Hi follow mates in bandamp. I recently joined this site because it looks very cool and friendly. anyway I have been using FL Studio for about a month, and I read all the tutorials in this forums (thank you, to theperson who posted the thread). so i was wondering what are some quality mixers for certain genres of music..
for hiphop beats, trance, etc..
it would be really nice if someone gave a basic knowledge on some of the most effective onces, thank you bunch!

Not sure what you mean?  Fl has a mixer built in?  Please rephrase if you would..

Do you mean mixer setups?  That's an extremely subjective thing.  You're probably going to want some sort of equalizer on there (I recommend Parametric EQ2) and maybe a multiband compressor if you're working with certain types of music (Fruity Multiband Compressor is great)

The fruityloops compressors aren't really all that good, but you will be overcomplicating things if you start putting external plugins in there so I'd learn with them for now. Multiband compressors are also a really good way to fuck up your mix if you don't know what you are doing!

But yes in a sense a mixer is the control desk (whether virtual in software or real in hardware) that you use to manipulate the separate elements of your music in terms of volume, I/O, EQ, and routing to processors and/or effects.

Please elaborate on what information you actually need. Did you mean that you want to know which plugins / effects are useful?

I'll be honest with you I don't like much of what comes with fruityloops, largely because alot of it is based around presets. Presets prevent you learning alot of what sounds 'good' by using your *ears*, which is the most important thing.

Before you think about which plugins are 'good', it would be advisable to read up about general sound production so you understand what the different plugins do, why you would use them, and how they interoperate with one another (we call this an 'effects chain').

Commonly used *effects* would be reverb (eg small room or large hall) or delay (a configurable echo).

Commonly used *processors* are EQ (equalisers are used to boost/cut specific frequencies) and compressors (compressors are essentially gain control, and squash the dynamic range - volume peaks - of whatever you put them on).

There are many, many other effects - and other processors - but those are the most basic ones and probably the most relevant when you start out with FL.

When I started out on FL, I lived by the plugins.  For the most part, the bundled presets on the bundled plug-ins are great, so in that respect we disagree.  Now, it has come to the point where I just start at a preset and tweak till it works for my individual piece.

And yeah, with almost anything that alters the core sound, the potential for fuck ups is huge, but the payoffs are in converse just as great.  It's all about getting a feel for the plugins.

I'd have to agree with Avi on this one.  Fl studio has come along way with their plug ins and although I often ho outside of Fl for my plug ins, im confident and more than satisfied that I could survive on them.  (Im just a gearwhore)  It is really about how you use them.  It took me ages to learn how to finesse the dials and I still come out with trash from time to time.

Well I agree with you guys, my main concern isn't against fruityloops, but the fact that presets in general may make something sound 'good' but they don't encourage the user to learn about exactly why they are using that preset and what the individual settings do.
   Sure they are a good way to learn about the plugins themselves but I would strongly recommend some additional learning so you can get the best of them.

   Also, any program that uses scores of it's own plugins in a bundled package (FL, Acid) tends to encourage a mastery of that program rather than a mastery of making music.
   This is why the best plugins comply to industry standards VST, AU, RTAS etc to be used in more professional sequencers... although I agree that FL is awesome for DJs and electronic music.
   Also I'm speaking from experience as I've used FL since v3 and I have FL Studio 7. It's a great program and alot of the effects are good, and I'll concede that the EQ/Compression in FL7 is much much better... I just think that too many people use compressors without knowing how they work... which causes poor results.

   ...and I would strongly recommend that people who are new to recording stay away from multiband compressors. If you don't know why you need a multiband compressor and what they do, then you shouldn't be using one. It's great if you understand compression and particularly useful for dance music but (personal experience here) if you don't understand what you are doing (which I didn't) you end up crapping over your mixes.

Hint: I dont use multiband compression at all, except for dance music or a mix where the bass and/or kick is too weak, where I will apply light mix compression first then bass compression to fatten the bass without effecting the rest of the mix, then finish with a loudness maximiser and limiter.

   The final thing to add is that multiband compression is (almost) always used on a final mix... *not* on individual parts, although I'm sure you know that avi just pointing it out for the new guy

I have, on a few occasions, used a multiband compressor on a backing vocal track.  It worked for what I wanted, but yeah, it almost always is a master track effect.  I assumed that's what this guy wanted based on his question...which I still maintain was a little bit vague.