What is your approach to making the best drops?

[sargentpilcher]

I'm just trying to get a feel for how different people approach drops. What works for you and how do you do it?

I've heard many different types, from samples, to buildups, from a simple pad, to an anoying as fuck distorted sound. What do you all do?

[jrisreal]

You gotta figure out your own style.

[Towany]

white noise is your friend....

[Teknicyde]

Do you mean 'how do you progress your intro'

or

'how do you insert the bass'

?

Like, to me, 'drop' means the moment the bass comes in in post-dnb-dance-music... which would be very simple, i approach that by inserting the bass...
If you mean how do I build tension before it, thats a whole 'nother beast entirely.

[jaydot]

Silence... reverse cymbal... Boom.

[sargentpilcher]

If you mean how do I build tension before it, thats a whole 'nother beast entirely.

This

[1point5]

A drop is only as good as its buildup, the easiest way to make a big buildup imo is a combination of long rising pitch synths and automated filtered white noise up to a snare on the 3rd beat of the bar before the drop, leaving silence before the actual drop. I've been trying to avoid this recently though as I feel i've used it too much and my production was becoming too formulaic

[didi]

white noise is your friend....

soo true.

[acrap]

i figure i'd post this question here since i dont wanna make a new thread for nothing. When do you guys inset the drums? I feel like starting a track with kick/snare/kick/snare is the cheesiest shit in the world and always makes me wanna stop producing but i cant find a proper place when to insert them. alot of people use atmosphere and a reverse snare to then being in the drums would anybody reccomend anything else?

[sargentpilcher]

That's one of those things that everybody will have a different approach for. My personal formulaic favorite is to have a lowpassed kick and snare slowly fading in until you get to a point where you want everything to kick in.

[Gaufre]

i like the silence i always have 4bars of just silence or some atmospheric sound that i was using in the intro.

[Cubicle]

Silence.
I normally don't even have a decent build up.
I just let every instrument ring out in a 4 bars silence ending with a snare/vocal and then the actual drop.

[S1lent]

Hmmm, voice files with a good effect. White noise filtered out is pretty good.

[JFK]

8 bars of hi hats, 7 bars of hi hats + kicks, 8th bar = reverse cymal + James Brown shouting "HIT IT" and BOOOOOOOM

[syrup]

1/8 808 snare drum loop+volume automation

yeah.

[Ldizzy]

i like how tec house beats rise up to nothing and u still feel the tension.

even the more fidgetty type like vonstroke, they always achieve that tension buildup and release even without the slightest amount of aggyness...

i always think the typical brostep drop is weak by definition

id say theres a lot of good technical info up there but ur best bet is to learn how to write meaningful tunes and grooves... the rest will fall in place afterwards

as for thread hijacker with the when to put the drum question, its different for every tune...

[amphibian]

SILENCE!

[wub]

Crazy ass 16bar automation during the breakdown that has the intensity cranked up layered w/ white noise/reverse cymbals as the bass kicks back in.

[eldoogle]

In a song I've been working on the last three days I low passed the kick and had it kick 8 times in a 4 bar loop. Very effective if the lead right after is powerful, it's the track in my signature.