Some little beginner tricks
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:07 am
As you can see, I'm relatively new to the Dubstepforum and one could say even newer to dubstep, I had only really paid attention to the genre at about halfway through this year. I've been classically trained and this from a certain point of view can be detrimental as well as helpful - though I've got the theoretical and musical knowledge, it can be difficult for me to think in different ways and I find I tend to think in certain, "schooled" ways. Not helpful at all to dubstep, but I find the genre refreshing as it lets me break some rules, so to speak.
I am trying to expand my horizons in dubstep as it can be difficult for me to make, especially trying to make filth as an amateur producer. Using FL Studio, I've made slow progress due to balancing out writing music alongside all my other commitments but I want to focus more on my music now due to some rocky bumps in my life.
Here are some things I've learnt on the way while learning dubstep, and while I'm sure someone will come to refute me, these are just my own thoughts, of an amateur, and perhaps less than amateur, producer.
- I managed to make a very cool, almost talking wobble using NI Massive. Set Osc 1 to Screamer, detune to 17, Osc 2 to Dirty Throat at 12, Osc 3 at Screamer at 24, pass through Filter 1 using Scream. Then assign 5 LFO to the Cutoff, set Curve 1 to Triangle and Curve 2 to Sawtooth. Then assign the synth to a channel, set Drive to 3.7 dB, keep Bit-depth at 24 bits, and Downsample to 17. You should have a pretty cool "Yah Yah" bass, from there you can feel free to modify it further, I find using Camelphat can make it even more powerful.
-I am still extremely useless at making basses however. Although I can make what I would call a mediocre wobble, combining them for me is rather difficult. In keeping the focus on the wobble for the whole part of the song especially, I still need to learn how to make a bass that is enjoyable to listen to for 3:00 or longer. To help keep interest, I try to shake things up a bit, adding and taking out elements as I go. It's often the subtle parts that go unnoticed, like little rushes, the slight clang of a cymbal etc. Those are very important, also consider other percussions like tambourines, shakers etc. I've found that some songs I've done need a little high part, whether it be a high-pitched click or Arpeggiator, or a sampled film. It's impossible for me to make a song where the main part of it is the wobble!
-Also, a little trick for making cool rushes, is reversing the waveform of a cymbal sound or glass break. It's under channel settings, in Precomputed effects, simply click reverse. My friend made a cool snare by having a reversed snare as the first part before the regular snare as the second.
-Never underestimate the power of delay. It's useful in echoing hits, vocal samples, etc, but something it could be cool for is drums. A sudden drum break, punctuated by delay, adds so much depth to a song. Reverb is big as well, but I only really use it for my snares.
-I've never really combined several snares/basses together hitting as one. I usually use several powerful kick/snare samples, and put Maximus on them, selecting the preset "Punchy Drums".
-I've found it difficult automating the wobble as well, I don't really enjoy using Fast LP or x3 Osc either. To counteract this I actually clone several different channels with different wobbles. Dunno if that's good but that's what I do!
That's all for now, the only other thing to say is practise and experiment, analyse your favourite songs and try to break down what's going on. It's something i've been neglecting, otherwise I could be so much better by now, don't get disheartened either!
Peace everyone
I am trying to expand my horizons in dubstep as it can be difficult for me to make, especially trying to make filth as an amateur producer. Using FL Studio, I've made slow progress due to balancing out writing music alongside all my other commitments but I want to focus more on my music now due to some rocky bumps in my life.
Here are some things I've learnt on the way while learning dubstep, and while I'm sure someone will come to refute me, these are just my own thoughts, of an amateur, and perhaps less than amateur, producer.
- I managed to make a very cool, almost talking wobble using NI Massive. Set Osc 1 to Screamer, detune to 17, Osc 2 to Dirty Throat at 12, Osc 3 at Screamer at 24, pass through Filter 1 using Scream. Then assign 5 LFO to the Cutoff, set Curve 1 to Triangle and Curve 2 to Sawtooth. Then assign the synth to a channel, set Drive to 3.7 dB, keep Bit-depth at 24 bits, and Downsample to 17. You should have a pretty cool "Yah Yah" bass, from there you can feel free to modify it further, I find using Camelphat can make it even more powerful.
-I am still extremely useless at making basses however. Although I can make what I would call a mediocre wobble, combining them for me is rather difficult. In keeping the focus on the wobble for the whole part of the song especially, I still need to learn how to make a bass that is enjoyable to listen to for 3:00 or longer. To help keep interest, I try to shake things up a bit, adding and taking out elements as I go. It's often the subtle parts that go unnoticed, like little rushes, the slight clang of a cymbal etc. Those are very important, also consider other percussions like tambourines, shakers etc. I've found that some songs I've done need a little high part, whether it be a high-pitched click or Arpeggiator, or a sampled film. It's impossible for me to make a song where the main part of it is the wobble!
-Also, a little trick for making cool rushes, is reversing the waveform of a cymbal sound or glass break. It's under channel settings, in Precomputed effects, simply click reverse. My friend made a cool snare by having a reversed snare as the first part before the regular snare as the second.
-Never underestimate the power of delay. It's useful in echoing hits, vocal samples, etc, but something it could be cool for is drums. A sudden drum break, punctuated by delay, adds so much depth to a song. Reverb is big as well, but I only really use it for my snares.
-I've never really combined several snares/basses together hitting as one. I usually use several powerful kick/snare samples, and put Maximus on them, selecting the preset "Punchy Drums".
-I've found it difficult automating the wobble as well, I don't really enjoy using Fast LP or x3 Osc either. To counteract this I actually clone several different channels with different wobbles. Dunno if that's good but that's what I do!
That's all for now, the only other thing to say is practise and experiment, analyse your favourite songs and try to break down what's going on. It's something i've been neglecting, otherwise I could be so much better by now, don't get disheartened either!
Peace everyone
Sooo true