The 'help me make that dungeon sound' thread

[kingGhost]

There's a Zeds dead track that has a bass sound that hits on the first kick after the drop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opqkmi9xh4A It almost sounds like its a bassgun being shot (exactly on :42). I would appreciate any assistance on how to make that type of effect in Massive.

shit on your computer and it'll make about the same sound.

this is a "dungeon" sound thread.

[Earjax]

Great idea for a thread.

[charliefoy]

Not strictly 'dungeon' related but does anyone have any tips for adding melody to darker tracks? I find a lot of my tracks only have 1 or 2 notes but i'm finding it hard to add melody or higher harmonics without losing the vibe of the track or making it sound cheesy. Also, any tips on build ups would be great too, something other than a reversed crash or filtered noise.

[kingGhost]

Not strictly 'dungeon' related but does anyone have any tips for adding melody to darker tracks? I find a lot of my tracks only have 1 or 2 notes but i'm finding it hard to add melody or higher harmonics without losing the vibe of the track or making it sound cheesy. Also, any tips on build ups would be great too, something other than a reversed crash or filtered noise.

sample the drum beat from the beginning of led zep's "when the levee breaks," filter and reverb the SHIT out of it.

no, i'm serious. i've done it and it sounds cool.

[charliefoy]

Not strictly 'dungeon' related but does anyone have any tips for adding melody to darker tracks? I find a lot of my tracks only have 1 or 2 notes but i'm finding it hard to add melody or higher harmonics without losing the vibe of the track or making it sound cheesy. Also, any tips on build ups would be great too, something other than a reversed crash or filtered noise.

sample the drum beat from the beginning of led zep's "when the levee breaks," filter and reverb the SHIT out of it.

no, i'm serious. i've done it and it sounds cool.

Haha ok!

[Scalade]

Definitely all about your ADSR for those long distant sounds. You really don't have to spend too much time on the waveform itself. Also the Phase modulation in Massive is fantastic for giving your sound some growl.

[kawook]

Anyone know how to make the kick sound like its pushing the sub in logic. Not with sidechaining so the sub drop out abit more so the kick sounds like its part of the sub?
Thanks.

[sketchyderek]

Anyone know how to make the kick sound like its pushing the sub in logic. Not with sidechaining so the sub drop out abit more so the kick sounds like its part of the sub?
Thanks.

Yeah, you need sidechaining still.
Just make sure your kick has some of the top eq'd out, then throw a compressor on the sub and sidechain it to the kick. Without the high frequencies it will sound as one.

[kawook]

Ill try it out thanks

[Kilo beats]

ez steppers

Looking to understand how a cirtain bass has been made, and another question on top of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jTzU7juNXA

that bass in J:Kenzo - Protected is puree sickness.

sounds to me like the first 3 bass hits/ stabs are possibly the result of a lfo on the cutoff with a saw/ ramp for the LFO. and the longer 4th bass stab/ wub is just a standard sine wub lfo.

am i in the right ballpark?

what waveforms are being used? sounds like either a distorted sine or square (or both?)

also, my second question is not about this tune, but i read that a good way to make bass is starting with a sub bass, duplicating that and processing the duplicate with distortin/ flange/ etc, then highpassing that and layering with the original sub. can anyone give me more info on this way of making bass? any treads covering this technique?

thanks peeps

Kilo

[Warwolt]

Anyone know how to make the kick sound like its pushing the sub in logic. Not with sidechaining so the sub drop out abit more so the kick sounds like its part of the sub?
Thanks.

You could try to make two patches of the sub, with one having a quite hefty pitch-modulation, with it starting at a high pitch and falling down (y'know, like good old clicky kick drum synthesizing) so that you get a thump. Been using it mainly to get some more defined attack on the sub, so its suddle on my patch, but if you make it more defined (and especially raise the starting pitch for the fall) you get something that gets very kicky.

Try to combine that with a filtered out kick maybe? By having two patches also you can just change the volume of the "kick"-sub and get a sort of side-chaining effect right there.

Should be noted that the idea is to split the MIDI into two, so that you remove a note in the melody of the pure sub and place it on the "kick"-sub instead when the kick hits, alternating between the two.

Not strictly 'dungeon' related but does anyone have any tips for adding melody to darker tracks? I find a lot of my tracks only have 1 or 2 notes but i'm finding it hard to add melody or higher harmonics without losing the vibe of the track or making it sound cheesy. Also, any tips on build ups would be great too, something other than a reversed crash or filtered noise.

I reckon a great way to add melodies without getting too out of the vibe or making the melody to dominant is to be very repetitive, or at least minimize the chord progression as much as possible. I find that chord progressions can have a pretty huge impact on EDM-tracks, since its usually more about the sounds and the rhythm, pounding on a groove rather than a hook and something you can croon on, so when you DO drop a chord progression it'll be something that's gonna get a lot of attention from the person listening. If you wanna get into chord progressions in the music theory department there's some stuff to be found.

Basically, tl;dr just be repetitive and don't use chord progressions and you keep the groove.

[nowhere]

I still for the life of me cannot figure out how to create growls like the ones starting at the drop of this tune.
http://soundcloud.com/killawatt_ss/kill ... elem-swarf

I'm pretty sure its a heavily effected reese but any more pointers in the right direction would be great.

[vSquared]

I still for the life of me cannot figure out how to create growls like the ones starting at the drop of this tune.
http://soundcloud.com/killawatt_ss/kill ... elem-swarf

I'm pretty sure its a heavily effected reese but any more pointers in the right direction would be great.

Same - I don't have a clue how to make any growls etc!

Anyone willing to share some tips?

[accordionfan]

I still for the life of me cannot figure out how to create growls like the ones starting at the drop of this tune.
http://soundcloud.com/killawatt_ss/kill ... elem-swarf

I'm pretty sure its a heavily effected reese but any more pointers in the right direction would be great.

Same - I don't have a clue how to make any growls etc!

Anyone willing to share some tips?

i'm trying to make some now and i would appreciate some guidance!! so far i'm sort of getting there with a lot of saturation+distortion and manually drawing in low pass automation + resampling the good parts and arranging the audio into a somewhat coherent bassline . still doesnt sound nearly as good as that killawatt tune!!


these are some of my fav growls. sounds like a distorted square or triangle?? i think?? but my attemps are coming up a bit short. any ideas

[Huts]

I still for the life of me cannot figure out how to create growls like the ones starting at the drop of this tune.
http://soundcloud.com/killawatt_ss/kill ... elem-swarf

I'm pretty sure its a heavily effected reese but any more pointers in the right direction would be great.

slight off topic but anyone know the song that was mixed out before this one drops? heard it this summer but can't find the name

[Electric_Head]

I think legend4ry posted a very good bass tutorial re: the growling lead/bass.

Legend4ry's Youtube Tutorials. Updates! (18th/10/11)

[CHRISVICESLUDGE]

DOES ANYONE HAVE AN IDEA ON HOW TO MAKE WOBS LIKE THESE... I ASSUME THAT ITS ENV-CUTOFF AND MAYBE BP INSTEAD OF LP OR A BLEND OF THE TWO WITH HIGH RESO BUT I DONT KNOW IF THERES A KEY FOLLOW ON THE RESO OR VELOCITY OR WHAT THE FUCK. THESE ARE SOME REALLY GOOD, SUPER OLDSKOOL BADMAN TYPE SOUNDS AND I SUGGEST THAT WE COLLECTIVELY FIGURE THESE OUT BECAUSE IT WILL BENEFIT US ALL! ITS THIS WEIRD KNOCKY TYPE BASS SOUND.
Soundcloud


or this similar one....
Soundcloud

I thought about just asking doomtrooper on aim but i dont want him to freak out thinking that im just trying to jock his swag. Ive gotten a close sound in Zebra2 and also with FAW Cicle but I pretty much have most plugins everyone else has (massive, albino. predator, etc...) Kinda reminds me of some old Others or some shit from that golden age and I wanna bring it back because I'm so tired of hearing the same buzzy, modern talking nonsense that everyone seems to be on. I will truly appreciate help with this and will gladly give you a pack of really fire originals and other "dungeoney" type tunes that I'm sure few people have but need to hear.

[antipode]

jock his swag.

[amphibian]

re: growls - it's been answered a few times in recent reese threads, including the neurofunk bassline thread (which is ultimately what you want). Check my tune in my sig below for a similar growl (it's only a stab).

[big_lurch]

It didn't really make any sense to me, as I am a Reason user.
Is this, or a similar, technique even possible in Reason?
I got Reason rewired in Ableton as well, so I can always try it over there, but still it doesn't make sense
You have to connect 4 x/y filters to each other or what? haha

you can do this easily in ableton with grouped filters

pretty interesting theory, many many thanks for the links wub

Had a go with trying this out in Ableton but not sure I"m really getting it. Saw the other reply mentioning Autofilter, but think I'm just missing something Any chance for a quick walk thru?