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Hi, I'm new to this forum; & i've been experimenting around with dubstep/house for the last couple months. I have been classically trained in piano for pretty much my whole life, and could probably pull off being a concert pianist, but the concerts aren't as crazy as dubstep shows. My problem is creating a sold drum line; my teacher says i have rhythm problems, because my first couple teachers were trying to get me to get fast fingers, "technique" ( which, mine are crazy fast, but i can't keep a solid beat, not like horribly bad, but like like a guy with an irregular heart beat. I have to really pay attention, while everything normally is subconcious when i play. I always play faster then slower than faster; you can only tell if the metronome was on.).

I've been using ableton, and drawing in notes (for the drum line) I have a Group Called drums, then i have it on impulse with a kick, snare, and a clap. I really don't know what the sounds are CALLED in a beat, but i can sure sound it out.When I Write a drumline, songs become too slow to be dubstep, even though it is in 140 BPMs; most of the time you can't dance to it. My goal sound is a melodic as fuck song, with drops and a good changeup beat. I'm not even sure if i'm using right vocabulary, i'm just describing it for those of you who are lost.

I am embarassed to show any of my songs right now because they are half done, and not good enough, to be frank.

So that was my background story, so most of you don't think i'm an idiot that doesn't know how to write a drum line. My question is, why are my songs so slow, and what can i do to keep it more steppy, dancefloorish, and what are the general sounds called in a beat? (For EX: Kick, snare, clap, hats, etc. Am I missing anything)
Has anyone come across this problem before, and are there any suggestions?

kind of hard to tell why your songs would be to slow without an example.

okay; this is just an example though that i put together with vengeance.
This is not what i planned on sounding like, i was messing around..and yeah..

http://soundcloud.com/sixxx-1/hands-up

You've got the right idea your drums are just out of sync. The best advice I could give is to either draw in your notes with the metronome on, or copy a drum pattern from a dubstep song and then add or subtract some kicks/snares where you see fit.

but is my song slow because of the drums? There isn't that steppiness to it..

aside from the out of sync areas, your song is the right speed. 140 bpm with halftime drums is what gives it the slow feel, your drums are hitting as if the song was 70 bpm. Adding in some hi hats/shakers can help give the song that shuffling quicker feel

Because they're out of time it doesn't sound right. That 'steppyness' is by kick - 1 snare - 9 in a programmer with hats inbetween

Huts wrote: Adding in some hi hats/shakers can help give the song that shuffling quicker feel

for hihats, you can try switching to 'triplet grid' (under option menu) while writing them to get swing.
just loop a bar with your kick and snare going, and then add/remove hihats until you have the rhythm you want.

try adding light hits just before (8th note, give or take) your main hits. like a soft snare or rimshot just before a main snare.

also, a lot of dancefloor oriented dubstep has more than one kick per bar.

None of these suggestions are rules. Even the "kick on the downbeat/snare on the third" beat that you find in a lot of dubstep isnt a requirement, though it will make a tune easier to mix with a very large portion of the genre.