Long choppy notes

[El Regulus]

Forgive me if this has been posted before; I couldn't find a thread discussing this.

Anyway, as the subject suggests, this is about long choppy notes. Choppiness... which happens when you use a "longer note" instrument in the background, but it ends up being one long note with painfully and totally unnecessary accents.

My question is, what is the best trick to reduce or eliminate the "choppiness" of long notes?

We all know the "hide it beneath the drum beats" trick, but what about a song containing little to no percussions? Does dickspeed apply here, or does it make the choppiness worse? I've found that fading out the note can help, but it doesn't work in most places.

What are your tricks?

[RehdBlob]

At different speeds, I use different intervals for sustained notes like car notes. For every tempo, the correct "spacing" is always different; generally, faster = more spacing possible, slower = less spacing. Experiment.

[Colin Comard (Delay)]

Yeah, you gotta know the best spacing for the tempo. I couldn't tell you. Or you could do what that... one guy... did on Thriller where he just made it so the cars have a rhythm that work with the song.

[El Regulus]

Yeah, I've also found that spacing varies with tempo. The only dickspeed song I did had long notes, but it also had percussions, so it was easy to hide the "choppiness." But working on a slow song with virtually no percussions, especially when the note is by itself for an extended period of time... is a little more of a challenge. I think I will experiment, though, with tempos and other things. (Fans are always doing variations of existing music, so I might just come up with something "original.")

Rhythm notes are not a bad idea, either. I've done something to that effect before on a bass line.

[Admin]

You can always coat it with other instruments going along simultaneously.

[Rusty]

I usually space them as far apart as possible, without the first note ending. I also do a lot of what Levus said, and mix instruments. Cars are the biggest help to mix in faintly, for they have the least choppyness for long held out notes. Adding in faint plants can help out also.