Commercial dubstep

[Dystinkt]

Iv been asked to make a commercial, dj fresh louder type dubstep track for a rapper, and he wants a lot of club trancey style synths, you know the draw. Its not my style but im doing it for the dollar here, not an exercise in artistic integrity and hey he asked and hes paying. but i would like to inject my style into it, to put my stamp on it and also maybe make underground a bit more palatable to the mainstream. anyways, I was wondering if anybody could help me in terms of achieving this kind of sound for the whole track, like how to get leads, drum processing etc.

[wub]

Not really sure I understand the question - do you want advice on how to put your own stamp on the production, or a list of elements found within commercial dubstep that you wish to incorporate?

[nylle]

have you heard any dubstep tracks with rappers over them? that might be a place to start to get yourself familiar with what works well with those kinds of vocals

seems like you could find a lot of foreign beggars songs over dubstep these days

[Sine69]

Trance is all about those super saw leads right?

[Dystinkt]

id like to know how to achieve a lot of sounds in commercial dubstep wub, so that then i can put my own stamp on them. I have nylle, but i don't work with vocals usually so I'm just casting around for extra advice.

[Electric_Head]

Trance is all about those super saw leads right?

Maybe Trance house

Saw Leads are totally overdone.

[Sine69]

Trance is all about those super saw leads right?

Maybe Trance house

Saw Leads are totally overdone.

I obviously don't listen to much trance haha.

[Electric_Head]

I`m into 150-155bpm dark psy, very seldom here a saw lead.

[jrisreal]

wana turn that into a collab? I know you use FL, so it would be easy to set up a collab.

EDIT: And you can take all credit/profit

[jaydot]

Saw leads... reverbed, a little bit of saturation and chorus for "brightness" etc yep, detuned sine wave pads with reverb/delay, reverbed/delayed and hey even if you wanted to, vocoded vocals. There's a nice saw-wave preset in Abelton's instrument rack called "Bright Saw Wave" I think, pretty ravey.

[A-List]

I don't understand why he's asked you to produce the track if it's not your style?

Going to be harder for you (stepping out of your comfort zone so to speak)
but hey, if he's offered money, who are you to turn it down!?

Not entirely sure how a commercial track would sound with a rapper aswell...
its normally singers, unless its a heavier track (see foreign beggars for examples)

But good luck anyway, let us know how you get on
This post was no help whatsoever hahah

[A-List]

Just to try and be helpful...

Drums
get yourself a nice punchy kick (people swear by vengeance samples)
get yourself a nice punchy snare & clap... or afew to layer them (again, try vengeance, or the danny byrd sample pack has some nice snares)
get yourself some nice lively hats/rides & crashes... stick a ride or crash on every beat (again, same sample packs as above)
get yourself a nice drum roll going for the drop (Vengeance Ultimate Fills)

Synths
If you've got Massive, check out the Adam Van Baker soundset for it (has everything youll need... plucks, leads, pads, sequences)
its a good place to start if you're unsure as to how to create the specific sounds... so fiddle with them until you get the sounds you want.
For the lead synth, im unsure as to how to create that sound in 'Louder'... but im sure afew people have posted presets like that here before (flux pavilion-esque)
Layer the lead sound afew times on different octaves... maybe pan them left and right
Side-chain the lead to the kick
Layer and side-chain some white noise in the background (this fills the track out alot!)

Bass
Sub bass, pretty straight forward...
What i've done in my track as Subflex titled 'She Was Haunted (scroll down to listen) is also add a reese (cut out the lows and highs) and that fills the track out a little more also...

Fx
White noise risers... risers in general, one hits... sub hits... the usual (check vengeance again, im sure you have lots of sample packs anyway)

Pretty straight forward stuff and mostly useless as im not explaining how to create any sounds... but more so pointing you in the right direction...

Soundcloud

[Dystinkt]

he wants me to rework a tune on my soundcloud called rollover, so thats the tune im wanting to make commercial. Thanks for all the great advice as well, I use the xfer sample packs so im good for punchy samples and drums. He listened to my stuff on soundcloud and liked it, and then asked me to produce a commercial style tune, with it going onto his summer ep once he puts vocals into it. he said he'll give me the exposure i need as an artist, hes really well connected and well known in my area, and if the eps a success we'll be making a bit of money which is always nice. his rapping style is a bit foreign beggars type so it should work well. jr id be interested in that collab thing, ill shoot you over the wip iv got so far with the limiter taken off it, its still a rough draft so the mix isnt spot on probably but id like to see where you can take it, my bassline was made in albino 3 and all my leads but youd be reworking the leads mainly anyway, whats your email mate i dont use aim much he wants it very pop sounding definitely, thats the kind of dubstep hes rapped on before so we'll see, thanks again for all your help guys!

[jrisreal]

^^ I'll PM you

[zerbaman]

Just try and fill all frequencies really. Write your standard tune with many melodies etc but try and get things sounding bigger and noisier.

One example could be Flux Pavilion - I Can't Stop. It's a highly musical tune, made commercial by it's grinding bassline. Or maybe something from bar9, a similar idea from a more minimalist viewpoint. Sampling, white noise sweeps, but emphasis on the mid-frequencies of the bassline is essential in that commercialist spectrum of the genre.

There must be one brostep tune you heard and didn't want to commit suicide after listening to. Everyone has their guilty pleasures lol

[Dystinkt]

Yeah, i was thinking along the same lines really zerbaman, big, loug and brash haha. Iv gone for a flux type approach, focusing attention on the melody but still keeping the bassline gritty. Not really a fan of bar9, never really got me going, Im a huge foals fan and his spanish sahara remix completely put me off him lol. i do have a guilty dubstep pleasure its karma crazy by magnetic man, gets me every time and it was sick on the mortal kombat advert.

[zerbaman]

Yeah, i was thinking along the same lines really zerbaman, big, loug and brash haha. Iv gone for a flux type approach, focusing attention on the melody but still keeping the bassline gritty. Not really a fan of bar9, never really got me going, Im a huge foals fan and his spanish sahara remix completely put me off him lol. i do have a guilty dubstep pleasure its karma crazy by magnetic man, gets me every time and it was sick on the mortal kombat advert.

I loved that remix, it was his happiest tune ever hahaha.
Reason I suggested him was for contrast. I don't really know your style so I tried to tackle both sides of it. Maybe datsik's a better example. A few stabs here and there, then BOOOM WOMWOMWOMWAHAHAYOIYOIYOI

[Dystinkt]

haha the original tune was just a thing of beauty though, really moody soundscapey stuff with an epic ending. yeah i get you, I make really dark wobbly stuff most of the time, where the bassline and drum rhythm drives the song forward, so this tune is really stepping out of my comfort zone. swagga makes me laugh, just out of nowhere its not even a wobble its just pure noise :L

[amphibian]

tbh I'd go back and say "no thanks". For one, you're out of your depth atm, and two - it's not something you like to make.

[NRHc]

tbh I'd go back and say "no thanks". For one, you're out of your depth atm, and two - it's not something you like to make.

and furthermore,even if you do get exposure,just ask yourself..Is it really the kind of exposure you want?(if you hate the brostep scene)