0:00
In this video, I'm going to share with you seven different creative ways to use bit crushing
0:04
in your tracks to make them sound awesome. Now, real quick, before I dive into the tutorial
0:09
be sure to download my free rapid song finishing checklist in the description below. This walks
0:15
you through a proven step-by-step mixing system so that you can produce radio-worthy tracks from
0:21
home each and every time. All right, so let's dive into bit crushing. First off, what is bit crushing
0:29
Well, bit crushing simply reduces the resolution of a sound. So you can think of bit crushing like a video camera running at 30 frames a second
0:39
That means 30 images are captured and put together in a sequence of just one second
0:44
The audio equivalent is the sample rate, which is how often a sound is captured in a second
0:49
Every time a video camera opens to take a picture, it needs resolution to determine what it can see and how accurate it is, is called resolution
0:57
Same thing with sample rate. every time we open up our sample rate, we want to take an accurate picture. In other words
1:03
digital audio is composed of a rapid series of numeric samples that encode audio data onto a
1:10
waveform. So the lower the sample rate, the less building blocks you have to assemble the audio
1:17
picture. And then for the less accurate the sound is, that's what we can see here. As we increase
1:23
the down sampling here, reduce the resolution, it gets blockier. So right, you want your sound
1:29
waveform is supposed to be a perfect wave you know it's supposed to be circular like this
1:34
but if you have fewer building blocks you have to do your best representation kind of like
1:40
minecraft right you ever played minecraft you try to build a circle using blocks it's hard to do it
1:46
if you only have four blocks it's not going to look like a circle at all but the more minecraft
1:51
blocks you add to the circle you're trying to make the more circular you can make it look or
1:57
the more it can imitate a circle. So that's kind of the same thing we got going on here
2:03
So then how do you use a BitCrusher plugin? Well, I'm just using a free one here in Logic
2:07
Your DAW probably has something similar. Otherwise there are other bit crushing tools out there
2:13
including some free ones. I'll link to one in the description below
2:17
But just if you're in Logic here or have something similar to what Logic has
2:21
I'll just break down the different controls here really quickly. So you have different modes
2:25
So you have fold here. so you can see how it changes the waveform here
2:29
So with full, this is a softer distortion setting, which is created by halving the level of the center portion
2:36
of the signal above the threshold. The start and end levels of the clip signal are unchanged
2:42
So you can see it's like taking out the middle here, so it's not as intense
2:46
Then we have clip mode. This cuts off the top of the waveform. This is kind of like the most standard
2:50
typical type of bit crushing. And this will cause an abrupt distortion
2:55
when the clipping threshold is exceeded as the top of the waveform is simply cut off
2:59
So clipping occurs, or that occurs in most digital systems is the closest to cut mode So if you are recording something too loud you gonna get digital distortion that basically bit crushing because it getting cut off So this is the most authentic form of bit crushing It going to sound the most like digital distortion
3:16
Then you have a wrap. Wrap is a less harsh form of distortion, which works by offsetting the start, mid, and end
3:23
levels of the signal above the threshold. This parameter smooths the signal levels when they cross the threshold
3:30
Then we have drive here. And so this sets the amount of gain applied to the input signal
3:37
So raising the drive level can also increase the amount of clipping at the output
3:41
So if we, you can see how it kind of changes the waveform there
3:46
The more you increase the drive. Then you have resolution right here
3:50
So you can set the bit rate between one and 24 bits to alter the calculation precision
3:57
of the process. lower values, increase the number of sampling errors, generating more distortion, and extremely
4:05
low bit rates. The amount of distortion can be greater than the level of usable signal. So if I
4:10
turn this all the way down to one, you're not even going to hear it doing anything on this snare drum
4:14
here. So you can't even hear it. Now we hear it. 24-bit is what we typically record, and this is
4:23
like full resolution. Um, but if you want to go like CD quality is 16 bits, this is what you would
4:28
hear on, on CDs. This is typically what you find like on streaming platforms too. It's usually 16
4:34
bit. Uh, and then like retro video games back in the day, those were like eight bit or even four
4:39
bit. Um, so if you want to get more of a retro chip tune kind of sound on anything, you can
4:44
actually turn any sound into a chip tune sound just by reducing the resolution here. And you
4:49
of downsampling here and downsampling reduces the sample rate. So a value of 1x has no effect
4:56
on the signal value of 2x halves the sample rate value of 10x. As you can probably imagine
5:04
reduces the sample rate to one-tenth of the original. So right, we normally record everything
5:10
at a sample rate of 44,1 kilohertz. But when we turn the downsampling up to 10x here
5:15
then it's sampled at just 4.41 kilohertz. And you have the, of course, your mix knob here
5:21
So this just sets the balance between the unaffected and the affected signal
5:27
And we also have the clip level threshold here. So you can set the point below the clipping threshold
5:32
of the channel at which the signal starts clipping. So you can drag this green dot here to set the level
5:39
at which it's going to clip. With that, let's get into seven creative ways to use bit crushing
5:44
So number one here is what we can see right here is on a snare drum
5:48
So all I have to do is very subtle here. So I'll keep it at 24 and just do down sampling of 2X
5:53
just reducing the sample rate, and then maybe add a little bit of distortion. And I'll reduce the mix a bit here
5:59
So we'll listen to this before and after. So it kind of beefs it up a little bit and also adds some like sizzle on top so it can help make your snare drum cut through the mix a little better Now another cool way to use bit crushing
6:28
is to add it to your lead instruments. You typically aren't going to want this all the
6:33
way through. You're probably going to want to like automate it in and out. And so here is an example
6:37
of what it sounds like on a lead. And we can also hear here, we'll have some, we have some automation
6:43
here on the lead, where at the end here it picks up
6:56
So I thought that was pretty cool, and it adds a pretty cool transition effect here
7:08
You can kinda hear it in the background going, wah, as it goes back down to normal
7:12
It can be really cool to use on your closed hi-hats as well
7:23
Again, it just changes up the sound a little bit if you want to go for that. If you want to go for that slightly more distorted sound here
7:30
I have the resolution pretty low. We can put it back up to 24. It's not going to make a huge difference in this case
7:35
Again, it just kind of thickens it up and adds a little bit of crispiness to the top there
7:46
Now, creative technique number four for bit crushing is you can actually add it to vocals
7:50
Here's a quick example of where I added it to my track, Crystal Soda
8:05
And here is another example on this track here
8:21
I'm probably not going to keep this, but just to kind of show you how it sounds. I got a little bit of drive here, and then I'm going to turn up the downsampling
8:35
If you want to add a little bit of crispiness to the top without overpowering, we can turn
8:57
down the mix here. Or if you want to, you know, make it sound like you're in a vintage video game
9:23
No you don So you can hear it a little bit in action there
9:42
Another really cool way to use this is just as a transition. Transitions are a fantastic place to use bitcrushing to help you move between different sections of your song
9:51
So you can hear an example of this from my song, I Died Again
9:54
We could also add it into this track here. So we've got these drums here
10:02
So maybe we want to add some bit crushing here and we could like automate this
10:12
So that'd be cool. And we could add to these other tracks too, add to the base too and these leads
10:17
So it's all kind of doing the same thing if you want to create that really digital feel
10:21
So that's a cool technique there. We can also add two synths
10:25
I like adding it to ARPS. You can see we got a little bit of bit crushing on here
10:33
using the folds, it's a little smoother. So it brightens it up a little bit
10:45
just adds it, helps it cut through a little bit, but it's very subtle, you can't really hear it
10:49
changing the tone too much, just kinda makes it brighter. So that's a cool too. If you want to add some extra intensity to your synths
11:08
you can add it on them as well. And finally you can also add it to your mix bus. If you really
11:14
wanted to go crazy. Um, I didn't do that here, but I did add it to a sub mix here. So it is added to
11:22
my drums and my bass here, so you can also do portions of your mix. I have it added here
11:28
and it's automating in this transition here. Right here you can see the automation. We
11:32
see it's going to be starting out very bit crushed and then it's going to get cleaned
11:36
up. So you can see like the beginning of the bridge, it starts very bit crushed
12:07
Hey, if you got value from this video, go ahead and hit the like button. And if you want a proven step-by-step system for finishing more radio
12:14
where these songs from home, then be sure to grab my free mixing checklist in the description below
12:19
which will walk you through a proven step-by-step system for mixing your own
12:23
songs from home so that they sound amazing and professional each and every time
12:27
And if you want to check out a tutorial on how to turn any track into an amazing
12:32
transition, And just be sure to click my video playing on the screen right now
12:37
With that, have an awesome day and keep creating
