Why Drum n' Bass? Or Give me a break!

[chris ott]

I moved in with a producer and friend I had met last year in class. Our situation is quite rare in that we both happen to be Ableton Freqs and have been for years.

Our styles couldn't be more different. A member of a four man Drum n' Bass production group, my roommate spends days working on the same three tracks. They constantly A/B their tracks with more well known producers, they are shameless about using samples, and most notably, they fill up every frequency in the spectrum. They were recently signed.

Conversely, I come from the school of rachMiel, Cage and Hawtin. I care less about the sheen engineering and place more emphasis on sonic diversity.Not that you can't achieve both but I will never sacrifice a cool sounding synth line even if it distorts and peaks the meters. To maintain a wider canvas I often use spatial simple 4/4 beats. I sometimes go into "Vaith" like fits but despite the 140BPM blown-own sound I still include a sharp abstract mid synth line. I incorporate abstract synths I've built, guitar, vocals and while I don't exclude sampling, I often make a mental check whether something was actually synthesized or sampled. (An involuntary impulse, attributing a bit more credit for non-sampled sounds.)

In Short-
They'd probably say my music is strange, simple and boring.
I'd probably say their tracks tell a story that's already been written.

You'd think this would be a musicians paradise and it is despite our different approach. But, one thing really bothers me.

They seem to think that Drum n' Bass is somehow "more difficult" or perhaps even a greater accomplishment to produce than other electronic music styles. They almost exclusively listen to Drum n' Bass. What's extremely unnerving about this, is that I've noticed this trend before.

My style aside, I don't believe one music can be more difficult to produce than another which is why I listen to them all. Yet, for some reason I've met plenty of Drum n' Bass producers that do! So why is it that some Drum n' Bass producers(fans too) close off to other styles and/or have this certain air of superiority about them?

Anyone can make a House, Techno, Ambient, Gabber, Drum n' Bass track but it can be very difficult to make a stand out track. The same rule applys to any artistic endeavor.

So is the cause of this strife that silly little break? Does the Drum n' Bass complex all stem from the fact that there's a hi-hat/snare combo between the bass drum hits? Is it this 5 seconds(usually sampled) of sound that is the difference between people who say:

"I enjoy listening to various styles of music especially electronic music. My production style tends to lean toward more of a Drum N' Bass sound"

and those who say:

"I used to produce house (attitude = God that is so passe). Now I produce Drum N' Bass. Yeah, my friends and I go to Drum N' Bass night where we spin Drum N' Bass. Its so much harder to spin "Drum N' Bass"... yeah, it's like once you've mastered Drum N' Bass everything else is just too easy."


You could say this is a stereotype but if you're over 20 and you've been around the block then you know exactly what I am talking about.

[Lo-Fi Massahkah]

...but if you're over 20 and you've been around the block then you know exactly what I am talking about.

I have no clue to what you're talking about.

No. Really.

.m

[noisetonepause]

school of rachMiel

Where is this school, and who'll help me make the molotovs?

[beats me]

Have a link to your roommate's music?

[chris ott]

Of course not, you're the Lo-Fi Massahka?

Are you from the USA or Canada? I am sure its different in the UK. oooohhh the Mecca of Drum N Bass.

[chris ott]

beats me: http://www.askebeats.com/

[andydes]

I know what you mean. I've even seen some posts on here which boil down to:

Kick on evey beat = boring.
Kick on off beats and quarter beats = interesting.

As if that's all there is to a track, or even a drum pattern.

I can see how DJing drum and bass could be a little harder than house or techno, but most of the drum and bass kids I've met wouldn't really care about the mixing anyway as long as it's loud and fast.

[ethios4]

I've known several DnB producers/DJs who claimed that DnB was far superior and more difficult to spin and produce than all other genres of electronic music.

I bet you'd have a great production duo with your friend if you can find the right creative flow, the right way to work together. It's a great dynamic when two people have complimentary skills, like the way you describe.

[chris ott]

I've even seen some posts on here which boil down to:

Kick on evey beat = boring.
Kick on off beats and quarter beats = interesting.

That's definitley the sentiment I was trying to capture

[weeddigger]

I think great tracks are identified by much more than a kick pattern.

[Lo-Fi Massahkah]

Of course not, you're the Lo-Fi Massahka?

Are you from the USA or Canada? I am sure its different in the UK. oooohhh the Mecca of Drum N Bass.

If you'd just sweep your sweet brittish eyes to the left - you'd see that I'm from Sweden.

Wheter the UK is the mecca of DnB or not, I don't know. I still don't get what you're saying. But maybe I'm too far past my twenties...


.m

[chris ott]

I bet you'd have a great production duo with your friend if you can find the right creative flow, the right way to work together.

I truly believe that too. In fact, last night I built this VST (Based on the Outsim example synth) in Synthmaker. I think you can still download the .dll here.
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... U1BTXYzS3F

*Note: the step LFO Sequencer is actually routed to the amp so it creates insane audio artifacts.

The only problem is that I need to get him to break away from this engineering bug. I know he thinks my patches are fire but getting an anal producer to actually use them in a song is a different story all.

[supamonsta]

a great sounding drum'n'bass track is difficult to achieve,

as is a great sounding electro track, breakbeat, industrial, snorpbeat, hardstop, funkysheet, ambiant-kore track...

in any style you can match the gods competences with hard work (or sampling ), but no way you won't re-invent the wheel.

[shai]

d'n'b like other narrow genres is all about the 'standard' sound.. which is probably hard to achieve, or formulate at the beginning. i know, because i tried that, when i used to listen to d'n'b. in these cases you got to know the rules, the do's and don't do's, the tricks... and if you have some talent on top of it, it's done.. you can start rolling with it.
but i really think that the question if its easy or hard to make is totally irrelevant. punk is hard to make? a good song made out of great lyrics and 2 chords is difficult to achieve?? i find the quality of the rather 'effortless' things much more appealing. and d'n'b.. man.. there you got so much energy gone to drain.. this is really a bit too much to my taste these days.
and if your d'n'b friends think its easy to make a decent minimal techno track, tell them they should try to make one just for the sake of proving it.. im sure they'll be surprised.

talent is all you need, to do whatever you do.

[Mr Mowgli]

Hye - I agree that all styles have equal levels of skill to producer, but definately certain styles are harder to DJ, I have DJ'd professionally HiP Hop, Drum n Bass, House, Electro etc, and 4x4 is way easier, plus you can do allot more with the EQ, which is a skill, but it actually is in my opinion not as hard to 'mix' as other styles like dnb.