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..but i thought i'd have a go at making some dubstep, just wondered if anyone could give me any pointers as to where i'm going wrong? (it'd be a pretty long list, i reckon). i really like making drumbeats but i haven't a musical bone in my body.

www.myspace.com/pubstep

both tunes seem to have become much muddier after i uploaded them onto myspace, i suppose they compress them quite a bit?

they're both unfinished as well i'm afraid

any comments or suggestions much appreciated!

Not sounding too bad for a starting point.

I'd try:

1. Go mental with some filters on the bass noises. Really liven them up and give them some dynamics. Easy on the resonance, because you don't want people to go deaf.

2. Little bit of distortion to add grit. Nothing too nasty and digital.

3. Lacks a bit of high end sparkle. Try an excitation plug in.

The muddiness you're talking about can be cleared up by spacing out your noises a bit more. Tighten them up with envelopes and filtering, and maybe add some stereo imaging.

Yea Im liking those drums on both tracks.
Add more fx like filters,reverb etc...

same here for the drums, always had a thing for echoing snares, some more bass would do the trick i guess

for someone who doesn't know what they're doing, these tracks sound pretty damn good! the drum sequencing is solid and the selection of instruments/samples sounds good to me also. as far as equing/filtering to make room for each of the samples, i don't think it's necessary with these tunes, though it's a bit hard to tell as - you guessed it - myspace by default encodes your files into crappy 96kbps mp3s. i would stay away from exciter plugins altogether and use artificial stereo imaging only sparingly, if at all. these tunes sound organic and imo overdistorting and overstereo-ing will rob them of that quality.

the melodic parts could use some work/progression, and i think this is what you were referring to with the 'no musical bone' argument, but then, a lot of dubstep is so reserved and minimal-sounding when it comes to melodies and melodic progression, that often single-note pads are sustained or switched on and off and that's it! not everyone has to sound like a skream, y'know?

one last thing: the simpleton symphony bit sounds - in its melodic components - very similar to skream's tune 'bahlfwd', esp. in the intro. not sure whether this is intended or not, but you may want to vary it up a bit so as to avoid obvious comparisons.... unless you're up for that!

thanks alot for the suggestions! unfortunately due to my musical ignorance things like

Try an excitation plug in.

or

stay away from exciter plugins altogether and use artificial stereo imaging only sparingly, if at all.

go right over my head, but i'll read up on what you mean.

the melodic parts could use some work/progression, and i think this is what you were referring to with the 'no musical bone' argument

yeah that's exactly what i mean, any melodies i try to make always end up sounding very simplistic - and not in a good sort of minimalist way, just in a bait sort of Casio keyboard demo song way ;p

one last thing: the simpleton symphony bit sounds - in its melodic components - very similar to skream's tune 'bahlfwd', esp. in the intro. not sure whether this is intended or not, but you may want to vary it up a bit so as to avoid obvious comparisons.... unless you're up for that!

i've never heard it, i'll have a listen now!

just thought i'd add i realise its a bit presumtuous posting these tunes and expecting comments without having first commented on other people's stuff - but i can't really add any constructive criticism other than 'yes mate that sounds heavy' lol. cheers anyway!

pk- wrote:thanks alot for the suggestions! unfortunately due to my musical ignorance things like

Try an excitation plug in.

or

stay away from exciter plugins altogether and use artificial stereo imaging only sparingly, if at all.

go right over my head, but i'll read up on what you mean.

In a nutshell, an Exciter adds definition and sparkle to the high frequencies.

Horses for courses really, I'm from a Techno background so I like stuff that sends soundsystems and revellers mental.

revellers.......


pukes. everywhere.

clarkycatDealer wrote:revellers.......


pukes. everywhere.

Sounding like a pissed up schizo there^^^Interesting point well made I think.

Eevul - I'd try a bit more groove to the drums, they seem a bit too boom-bap to my tastes, bit more syncopation called for I think. Liking the arpeggiated synth though, adds a nice hook to hang the rest of the track on

Like Clatter, the intro chords remind me a bit of old Underworld stuff, the drums have got that sort of John Bonham heaviness feel to it, not sure if the parts gel together quite well, but sounds good to my ear.

Simpleton Symphony - like the strings, bit of high drama in there

I'd look at layering the bass parts and using a bit more reverb and delay to give the tracks more space.

Wouldn't worry about the non-muso thing - Burial said exactly the same thing about his music.

cheers for the comments Shonky, i was wondering what does everyone mean when you talk about giving a track 'space'?

my vague understanding is it's...dedicating certain frequencies specifically to certain instruments, but i'm betting i've got completely the wrong end of the stick...

with regards to eevul; i'm just uploading the new version that i worked on this afternoon, the one i put up there yesterday was just a basic outline to illustrate a point about LFOs to a mate. i've added more fills and variation to it, let us know what you think!

Yeah, that's well improved there, like those occassional grunt sounds coming from the bass, quite attention grabbing, really jump out of the mix.

Coming along nicely I think