Help out a young aspiring dub producer!

[sam_vogel]

Hi all,
My name is Sam Vogel. I have had a love affair with dubstep for the greater part of my high school career, and as that is coming to a close I have found myself with lots of time on my hand. I have played music for years and am familiar with music production/DAW's, and decided I wanted to seriously begin the journey of becoming a dubstep producer. I have (almost) all the tools laying before me - Mbox 2, Reason 5, Live Suite 10 (or 8, whatever the newest one is... keep getting the program numbers fucked up), many hours already devoted to learning the craft, and countless more ready to be thrown at it. I have already began going through the production bible as well... the one thing I am truly lacking is some much needed guidance, advice, and confidence from experienced dub producers like you guys.

As I said, I have already spent a fair amount of time learning both Reason and Ableton. I can now get a pretty nasty dubstep tone using Operator in Ableton and put a heavy sub-bass on it, and am working on perfecting my craft with Reason. My one main issue is: I can get the sound I want, but then can't do jack shit with it. I am constantly struggling without a keyboard to change LFO rates when I want to, much less even record on time with the lag-time between the on-screen keyboard and the programs (ableton at least.) Yes, I have considered both clicking in the notes by hand (or, should I say, mouse) and attempting to mess with the LFO on an envelope, but whenever I input the notes without actually playing them the switch between the notes seems much to mechanic, even with the glide turned up. As for the LFO, I seem to spend hours on :05 of a song getting the LFO envelope just right, and then when I play it back realizing its not quite at 1/8,1/16, 1/6, 1/12, etc etc etc. and ragequitting.

What is the best solution to this? I assume it's going to be buying a keyboard... I have beenlooking into purchasing an Axiom 25 or 49, or something of that caliber. Would that solve my problem and allow me to freely express my musical creativity? Or is there something I'm missing here? I'm sorry if this is a complete noob question, but I've been struggling with this for months, and after countless tutorials and forums I decided to come post here. Thanks in advanced.

Sam Vogel

[faultier]

To answer your question, yes a midi keyboard (one with assignable knobs to automate LFO, FX and whatnot) will most definitely help you in your workflow, you might want to check this thread for a start

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=67046

this said, having a midi keyboard/controller wont fix your latency problem

also "Help out a young aspiring dub producer!"... don't use dubstep and dub as synonyms cause they are not and some people here will tear you a new asshole if you do, just my 2cents

oh and, "I seem to spend hours on :05 of a song getting whatever right", it might be just me but i think thats the way to go

[bum robot]

oh and, "I seem to spend hours on :05 of a song getting whatever right", it might be just me but i think thats the way to go

Thats the way to go i mean love your craft or just spend endless amounts of money on shit you will never put to use or atleast enjoy!

Anyways go through this thread and just read and learn, http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=159713 theres everything you need to know aside from keyboards. Have fun!

[blazinaidan]

Yea dude, patience. Hey, are you from Oakland? Go to Piedmont High?

[benjam]

Most people are self taught so get practising boyo theres bare tutorials on youtube and info in the stickies. No-ones gonna gonna hold your hand here ..... Not unless you pay them.

[paravrais]

Er...synchronise the lfo to your tracks tempo? then it's easy to automate by hand..

[Recessive Trait]

experienced dub producers

hey i haven't seen either King Tubby or Scratch Perry on here in some time. i guess they're too busy automating the filter cutoff.

[serox]

experienced dub producers

hey i haven't seen either King Tubby or Scratch Perry on here in some time. i guess they're too busy automating the filter cutoff.

They are too busy playing with the latests plug-in!

[drokkr]

experienced dub producers

hey i haven't seen either King Tubby or Scratch Perry on here in some time. i guess they're too busy automating the filter cutoff.

They are too busy playing with the latests plug-ins presets!

Fixed

[paravrais]

experienced dub producers

hey i haven't seen either King Tubby or Scratch Perry on here in some time. i guess they're too busy automating the filter cutoff.

LOL

[sam_vogel]

Yea dude, patience. Hey, are you from Oakland? Go to Piedmont High?

No, but I know people from Piedmont actually. I'm from marin.

[sam_vogel]

Er...synchronise the lfo to your tracks tempo? then it's easy to automate by hand..

the lfo is sync'd... I guess my issue is I can't see exactly how much the lfo is being modulated (aka 1/8,1/12, etc etc) when I fuck with the envelope by hand, but I guess with time and practice I'll get over it.

thanks for all the responses, i now have the insight and knowledge i need to go further with my production. I'm hopefully going to invest in some sort of keyboard with pads and knobs (i'm guessing an axiom), just because I like to make (drum) beats myself and make the music live, instead of keying in the notes and envelope changes. However, we'll see if I don't end up switching back to that method after I realize it's near impossible to do what I want to do anyways... all I can do is wait and see. Thanks again.

[sam_vogel]

Er...synchronise the lfo to your tracks tempo? then it's easy to automate by hand..

the lfo is sync'd... I guess my issue is I can't see exactly how much the lfo is being modulated (aka 1/8,1/12, etc etc) when I fuck with the envelope by hand, but I guess with time and practice I'll get over it.

thanks for all the responses, i now have the insight and knowledge i need to go further with my production. I'm hopefully going to invest in some sort of keyboard with pads and knobs (i'm guessing an axiom), just because I like to make (drum) beats myself and make the music live, instead of keying in the notes and envelope changes. However, we'll see if I don't end up switching back to that method after I realize it's near impossible to do what I want to do anyways... all I can do is wait and see. Thanks again.

[blazinaidan]

By the way, someone said something about the difference between dubstep and dub... It's huge.... obviously. Dub kinda started this whole electronic thing in a way. It was the first "producer's genre" if I'm understood correctly (and if I understand correctly). Hey dude, I'm pretty sure I know you. I think you know Caitlin W. Next time you see her show her this song and tell her it's from me (not BY me tho!)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ZcP4rwpkc

She'll know what I mean...

PS: That song is a prime example of some dub in my opinion. But I'm waiting for an older member to come along and show me up.

[sam_vogel]

wow dude thats crazy, i totally remember you! you dated her, right? thats so funny hahah

[charliefoy]

wow dude thats crazy, i totally remember you! you dated her, right? thats so funny hahah

I dated her too

[-[2]DAY_-]

i dated yer mum

[Assassin]

i dated yer mum

I dated everyone's mum, sister and dad.

[blazinaidan]

wow dude thats crazy, i totally remember you! you dated her, right? thats so funny hahah

Mhm, that's me. Ugh... Bad times, bad times.

[legend4ry]

I dated everyone's dad.