Subtly enhancing drops

slothrop · Post by **slothrop** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 5:52 pm

Here's a cool trick I've recently started using to add a little bit of magic to a drop. I'm not sure whether everyone else will find it a) completely obvious or b) totally useless, but it seems worth punting out there.

The basic idea is to add an almost imperceptible amount of white (or pink) noise to the tune before it drops and then shut it off immediately as it drops. The point isn't to have something audible like a backwards cymbal or a whoosh, it's more to effectively degrade the sound quality in the buildup to the drop so that when you un-degrade it again everything sounds a tiny bit brighter and shinier and more effective. Fading it in gradually seems to be the best plan so it's not obvious when it starts but more obvious when it ends.

This seems to work best with the sort of drop where you've got continuing percussion building up to the bass coming in, rather than the sort where you have a vocal sample, four seconds of silence, a reverbed gunshot, three seconds of silence and then everything coming it at once.

I'd imagine that you could get similar effects by other means, like using an EQ or a bitcrusher or a lowpass filter to very slightly degrade the sound in the buildup as well...

slothrop · Post by **slothrop** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 2:57 am

Noone interested then?

macc · Post by **macc** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 3:37 am

Dunno but your Old Doverhouse is cracking with a bit of Butler's Reserve Cheddar mate. Top work.

jolly wailer · Post by **jolly wailer** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:22 am

all about the reversed cymbal delayed out with a 240-11440Hz sine sweep and a little zoop or zing on the E of 4

apathesis · Post by **apathesis** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:40 am

Like it!

May well use that haha

legend4ry · Post by **legend4ry** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:01 am

Sounds interesting, any audio?

slothrop · Post by **slothrop** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:55 am

Used a couple of times on Cerealist, the first tune on my Virb. Although listening back it's maybe a bit too subtle, I'm not sure I can actually distinguish it on computer speakers....

Bob: glad you liked it! We've been rocking it with Montgomery and Keen's cheddar all christmas.

duskky · Post by **duskky** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 3:14 pm

white noise is your friend

pyro_racy · Post by **pyro_racy** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:19 am

I was a lp filter fan myself but this method seems interesting so i'll give it a shot later on and see how effective it is, nice one

twitch · Post by **twitch** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:39 am

I think pink floyd used a similar method back in their day from memory. Def works.

jackieboi · Post by **jackieboi** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:07 pm

Slothrop wrote:Here's a cool trick I've recently started using to add a little bit of magic to a drop. I'm not sure whether everyone else will find it a) completely obvious or b) totally useless, but it seems worth punting out there.

The basic idea is to add an almost imperceptible amount of white (or pink) noise to the tune before it drops and then shut it off immediately as it drops. The point isn't to have something audible like a backwards cymbal or a whoosh, it's more to effectively degrade the sound quality in the buildup to the drop so that when you un-degrade it again everything sounds a tiny bit brighter and shinier and more effective. Fading it in gradually seems to be the best plan so it's not obvious when it starts but more obvious when it ends.

This seems to work best with the sort of drop where you've got continuing percussion building up to the bass coming in, rather than the sort where you have a vocal sample, four seconds of silence, a reverbed gunshot, three seconds of silence and then everything coming it at once.

I'd imagine that you could get similar effects by other means, like using an EQ or a bitcrusher or a lowpass filter to very slightly degrade the sound in the buildup as well...

Got an example for us ?

Subtly enhancing drops

Subtly enhancing drops

Re: Subtly enhancing drops

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