The DEFINITIVE guide to producing Drum & Bass

[wub]

First off, lets get one thing clear. It is of paramount importance that you have stuff with buttons and knobs to press. That seems to be incredibly important these days. With this in mind, you are going to have to shell out for some classic kit.

Your kick samples in Logic or Cubase are just not going to do, so your first purchase is going to be a Roland TR-808 drum machine. Now you can enjoy the adulation of your peers with your authentic 808 kick sound that has nicely burned a palm sized hole in your pocket.

Now we’ve got our drum machine, we’re going to want to twist things up a la Fracture & Neptune… We need a sampler. For top cool points we recommend the Akai S2000 or Emu 6400 Ultra. That Dillinja bass line just got a little bit more attainable. Having got a sampler you are going to have to exemplify your sample finding credentials naturally, and the trendiest way to do this is to buy old records. Logically you are going to need a turntable which by law will need to be a Technics 1210 or 1200. Beware! Any other model will hinder your progress. If you get a Vestax turntable you are liable to be deemed a trance DJ or worse…

The final “must have” item is Mackie HR824 monitors, but apparently they have to be the first generation and not the mark twos. I’m now going to share with you one of drum & bass’ greatest secrets. It is imperative that you sit too close to the speakers. Despite the HR824s being a mid-field speaker, drum & bass producers seem to prefer them practically in their face. Make of that what you will.

Music is about creativity right? So it stands to reason that you are going to need inspiration within your studio space. Did you know that all full time drum & bass producers keep a copy of the Wormhole LP under the desk? It’s true. It is rumoured to be made from the pure essence of 1998, think of it as a religious relic, like a piece of the one true cross. You don’t have to use the mystical Wormhole LP yourself, maybe some Photek or Krust singles will have the same effect?

Optional extras that you may want to use are a skunk grinder as smoking loads of weed, although making you completely unreliable is inexplicably linked to drum & bass. Also you may find a dirty coffee mug tastefully placed on the corner of the desk quite useful.

Now you are fully geared up you are ready to go, with one final requirement; Your studio must be incredibly badly ventilated. I’m not sure why, but this has been deemed throughout drum & bass history as very very important. Now go forth and make offensive music.

[Milkybstrd]

Logically you are going to need a turntable which by law will need to be a Technics 1210 or 1200. Beware! Any other model will hinder your progress. If you get a Vestax turntable you are liable to be deemed a trance DJ or worse…

[fragments]

LOL. Just what I needed this morning : )

[Crimsonghost]

It is imperative that you sit too close to the speakers. Despite the HR824s being a mid-field speaker, drum & bass producers seem to prefer them practically in their face. Make of that what you will.

Love it.

[mromgwtf]

Who the fuck uses 808 kick in dnb?

[Brothulhu]

Who the fuck uses 808 kick in dnb?

Well the ones with no sustain/decay are good for anything really and the ones with sustain make awesome basses

[Genevieve]

I think the '90s are the most overrated era in drum & bass history. Not forgetting about the good shit that was def there, but it wasn't the most diverse scene.. Jungle was seriously the most monotomous form of dnb ever. I like a lot of the old shit, it has nice vibes. But I'm really glad the jungle days are over with so that I can decide for myself when I hear it. How much square wave sub/sines and Amens/think breaks with ragga samples can a motherfucker take? Like I delved pretty deeply into jungle because of all the good stuff people still bigup today, but all the stuff people still like is really the only good shit. So many poorly edited/looped breaks with the same basslines and samples.

From dBridge, to the Outside Agency back to Fracture & Neptune, Breakage and Black Sun Empire, drum & bass has been amazingly diverse for the better part of the decade. People are just really unwilling to go beyond their little scene and are overly nostalgic to a period in time that wasn't that exciting to begin with, unless you like hearing the same tune played for 2 hours in a DJ set.

To the drumfunk guys there's nothing legitemate about triplet beats with brutal reeses, and the skullstep kids are prone to listen to hardcore than some jazzy and nicely edited choppage.

Who the fuck uses 808 kick in dnb?

Haha, well this whole post is a rundown of Fracture & Neptune's setup because they sample their ACTUAL 808 kick, first running it really hot through their ANALOG DESK FUCK YEAH into their EMU sampler.

[Sharmaji]

Who the fuck uses 808 kick in dnb?

[__________]

Jungle was seriously the most monotomous form of dnb ever.

uh oh

[dooshbhag]

I think the '90s are the most overrated era in drum & bass history. Not forgetting about the good shit that was def there, but it wasn't the most diverse scene.. Jungle was seriously the most monotomous form of dnb ever. I like a lot of the old shit, it has nice vibes. But I'm really glad the jungle days are over with so that I can decide for myself when I hear it. How much square wave sub/sines and Amens/think breaks with ragga samples can a motherfucker take? Like I delved pretty deeply into jungle because of all the good stuff people still bigup today, but all the stuff people still like is really the only good shit. So many poorly edited/looped breaks with the same basslines and samples.

From dBridge, to the Outside Agency back to Fracture & Neptune, Breakage and Black Sun Empire, drum & bass has been amazingly diverse for the better part of the decade. People are just really unwilling to go beyond their little scene and are overly nostalgic to a period in time that wasn't that exciting to begin with, unless you like hearing the same tune played for 2 hours in a DJ set.

To the drumfunk guys there's nothing legitemate about triplet beats with brutal reeses, and the skullstep kids are prone to listen to hardcore than some jazzy and nicely edited choppage.

Who the fuck uses 808 kick in dnb?

Haha, well this whole post is a rundown of Fracture & Neptune's setup because they sample their ACTUAL 808 kick, first running it really hot through their ANALOG DESK FUCK YEAH into their EMU sampler.

Tbh, if you ask me, It was better before that era. Like when people didn't all think the only way to make the music was to double-time hip-hop beats.

[mromgwtf]

Who the fuck uses 808 kick in dnb?

Actually 808 kick in dnb sounds better than I imagined
But these piano chords sound like shit completely out of key