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ive been producing music for nearly a year now and i can make some decent sounds and melodies; but whenever i show my tracks to others most of them say my tunes just need that extra something in there to make it go off. thing is, i do the usual modulation stuff like rate and pitch and blahblah, but that still doesnt cut it apparently. any tips?

..because you trying to copy and expecting too much from it.
Just fucking relax man

I assume your talking about the rate of an lfo. Depending on where you're from, you might just be showing the wrong kind of music to the wrong people. What synth are you using?

Regardless of that, just remember layer your osc. Widen your sound by dropping the pitch down just a few cents, add some reverb. Route the Lfo to multiple parameters like on the filter cutoff and a slight bump on the resonance. Just be creative, use you're imagination. What did you produce before? Its hard to see that you've been a producer for a year now and can't make bass wobbles? Im not trying to provoke, im just curious.

Take virks advice too, that could be a problem.

JizzMan wrote:ive been producing music for nearly a year now and i can make some decent sounds and melodies; but whenever i show my tracks to others most of them say my tunes just need that extra something in there to make it go off. thing is, i do the usual modulation stuff like rate and pitch and blahblah, but that still doesnt cut it apparently. any tips?

Unless you're mates are into dance music, don't show them your tunes, it'll just upset you. i remember when I showed my mate the Chase & Status remix i did, which I'd literally spent a solid month on, and he was just like I prefer the original. I was fucking gutted!! As for tips, it's real tough and takes a lot of work, I'd definately say work on incorporating melody in their (not saying you don't, but just in case you like to make filth it can be forgotten). Melody, i would say is what they're gonna remember. Other than that, just experiment the shit out of your synth, I've learned some amazing things just routing random shit together for fun.

GRAYSKALE wrote:

JizzMan wrote:ive been producing music for nearly a year now and i can make some decent sounds and melodies; but whenever i show my tracks to others most of them say my tunes just need that extra something in there to make it go off. thing is, i do the usual modulation stuff like rate and pitch and blahblah, but that still doesnt cut it apparently. any tips?

Unless you're mates are into dance music, don't show them your tunes, it'll just upset you. i remember when I showed my mate the Chase & Status remix i did, which I'd literally spent a solid month on, and he was just like I prefer the original. I was fucking gutted!! As for tips, it's real tough and takes a lot of work, I'd definately say work on incorporating melody in their (not saying you don't, but just in case you like to make filth it can be forgotten). Melody, i would say is what they're gonna remember. Other than that, just experiment the shit out of your synth, I've learned some amazing things just routing random shit together for fun.

Noooooooo, no no no. Keep the melody out of the wobbles, the mid range bass sounds better accompaning the sub layer. Put the melody in things like real instruments, mellow synths and the sub. It shouldn't be all wobbles anyways, they should only make an appearance to tie measures together IMO.

There's probable hundreds of thousands of producers making 'wobbles', you've gotta be original and it is hard but you need to find something that displaces you from the huge crowd of producers it is hard but try making a catchy melody or something just to make it your own

Making unique wobbles is kind of hard, but you always need to keep trying and tweaking and finally you reach that stage. A tip to get started quick is to assign an LFO to the rate of the LFO controlling what evers wobbling (Low Pass Filter e.g.). In massive this is what I do: I assign a Step LFO to the LFO controlling my Wave Positions or whatevs, sync the stepper to the BPM 4/16 and just go nuts! Also another tip is using a MIDI-controller and assigning macros in e.g massive. And just go nuts that way (mixing the sound while your playing to find that special something). And finally, BOUNCE wave forms and cut moving sounds and blend them together.

Over N Out

Do you have an example to listen to so the feedback can be specific? Other than that, are you sure your friends are complaining about wobble and not the track as a whole? Even technically bad wobble sections can sound good if the build is right.

Give us something to listen to!!

Oi Oi,

i too struggle with the wobble interesting dilemma. Managed to crack alot of it recently though through resampling. Initially though, i've found that getting one bassline to provide all the interest just impossible. Dont mean to be patronising and i know it's a rule of thumb but make a shit load of basslines. I work in z3ta normally, and it's lfo has some interesting waveforms which you can use, i.e. sines w 5th harmonics and whatnot, step waveforms etc. if you're not using massive then finding a good synth with a range of lfo waveforms outside of the standard sine/saw/square/triangle will help give your wobbles those slightly off beat sucking and pulling vibes which adds so much movement. Also a benefit i've found in z3ta is that you can blend two different lfo waves together to create a multitude of interesting possiblities. it takes some time, but if you spend that extra 15 minutes tweaking the patch it can really make a difference.

the best example i've got of what i'm talking about in my tracks is below....

Soundcloud

in this tune i've got about 5 or 6 small snippets of basslines with odd combinations of lfo waveforms. each of these basslines have been split out into three frequency bands via grouping, the bass of each mono'd, then just gone crazy with effects such as distortion, chorus, bitchrushing and whatnot on the mid and high end. these have then been bounced to audio, where you can really chop them up and get the bassline moving in ways that just take toooo long fucking around with tiny bits of vst lfo automation. Oh and also band reject filters are the key! get a band reject filter on every bassline you do, keep the dry wet level of the filter around 50% - 75% and just keep the frequency constantly shifting. Its a quick and simple way to get basslines moving, expecially if you've got a decent filter than can switch between types, i.e. change to band pass to provide a sweep, then switch back to band reject for some disgusting quishy crispy basslines. Oh, and i suppose it goes without saying that you dont just have to do this process once. I think the track above I went through it a good 3+ times with each bassline, and 5 or 6 times with the drums! Just be careful and patient, then the organice movement you're searching for will come!

Rant rant rant!! sorry, hope this helps a bit

oh and experiment with the phase of your LFO, if possible. Changing phase even a tiny bit can solve the problem of getting that wobble to sit well within your intended phrase/bar.

and i cant spell!

I had to comment just to say advocate , that track is HUGE. Is there anywhere I can get it? o.0 I want it haha

advocate wrote:Oi Oi,

i too struggle with the wobble interesting dilemma. Managed to crack alot of it recently though through resampling. Initially though, i've found that getting one bassline to provide all the interest just impossible. Dont mean to be patronising and i know it's a rule of thumb but make a shit load of basslines. I work in z3ta normally, and it's lfo has some interesting waveforms which you can use, i.e. sines w 5th harmonics and whatnot, step waveforms etc. if you're not using massive then finding a good synth with a range of lfo waveforms outside of the standard sine/saw/square/triangle will help give your wobbles those slightly off beat sucking and pulling vibes which adds so much movement. Also a benefit i've found in z3ta is that you can blend two different lfo waves together to create a multitude of interesting possiblities. it takes some time, but if you spend that extra 15 minutes tweaking the patch it can really make a difference.

the best example i've got of what i'm talking about in my tracks is below....

Soundcloud

in this tune i've got about 5 or 6 small snippets of basslines with odd combinations of lfo waveforms. each of these basslines have been split out into three frequency bands via grouping, the bass of each mono'd, then just gone crazy with effects such as distortion, chorus, bitchrushing and whatnot on the mid and high end. these have then been bounced to audio, where you can really chop them up and get the bassline moving in ways that just take toooo long fucking around with tiny bits of vst lfo automation. Oh and also band reject filters are the key! get a band reject filter on every bassline you do, keep the dry wet level of the filter around 50% - 75% and just keep the frequency constantly shifting. Its a quick and simple way to get basslines moving, expecially if you've got a decent filter than can switch between types, i.e. change to band pass to provide a sweep, then switch back to band reject for some disgusting quishy crispy basslines. Oh, and i suppose it goes without saying that you dont just have to do this process once. I think the track above I went through it a good 3+ times with each bassline, and 5 or 6 times with the drums! Just be careful and patient, then the organice movement you're searching for will come!

Rant rant rant!! sorry, hope this helps a bit

I disagree with you on your first point, a lot of school dubstep and still a lot of underground stuff is just different modulations of one or two similar sounding bass patches. And you don't have to resample, I just add effects to the original patch and leave it there, and my basslines aint too shabby.

Cheeky wrote: I disagree with you on your first point, a lot of school dubstep and still a lot of underground stuff is just different modulations of one or two similar sounding bass patches. And you don't have to resample, I just add effects to the original patch and leave it there, and my basslines aint too shabby.

Everyone always talks like resampling is some godly way to make basses, but if your computer can handle a huge ass effects chain then it's pretty pointless.

guys, i wasnt saying resampling is the be all and end all of making basslines. i only recently started using it myself, and my first release hasnt got a touch of resampling in it all. I was simply suggesting one way of achieving interesting movement in basslines through re sampling. And when i say resample i dont just mean having 64 plugins on one track supported by a monster pc...i mean splitting frequencies to add definition, adding small amounts of plugins to lows, mids and highs respectively, bouncing it out to audio and bringing it back in so you can chop it up, or add more effects. Thereby decreasing or at least maintaining your cpu load...it's not godly, but it works! But actually, my first paragraph talks about utilising different lfo waves within the synth, and my last bit mentions adjusting LFO phase....nothing to do with resampling =]

nnny wrote:I had to comment just to say advocate , that track is HUGE. Is there anywhere I can get it? o.0 I want it haha

heheh thanks very much man...i think the tracks going to get released when i bother to mix it down properly, so i can't really give out a 320 at the mo, just in case it gets the go ahead...however, i will keep u posted if u pm me, if the track doesnt go anywhere im happy to chuck it out

flavordisk wrote:Do you have an example to listen to so the feedback can be specific? Other than that, are you sure your friends are complaining about wobble and not the track as a whole? Even technically bad wobble sections can sound good if the build is right.

yh that could be a problem lol, have a listen to one of my new projects linked below and tell me what the problem is plz

Filthzilla wrote:Give us something to listen to!!

yh this is something i made recently
Soundcloud

i use reason btw if ur wondering.

advocate wrote:Oi Oi,

i too struggle with the wobble interesting dilemma. Managed to crack alot of it recently though through resampling. Initially though, i've found that getting one bassline to provide all the interest just impossible. Dont mean to be patronising and i know it's a rule of thumb but make a shit load of basslines. I work in z3ta normally, and it's lfo has some interesting waveforms which you can use, i.e. sines w 5th harmonics and whatnot, step waveforms etc. if you're not using massive then finding a good synth with a range of lfo waveforms outside of the standard sine/saw/square/triangle will help give your wobbles those slightly off beat sucking and pulling vibes which adds so much movement. Also a benefit i've found in z3ta is that you can blend two different lfo waves together to create a multitude of interesting possiblities. it takes some time, but if you spend that extra 15 minutes tweaking the patch it can really make a difference.

the best example i've got of what i'm talking about in my tracks is below....

Soundcloud

in this tune i've got about 5 or 6 small snippets of basslines with odd combinations of lfo waveforms. each of these basslines have been split out into three frequency bands via grouping, the bass of each mono'd, then just gone crazy with effects such as distortion, chorus, bitchrushing and whatnot on the mid and high end. these have then been bounced to audio, where you can really chop them up and get the bassline moving in ways that just take toooo long fucking around with tiny bits of vst lfo automation. Oh and also band reject filters are the key! get a band reject filter on every bassline you do, keep the dry wet level of the filter around 50% - 75% and just keep the frequency constantly shifting. Its a quick and simple way to get basslines moving, expecially if you've got a decent filter than can switch between types, i.e. change to band pass to provide a sweep, then switch back to band reject for some disgusting quishy crispy basslines. Oh, and i suppose it goes without saying that you dont just have to do this process once. I think the track above I went through it a good 3+ times with each bassline, and 5 or 6 times with the drums! Just be careful and patient, then the organice movement you're searching for will come!

Rant rant rant!! sorry, hope this helps a bit

thanks a lot mate, thats a hell of a lot of advice but i will take it in!
yh the lfo phase idea's quite sick now that i've tried it. and yh i've kinda realized now that u need to make a shitload of diferent wobs for 1 tune lol. that resampling idea sounds interesting, might try it..

Redderious wrote:I assume your talking about the rate of an lfo. Depending on where you're from, you might just be showing the wrong kind of music to the wrong people. What synth are you using?

Regardless of that, just remember layer your osc. Widen your sound by dropping the pitch down just a few cents, add some reverb. Route the Lfo to multiple parameters like on the filter cutoff and a slight bump on the resonance. Just be creative, use you're imagination. What did you produce before? Its hard to see that you've been a producer for a year now and can't make bass wobbles? Im not trying to provoke, im just curious.
Take virks advice too, that could be a problem.

thats the thing, i didnt produce music before this year of dubstep production lol, i guess u could say im still a n00b producer

JizzMan wrote:

Redderious wrote:I assume your talking about the rate of an lfo. Depending on where you're from, you might just be showing the wrong kind of music to the wrong people. What synth are you using?

Regardless of that, just remember layer your osc. Widen your sound by dropping the pitch down just a few cents, add some reverb. Route the Lfo to multiple parameters like on the filter cutoff and a slight bump on the resonance. Just be creative, use you're imagination. What did you produce before? Its hard to see that you've been a producer for a year now and can't make bass wobbles? Im not trying to provoke, im just curious.
Take virks advice too, that could be a problem.

thats the thing, i didnt produce music before this year of dubstep production lol, i guess u could say im still a n00b producer

so have you or have you not been producing for a year cos it helps if we get a clear view of how experienced you are before giving advice lol,
and you say you use reason just mess about with the spider audio merger do some re-sampling and keep repeating this .. the songs in my signiture are made in reason not sure if that's your taste but the bass sounds are made by re-sampling and chopping the original synth up

JizzMan wrote: i do the usual modulation stuff like rate and pitch and blahblah, but that still doesnt cut it apparently. any tips?

pass your sound through a HPF and then an LPF

use an LFO to modulate the filter balance

instead of a wob wob, you get a pew pew