The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

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indmix
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:29 pm

The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by indmix » Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:56 pm

I want to try producing a dubstep track, because i truly love the genre but never tried producing it before.
What are, according to you, the essential things for a good dubstep track?
Any advice is welcome! (Tips, tricks, synths, FX or just a wise lesson from an experienced dubstep producer :D )

(Preferably I want to produce something in the style of Skrillex/Nero/Klaypex/Flux Pavillion/Zomboy/Emalkay/Modestep/Doctor P/Roksonix/RacknRuin)

http://soundcloud.com/indmix

simmerdown
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by simmerdown » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:12 pm

going off your list we will clearly have differing opinions about what makes a good dubstep track...thats all brostep

but still...

too big a question...is there a part thats giving you trouble

antarktika
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by antarktika » Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:46 am

simmerdown wrote:we will clearly have differing opinions about what makes a good dubstep track...thats all brostep
right?
he did say "according to you" though, if he decided to build up his track based on forum consensus, we might be able to sway things the right way.
I'll start, sparse and spacious syncopated drumbeats. dark atmospheric sounds, gut-punching sub-bass, minimal wobble, and no "brutal electro 2".

indmix
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by indmix » Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:21 pm

simmerdown wrote:going off your list we will clearly have differing opinions about what makes a good dubstep track...thats all brostep
Yes brostep is what i meant.. the classic, deep dubstep is in my vinyl collection and i still enjoy as much as i used to before, but i like what dubstep evolved to as well so from there my curiosity for trying to produce it..
simmerdown wrote:too big a question...is there a part thats giving you trouble
Any advice is welcome, doesn't have to be something specific..
Now some people really pump up the reverb on their drums, any opinions on that?

Thanks for you help antarktika

simmerdown
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by simmerdown » Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:04 pm

heres a tip of mine from the other day about multisample wobbles inn drumrack

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=174867

could be useful as a start

layering the drum hits is essential imo...for the snare you can layer 3, one crackin/clappy, one phat (even a kick), one with a nice reverb tail, all tuned together...i use 2 kicks usually

keep it changing..do several variations on your drum pattern and set them to clip launch on their own...introduce new sounds in the second half, keep em guessing...if your listener can expect whats coming for the next 8 bars? and then it is as anticipated = kinda yawny brostep

sidechaining your kick and wobble is good, esp if its a nice low wobble..to avoid that low end mud...you can eq them apart too

to me? vocal samples, an acapella, or at least some dubby vox hits, will humanize the piece

a downbeat skank of some kind coming in intermittently gets things bouncing

tom cosm piles on the fx in this fastpaced thriller of a tut

http://www.youtube.com/user/cosmcosm?feature=watch

post up your wips if you want, i for one will listen

antarktika
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by antarktika » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:52 pm

Washing your drums in reverb is probably not the best, definitely avoid much, if any, on your kick, I usually run most of the percussion bits into a medium room type reverb and or a filter delay with very short settings, and put a huuuuge gated reverb on the snare to give it that massive crashing effect.
This is a good tutorial on Kick layering, with a rack you can download if you subscribe to their newsletter thing:
http://www.quantizecourses.com/pages.php/?p=1342
and this is a fairly comprehensive set of tutorials on all the elements of making a track:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AscianUK#p/u/22/ceBYM9ewDww

JimmySlizz
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by JimmySlizz » Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:43 am

...you put a bunch of songs together? i was at least expecting an original track. yeah you have a nice blend of skrillex on there, not sure what help you're looking for, unless i'm listening to the wrong thing.

edit: start making music. producing a good song isn't a test. you can't search for all the answers, memorize them, and get an A. its trial by fire. open up ableton and spend a few hours making noise.

Vios
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by Vios » Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:32 am

Good dubstep is often done with 3 or 4 different dubstep bassline sounds, a big compressed kick drum, and a big compressed, layered (ie multiple sound samples) snare.

Here are some links to some tutorials that I just posted to my website to help get you going:

Dubstep Bass Wobble in Operator
Dubsetp Yoy Vocalish Bassline
Dirty Dubstep Sound and Integrating Different Dubstep Basslines
Last edited by Vios on Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

pgmjsd
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by pgmjsd » Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:42 am

JimmySlizz wrote:open up ableton and spend a few hours making noise.
+1

Try one or two of the ideas others have suggested if you get stuck.

JoshuaCasper
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by JoshuaCasper » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:56 pm

I posted a video tutorial on how to make a custom dubstep bass instrument in live here:

http://joshuacasperalt.blogspot.com/201 ... ustom.html

or, if you want to just download the instrument you can go here:

http://joshuacasperalt.blogspot.com/201 ... rator.html

Hope that helps you...

regretfullySaid
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by regretfullySaid » Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:30 pm

Brostep needs more skank, bring it back!
ImageImage

ASPin
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by ASPin » Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:01 pm

Well judging by the kind of dubstep you enjoy it's gonna be hard to make a great sounding one using just ableton. Do you use any plug ins? If you don't already have it get massive by native instruments. Mess around with the oscillators and automations and what not and you'll be off to a good start. Other than that you should be going at like 140 bpm with just a standard dubstep beat. You'll need a lot of sub bass and good wobbles, laser sounds, etc. Brostep can use just about any wacky sound you can make. Have fun with it!

indmix
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Re: The perfect dubstep track (tips please!)

Post by indmix » Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:53 pm

Thanks alot for all the tips, more than i expected, really appreciate it.
I just finished producing, experimented a lot, tried out all kinds of synths,...and i switched over to Drum&Bass around halfway the song
Hope you like it for a first try :)
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=176111

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