Why Reggaeton Producers Use This Filter Automation Trick- Stream Mania Day 10
Happy Mother's Day. Celebrate her every day — one day you'll wish you did more.
Today's session is a focused one: automation. Reggaeton specifically does this well — that muffled, underwater drum sound that drops in at a certain point in the song. This track didn't have any built in, which actually gives more control. So we're adding it.
Walked through the whole thing step by step. Assigned the drums to the effects chain, pulled up Fruity Filter, and broke down what each setting actually does — cutoff frequency, resonance, low pass, high pass, band pass, X2. The goal was to cut the high end so the drums sound muffled, keep the low pass all the way up so the kick still has body, and make sure the high hat doesn't bleed through the filter.
Then the automation itself — creating the automation clip on the cutoff frequency knob, copying the value before you move anything so you don't lose your reference point, setting the drop point on the beat, adjusting the tension curve so it smooths back out gradually rather than snapping. Landed on 25% tension. That was the sweet spot. Not too aggressive, not too subtle.
Key workflow tip: always copy the value at the start before you touch the automation clip. If you lose it or slide past it accidentally, you can paste it right back. That one habit saves you every time.
Instagram later tonight.
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*Timestamps:*
0:14 – Welcome / Happy Mother's Day
1:44 – Today's focus: automation on the drums / why reggaeton does this well
2:28 – Full playback of the reggaeton track
3:44 – Deciding where to drop the automation — second verse
4:24 – Assigning drums to the mixer effects chain
5:31 – Opening Fruity Filter / the settings overview
6:22 – When to use the help index and Chat GPT to understand jargon
6:59 – Cutoff frequency explained — cutting the high end for that muffled sound
7:54 – Resonance — what it does and why too much is a problem
8:24 – Low pass — keeping the body of the drum
9:00 – Band pass — amplifying whatever's left of high or low pass
10:00 – X2 setting — tightens everything up, keeps the high hat from bleeding through
11:11 – Creating the automation clip from the cutoff frequency knob
13:27 – Right click the knob / create automation clip
14:01 – Why you copy the value before touching anything — the most important step
15:04 – Dragging the automation clip and how values shift accidentally
15:52 – Setting the drop point precisely on the beat
16:16 – Bringing the cutoff up to 100 at the drop, pasting 21% back for the return
17:07 – The gradual vs sudden automation — using tension to control the curve
18:19 – Trying 25% tension — landing on the sweet spot
19:03 – How to reset tension when starting a new automation point
19:41 – Adding a second automation drop later in the song
20:45 – Bringing it back down and extending through the remaining bars
22:08 – Creating additional automation points / resetting tension each time
22:29 – Recap / closing out / Instagram tonight
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