Drum n Bass Masterclass
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The document provides guidance on producing drum and bass music, including recommended structures for tracks, elements of beats, basslines, and melodies. It suggests keeping tracks under 6 minutes with typical sections like an intro, drop, breakdown, and outro. It also gives tips on equalizing sounds, applying effects like compression and filtering, building up layered instruments, and final mastering techniques.
Drum n Bass Masterclass
- 1. Drum n Bass Masterclass With David Carbone www.bs1records.com davide@bs1records.com
- 2. Tune Elements 16 bar loop + alternative 16 bar loop (drop, cut out or filter 1st 16 bars) = 32 bars 1. Beats 2. Bass 3. Vibe (chord progression, vocals etc.) 4. Energy (riff, guitar, synth etc.) 5. Character (sweeps, builds)
- 3. Tune Structure Try and keep track under 6 mins Typical DnB track @170bpm = 256 bars 1. Intro = 64 bars Keep it mixable for DJs; minimal (beats, FX & builds) 2. The Drop = 64-128 bars Drop in the bass; maybe cut beats for 16 bars 3. The Breakdown = 16 bars Drop out bass or beats 4. The 2nd Drop = 64-128 bars Like 1st Drop but should be different i.e. deeper 5. Outro Similar to Intro (mixable; minimal)
- 4. Beat Elements 1. Kick (x3) 2. Hat (x2) 3. Snare (x3) 4. Ghost hat 1 5. Ghost snare 1 6. Ghost hat 2 7. Ghost snare 2 Important: Make groove templates from live samples then use the quantization throughout the track Ticks in between kicks x2 each hat/snare
- 5. 3 Layers to a Beat 1. Backing break Live sample take quantization 2. Main break 3. Kick, snare, hat Apply: EQ Saturation / distortion Shaping / envelope (punchier beat) FX Compression
- 6. EQ EQ each sound individually! (try to avoid overlapping frequencies) Sweep EQ spectrum and reduce bad frequencies Any reverb on drums has to be minimal (1/4 of a second) AI-55Hz Sub bass (nothing <60hz except sub) 1KHz Mid Vocals, snare 60-75Hz Kick drum 20KHz High end Cymbals, hi-hat, rides, crashes 0db to -60db = hearing
- 7. Compressor 0db to -60db (threshold) Attenuates transient peaks Ratio (start with 2:1) -10db-10db-10db-10db -10db
- 8. Looping in Logic Pro Load chord in sampler (edit instrument then load) Turn Loop on in sampler LS = Loop Start LE = Loop end Crossfade: fades the loop start and end points to give more natural sound
- 9. Filtering and LFO Filtering is good to combine with LFO Filtering the EQ (e.g. cutting high frequency for a low pass filter) LFO (low frequency oscillation) Like an audio controller Modulation: Source (sets the rate) and Destination LFO delay or decay 1. Volume / amplitude, or 2. Frequency (filter), or 3. Pitch
- 10. Triplets Cut 村 of a bar (e.g. 2nd beat) Repeat 村 bar every 1.5 beats on a new track (useful for vocals)
- 11. Bass Bass Layers 1. Sub bass Gentle LFO e.g. volume; no FX (leave clean) 2. Mid bass Apply EQ, filtering, shaping (ADSR), importantly LFO, FX 3. High bass Apply EQ, filtering, shaping (ADSR), importantly LFO, FX 20Hz 120-160Hz Punchier kick 50-60Hz 206Hz Sub bass only Snare
- 12. Bass Roland TR808 = hip hop bass Roland TR909 = techno bass Roland TB303 = acid bass Record bass keynote from drum/synth machine Export sound and load in sampler to play on midi keyboard then apply techniques Shift+Tab in Logic = Legarto (notes equalize)
- 13. Dynamics vs. Loudness -6db on each audio track/layer makes perfect mix (not 0db) Layering is using the same beat/groove with a different, but similar, sound i.e. mid bass and sub bass Try and get master output down to 0db (no clipping) Select all audio channels on mixer (not buses and master!) and lower volume on one channel all should lower relatively
- 14. Vibe / Melody 1. Question 2. Answer (e.g. chord) (e.g. sax) 3. Revised question 4. Conclusive answer (e.g. altered chord) (e.g. stronger altered sax)
- 15. Buses Send-Return Method Assign effect (i.e. reverb, tape delay etc.) to a bus then share that effect with other audio tracks (frees CPU power) Send to Bus1 Grouping Method (post-production) Change output of group of audio tracks (i.e. 3 layers of drums) to Bus1 then assign compressor to Bus1 Repeat compression grouped for drums/beat, bass, vibes, the rest (FX etc.) and make them similar levels
- 16. Mastering 1. EQ Look at increasing bottom and top end frequencies Sweep for unwanted frequencies 2. Compress (again) Gentle compression 3. Limit Increase limiter VST gain to audible level as loud as possible
- 17. Limiting Like compression but not rolling-off the peaks Cuts off peaks completely (high rogue peaks halting further compression)