The Drop Thread // How To Make Drops

[GogOfMagog]

Thanks for the quick responses. All of those tips make a lot of sense. Much appreciated!

[e-motion]

One way of making the Breakn A Sweat lead:

1) One OSC at Saw Wave is enough if I recall correctly.
2) Route to a Scream Filter with Cutoff and Resonance to the max.
3) With Res to the max, the "Scream" will change the pitch of the sound. You must tweak the Scream so it has the same pitch as the note being played or it will sound like shit. To do this, add another cleaner synth, play the same note on both and adjust the Scream till it sounds like an unison. Mind that, this will only work for ONE note but to take care of this were going to use resampling.
4) Add the usual stuff like Tube, Shapers, Clippers and Dimension Expander.
5) Bounce to audio and load it in a sampler... voila you can now play more notes.

This will sound much like the Skrillex one, although ULTRA THIN. Some tips to make it phat (this or any other synth for that matter):
1) Resample more than one version, with slight variations. Layer those versions. Maybe pitch some full left and full right.
2) Add an OSC at a lower octave, with the volume much lower.
3) Skrillex uses Ozone so you may try it if you have it.
4) One thing that makes stuff fat is to use distortion as a compressor, meaning, using it to make things loud (mind what I said is technically wrong, but I think easy to understand). For this, use various different types of distortion with low drives and/or low dry/wets.
5) As on 4, you may also consider for this a multiband distortion (like Ohmicide or Trash) with pretty low distortion values so it doesn't sound trashed. Frequency splitting also works for this.

[Versuz]

like stated above to make the song sound "full" or "fat" you have to fill out frequencies. load a properly mixed track and look at how the frequencies move on a spectrum analyzer. you got your sub and kicks sitting at the bottom, your snares synths wubs sitting in the middle, etc and your hats, cymbals, crashes etc at the top end yadi yadi ya. learn to mix down your tracks first before doing anything else because a good mix sets the foundation for a good track.

[Sharmaji]

killer arrangements 1st and foremost.

[OfficialDAPT]

I've read numerous threads on "structuring bass drops" and such but i still have a problem where it sounds like my sounds are just stuck one after another and don't flow very well. I realize there is no surefire way to correct this or practice this but I just wanted some advice from people who may or may not have went through this same problem. Any tips or tricks are greatly appreciated!!!

[legend4ry]

It depends in what tune you are making really..

IF you're making one of those tunes what have 843095843095834095809218409382 different bass chops then you're find it really hard to create flow and you'll just have to make sure your drums are as obnoxious as possible to take up any space which is there. Thats all I hear when I hear tunes like that anyways.

If you're making something which actually -goes- somewhere, then you'll want to create a main section which has a big enough impact to have the "oh sheeit" factor but have enough space in there so you can progress the tune further in increments of 8/16/32/64 (however you're structuring your track).

A good example of this, is this tune :




As soon the initial drop becomes a bit repetitive, theres a few subtle changes then the melody comes in and creates the "final" groove and then its just a matter of slight variation to the breakdown.











Oh, and good high hat programming.

[OfficialDAPT]

It depends in what tune you are making really..

IF you're making one of those tunes what have 843095843095834095809218409382 different bass chops then you're find it really hard to create flow and you'll just have to make sure your drums are as obnoxious as possible to take up any space which is there. Thats all I hear when I hear tunes like that anyways.

If you're making something which actually -goes- somewhere, then you'll want to create a main section which has a big enough impact to have the "oh sheeit" factor but have enough space in there so you can progress the tune further in increments of 8/16/32/64 (however you're structuring your track).

A good example of this, is this tune :






Oh, and good high hat programming.

haha I'm not using 290348209348209384209384029384029850298562095823 different bass chops. What i usually do is get a nice phat "growl" sound to start off the drop (definitely not always a growl, but its some kind of hard-hitting sound) and then I usually have a wobble and a synth to use in the drop. Whenver I start structuring my drop section it just always sounds disjointed I'm not sure why, its not like I'm using more than 3 or 4 sounds.

As soon the initial drop becomes a bit repetitive, theres a few subtle changes then the melody comes in and creates the "final" groove and then its just a matter of slight variation to the breakdown.

[UpnDown]

alot of people make mistakes with the drums,i just spend more time and attention on drums than people usualy would.for example work with the reverb on your snares or claps ,,also hi hats are ver important ,,,and after that what I do i resample a few basslines that i made (with the main mellody and all that stuff) and i try to keep things simple...NOW THATS I THINK THE MAIN PROBLEM,,,90 % of newer dubstep producers think that .The complex the better,,so the just go slicing sounds up and making it as crazy as possible,,,but i think that you can get 10 times better thing if you keep it simple and know what your doing.

[Huts]

Use less sounds. Space is just as important as a sound. The drop doesn't have to be a culmination of every sound you want in the tune all coming together at once. I'm assuming you're referring to more midrangey aggro stuff so here's an example, Nothing more than a kick/snare/bass and some silence:


Everyone's trying to make this 'complextro' stuff with 10 bass patches all playing different sounds sequenced like legos. It's going to be very hard to get any type of flow from that

[OfficialDAPT]

Use less sounds. Space is just as important as a sound. The drop doesn't have to be a culmination of every sound you want in the tune all coming together at once. I'm assuming you're referring to more midrangey aggro stuff so here's an example, Nothing more than a kick/snare/bass and some silence:


Everyone's trying to make this 'complextro' stuff with 10 bass patches all playing different sounds sequenced like legos. It's going to be very hard to get any type of flow from that

that is a very good example, thanks!

[narcissus]

It depends in what tune you are making really..

IF you're making one of those tunes what have 843095843095834095809218409382 different bass chops then you're find it really hard to create flow and you'll just have to make sure your drums are as obnoxious as possible to take up any space which is there. Thats all I hear when I hear tunes like that anyways.

If you're making something which actually -goes- somewhere, then you'll want to create a main section which has a big enough impact to have the "oh sheeit" factor but have enough space in there so you can progress the tune further in increments of 8/16/32/64 (however you're structuring your track).

A good example of this, is this tune :




As soon the initial drop becomes a bit repetitive, theres a few subtle changes then the melody comes in and creates the "final" groove and then its just a matter of slight variation to the breakdown.











Oh, and good high hat programming.

you know what, this is the exact method that's been used in house for days..

imo kids these days are waaay to focused on the drops... it's like each song is just a vehicle for a drop. but as soon as you get used to the style used, the drop loses all impact, and thus the song becomes pointless and tired. which means you have to make your drops HARDER... and HARDER... until you get modern american-style dubstep.

everyone needs to get back to basics and find groove... and realize that the medium of dance music is not even suited towards intense 1 minute sections.... that is TV commercial domain.... ONE HOUR is the standard set time.. y'all actin like this is soundbyte music... and by 'y'all' i mean you young'uns...

get back to groove.... and you will find flow. build the song up from nothing to a groove that feels nice to just sit in. then you make a nice laidback intro section... build slowly to add tension... then when you 'drop' the real groove, i guarantee you will have fluidity

and if you don't know how to groove... you need to learn right now. listen to lots of funk. listen to lots of jungle. listen to lots of house.

[OfficialDAPT]

It depends in what tune you are making really..

IF you're making one of those tunes what have 843095843095834095809218409382 different bass chops then you're find it really hard to create flow and you'll just have to make sure your drums are as obnoxious as possible to take up any space which is there. Thats all I hear when I hear tunes like that anyways.

If you're making something which actually -goes- somewhere, then you'll want to create a main section which has a big enough impact to have the "oh sheeit" factor but have enough space in there so you can progress the tune further in increments of 8/16/32/64 (however you're structuring your track).

A good example of this, is this tune :




As soon the initial drop becomes a bit repetitive, theres a few subtle changes then the melody comes in and creates the "final" groove and then its just a matter of slight variation to the breakdown.











Oh, and good high hat programming.

you know what, this is the exact method that's been used in house for days..

imo kids these days are waaay to focused on the drops... it's like each song is just a vehicle for a drop. but as soon as you get used to the style used, the drop loses all impact, and thus the song becomes pointless and tired. which means you have to make your drops HARDER... and HARDER... until you get modern american-style dubstep.

everyone needs to get back to basics and find groove... and realize that the medium of dance music is not even suited towards intense 1 minute sections.... that is TV commercial domain.... ONE HOUR is the standard set time.. y'all actin like this is soundbyte music... and by 'y'all' i mean you young'uns...

get back to groove.... and you will find flow. build the song up from nothing to a groove that feels nice to just sit in. then you make a nice laidback intro section... build slowly to add tension... then when you 'drop' the real groove, i guarantee you will have fluidity

and if you don't know how to groove... you need to learn right now. listen to lots of funk. listen to lots of jungle. listen to lots of house.

That's not my style though, I'm not a groovy funky kinda guy, I like more excision/datsik/downlink style. Thats what i love to listen to and what I love to make so I'm not going to listen to genres I don't like to try and get inspiration.

[Siquan]

That's not my style though, I'm not a groovy funky kinda guy, I like more excision/datsik/downlink style. Thats what i love to listen to and what I love to make so I'm not going to listen to genres I don't like to try and get inspiration.

you would be better served to find inspiration outside the genre/style your making imho, you always just gonna be a step...or likely more...behind those guys who are already doing what you want to be doing. Doesnt mean you gotta listen to shit you dont like but if you want to be the next excision and your jsut copying him he will always be more progressive than you, he had a huge hand at creating a whole new style and i guarentee he wasnt looking at what was already happening in dubstep when he did it. pull from what you used to be into before dubstep and make a crossbread of that and excisions style if you must....biting is biting though.

as far as getinng things to flow pay attention to stereo width and over all depth of each sound, if one wobble noise is really dry and distorted and the next is wet with verb or chorus they will not flow as well as if they all had a more similar space and depth...try sending all your bass/mids to a group or bus so they share some fx charachteristics....this also works with bridges and changing song structure, if you drop out all your mids but dont put something alse that kinda takes place of all that space it can often be jarring....which can work for you as well.

[Toolman4]

***I know this is counter-intuitive to the progression of EDM, so I apologize to the vets. Aside from him not doing the research, I am handicapping the potential creative session you could've or should've had to explore these techniques yourself. OP, plz acknowledge the spoon feeding***

Read this tutorial first and foremost:
http://www.samplepacks.ca/how-to-make-a ... p-bassline

A GREAT post by Kaori breathe:
http://www.dubstepforum.com/another-hop ... 36681.html

Brian, of trifonic's bass layering video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99KdIggUssU

TST video 13:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq7kfe2l ... ature=plcp

Watch/read these. You're welcome

BTW...it's really important to heed what the prior posters have said. I'm very much into the same dubstep styles as you are. I love crunchy distortion on some midrange modulations. And I truly am not a fan of current UK bass music. But I can promise you that the frontrunners of the style we like, didn't get there from pigeon holing their musical interests. They pulled from outside the current EDM scene to basically create something new. I find that EDM (especially dubstep bass drops) sound more fresh to my ears when I'm not always listening to bass music. Actually I've been listening to a love of In flames at the moment (reaching back to my heavy metal days) and I absolutely love re-experiencing the music I loved so long ago with a new found appreciation and more developed ears.

Balance will be the key to living life and succeeding. It's such a profound statement, and very difficult to actively live a balanced lifestyle.

[legend4ry]

That's not my style though, I'm not a groovy funky kinda guy, I like more excision/datsik/downlink style. Thats what i love to listen to and what I love to make so I'm not going to listen to genres I don't like to try and get inspiration.

Errrrr...?

DJ Excision - Dark Dubstep Mix (t/l incl)


Ramandan Man - Dynamic Balancing (unsigned Dub)
Distance - Replicant
Distance - Cyclops
Distance - Empire
Skream - Traitor
Distance - Trust My Logic
Search & Destroy - Anger
Reso - Curse dub (unsigned Dub)
Mark one - Ready for it
Vex'd - Thunder
Skream - Lightning
Emalkay - Frequency
Docwra - Grit Trench (unsigned Dub)
Mark One - From deep
Docwra - Dropping Bombs (unsigned Dub)
Distance - 1 on 1
Loefah - Goat stare
Vex'd - Angels
Distance - Traffic
Ekaros - Bass Train (unsigned Dub)
Skream - Rottan
Headhunter - 7th curse
N-type - Misunderstood
Mushug - 2012 (unsigned Dub)

That mix is from like 06/07... Excision knows the roots of the sound and has been involved for years and years; the man knows groove and is a fantastic sound designer. I'd say step back, listen to some of the tracks in that mix and then take notes.

Once you understand how people achieve groove within halfstep then copy it, you'll realise that your tracks 'flow' is all about the groove.

Its not all about making a gigantic mess of poor sound design and hoping it goes well together.. If you want to make that sound you have to perfect the art of sound design and make it work AROUND your initial groove.

Mid-range Bass isn't the back bone behind a great flowing track, trust me! Work on your drums and structuring..

Kick - hat - snare - kick - hat - snare isn't sufficient enough these days.

[narcissus]

dude, those old datisk tunes had MAD groove. it had a sort of warped organic funk behind it.

okay, you don't like jungle or funk, AT LEAST LISTEN TO SOME FRIKKIN HIP-HOP

don't tell me you don't like hip-hop
or REGGAE

if you don't understand hip-hop or reggae you will never fully understand dubstep.. remember OP, you came here asking us why you're ish doesn't flow.

[outbound]

Gotta admit groove is one of my weak points. Can anyone point me in the direction of some decent funk? Need to take a lesson from the originators.

[narcissus]

parliament and everything george clinton has done. james brown. the meters. average white band. zapp and roger troutman on the pop/rnb side of things.. "more bounce to the ounce" is such a classic w/ so much groove
this stuff is all really accessible and groovy

[OfficialDAPT]

dude, those old datisk tunes had MAD groove. it had a sort of warped organic funk behind it.

okay, you don't like jungle or funk, AT LEAST LISTEN TO SOME FRIKKIN HIP-HOP

don't tell me you don't like hip-hop
or REGGAE

if you don't understand hip-hop or reggae you will never fully understand dubstep.. remember OP, you came here asking us why you're ish doesn't flow.

i like hip hop but I don't see how that pertains to the matter

[ehbes]

dude, those old datisk tunes had MAD groove. it had a sort of warped organic funk behind it.

okay, you don't like jungle or funk, AT LEAST LISTEN TO SOME FRIKKIN HIP-HOP

don't tell me you don't like hip-hop
or REGGAE

if you don't understand hip-hop or reggae you will never fully understand dubstep.. remember OP, you came here asking us why you're ish doesn't flow.

i like hip hop but I don't see how that pertains to the matter

Soulja boy doesnt count