To make good Dubstep...

[wub]

...stop listening to Dubstep.

Or whatever sub genre of bass music you find yourself making, stop listening to other bass music.



Seriously

[Neuro Fiend]

Everyone told me this when I first started making tunes. I never stopped listening to bass music, I just made sure I listened to other genres too! I wanted to make Dubstep because I liked listening to it and wanted to have a go at it myself, I don't think the be all and end all is to stop listening to the style of music you like to make though since half the reason people make it is because they enjoy it.

[Gewze]

All i listen to is bass music, do i make bad dubstep?

[Jizz]

lol this is very true in my case, it's exactly why my every attempt at dubstep's been pretty shit; but I'm too addicted to just stop listening to it aha, and realizing this helped me move on to try and get my own sound

broadening my music library's helped me so much with my production though, the variety has also made just listening to music a lot more enjoyable too

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

so if i want to make brostep i have to stop listening to cern?

[wub]

All i listen to is bass music, do i make bad dubstep?

Is your work only influenced by other bass music? If so, then maybe. But that's subjective, of course.

lol this is very true in my case, it's exactly why my every attempt at dubstep's been pretty shit; but I'm too addicted to just stop listening to it aha, and realizing this helped me move on to try and get my own sound

broadening my music library's helped me so much with my production though, the variety has also made just listening to music a lot more enjoyable too

Everyone told me this when I first started making tunes. I never stopped listening to bass music, I just made sure I listened to other genres too! I wanted to make Dubstep because I liked listening to it and wanted to have a go at it myself, I don't think the be all and end all is to stop listening to the style of music you like to make though since half the reason people make it is because they enjoy it.

I'd also recommend getting off the Internet for a while if you wanted to further expand horizons.

so if i want to make brostep i have to stop listening to cern?

Not at all, Terminus is an awesome album. But if you wanted to make DnB then maybe taking Cern as an influence might be a bad thing. Brostep influenced by Cern might be quite interesting providing there was some forethought behind it and it wasn't just a case of doing something different from the sheer sake of doing something different.

Or maybe that would be the issue. But then we'd return to a state of forced creativity and that might also be bad.

(*In a similar yet different situation, if you were spending your time listening to Kryptic Minds tracks and watching the Kryptic Minds tutorial and reading Kryptic Minds interviews all the while trying to make music that sounds like Kryptic Minds, you might need to stop and take a look at yourself)

And of course, any statement as sweeping as this is bound to have loopholes

[Gewze]

All i listen to is bass music, do i make bad dubstep?

Is your work only influenced by other bass music?

I dont know

[Jizz]

lol this is very true in my case, it's exactly why my every attempt at dubstep's been pretty shit; but I'm too addicted to just stop listening to it aha, and realizing this helped me move on to try and get my own sound

broadening my music library's helped me so much with my production though, the variety has also made just listening to music a lot more enjoyable too

I'd also recommend getting off the Internet for a while if you wanted to further expand horizons.

true that, even just going out for a run every now and then can give you a fresh new outlook on whatever you're working on at the moment

[Reversed]

I guess you are assuming that people here are ONLY listening to EDM. I listen to Progressive / Post Rock / Metal every day, just as much as i listen to EDM, therefore i suppose my inspiration isn't coming purely from the EDM artists I am listening to. (also, i also am listening to a great variety of EDM genres).

[wub]

All i listen to is bass music, do i make bad dubstep?

Is your work only influenced by other bass music?

I dont know

Grab a random album and listen to it all the way through. 60mins well spent.

lol this is very true in my case, it's exactly why my every attempt at dubstep's been pretty shit; but I'm too addicted to just stop listening to it aha, and realizing this helped me move on to try and get my own sound

broadening my music library's helped me so much with my production though, the variety has also made just listening to music a lot more enjoyable too

I'd also recommend getting off the Internet for a while if you wanted to further expand horizons.

true that, even just going out for a run every now and then can give you a fresh new outlook on whatever you're working on at the moment

I'd find the idea of music from agorophobics quite interesting.

I guess you are assuming that people here are ONLY listening to EDM. I listen to Progressive / Post Rock / Metal every day, just as much as i listen to EDM, therefore i suppose my inspiration isn't coming purely from the EDM artists I am listening to. (also, i also am listening to a great variety of EDM genres).

Good for you. But this isn't about scoring points.

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

Not at all, Terminus is an awesome album. But if you wanted to make DnB then maybe taking Cern as an influence might be a bad thing. Brostep influenced by Cern might be quite interesting providing there was some forethought behind it and it wasn't just a case of doing something different from the sheer sake of doing something different.

Or maybe that would be the issue. But then we'd return to a state of forced creativity and that might also be bad.

(*In a similar yet different situation, if you were spending your time listening to Kryptic Minds tracks and watching the Kryptic Minds tutorial and reading Kryptic Minds interviews all the while trying to make music that sounds like Kryptic Minds, you might need to stop and take a look at yourself)

And of course, any statement as sweeping as this is bound to have loopholes Image

haha yeah i see your point with the dungeon sound i like it from time to time and tried it a few times but it feels like there a literally 100 new tunes a week and its quite generic in its effort to sound not generic

[Sure_Fire]

Listen to metal! \m/(-_-)\m/

[OfficialDAPT]

When I first started making dubstep last year it was all I listened to. After like 6 months of making shitty "brostep" tracks I starting trying to make other genres. When I started making other genres like house I started listening to house music and I surprisingly found out that listening to house helped me make dubstep. The same transition happened from house back to liquid dubstep. And from liquid dubstep to rap beats/instrumentals. Switch your genre up and get out of your comfort zone if you want to have fresh perspective.

[Reversed]

I guess you are assuming that people here are ONLY listening to EDM. I listen to Progressive / Post Rock / Metal every day, just as much as i listen to EDM, therefore i suppose my inspiration isn't coming purely from the EDM artists I am listening to. (also, i also am listening to a great variety of EDM genres).

Good for you. But this isn't about scoring points.

Huh? I thought you were talking about that? It isn't really clear from the OP. I was assuming you were stating that if you listen to genre x and produce genre x you will only copy from other artists of genre x? Isn't that what you said? And listening to a greater variety of music can diminish this problem, that's what i was trying to say.

[chekov]

"liquid dubstep"

[horsefeather]

uhm then i have to make a choice producing or djing

[Sinfected]

Shamelessly stolen from doa, and i'd change it to stop listening to ONLY bass music. You obviously produce dupstep cause you like it, and why should you stop listening to something you like?

[OfficialDAPT]

"liquid dubstep"

for lack of a better word :/

[alphacat]

Shamelessly stolen from doa, and i'd change it to stop listening to ONLY bass music. You obviously produce dupstep cause you like it, and why should you stop listening to something you like?

You're right that getting outside of bass music genre-wise is a good idea too. But regardless of its provenance, the idea in the OP is still important and some of us older cats who've watched the cycles come and go over and over realize that part of the problem that everyone pisses and moans about in dubstep (if indeed there really is one) is sonic inbreeding.

It was one thing when the term dubstep was a loose catch-all for a bunch of sounds that had little in common but even less in common with other forms (compare Loefah, Kode9, Vex'd, and Shackleton tunes from 2006 to each other for illustration) - now, it's being distilled into a more concrete formula - which is inevitable - but as the proverbial mold sets and becomes rigid there's less and less interesting differences between artists, because they're all writing from the official playbook.

The good news is that the solution is easy, and as DOA and Wub say - listen to something else for a change, even if its another style of bass music. To this end I can't strongly recommend good mixes and radio shows: Electronic Explorations, even if they've taken a turn for the decidedly more techno lately (more focused I guess...)

And the Solid Steel webcasts put out by Ninja Tune.

Seriously - amazing variety of styles, all quality selections. I always get turned on to a lot of interesting new sounds whenever I listen to it. The last two shows with Photek & Martyn? OH MY GOSH.

http://solidsteel.ninjatune.net

[wub]

When I first started making dubstep last year it was all I listened to. After like 6 months of making shitty "brostep" tracks I starting trying to make other genres. When I started making other genres like house I started listening to house music and I surprisingly found out that listening to house helped me make dubstep. The same transition happened from house back to liquid dubstep. And from liquid dubstep to rap beats/instrumentals. Switch your genre up and get out of your comfort zone if you want to have fresh perspective.

Good advice.

"liquid dubstep"

uhm then i have to make a choice producing or djing

Why would you have to choose?

Shamelessly stolen from doa, and i'd change it to stop listening to ONLY bass music. You obviously produce dupstep cause you like it, and why should you stop listening to something you like?

A lot of material on here is half inched from Blu Mar Ten rants as it happens

Not saying giving up listening to anything...though the wording of the op is naturally open to interpretation. But closed statements aren't as good for fostering discussion.

Do I mean fostering? I think I do.

"liquid dubstep"

for lack of a better word :/

Genre names are a big part of the problem imo. Once something has a label and once it has a label it must be defined.

To this end I can't strongly recommend good mixes and radio shows: Electronic Explorations, even if they've taken a turn for the decidedly more techno lately (more focused I guess...)

And the Solid Steel webcasts put out by Ninja Tune.

Seriously - amazing variety of styles, all quality selections. I always get turned on to a lot of interesting new sounds whenever I listen to it. The last two shows with Photek & Martyn? OH MY GOSH.

http://solidsteel.ninjatune.net

Although bizarrely, one of my biggest inspiration sources recently is a podcast that doesn't play any music