The Eurodance Instruments and Tools

In order to summarize our previous chapters and also to make sure you get close the classic 90s Eurodance sound please pay attention to the following image:

For leads/pads/strings I recommend the following synths: Roland D 50, Juno 106, Jupiter 8, Roland U 220, Roland JD 800/JD 900.

Of course you can add extra instruments and sound effects, but I will leave that to your personal preference.

This is the last post this year so I wish you all A Happy New Year!

Mixing: Tips and Tricks

Mixing your Eurodance song takes time and practice.

Here are some useful tips and tricks when mixing:

- cut narrow - boost wide

- roll off the low end

- try to cut more than boost

- boost moderatly and subtly

- try to stick to smaller dB adjustments

- be careful about boosting around 200-250 Hz (muddy zone)

- mix with professional headphones, hear it on good audio monitors

To compress or to equalize first? There is no general rule. If you change your EQ settings very often, you may benefit most from placing the compressor first; but if you set your EQ once, then you could benefit from placing the EQ in front.

Bass Paterns

When it comes to constructing the bass line for your Eurodance song the posibilities are endless.

Start constructing with the first note of your chord. If needed you could also use the other notes of the chord.

Use your imagination and create a catchy bassline that sounds good to the ears.

Mastering Your Eurodance Song

Mastering should be done by a professional!

So I won't be covering this topic, although you can find basic mastering methods by searching the Web. However, a professional mastering studio will make your song really stand out from the crowd ;)

Recording and Mixing the Vocals

The vocals play an important role in Eurodance music, so pay attention when recording and make sure you choose the right singer(s).

Use a condenser microphone while recording. Also use a pop filter/an audio editor and remove all the pops from the audio file.

Double the vocals and add a delay of 50-120 ms to the copied version.

Panning: center

Compression:

General settings:

Ratio     : between 2:1 and 7:1
Attack   : between 1 and 7 ms
Release  : 50 ms / auto
Gain      : between -3 and -10 dB
Knee     : soft


EQ:

Remove everything below 150 Hz

Add air by boosting around 12 kHz


Effects:

You can add reverb, but there is no rule how much rever to add, it's just personal taste.

Mixing: The Synth Leads/Strings/Pads

Panning: for synth leads: stereo (fully left/right) or central
               for synth strings: at 4 o'clock

Compression:

Some general settings for leads:

Ratio     : between 2 and 8:1
Attack   : between 3 and 10 ms
Release  : 40 ms / auto
Gain      : between -8 and -10 dB
Knee     : hard

EQ (leads/strings/pads):

muddy frequencies: 250-800 Hz
add body: 100-250 Hz
add clarity: 6-8000 Hz
add brightness: 8-12000 Hz

Mixing: The Bass

It's important to avoid the clash with the kick, so sometime the bass may be harder to balance.

Panning: central

Compression:

Some general settings:

Ratio     : around 1:8
Attack   : between 1 and 10 ms
Release  : 20 ms / auto
Gain       : between -6 and -13 dB
Knee     : hard

EQ

Remove the frequencies lower than 50 Hz

Boost between 60 and 80 Hz to fatten up the bass

For more clarity boost between 400-800 Hz

Mixing: The Drums

Ok, let's talk about the mixing of the drums. Please note I'm not a mixing specialist and I'm also learning myself.

The drums and the bass should sit at the front your mix, with everything else located centrally behind them.


Panning

Kick    : always central
Snare   : slightly right or (most of the time) central
Hi-hats : far left with a delayed version in the far right (create a hi-hats track copy, link them to different mixer channels, pan to different sides, delay second track to 35-45 ms)
Claps   : central



Compression

Here are some general settings for the drum loops:

Ratio     : between 5:1 and 10:1
Attack   : between 1 and 10 ms
Release  : between 40 and 100 ms
Gain       : between -5 and -15 dB
Knee     : hard


EQ

The Kick

The kick is one of the most important components of an Eurodance track.

It's made of two components: the attack and the low-frequency impact.

Remove all frequencies under 30 Hz

Apply short boost between 40-120 Hz (for more thud)

Decrease gain between 200 and 350 Hz (muddy zone)

The attack resides between 3-6 kHz (boost/cut for more/less click)


The Snare

Remove all frequencies (apply high pass filter) under 150 Hz

The snap: 2-10 kHz (apply small boosts to brighten)

The body: 400 Hz - 1 kHz


The Hi-hats  

The hi-hats are the brightest instrument in the mix.

Remove all frequencies under 300 Hz

Presence: between 1 and 6 kHz

Brightness: between 8 and 12 kHz

To prevent hiss roll off the requecnies above15 kHz


The Claps

Remove all frequencies under 130-140 Hz

Mixing Your Eurodance Song

Once your song is ready, it should be mixed. I will present below a basic mixing method consisting of the following steps:

Levels
Panning
Compression
EQ
Effects

Compression

What's the role of compression?
It squashes the loudest peaks and boosts the quieter troughs, meaning you can up the overall track volume to get that extra punch. Please note that it's not necessarily for each track to be compressed, it depends. The kick drum, the snare, the bass, and the lead vocals usually get (some) compression and it's less used on acoustic guitars, piano or pads.

EQ

What's the role of EQ?
It helps to obtain an audio balance where each instrument (drum beats, bass, lead and vocals) can be distinctly heard.

Effects

What's the role of the effects?
They can make your instruments sound more interesting (some of the effects them include delay, reverb, etc.)

Next we will start detailing the mixing for each instrument used in the Eurodance music.

Tools: The Strings/Pads

The most used synths for the strings/pads in the 90s Eurodance were:

Roland U220 - for strings

Jupiter 8 - for strings

Roland D 50

Roland JD-800/JD-900 - for pads

Korg Wavestation - for pads



You could also try the following free VSTs:

http://www.vstplanet.com/Instruments/VST_Synthesizers3.htm

http://www.superwavesynths.co.uk/product_p8.htm