Couple that with cheap audio cards and a lack of sound design tools and you get old-school arcade sounds galore. But more recently, video game developers have used tools like Pixelator to crush, distort, and simulate a lower resolution from more modern sounds. In fighting games and shooters, bitcrushed sound effects can add to the sense of. For more on applying glitch production ideas, grab Future Music 290, which is on sale now. Read more: Unfiltered Audio BYOME. By looping a small section of a sample in your sampler, then automating or modulating the loop's start and end points, you'll realise a myriad of customisable electro-glitches and buzzing timbres. It's so annoying and it seems like this is an outdated way to master tracks, as Apple Music and Spotify have made the upgrade to AAC in their streaming. Maybe Soundcloud Go or Plus or whatever the fuck would be more successful if the audio quality was up to par with these other outlets or least didn't cost the same.
- Traditionally, two copies of the same audio signal were played back through two different tape recorders. The flanging effect was created when the speed of the second audio signal was slightly delayed, typically done by lightly pressing on the tape reel by hand. This time delay creates the flanging effect.
- In this video, I show you how to mimic a bitcrusher/downsampler using FM Synthesis. I use Sytrus in tis video, but you should be able to use this technique.
You may have already used Ableton's bitcrusher effects Redux and Erosion to downgrade and degrade your audio material, but have you used it in a creative manner to construct breakdown sections in your productions? I'll show you how you can use these bitcrushers in combination with automation to create breakdown sections.
How To Bitcrush Microphone Audio
Step 1 ' Add The Redux
To get started, I have opened up an Ableton project of mine. I want to add a breakdown section after the second chorus. I'm going to extend the Chorus section. On this extended section I am going to automate some of the effect parameters on a Redux plug-in.
I'll be adding the processing effects to the Master Track. Add the Redux plug-in to the Master Track. Playback you track, and start tweaking the Bit Reduction and Downsample parameters, and see what effect it has on your audio.
Step 2 ' Automate The Downsample
I prefer setting the Downsample to Soft than to the default Hard when the effect is launched. Leave the Bit Reduction set at 16, as it is the Downsample that I want to automate. Make sure you are in the Arrangement View (View > Arrangement), then start moving the Downsample parameter, it should now be selected as the automation parameter in the Arrangement View. Or else go to Redux > Sample Soft. You'll see when you move the red line on the Arrangement View that the Downsample parameter on the Redux moves as well. Let's draw in an incline from the start of the breakdown section to the end of the breakdown section. To enable the draw tool, you can use the shortcut Command-B. This inclination will increase the Downsample rate and degrade the audio.
Step 3 ' Automate the Bit Reduction
You can get a greater degrading effect by automating the Bit Reduction as well. First enable the Bit Reduction, by switching the Off box to On. Then to view the Bit Reduction parameter, either tweak it on the plug-in to view it in the Arrangement View, or by choosing Redux > Bit Depth in the Automation lane box.
Now draw in some automation over the course of the breakdown. This time draw in a decrease on the Bit Depth automation lane.
Take a listen to the bit reduction and edit it if there are any sections that can sound smoother.
Step 4 ' Try The Erosion
I am also a fan of the Erosion plug-in. Add this after the Redux. I'm going to leave Erosion set to its default parameters when it is launched. I want to automate the Amount parameter, and this will be working with the Sine wave as the wave source.
As we did before, change the value of the Amount parameter so that you can see this lane in the Arrangement View. Now draw in an increase in this parameter over the course of the breakdown. This Sine Noise will further degrade the audio.
Step 5 ' Even Better, Add Some Reverb
Once you are happy with the bit reduction, let's add some other processing to further enhance the effect. I find long automated reverbs can really add to this. Add the Reverb plug-in. I have a long Decay Time of 1.84 seconds. Set the Dry/Wet to 0%. Increase this parameter over the course of the breakdown. Hear how this heightens the effect.
Dblue Bitcrusher
One last thing I want to do is drop the master volume slightly through the duration of the breakdown. Then when it hits the next section, the volume will jump back up to the original volume, making it appear louder when it kicks in.
In this article I have applied the bit reduction to the master track to demonstrate its effect, but you could apply the same steps to individual tracks so that some elements get degraded while the other tracks remain unprocessed. This will depend on your track, but just keep this in mind that you can apply the processing in different ways, not only on the master track.
Conclusion
Bitcrushing is a great way to add to your song arrangements through automation over a course of time in Ableton. I find that this combined with other processing effects can really push the track back in the mix, and then you can bring the whole arrangement back to the forefront when it kicks back in. These dynamic effects can really create interest in your productions. Try them out in your next Ableton project.
Download the Ableton Live Project file here.
For further tips and techniques on Ableton take a look at the following tutorials:
Related Videos
Distortion is a pretty versatile effect. If you're wondering how to use audio distortion to add warmth or some extra bite to your sounds, it does the trick. In this post, we’ll be going through the various types of this effect plugin such as Overdrive, Clip, Fold-back, Decimate and Bitcrush, so stick around if you want to learn what they all do.
If you have no clue what distortion is, that's fine! This is mainly focused on digital distortion in music and sound design but can be used in many forms of audio.
- Overdrive will simulate overloading the input with gain making it sound more aggressive or crunchy.
- Clip essentially cuts off anything above a certain threshold of the waveform. This flattens it out and removes some of the signal.
- Foldback on the other hand usually takes the point where clip would cut it off and will fold back (or flip) anything above that threshold.
- Decimate is quite simple, it reduces the sample rate of the signal.
- Bitcrush This is similar to Decimate as it takes the original sound and usually reduces its bitrate but can also reduce the resolution and sample rate too.
If you would rather watch the video than reading, you can watch the video here, which includes examples of what each parameter does to a sound.
Amount: One of the most common parameters in distortion effects is the amount option. This determines how harsh the distortion will be. From what I understand, the Amount control is quite similar (if not the same) as Drive.
Drive: The drive control varies across different plugins. Typically, Drive will either determine the input or output gain. This will saturate the sound (either more or less) depend on what you have it set to. At a low setting, it should create a softer sound. As you turn it up, you'll start to hear a much warmer and full sound, adding some harshness.
Filter: Having a filter on a distortion effect allows for control over what part of the frequency spectrum is affected. This is essentially an equalizer, but usually, will only come as high and low cutoff filter. Now, this is pretty good as it doesn't make EQ overly complicated, yet still provides you with the ability to choose specific frequency regions to distort. You can isolate the effect to only saturate the low end with a low pass filter. You can also choose where the curve starts to drop off with the frequency control. To distort the higher frequencies instead, you can use a high pass.
Dry & Wet: As per usual, the majority of all software effects have a dry and wet knob. In distortion plugins, you'll often find it called 'mix' which just refers to the mix of the dry (unprocessed) sound with the wet (distorted sound). Some will come as two individual controls, while others will be together in one knob or slider.
Distortion is an effect that will react to the amplitude of the signal that passes through the effect plugin. To change the tone of the distortion, you can increase the gain of the input signal and then reduce it after it has been processed by the effect to return the dB level back to normal.
The frequency of the input signal can also have an impact on how the distortion plugin affects the signal. Automate the input frequency by using an EQ or a Phaser to create movement in the input. It’s critical to add this frequency change before the distortion on the effect chain.
When dealing with distortion in a mix, it’s good to balance distorted & un-distorted sounds to complement each other. Using this effect on too many elements or simply having too much on a single sound can lead to a perhaps obvious unpleasant sound, so be disciplined with using it.
Learn more about how to use audio effects in music production.
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