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heya guys

so i got FL studio the other day and i prefer it to ableton for production but im learning everything from new.

Something ive always found hard it writing the drop part of a tune.

Heres something Ive been working on for a few hours (1st track in FL studio) and as you can see the drop isnt very good and i have no idea how to approach it.

http://soundcloud.com/djtigerblood/dubstep-track-wip

Im going for the heavier 'brostep' style that a lot of people hate so if you could keep personal opinion out and keep it constructive id appreciate it!

Thanks for any help and please suggest other bits I can look at im 100% self taught so its hard to work out what areas to look at.


Thanks for your time

The bass drum hits way too often and needs the lows dropped a bit. There doesn't seem to be any bass in the track besides the bass drum. Typically, the distorted wobbles have sub bass underneath 'em. You can't drop the bass if you ain't got any bass.

Ok first, generic progressions like the one you used aren't good for drops. They're good for Taylor Swift songs.

To write a good drop, you should just distort the fuck out of everything, automate everything like crazy, and make a hundred different sounds and play them one of the other to make it way crazy. Also you should probably add bass to a drop because you know, it's important.

Heartless wrote:The bass drum hits way too often and needs the lows dropped a bit. There doesn't seem to be any bass in the track besides the bass drum. Typically, the distorted wobbles have sub bass underneath 'em. You can't drop the bass if you ain't got any bass.

yeah i wasnt sure where to add bass + sub bass and what to make it do / sound like.

ChadDub wrote:Ok first, generic progressions like the one you used aren't good for drops. They're good for Taylor Swift songs.

To write a good drop, you should just distort the fuck out of everything, automate everything like crazy, and make a hundred different sounds and play them one of the other to make it way crazy. Also you should probably add bass to a drop because you know, it's important.

i dont really know any other ways ? that was the intro that built up then i had a sweep into the main part. also i dont get when you say distort everything and automate everything...

Just go to your mixer, link your wubs to a mixer track, open up a fruity fast dist, bingo.

And what I meant by the progression thing was that you make it to calm and obvious of what the next note is gonna be, you need to just be like BREWWW BRWAWWNK WUBWUBWUBWUB BEW PEWWWWW wRRRIIPPPPPP PHSSSSSHHHH

Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

EQing is adding or subtracting frequencies whereas compression is changing dynamics.
Is the fruity limiter on the master insert? It sometimes is by default. If so turn it off as you'll regret it later otherwise.

ToxicBass wrote:

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

EQing is adding or subtracting frequencies whereas compression is changing dynamics.
Is the fruity limiter on the master insert? It sometimes is by default. If so turn it off as you'll regret it later otherwise.

i dont think it is generally i turn everything off before i start.

Im just trying to sort out structure and general sounds before all the EQing you guys are talking about. Seems counter productive to learn the little edits when the track isnt even done

Tiger Blood wrote:

ToxicBass wrote:

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

EQing is adding or subtracting frequencies whereas compression is changing dynamics.
Is the fruity limiter on the master insert? It sometimes is by default. If so turn it off as you'll regret it later otherwise.

i dont think it is generally i turn everything off before i start.

Im just trying to sort out structure and general sounds before all the EQing you guys are talking about. Seems counter productive to learn the little edits when the track isnt even done

Well you certainly don't wanna be adding bells 'n whistles at this stage, but you gotta do something about the kick drum. It's hoggin' the low end and you won't be able to hear your bass when you add some in.

Tiger Blood wrote: i dont think it is generally i turn everything off before i start.

Im just trying to sort out structure and general sounds before all the EQing you guys are talking about. Seems counter productive to learn the little edits when the track isnt even done

Well if you're just practicing composition then I guess that's an ok way to work but you might find it more efficient to sort out your levels and eqing as you go along. I'd find it a pain to have to mix and process everything at the end. As a rule of thumb if I find a sound I like I'll assign it to an effects channel immediately and just roughly eq it and sort the levels out then write a structure with it. Leaves just tweaking at the end instead of outbursts of anger at having to eq and mix 30 sounds from scratch which I've heard solidly for 3 days.

yeah ill look into EQing.

However really i just wanted to know how to approach doing the main 'drop bit' as although ive got no actual bass in the track im sure you know the area i mean.

I'd get a longer sweep in there. All about creating anticipation. You gotta taunt them before you slap 'em with the bass.

ignoring reading the entirety of this thread
your intro should grab the listener, be it completely diff from the rest of the song, or just hints of whats to come
a simple and effective drop is a bar of silence, losing the percussion for a bar, a riser, or a complete change up
another good tactic is a vocal bit be it from a movie etc or what not
just something that causes the listener to drop their guard for a second before they get hit with a wall of sound or something that hooks them instantly
it's something you shouldn't overthink and should flow natural

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

i didnt say anytihng abut EQing?

Compression and limiting are tools which reduce the peak dynamics of a signal and which shape signals using attack/decay envelope features...

I asked because when I look at your waveform, the kickdrums in the intro actually peak higher then the highest kick peak you have after the drop... That looks like limiting to me, because if they were limited with the bassline, they would change dynamically when it came in.

Also, that kick sample is well... shit. Get osme better samples.

Try leaivng some silence/rest before the drop though, to answer your question.

Teknicyde wrote:

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

i didnt say anytihng abut EQing?

Compression and limiting are tools which reduce the peak dynamics of a signal and which shape signals using attack/decay envelope features...

I asked because when I look at your waveform, the kickdrums in the intro actually peak higher then the highest kick peak you have after the drop... That looks like limiting to me, because if they were limited with the bassline, they would change dynamically when it came in.

Also, that kick sample is well... shit. Get osme better samples.

Try leaivng some silence/rest before the drop though, to answer your question.

they are vengeance samples which seem pretty standard in production, theres no limiting etc and its the same kick sample throughout...

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

i didnt say anytihng abut EQing?

Compression and limiting are tools which reduce the peak dynamics of a signal and which shape signals using attack/decay envelope features...

I asked because when I look at your waveform, the kickdrums in the intro actually peak higher then the highest kick peak you have after the drop... That looks like limiting to me, because if they were limited with the bassline, they would change dynamically when it came in.

Also, that kick sample is well... shit. Get osme better samples.

Try leaivng some silence/rest before the drop though, to answer your question.

they are vengeance samples which seem pretty standard in production, theres no limiting etc and its the same kick sample throughout...

the thing is, every sample pack you buy or download is going to have MAYBE 15 useful samples in it, the rest are going to be filler... Just because it was made by the right company doesnt mean it sounds right in the context of the tune. id get something punchier, with less sub end, the kick your using right now sounds like it'd fit better in a house tune then anything.

you probably have to visualize this to get it and it's something that took me awhile to figure out too. I did what you did with a straight build into the "drop" with no space in between. here's a picture of that part of my project and the link so you can hear it and put the pieces together. this is by no means the only way to do things nor the best, just the way I tend to do it so hopefully you can take something from it.

http://i.imgur.com/3v3Fb.jpg
http://soundcloud.com/partipilo/insomnia

Tiger Blood wrote:

ToxicBass wrote:

Tiger Blood wrote:

Teknicyde wrote:Those vocals were uh... rough.

Your compressing or limiting your kick, snare, and midrange bass together arent you?

im not doing any EQing atall...

Ive not learned how to yet, those vocals are from a sample pack and havent been touched. Im learning track structure and getting the sounds needed before all the tuning

EQing is adding or subtracting frequencies whereas compression is changing dynamics.
Is the fruity limiter on the master insert? It sometimes is by default. If so turn it off as you'll regret it later otherwise.

i dont think it is generally i turn everything off before i start.

Im just trying to sort out structure and general sounds before all the EQing you guys are talking about. Seems counter productive to learn the little edits when the track isnt even done

As important as track structure is, it is more important to learn to eq correctly from the get go.
It will just help you soo much down the line.
A good sounding track is better than a well structured track that sounds terrible.
Plus, structure not a fixed science or anything.