Transitions/Build ups

[Slightlydelic]

you can get some nice things going with simpler by applying a kind of granular stretch technique to samples and using clip envelopes to control peramiters.

[regretfullySaid]

If you have a mic you could also say or yell "this is the buildup this is the buildup" on the last bar before the chorus or Drop™.

[GLJdrew]

so far...drum fills, taking drums out for a bar, removing other instruments for a bar, filters, idk,,after all the filtering/effecting/resampling it's hard to distinguish sometimes. thats all i was getting at. and after scoping out youtube it seems one of the best ways to do it would be with white noise--i dont see why that question was so out of place for a discussion board...when people ask me what effects i use on my guitar for a certain sound i dont ask them what effects THEY use..its ok to want to expand upon what you are already doing. nobody gets better at anything by just thinking about what they are doing

Question wasn't out of place (this stuff gets asked all the time), just seeing a few posts about general music making all at once makes people question your motives, if you're using pirated software, etc.. Lots of people come for 'easy bake' answers, often not even bothering to say thanks or follow up posts regarding their questions.. if anything it's all too familiar for many of us.

It's great to expand on what you're doing, and that's exactly why I asked to share what works for you. Without that knowledge I could throw a bunch of terms at you, that would just require more questions/answers (an assumption based on some of your other posts/questions). When someone asks you about guitar sounds, do you automatically assume they are up on all the terminology that you are? Or that they are able to understand what you tell them without more questions? I was simply trying to see what your skill set was before replying.

Personally, reversing snares/claps or using pad sounds with long tails gives a nice little 'whooshy' build that works nicely tucked back in the mix so it's more of a feeling than a sound and adds energy before the drop. I mostly make a lot of my fills, noises, etc.. in a synth. Will spend hours tweaking and making sounds and store them for later use. Then I'll grab them, warp, stretch, gate, chop and modify as needed. Turning on portamento in your synth can yield some interesting elastic-stretchy sounds that can work nicely when the bass slaps back in after the drop.

If you're making dubstep, the less typical sounding stuff the better.

You want to surprise people, and make them loose their shit. If you're learning stuff on the net, youtube, etc.. please do yourself a huge favor and expand upon what you've learned - don't just copy.. make the sound your own.

Now I see what you meant, and it makes more sense. Sorry for how I took it! I agree though, the youtube vids are geared more to guide, and open the door. It just helps to see how other people are thinking, it gets me thinking in my own way. Thanks for the reply!

[2be]

Some ideas what you can do in build ups (combine as you like, although sometimes less can be more!):

- open filter cutoff on a pad/chord/noise/sample/drums/bass/whatever
- combining both a lowpass and a highpass filter for ultra-smooth filter automation
- rising white noise
- automated sidechain compression after the drop
- drum fills (doesn't always have to be the cliche snare roll, but sometimes it fits and doesn't sound cheesy)
- increasing wet of a delay send
- increasing feedback of a delay send
- automating the delay time, especially when unsycned and in repitch mode
- increasing reverb level (I usually have a Reverb FX send with pretty long decay and roomsize, very convenient to automate)
- drastic cut just when the song drops
- cutting audio just a beat earlier for silence, to make the drop sound more huge
- short vocal sample just before the drop
- decreasing loop time of a sample further and further
- pitching the loop up or down at the end of the build up
- rising sine
- reverse reverb (render a sound, e.g. a stab or a crash, with a huge reverb; then reverse the sample and insert so it stops on the drop. maybe cut the end of the sample)
- bit reduction automation
- decay automation of drums/synths/samples/whatever
- simple volume automation
- musical changes of the instruments
- automation of layers of a sound
- ...

there's so much stuff you can do, just a few ideas. Just experiment and you'll get comfortable with these effects and try out new things!

[djadonis206]

Break beats on the last beat and white noise are all you need for transitions and buildups right now.

Once you get those mastered, move on to getting to know your pitchbend wheel. You can pitch up or down any synth to build up the tension. The crazier the FX you add to this, the better.

Then progress to the LFO. Going from slow to fast or fast to slow is up to you.

It's pretty straight forward and no mystery. I don't understand where any of that hostility was coming from.

That took 2 minutes to explain

[k-toh]

Tons of ideas from 2be there, all worth investigating.

Main thing for me though, and has been hinted upon already, is the context of the track within which you want the build. You can create an effective transition almost without need for a build if you work the before and after parts nicely.

I tend to make more melodic chilled out stuff so the reverse reverb or reverse cymbal are more suited to my style, so it all depends on what you're making.

Have a play

[Komodovaran]

Here's how you build up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6afGJ1iUfk

From 3:02 to 3:42 it goes snare snare snaresnare snare snaresnare snare snaresnare snare snaresnare snare snaresnare snare snaresnare snare snaresnare snare snare snaresnaresnaresnare snarnarnanrnarnanrnarnranrnanr DROP.

[regretfullySaid]

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