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Quick question about build-ups before drops in tunes. I was trying to think of new ways of making build-ups in my tracks, I'm talking something other than reversed cymbals or filtered white noise sweeps, getting bored with the same old same old

What sort of sounds/techniques does everyone else use?

bar of silence
reverb/delay soaked bars, drum build ups, creepy vocal samples
theres loads of ways
listen to some of your fave tunes and try to figure out what they are doing

I know tune in the drop is pretty standard drop but instead of doing the standard kick roll I decided to switch up the beat - cookie monsta always seems to have pretty unique ways of building tracks up "frontline for example" - but dont get to carried away with trying to switch it - as the parable goes, "if it aint broke, dont fix it"

who says you need a drop?

Sharmaji wrote:who says you need a drop?

the whole song cauld just be one long build up to an anti-climax - thatd be fresh!

Sharmaji wrote:who says you need a drop?

rusko

could do a 32 bar intro that feels like it's building then reduce it completely at the very end, then drop. Kinda like a double fake.

first 8 bars have just one instrument, carrying your main theme
next 8 bring in something to accompany it
next 8 add some light pre-drop drums and maybe a simple bass part
next 8, have nothing play except the first instrument doing what it did during the first 8 bars
DROP

Alternatively, do what deadly said, and have a bar of silence and just let some reverb tail off during it. Then drop.

Try writing something that doesn't sit at either 16 or 32 bars as an intro, throw your listeners a little, so when the drop comes it's a bit more unexpected.

You could also try that glitchy effect that sounds like your CD is stuck on a loop.

the tapestop/vinyl wind down sound works a charm too
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/826.html

Some good ideas here so I'll attempt to add to them.

Maybe try doing like a normal build (whatever you may use) but instead of the bass dropping on beat 1 maybe wait a few extra beats or maybe an extra bar?

redraven wrote:Some good ideas here so I'll attempt to add to them.

Maybe try doing like a normal build (whatever you may use) but instead of the bass dropping on beat 1 maybe wait a few extra beats or maybe an extra bar?

me and tripwire did something similar on our last track, drums come in a bar late for the drop. Worked well i think.

kaiori breathe wrote:

redraven wrote:Some good ideas here so I'll attempt to add to them.

Maybe try doing like a normal build (whatever you may use) but instead of the bass dropping on beat 1 maybe wait a few extra beats or maybe an extra bar?

me and tripwire did something similar on our last track, drums come in a bar late for the drop. Worked well i think.

Yeah I have heard it used to great effect in some tracks which is why I mentioned it.

Maybe do a double fake drop and then silence with some vinyl crackles and maybe some ambient bongos or like ethnic drums and then just kinda sneak the bass in?

8-bit pseudo-noise 'rocket launch' sound is a favourite, little snippets of voice, vinyl wind UP (whoa!). a couple days ago i recorded a bit of a windchime, sounds pretty cool reversed.

timestretching works a charm too

GRAYSKALE wrote:

Sharmaji wrote:who says you need a drop?

the whole song cauld just be one long build up to an anti-climax - thatd be fresh!

that'd be techno!



and i love it.
its true though you dont need a drop.

im quite fond of just getting super quiet and or silent before coming back in.

also grain stretch samples increasing in pitch or grain size works

Dropouts are better than build-ups imo.

redraven wrote:Some good ideas here so I'll attempt to add to them.

Maybe try doing like a normal build (whatever you may use) but instead of the bass dropping on beat 1 maybe wait a few extra beats or maybe an extra bar?

i hate tracks like that. makes it a bitch to mix. a better way of doing that would be to have silence on the first beat of the drop then start it on the snare. that sounds sick!

On a space echo (or any tape delay unit that does saturation/degradation, etc), turn the feedback knob to the max, record it (remember to make it trebleish). Add a flanger with a very slow movement and a very metallic-ish sound on it.. some reverb and voila!

you can do a LOT more with build ups then most producers do... they'll just create a little tension, drop a funny sample, and wub wub wub wub...

it's all about drama and EFFECT

if you have a vision and a little skill, you can take your song to the edge of chaos, make the universe collapse on itself, and then bring it all back in two bars... a beat of silence.. then drop.. stuff like that. i've recently found that psychadelics are showing me some interesting ways to build up. if all else fails..

oh and also, a reverse vinyl wind up sounds cool! export 8 bars of drop, reverse it and load it into a sampler w/ pitch envelope. love it!

I like to take a certain element of the tune and slap a huge reversed reverb, i use echo much, on it, so it kreeps in faster and faster. Last bar or half bar just silence or a delay on the end of the reversed reverb sound.

deadly habit wrote: listen to some of your fave tunes and try to figure out what they are doing, and then do something completely different

fixed