my song.

Also on another note, I'm planning to add my vocals slightly humming in the background or saying a few words in a specified melody like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TQSAiRaFhg My voice as I would say could imitate a similar pitch but is pretty good at lower pitches. But, I don't want it to be like "record then insert into song and boom make profit". Like the beginning of that song I mentioned, Blockbuster Youth, I noticed that the beginning he had his voice at a low frequency but my issue is that I can't really mess around with frequency with audiofileprocessor. are there any effects that I could use to make my voice sound muffled and have multiple voices? Thanks so much, Musikbear! <3

[slipstick]

You can "mess around" with the frequency of recorded audio using Audacity (try the Change Pitch effect). In general Audacity is much better at managing audio recordings than LMMS is (and it's also free).

To get a single recorded voice to sound like multiple voices use a chorus effect (there's even one called "multivoice chorus" though I prefer C*-chorus I). Then add some short reverb after (there are plenty of reverb effects around, I like C* Plate2X2 myself though it's a bit crude).

Steve

[brandystarbrite]

but both are around :
* 123 bpm
* uses found sounds with lots of reverb
* uses sidechain
Dominant instruments: rhodes & piano. Silent squares in low registers as big subbass sidechain with brake-beat
Saws are not used.
Percussion is brake-beats/ 16-32 bar variations and IMPORTANT! This where the music gets the 'step' vibe

I find that info interesting.