| From its humble beginnings on the london rave scene | | | | playing or sequencing, reverb can disguise synthesized |
| in the early 90's, when breaks were innocently looped | | | | reverb sounds. For an even more pronounced effect, |
| instead of sequenced, and vocals pitched up instead | | | | try applying a reverb pre-fader soundscape style |
| of timestrecthed, to the present day, it has always | | | | effects. |
| been at the cutting edge of electronic musical | | | | 10- Make more sophisticated arpeggiator leads by |
| innovation. Much of the scene's early output was | | | | applying frequency or pulse width modulation |
| characterised by a total disregard for the | | | | envelopes to the sound and varying the decaytime. |
| conventions, techniques and rules of the day (largely | | | | High-pass work well with this style of sound. When |
| because none of the producers knew what they | | | | filter sweeping the sound in or out, try automating |
| were), while todays producers are among the most | | | | another synth setting, such as one of the envelopes |
| skilled, meticulous and innovative there are. But the | | | | decay time or filter envelope amount. For a trancey |
| common thread is a determination to rinse it, and | | | | sound, delay is a must, but don't make it too |
| rinse it in even more ingenious ways. | | | | extreme or you may mask any chord changes. |
| As the production bar in drum 'n' bass has been rased | | | | 11- Now days, most virtual analogue synths feature a |
| on an almost seasonal basis, it's taken the learning | | | | massive amount of wave shapes for you to |
| curve with it. Even producers who don't like the | | | | experiment with. Instead of using a sine wave, try a |
| genre will often sit and marvel at the complexity and | | | | variety of different wave shapes and low-pass filter |
| density of modern DnB productions. Also drum 'n' | | | | them to remove all but the lowest frequencies. This |
| bass has a distinct sound, and it places emphasis on | | | | will give you a sub bass with more interest than a |
| different areas of the mix to other genres, so that | | | | standard sine tone, which can be enhanced further |
| even producers in other types of electronic music | | | | with tube amplification and other effects. |
| can struggle to achieve that DnB vibe. | | | | 12- A proper sub bass is all important when creating |
| 20 MUST KNOW DRUM 'n' BASS TIPS | | | | DnB tracks. In order to create the desired wall of |
| 1- Layering chopped up break beats (DRUM LOOPS) | | | | sound effect, the bassline has to hit the low end of |
| is a good way to get that authentic DnB sound. For a | | | | the frequency spectrum. The easiest way to create |
| tight, modern sound, put each hits end point before | | | | a sub bass is to use a sine wave with a very short |
| the next drum sound occurs: simply leaving the end | | | | attack time and quick release. Try using this sound to |
| point at the end of the sample makes it easier to | | | | double the lead part, thereby adding beef, but |
| program junglistic beats, but you'll either have to tune | | | | remember to watch the levels, as you can have too |
| or time stretch it to make sure it plays at the | | | | much of a good thing. |
| correct tempo. | | | | 13- Another classic DnB sound is that of the 'Reece' |
| 2- One of the main advantages of using really tightly | | | | bassline, as used in Renegade Feat Ray keith's |
| chopped beats is that you can easily pitch bend your | | | | Terrorist. While it's unlikely you'll get in trouble for |
| drum part up and down without it ever going out of | | | | sampling this much loved tone, you can create your |
| time. This technique can be used to create stunning | | | | own version by layering up detuned square waves |
| percussive effects. For the best results try combining | | | | with a touch of low pass filtering. This can then be |
| this method withother forms of processing such as | | | | resampled and further processed to create your own |
| filtering or degrading effects. | | | | fearsome basslines. |
| 3- If your track's switch lacks bite, try using a | | | | 14- Another good way to keep the energy levels up |
| different break beat or rythm pattern to keep the | | | | on a switch is to introduce a kick drum roll |
| crowd on their toes, processing such as pitch shifting | | | | underneath the main beat. |
| or flanging can do miracles here. | | | | 15- To create the familiar wah-bass effect you'll need |
| 4-When using heavy compression on your rythm | | | | a synth with a an oscillator set to a wave shape with |
| track for that fat break beat sound, you may find | | | | at least a few harmonics (ie, not a sine or triange), |
| that your beat gets overpowered when a big kick | | | | filtered with a low pass filter. An LFO or, alternatively, |
| drum sound is triggered. Consider putting any such | | | | a short attack and decay envelope, can control the |
| sound on a seperate channel with its own | | | | cutoff of the filter. When using an envelope, the |
| compression. If your kick drum needs enhancing, try | | | | note must be retriggered quickly to create the |
| beefing it up with a layered TR-909 kick drum | | | | undulating bass riff. |
| sample, but resist the urge to turn it up too loud, | | | | 16- Variation can be added to wah-bass riffs by |
| make sure the sub bass and beat still have enough | | | | modulating the LFO speed or envelope amount via |
| room to breath. | | | | key-following, eg, the higher the note played on the |
| 5-By using a variety of layered re-programmed | | | | keyboard, the quicker the LFO oscillates or the more |
| breakbeats, you can quickly build up a complex rythm | | | | envelope is applied to the filter cutoff. Try varying |
| track. The trick is to make it sound like one cohesive | | | | amounts of one or both of these techniques to |
| part that develops and builds, rather than several | | | | create progressively more twisted bass flutters. |
| different parts all fighting for space. The golden rule is | | | | 17- When adding overdrive effects to filters, try out |
| to accurately program your drums in the first place, | | | | the different distortion types available and |
| although additional EQing of flabby kick drums, | | | | experiment with varying amounts of your chosen |
| cymbals and hihats may help reign in errant beats. | | | | effect. Using vast amounts of overdrive may sound |
| 6- For those liquid funk moments, a housey organ | | | | menacing,but in the context of a track, less is often |
| bass always sounds great. You can make your own | | | | more. Try starting out with a small amount of |
| using sine, pulse or triangle waves low-pass filtered | | | | distortion and increase the levels slowly until you |
| until you get just a few harmonics poking through. | | | | reach the optimum settings for your sound. The key |
| Try detuning one oscillator up seven semitones for a | | | | is experimentation! |
| handy fifth that will bring back some old school | | | | 18- Another parameter that requires judicious |
| memories. | | | | tweaking when creating distorted bass noises is |
| 7- These days it seems everyone is rockin the saw | | | | resonance. While it's very tempting to crank |
| wave lead. This sound is easy to create - short | | | | everything up to the most ear bending levels, try to |
| attack and release envelope, a little chorus or pitch | | | | stick to subtler settings- the highest db filter won't |
| modulation on the saw wave and your there. Things | | | | necessarily sound the best. Experiment with a |
| can be made more interesting with a little degrading | | | | combination of filter types and resonance settings |
| effect, and a bit of glide can add an interesting twist | | | | until you get just enough harshness to offset the, |
| to your nasty lead noise. | | | | rumbling bass end. |
| 8- For artificial intelligence style warbling synth lines, | | | | 19- If your using an LFO to create your wah-bass, |
| an LFO tied to the filter cutoff is your best bet. | | | | there are a couple of options available to you. |
| Make sure the LFO's phase is synced to the start of | | | | Syncing the LFO to the track is a convenient way of |
| the note and try a variety of rates and phase | | | | getting it to play in time, but you may find the |
| positions until you come up with a suitable noise. | | | | flexibility of the LFO rate control is worth making use |
| Experiment using different wave shapes, LFO | | | | of instead. Try any alternative phase and shape |
| amounts and filter cutoff settings,and try further | | | | settings to create a variety of sounds. |
| developing the sound with a little LFO based pulse | | | | 20- Try using your synth or samplers pitch envelope |
| modulation. | | | | to automatically bend notes downward. Experiment |
| 9- When using 'real' instrument samples or presets, | | | | with different attack, decay and level values, and |
| it's important that they sit comfortably alongside your | | | | additional LFO pitch modulation, to create some |
| more processed sounds. If possible, create reverb | | | | unusual effects. If your instrument is capable of it, |
| and delay send effects so you can place all your | | | | try applying different pitch modulation settings to |
| sounds in the same virtual space. Along with good | | | | each voice for yet more twisted bass. |