The Drop Thread // How To Make Drops

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

so more silence with drum work, a contrasted synth seems to be a trend, like a high pitch saw wave synth contrasted with the growls as a call response.

I dont get what you mean with the sends? And i used a couple of reverse samples but its a good point that throwing more in would improve flow.

yeah but throwing in screeches is really personal taste you definatly dont need them for a complete song try maybe a different bass sound instead or reverse bass, or chopped up basses as mentioned

send channel is basically a channel with a effect that just has the effect on it so lets say reverb just reverb on wet and no dry so you can have drums and atmosphere in the same "room" while the bass works in the basement or maybe delay so you dont need to apply the same delay to several channels and makes it easier to chop of all the volume from one effect when you dont want to have it anymore (sidechain etc works to of course on a send)

yea i quite like all the screechy noises they keep it interesting for me, doing for the doctor P ovely choppy sound if possible (i know that probably gets a a lot of hate though)

And yea i know about send channels as i use them for parallel compression and snare reverb i have just never used them for synth as its all bounced audio with a hell of a lot of effect on it already, wouldnt know what else to add on a send!

yeah i see your point but sends can be still useful after resampling for example

but you have to keep your resampling quite dry though to lets say have a nice effect with reverb

as i said it can be used for a feel just try to give several channels the same send and you will hear how they will blend together its a bit like adding the same really sublime effect to a picture with different layers to make it feel as one pic again

[Tiger Blood]

yea for reverb i build it into the high band of the sound when i do my processing so all the sounds actually have a little reverb ion the high frequency

anyone else have more tips? really interested to hear!

[Justin Bays]

Honestly I think the arrangement in that track was good. I quite liked the flow of it.. in my opinion the sounds themselves just need a lot more work - the drums sound good to me but the bass/synth sounds were small and lacking.

Also, the spectrum in general just needs to be filled out more in my opinion. The whole thing felt very narrow and 'midrange-y' - I wasn't hearing any sub (although I'm listening on not the best headphones right now so forgive me if i'm wrong) and also the high end maybe around 7 - 12 Khz needs to filled out more IMO with some wide sounds. You could try adding extra high-passed layers to your bass with different processing, white nose sweeps, pads, arps, or maybe a crash or ride on every beat (check out big boss by doctor p or piano tune by bar9) and make sure these sounds are nice and wide.

again, i'm listening on kind of bad headphones atm so take my advice with a grain of salt

[Tiger Blood]

Honestly I think the arrangement in that track was good. I quite liked the flow of it.. in my opinion the sounds themselves just need a lot more work - the drums sound good to me but the bass/synth sounds were small and lacking.

Also, the spectrum in general just needs to be filled out more in my opinion. The whole thing felt very narrow and 'midrange-y' - I wasn't hearing any sub (although I'm listening on not the best headphones right now so forgive me if i'm wrong) and also the high end maybe around 7 - 12 Khz needs to filled out more IMO with some wide sounds. You could try adding extra high-passed layers to your bass with different processing, white nose sweeps, pads, arps, or maybe a crash or ride on every beat (check out big boss by doctor p or piano tune by bar9) and make sure these sounds are nice and wide.

again, i'm listening on kind of bad headphones atm so take my advice with a grain of salt

yea the drums etc were all a vengeance loop, not my own work, mine are much better. Theres no sub there either just the resampled mid basses.

[Tiger Blood]

This is what I have now, recut 3 bass lines and assed subs and better drums.

Getting the right idea or no?

I find the flow still isnt very good theres not much pattern or melody, should I add more contrasting saw wave synths playing melody or something?


Cheers guys!

Soundcloud

[ritch]

How can I get the drop to sound so heavy deep and hard? All my attempts turns out too soft compared to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEiN2SazaCg

[oprs]

Right before it actually drops he cuts out a LOT of the sound so the impact is felt more. His kicks are nice and tight coming through that deep bass. All it is really is proper volume control and finding the right bass to ride your tune. His wubs are not clashing with everything giving them a place of their own so they sit even better on the track.

So:

• Tight Kick

• Good Samples

• Bass Sitting Just Right

• Proper EQ

[Towany]

practice....

[bmar22]

The drop is at 2:20 Im curious what kind of bass this is? I feel like its just a reese of some sort but Im not terribly knowledgeable about it.

thanks



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmaTr08GRCA

[mthrfnk]

Modern talking + distortion.

[bmar22]

Modern talking + distortion.

cool. thanks for the help

[Mike Renai]

I guess what I’m looking for is tips and techniques on how to create a clear “call and response effect” during the drop with our arsenal of bass weapons. There are so many “how to make this bass sound” threads but not much info on how to effectively use these sounds, where to place them in the arrangement and what keys sound good within the song progression for the drop. If anyone has some constructive info or links please do share, I fully understand there are no solid written in stone rules but we all need a good foundation to learn from and then creatively expand.

The fact that Dubstep drops are not typically melodic makes it harder for me to creatively execute a strong call and response feel.

[mthrfnk]

You say that drops are not melodic, the fact is that the "good ones" imo are melodic which sets them apart from the multitude of tracks that just sound like juxtapositioned Massive presets. I also find melody plays a good part in call and response, personally I like to have a high/midrange synth playing chords or a riff after a modulated bass sound in a c&r style.

[Eat Bass]

yeah melodic bass lines are what sets actually listenable brostep apart from just noise. i've actually been looking for tips on how to arrange bass lines with a more musical feel with call and response too so i hope theres some more feedback in this thread.

[Mike Renai]

Elsewhere on this forum I did come across a Trifonic tutorial that touched on this quite nicely but it is literally all i have found on the matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99KdIggUssU

[CYRHEN]

There's a fine line between this and that so lets drop some opinions..

Here's a tune I've been working on for a couple days now and I got one opinion on my drop was that it was too "complex"...and there were too many high notes.

Guess I could solve that by knocking the high melodies down an octave.
Soundcloud

[Augment]

It's too complex when u sit there thinking what the fuck is going on, and u forget about enjoying the song.. Didn't sound too complex that one imo

[Exhilant]

for the style you're doing I couldn't comment. It doesn't sound too 'complex' though. But don't listen to me, I produce under the philosophy of 'less is more'.

[claudedefaren]

Writing melodic baszlines, doesn't mean they all have to be playing a melody. It just means, have them "respond" to each the other in gestalt fashion. (look up gestalt) Tbats my take, at least. See the song in my sig. Not to toot my own horn, but i can't think of any better example right now of a melodic bassline with solid gestalt. Feel free to ask me anything specific.

[billybuxton]

Yeah this is something i really struggle with,
iv recently been getting some cool bass sounds out of my E-MU but i can't seem to write basslines or make it more listenable