Computer Music Magazine: Guide to Making Dubstep

[whineo]

I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall of the Hobnob office when Boasters were released.

[seckle]

where can i find a magazine that shows me how to sound like everyone else? i need this in my life right now.

[pete_bubonic]

the best thing about this forum is that there's 1000 people dying to call you elitist for anything and everything. FFS people! i think its depressing when creative people need a magazine to connect the dots for them! what happened to experimentation? what happened to trial and error? its this whole fast track thinking that really underscores the world we live in and the reason why art and artforms are constantly exploited by the media and their systems. everyone wants to be amazing at everything immediately without putting in the work....without finding things out for themselves...without making the necessary mistakes in order to push your output in the right direction.

why is that so fucking hard to understand? fuck all these self help magazines! make music for yourself. make creative mistakes for yourself. if a company made a diy magazine, spelling out in detail the fast track to mediocrity and blandness, i could count on the fact that someone in here would be defending it, and then calling someone else an elitist in about 30secs flat. jokes.

I have to say that's one of the most bizarre arguements I have ever heard/read against learning music.

Why do you assume people who want to learn and read this article (or indeed any article/help/tutorial) will completely forget about experimentation? Why, in your opinion, do you think producers who want to learn new ideas and approaches to production, are looking 'for the fasttrack'?!

The reason people are getting heated and annoyed with your comments, because you're completely overgeneralising like that prick Dubstee. And to be honest it's pretty offensive. Any producer with half an ounce of creativity is not going to rely solely on the specific outline of the article! If they do, but still enjoyed the making process and had fun, then fair play to them.

I genuinely don't see how you can mouth off saying 'why is that so fucking hard to understand?', when it's you who seems too close minded to appreciate what help/tutorial articles like this give people the chance to do. I wonder how many of your favourite producers picked up a few tips and tricks from guides, mags, tutorials, lessons and alike but still somehow manage to make new exciting music.

It's just such a bizarre viewpoint.

[SHAFEY]

where can i find a magazine that shows me how to sound like everyone else? i need this in my life right now.

Nice attitude.

For someone who does a lot of whinging about how they are treated/percieved on here, you don't really do yourself any favours do you?

Get down off that high horse bro, it's not a good look.

[seckle]

where can i find a magazine that shows me how to sound like everyone else? i need this in my life right now.

Nice attitude.

For someone who does a lot of whinging about how they are treated/percieved on here, you don't really do yourself any favours do you?

Get down off that high horse bro, it's not a good look.

right, so what's the good look then? not having a strong opinion? toeing the line? playing everything safe and subscribing to music magazines?

[dr h]

The elitest attitude of this forum really is quite sickening at times. For a genre which has taken almost every single element of its sound from genres before it, you guys act as if the dubstep sound is some dark secret that noone else can aspire to achieve.

[SHAFEY]

where can i find a magazine that shows me how to sound like everyone else? i need this in my life right now.

Nice attitude.

For someone who does a lot of whinging about how they are treated/percieved on here, you don't really do yourself any favours do you?

Get down off that high horse bro, it's not a good look.

right, so what's the good look then? not having a strong opinion? toeing the line?

Completely ignoring/dismissing/trying to make a joke out of anyone elses opinion. It's cool to have a strong opinion if you can accept that someone else might disagree.

So because I disagree, that means I'm toeing the line? Right-o. That time of the month

Edit: How the fuck is it playing safe?

[seckle]

where can i find a magazine that shows me how to sound like everyone else? i need this in my life right now.

Nice attitude.

For someone who does a lot of whinging about how they are treated/percieved on here, you don't really do yourself any favours do you?

Get down off that high horse bro, it's not a good look.

right, so what's the good look then? not having a strong opinion? toeing the line?

Completely ignoring/dismissing/trying to make a joke out of anyone elses opinion. It's cool to have a strong opinion if you can accept that someone else might disagree.

So because I disagree, that means I'm toeing the line? Right-o. That time of the month

oh come on bro. it's starting to sound like you work for computer music mag. it's just different viewpoints. peace and merry christmas. i'll never make fucking jokes about a magazine ever again. lol.

[pete_bubonic]

where can i find a magazine that shows me how to sound like everyone else? i need this in my life right now.

Nice attitude.

For someone who does a lot of whinging about how they are treated/percieved on here, you don't really do yourself any favours do you?

Get down off that high horse bro, it's not a good look.

right, so what's the good look then? not having a strong opinion? toeing the line?

Completely ignoring/dismissing/trying to make a joke out of anyone elses opinion. It's cool to have a strong opinion if you can accept that someone else might disagree.

So because I disagree, that means I'm toeing the line? Right-o. That time of the month

oh come on bro. it's starting to sound like you work for computer music mag. it's just different viewpoints. peace and merry christmas. i'll never make fucking jokes about a magazine ever again. lol.

w.o.w.

[SHAFEY]

where can i find a magazine that shows me how to sound like everyone else? i need this in my life right now.

Nice attitude.

For someone who does a lot of whinging about how they are treated/percieved on here, you don't really do yourself any favours do you?

Get down off that high horse bro, it's not a good look.

right, so what's the good look then? not having a strong opinion? toeing the line?

Completely ignoring/dismissing/trying to make a joke out of anyone elses opinion. It's cool to have a strong opinion if you can accept that someone else might disagree.

So because I disagree, that means I'm toeing the line? Right-o. That time of the month

oh come on bro. it's starting to sound like you work for computer music mag. it's just different viewpoints. peace and merry christmas. i'll never make fucking jokes about a magazine ever again. lol.

Err no it doesn't. My view point has been based on the media coverage and not so much it specifically being in CM. It just amazes me that someone so 'involved' in the online dubstep community can have such a narrow-minded point of view.

Yeah it's differing view points, but the difference is that you clearly cannot accept anyone seeing this as a good bit of coverage for dubstep.

Your attitude does stink tho, still.

Merry Christmas

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[bluenote]

Re. the elitist comment

My point was... If you can't see a positive side to this you must be pretty fucking narrow minded. Either that or you must have a 'holier-than-thou' attitude.

I find some of the comments on here staggering. Why is there necessarily a correlation between using a tutorial and producing shit music? Yeah it's good to experiment, but you need a starting point.

[the wiggle baron]

Have read the whole thread, and for the most part cant be bothered picking people up on things. But I did just want to point out the slight irony of Shafey complaining that seckle is making his point and implying that those who disagree are "towing the line". Before then following that up with calling seckle narrow minded for doing just that.

Surely both sides of this argument can understand the other side though? Pros = A guide like this may help/encourage more people to try their hand at creating dubstep, which will possibly uncover an otherwise unfound creative mind. And cons = The implied "rules" of dubstep, and the potential creation of lots of thoughtless music.

Im tending to agree with seckle on one point here. And that is that something like this is really only going to be useful for people who have a basic knowledge of production, and want to focus on dubstep? (This is my assumption from reading this thread. So what with assumption being the mother of all fuck ups, please do point it out if you think that assumption is wrong!) And that to just find a "how to" guide on making dubstep is really not encouraging much creativity. Yes im sure alot of people would move on to breaking away from the guidelines, but I would think for the best part it may very well be just for the sake of it as it were? i.e. Someone might think "If I use an odd time signature that will make my track unique in dubstep!" as opposed to someone creating a piece of music, and them just happening to think that it would work best at a different time signature as part of the process of transferring whats in their head onto the computer. This is (in a way) accidental, yet is in my opinion where "art" comes into it.

In fact, while writing all this out I may have had a bit of a turn around in my head, and come to a different conclusion I was planning on (hence why im only going to suggest this idea timidly. Never seem to know if ive made up my mind on things!). Now ive thought about it alot more, I actually can't see how an article of this nature could be a good thing. Aside from the general publicity of the genre, with an accurate, well thought account of it (which can ONLY be a good thing imo) I can only see negative results to this! (see how ive flip flopped here! Im going to keep in my previous arguments though as I still think they might hold some water)

People who will benefit from this magazine = People relatively new to production who might need a push to help them (?)

I was then thinking about this as a good thing, as people who may already have the basic skills they need might be able to apply them to the genre quicker/easier. But, why would ANYONE want/need to do this? I started producing dubstep recently without having once read anything like this. I make what I consider to be dubstep, using the "rules" I have gleamed from listening to the producers I like. Aside from the actual technical side of producing tunes (which I dont think this article is really tackling) everything else should surely just come naturally? If you want a noise to happen at some point, you just need to have the technical knowledge of how to implement that noise. If then, at the end of producing what it is you wanted to hear it still fits within these so called "rules"...then congratulations, youve made a dubstep tune! If however you havent fitted within the rules, who gives a flying fuck?!! It will just be a good piece of music in another genre. Theres no relative worth of genres! If its a good piece of music its a good piece of music. If it fits into the guidelines that would classify it as dubstep, then...hoorah(?) its a good piece of dubstep!

[azair]

I've checked several stores here in Albuquerque for the magazine, but with no success. Can I download/pay for a pdf file on ther internet or something like that? Where do I get this?

[computer rock]

Theres no relative worth of genres! If its a good piece of music its a good piece of music. If it fits into the guidelines that would classify it as dubstep, then...hoorah(?) its a good piece of dubstep!

If there is no relative worth of genres then a tutorial that encourages people to produce a certain kind of music necessarilly can't be good or bad.

[incyde]

I've checked several stores here in Albuquerque for the magazine, but with no success. Can I download/pay for a pdf file on ther internet or something like that? Where do I get this?

It's a UK magazine so you'll probably have a lot of trouble... because in the UK they've already come out with one or two new issues since then. I'd try to order back issues from their website maybe?

[incyde]

I think something important to point out here though is that the article does actually encourage EXPERIMENTATION... it gives suggestions on how to do certain things, but doesn't lay them down as "rules" or... "this is what you have to do for it to be a dubstep track"...

and who's actually going to make tunes using all of those guidelines and NONE of their own input? It's the producers who read it, take the advice as it is, and use what they like from it, or vary upon it to create their own sound. That can only be good to me!

How's it so different from 2 producers working together on a tune, showing each other things, learning from each other? THAT happens all the time. That's why in the UK there's so many quality producers, because there's a wealth of knowledge going around in a small geographic area, and people share it with each other, in turn making EVERYTHING better.

Again, this article is MUCH MUCH better than someone showing you how to make a wobble, toss a reggae sample in there and call it something. It could have been done a lot lot worse.


AND ALSO...

IF it does happen to lead to more producers making "dubstep", showing some of the "secrets" as it were, won't it only encourage the seasoned producers to be MORE creative, PUSH the boundaries even further, to create something original and forward thinking? THAT can only be a good thing too.

In the end I think it's just helping people express themselves better... after all if you can't wield the paintbrush properly how can you make a beautiful painting?

[bluenote]

if you can't wield the paintbrush properly how can you make a beautiful painting?

This

[tranquera]

I think something important to point out here though is that the article does actually encourage EXPERIMENTATION... it gives suggestions on how to do certain things, but doesn't lay them down as "rules" or... "this is what you have to do for it to be a dubstep track"...

and who's actually going to make tunes using all of those guidelines and NONE of their own input? It's the producers who read it, take the advice as it is, and use what they like from it, or vary upon it to create their own sound. That can only be good to me!

How's it so different from 2 producers working together on a tune, showing each other things, learning from each other? THAT happens all the time. That's why in the UK there's so many quality producers, because there's a wealth of knowledge going around in a small geographic area, and people share it with each other, in turn making EVERYTHING better.

Again, this article is MUCH MUCH better than someone showing you how to make a wobble, toss a reggae sample in there and call it something. It could have been done a lot lot worse.


AND ALSO...

IF it does happen to lead to more producers making "dubstep", showing some of the "secrets" as it were, won't it only encourage the seasoned producers to be MORE creative, PUSH the boundaries even further, to create something original and forward thinking? THAT can only be a good thing too.

In the end I think it's just helping people express themselves better... after all if you can't wield the paintbrush properly how can you make a beautiful painting?

I share this point of view with you, Alex...

[overcast radio]

The arguement Seckle is making from what I get is an all-out war against cookie-cutter mentality in creativity, which is valid...but that really has nothing to do with the CM issue on dubstep once deconstructed. The how-to/DIY aesthetic/way is here to stay and usually is presented in a remedial/tutorial/template style. You need to know the rules before you can break them (with success)...this is a fact in any art. You also must be an born rule-breaker, which not everyone is. BTW, FM has a "sound like 'artist x'" feature (or used to) and I bet that pissed you off even more Seck...trust, I didn't exactly like that either. Yay, sound like Boards of Canada".

I keep trying to write something that just sews up both sides here...but honestly I'm so frustrated with the negativity, lack of focus, dated "fuck off" positing on dubstep or anything for that matter, murky e-semantics. This type of safe, faceless, empowered forum-fighting is such bullshit bc it seems to be rare that it's a positive point-counterpoint; it's just an exercise in "oh yeah? yeah!" geekery of which I am part but am considering dropping out of based on this thread. Fuck it, this has done me more harm than good. I don't know if it confirms elitism in so-called private genres (yes) or the failures of an online forum to yield positive deep discussions. It can't. There's no real-time discussion nor any discreet one-on-one. People's dander is elevated within the verbal safety of their computer and un-interjected upon flow.

I mean this thread is a fight isn't it? Feels like one. I'm up for real talk not fighting and chasing each other's tail.

[pete_bubonic]

I was then thinking about this as a good thing, as people who may already have the basic skills they need might be able to apply them to the genre quicker/easier. But, why would ANYONE want/need to do this? I started producing dubstep recently without having once read anything like this. I make what I consider to be dubstep, using the "rules" I have gleamed from listening to the producers I like. Aside from the actual technical side of producing tunes (which I dont think this article is really tackling) everything else should surely just come naturally? If you want a noise to happen at some point, you just need to have the technical knowledge of how to implement that noise. If then, at the end of producing what it is you wanted to hear it still fits within these so called "rules"...then congratulations, youve made a dubstep tune! If however you havent fitted within the rules, who gives a flying fuck?!! It will just be a good piece of music in another genre. Theres no relative worth of genres! If its a good piece of music its a good piece of music. If it fits into the guidelines that would classify it as dubstep, then...hoorah(?) its a good piece of dubstep!

I agree with the sentiment that you should make what you like, indeed to my mind, that's the end goal for any producer taking his art seriously. A unique sound. An article like this can never teach you that. Noone can, it's a personal journey and experience. But that's not the aim of tutorials like this (at least none i have ever read). It's to teach the mechanics, the how-to's, the technicalities, rather than the creatives, how the reader uses these skills is upto them. Sure there will be enough people who don't apply creativity, or just want to churn a tune out and see what it feels like. How that's a bad thing, if they enjoy themselves, is beyond me to be honest.

Personally, I don't read CM, in fact I don't read any mags nowdays. But I used to, I never had music lessons or access to electronic music teachers or older siblings or mates who lay down knowledge. So magazines like this (and websites like DOA's the grid) were an essential part in me being able to learn the skills required to produce the electronic music I wanted to. I'm not touting my skills to be superb, far from it in fact, I could really do with honing many synthesis, mixdown, and arrangement skills. But I do have a unique sound and oddly enough, I learnt how to get there by reading articles just like that one.

And whether we like to admit it or not, there are certain boundaries within which dubstep operates, hence it being different from every other genre out there and vice versa. that isn't stopping people making dubstep or indeed any genre under the sun, if they want to and enjoy doing so.

How can it possibly be a bad thing for a supposed scene, when the creation process is such a personal affair anyway?