How to Make Dubstep "Screams" in NI Massive

(Special thanks to ByzaniteTV for this tutorial)

How to Get That BIG Kick!

Hello all! I apologize for my long absence --- have been quite busy lately with both my music and my novel, not to mention a long-overdo paint job for my bedroom. That's right, we are talking three walls white, one bright turquoise, how about that, eh? I wake up every morning feeling like I'm staying in a Caribbean cabana, minus the pretty island girls running around with grass skirts and pina coladas. All in due time though, all in due time.

Let's get right down to business, shall we? I'd like to use this article to share some of my most prized secrets --- some of the most esteemed and vital bits of information I have uncovered in my journey as a producer --- to creating the almighty "giant kick drum." You know the kind of kick I am referring to. And if for whatever reason you do not, go to Beatport.com and listen to the current #1 track (Martin Garrix - "Animals"). Even crazy Russian Youtube prankster Vitalyzdtv gave a shoutout to the epicness of this track. If Vitaly says it's good, it's probably good. He is a self-proclaimed Nutella connoisseur, and apparently an epic kick drum enthusiast as well. You can trust Vitaly.

Time to get that sound.

Time to kick society in the face with a... kick! Here we go...

To start off, let's refresh our memories as to where the most essential frequencies of a kick drum fall in the overall frequency spectrum. The sub frequencies of a kick drum lie in the 46Hz - 100Hz range while the higher, snappier "beater" frequencies that help a kick cut through the mix can usually be adhered to with a high shelf boost of about +2 or +3 dB at 2kHz and up. (See my article "The Correct Way to Choose Drum and Percussion Samples" for more info on layering kick samples).

Assuming that you already have nice, satisfying, thick kick drum in the works (whether layered or a single sample), I will now offer you some tips as to how to make it as massive as possible. First and foremost, if you have not yet sidechained your basses and pads to your kick, put down your Fun Dip and do it. Sidechaining is essentially what some producers traditionally call "ducking," in that the bass or instrument track that is sidechained with the kick will "duck" in volume each time the kick drum sounds. (I will explain in extensive detail how to sidechain in a future article.) This will ultimately free up the low-end frequencies that your bass tracks inhabit during each of the kick hits, thus allowing the deeper components of the kick drum sound to cut through the mix. It could almost be looked at as "pushing aside" the other instruments in your mix to allow your kick to punch through to the surface and breathe.

Never overlook the power of a simple sub frequency pulse beneath your kick drum samples. You can achieve this via NI Massive or just about any other synth software at your disposal that allows you to create a simple sine wave with very fast attack and release. Try experimenting with mimicking the sound of a kick drum by adjusting the release time, pitch, attack, and other envelope parameters until you get a nice heavy sub bass "boom". For example, to mimic the slow "booooom, booooom" (apologies for my inability to think of a more effective way to describe it) of the "Animals" kick drum, your sine wave pulse should have a quick attack with a slower release. Try increasing the sustain time as well to achieve the drawn out resonance. Depending on the nature of your software, either the sustain or release can offer you the optimal result of a long, powerful sub kick. The key is to know your software and experiment; your ears are your best weapon. As far as building a sub kick layer from Massive (or other softsynth), it is important to remember that the sound you are building is intended to blend with your main kick sample(s) rather than stand out as the prominent component of your kick. That said, it may not sound like anything special when you trial it separately, but depending on where the frequencies fall (16Hz to about 25Hz is ideal) it will certainly add a surprisingly thick, deep "thump" to your kick drum sound when layered over your other kick samples. Of course, the proper EQ and compression treatment for a sub kick would be applicable for your sine wave pulse layer, i.e. a low pass filter and beefy compression. Word of warning: this method is to be used very conservatively. In other words, it won't take much volume to get the self-made sub kick to serve it's purpose. Make sure it is low enough in the mix so that you don't necessarily "hear" it, but rather "feel" it.

One seemingly simple yet extremely critical concept to consider when striving for a gigantic kick drum is to keep an uncluttered mix. Don't overdo the instrument tracks if you want your kick to be the focal point of your beat. This does not have to be considered for the entire song, however, but when you are attempting to create a track that features a passage where the pulse of the kick drum dominates the entire mix (in place of a bassline perhaps, even), you want to have a clean slate to lay down your beat. To reference "Animals" once again, let us examine the passage where his monster kick drops. You have only two components occurring musically at this moment in the song: a.) the insanely massive kick drum; b.) a minimalistic percussive stab melody to accompany it. That's it. Two things. Think about the implications of this. With only two sounds, Martin Garrix has crafted a drop that pushed his track to the top of the Beatport charts. The key is to be tasteful and to have a plan as far as what you wish to accomplish with your drop. For him, he chose to throw all crazy growl bass Skrillex-ey whatever sounds out the window, settling instead for a minimal house club-thumping kick pulse doing nothing more than hitting the downbeats. That is all there is to the bass component of this drop. There is no bassline whatsoever in the drop, just his huge kick. This is what I mean by focusing on your "plan" for the drop, and for paying attention to how your mix should not be overflowing with instrument tracks. When you are shooting for a massive kick, keep your mix simple. I will say this again because I cannot stress it enough as far as huge kick drums are concerned. When you are shooting for a massive kick, keep your mix simple.

Always make sure to use your monitors with your subwoofer when producing kicks, as well as any bass or sub-frequency sounds for that matter. This may sound like common sense but you would be surprised at how many novice producers underestimate the importance of having a subwoofer in your arsenal, settling instead for standalone computer speakers or headphones. Though each serve their purpose, producing a giant kick drum is best adhered to when done through your monitors with your subwoofer turned up.

So there you have it. It may take rocket science to put a man on the moon, but getting a massive ass-obliterating kick drum is thankfully much easier. The most critical elements come down to paying attention to the quality of your samples, making sure your mix is not over-cluttered, a generous dose of sidechaining, and perhaps a subtle sine wave pulse mirroring your kick samples for added sub frequencies. Utilize these concepts when crafting your next kick drum and you might just be the one who "kicks" Martin Garrix out of the #1 position on Beatport!

And who knows, if you are lucky enough you might even get a shout-out from Vitalyzdtv!

How to Make a Koan Sound Style Reese Bass

(Special thanks to Le Fu Music for this video)

Mixing Like a Conservative: Gain Control and Headroom

There happen to be a decent number of possible pitfalls along the way to achieving a great mix but the most critical lies in the treatment of your gain levels. Without proper control of the dB levels of your tracks, your master fader may clip causing undesirable distortion, noise, and general poor quality. In order to avoid this problem, you need to get into a unique mindset specially made for the mixing stage; you need to think like a conservative.

Now, before you start assuming that this article is about to turn into a political shitstorm, take a moment to recall what the term “conservative” really means in a music production context. It refers to a very modest approach to the utilization of your production tools and techniques. In the context of gain levels, a conservative treatment will fare your project well and leave you with plenty of headroom in your master fader.

The master fader itself should be brought down at least -5 dB to begin with. Keep your kick and snare set anywhere from -8 to -10dB so as to allow for extra headroom for your basses. Don’t worry about your track sounding “loud enough” at this stage; this is a MAJOR pitfall that will cost you a balanced mix if you worry about your overall loudness at this stage in the game. Getting your track to be a strong contestant in the “loudness war” comes during the mastering stage. Worry about it then, and only then.

It is always a good idea to A-B (compare) your work-in-progress with a professionally mastered song of a similar genre or sound. However, it is easy to get anxious and frustrated while doing so since your track is obviously a work in progress and has not been treated with the mastering components (loud amplitude, cohesive saturation, stereo metering, etc.) but don’t let this get to your head. Remember, you are in the mixing stage, not the mastering stage. Pay close attention to the professional track’s mix and do your best to see beyond the mastering aspects, i.e. volume. It is the sound of the professional mix you are after right now, not volume. One tip I have picked up over the years that will aid in making the A-B process more fruitful is to bring down the volume of the song you are trying to emulate so that it matches your project rather than boosting the volume of your project to match that of the other song.

Let’s say, for example, that you are trying to create a growl bass similar to the one from Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” but you are finding that your drums are sounding a bit weak in the mix. You open iTunes and play back Skrillex’s song to compare and you find that not only do his drums cut through the mix but they are punchy and have a vitality all their own, and the overall volume of the track is much louder than your work-in-progress. Well, as I said before, forget about the volume issue right now. Bring down the volume of iTunes, listening by ear, until it matches the volume level of your session. This will allow your focus to go where it should: the mix.

Now, back to the drum issue. You want yours to kick and snap with the punchiness of Skrillex. Instead of simply dragging the fader of your drum bus up a few dB, simply bring everything else down -1 or -2 dB and leave your kick and snare hitting right where they are (which should be -8 to -10 dB). You should find that, with proper treatment such as sidechaining your basses and melody synths and proper EQing, your drums will definitely cut through the mix in a much clearer, punchier manner.

A conservative approach to gain control will be sure to put you on the right track for a clean mix that is powerful, crisp and huge. It is important to remember that power comes from a good mix, not from an over-limited slab of non-dynamic sound waves. Think like a conservative and bring down dB levels of opposing tracks rather than boosting one or the other so that it overpowers its opponent. Headroom is your best friend when it comes to dynamics and a clean mix, and when you leave enough dB between your peaks and 0dB, you will make the mastering process incredibly easier. That volume that you seek to emulate from professional tracks comes from the mastering process, but the power comes from a mix that was treated carefully and conservatively.

Free Plugins: The Ultimate List (VST, RTAS, AU, AAX, etc.)

Audifex - ampLion Free - guitar amp simulator

Avid - Structure Free - sampler
Avid - SignalTools - metering
Avid- Xpand! - virtual instrument
Avid - D-Fi - low-fi sound design
Avid - Bomb Factory plugins - various free Bombfactory plugins
Avid/TL Labs - TL Utilities - tuning, metronome, metering
Avid/TL Labs - TL AutoPan - panning effects

Blue Cat Audio - Free Plugin Pack - a little of it all
Blue Cat Audio - Chorus - chorus
Blue Cat Audio - Flanger - flanger
Blue Cat Audio - FreqAnalyst - frequency analyzer
Blue Cat Audio - Gain Suite - gain utilities for controlling volume
Blue Cat Audio - Phaser - phaser
Blue Cat Audio - Triple EQ - 3-band EQ

Brainworx - bx clean sweep - hi and low-pass filter
Brainworx - bx solo - M/S tool

Cableguys - Pancake - panning modulation

Camel Audio - Alchemy Player - virtual instrument with 1G sound library
Camel Audio - CamelCrusher - distortion unit

De La Mancha - FMMF - user-friendly FM synthesis

Desample - Glaceverb - vibration and acoustic response emulator

DDMF - Colour EQ - EQ with custom-made 4th order IIR filter

Elysia - Niveau Filter - a handy filter tool

Flux - BitterSweet II - transient designer
Flux - Stereo Tool - stereo shaper/designer

FXpansion - Orca - virtual synthesizer instrument
FXpansion - ClapOMatic - virtual crowd/clapping simulator
FXpansion - DCAM Free Comp - a model of a classic console bus compressor design

HOFA-Plugins - ProjectTime - measures the elapsed hours of work that went into individual projects
HOFA-Plugins - Meter, Fader & MS Pan - metering, fader and MS decoder
HOFA-Plugins - Goniometer and Korrelator gonio and correlation metering

Human Touch Technology - SIKA Oriental Scale - SoundFont player dedicated to Arabic and Oriental scales

IK Multimedia - AmpliTube Custom Shop - amp and FX simulation
IK Multimedia - T-Racks Custom Shop - lots of helpful plugins
IK Multimedia - SampleTank 2.5 - virtual instrument

iZotope - Vinyl - vinyl simulator

JK Plugs - JK Pipe - captures default audio input set in System Preferences

Klanghelm - DC1A - user-friendly compressor

Magix - Independence Free - sampler workstation

Massey - Massey Tools - various helpful plugins

Metric Halo - Thump - extreme bass modulator

Native Instruments - Kontakt Player - sample player for use with Kontakt instruments
Native Instruments - Reaktor Player - virtual instrument
Native Instruments - Guitar Rig 4 - modular effects processor

Ohm Force - Frohmage - a nifty filter device
Ohm Force - Cohmpost - a very bizarre, filter-ish plugin
Ohm Force - Symptohm: Melohman PE - virtual synthesizer instrument

Pleasurize Music Foundation - Dynamic Range Meter - metering tool

PSP Audioware - PianoVerb - a strange reverb unit
PSP Audioware - PSP VintageMeter - metering tool

Sonalksis - FreeG - metering tool

Sonoma Wire Works - DrumCore - virtual drum instrument

Soundhack - Delay Trio - creative delay effects
Soundhack - Freesound Bundle - an array of helpful tools

SPL - FreeRanger - EQ unit

Studio Devil - Studio Devil BVC - amp modeling

TriTone Digital - MuteTone - a workaround to the inability to shut off input monitoring

Two Notes - Torpedo PI-FREE - mic and speaker simulator

U-he - Zebralette - virtual synthesizer

UVI Sound Source - UVI Workstation - sample player

ValhallaDSP - Valhalla FreqEcho - frequency shifter and echo unit

XLN Audio - Addictive Drums Free - virtual drum instrument
XLN Audio - Studio Grand Free - virtual piano instrument

Yohng - 4Front Bass - virtual bass instrument
Yohng - 4Front E-Piano - virtual electric piano instrument
Yohng - 4Front Piano virtual piano instrument


(Let me know if I missed any!)

Using 808 Samples to Create Sub Bass

The following video shows how to create a sub bass using 808 drum samples. Quite a unique way of going about it! (Thanks to dubstepforum.com participant Skeemstep for this tutorial)

How to Glitch-ify your Dubstep Tracks

A key component to making creative dubstep lies in attention to detail. Often, the more detailed and complex your soundscape, the more your track will stand out from the plethora of competition on Beatport, Soundcloud, Youtube and the internet in general. In most cases, complexity indicates a certain skill: the art of subtlety. Dubstep subgenres like complextro (technically not a specific subgenre, but let’s say it is for the sake of example) are almost entirely based upon their detailed structure with the rapid morphing from one bass sound into the next, syncopated waveform oscillation, percussive additives and more, lending the “complex” aspect to it’s name. It’s all in the “glitch,” as you will soon learn. It is the art of the unexpected. Today we will be exploring how you can “glitch-ify” your own tracks, making them as interesting as possible.

As previously stated, the secret to great, glitchy sound lies in the unexpected nature of your transitions, sounds, and overall flow. Start by creating your bass patches. If you are a Massive user (I would highly suggest investing in this wonderful software instrument if you are not), create a bass patch with a fast attack, long sustain and some grit. Throw a Sine Shaper onto it along with a Tele Tube or Classic Tube effect to bring out some distortion. Adjust the stereo width to your liking.

Now that you have one bass patch you are happy with, it is time to make the next one. Here is where the “dubstep mindset” really comes in. You want to be glitchy and unexpected, so adapt this concept into your workflow. You know that your last bass sound was hard-hitting and gritty, so perhaps it might be worth your while to make a bass with a slower attack and more warmth to counter it. How you will use it in the context of the song comes later. Don’t worry about that just yet. For now, create a palette of varying bass sounds.

When you have two basses with qualities that lie on completely opposite sides of the aural spectrum, make at least three more to fill out the middle arena of sound. (By “middle” I am not inferring midrange frequencies, per se). Make some basses that include aspects of both your first and your second bass patches, but this time around add some interesting effects via wavetable oscillation, filters and 3^rd party effects plugins. The key is to exercise true freedom when it comes to sound design. While it is important to think of your work as a whole and envision the atmosphere of the end result, too much planning can inhibit your creativity as you will end up losing that sought-after “craziness” that you can only get with musical freedom being point number one in your musical mindset.

Play around with different ratios in your oscillators and don’t be too discouraged if what you are making sounds lackluster on its own in solo mode. All too often I slave over getting a patch to sound “just right” in solo mode, not realizing that the “power” I am seeking is really that of the full mix. You may have just heard your track and thought to add a new bass; next, you add the midi instrument track for the bass and solo it to work on crafting that sound without background noise. Here is the pitfall one must be aware of in this stage: don’t try to make your bass as loud (or worse, louder) than the pre-existing mix. Your sound obviously can’t hold the same amount of amplitude or frequency range as the entire mix of your song in one sound and expect it to blend well, so it is important to bear this in mind when you are finding your basses a little weak while in the designing stage (in solo mode). Keep A and B-ing your new sound in solo with the rest of your mix so that you are working towards a solid sound that meshes with the mix rather than one that tries to overpower it. It is easy to get carried away with distortion and volume, but be wary of how you treat these when it comes to basses since the quickest way to lose your balance in the mixing stage is by working with sounds that are competing with just about everything else in your track. I guarantee you, if you follow this step carefully you will be much happier and quite surprised at how amazing some of those basses are that you otherwise thought would not be powerful enough. Power doesn’t necessarily come from volume. It comes from a balanced mix with well-crafted sounds — sounds that were crafted with that particular attention to detail that is crucial in glitchy electro or dubstep.

While an array of bass sounds with different modulation rates lends the glitch aspect to your low-end groove, cymbals and white noise swells can play crucial roles in your high-end and your buildups. The standard crash cymbal features a long decay and quite often a slight tinge of reverb. To glitch things up a bit, try separating your sample in half and remove a portion of it in the middle so that there is a small gab between the two sections. When done correctly, you can get a nice, flavorful stutter effect which really lends some interesting flavor to an otherwise normal crash cymbal. A perfect example of this can be heard in Porter Robinson’s song “Spitfire.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89KV_LcbqsA)

It might also be worth your while to take into consideration the level of interest of your kick and snare patterns. A 4-on-the-floor, thumping kick might work well for house or electro, but when it comes to glitchy dubstep it simply will not suffice. Switch things up and try cutting into half time at key parts of your song. A few “misplaced” kicks often lend a really interesting aspect to dubstep that artists like Skrillex have been known to use prevalently. It is critical to make sure your overall beats themselves are quantized to the grid so as to preserve neatness and order, but transitions can be made much more interesting when you let the beat fall to the wayside with a quick flurry of bombastic mayhem during those key transitions. (I practiced this technique in my Leona Lewis “Trouble” remix which can be heard throughout the song, particularly at the transition starting at 1:42. Pay attention to what the kick does there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHAg1cpv_W0)

The key to adding interesting glitch aspects lies in how creative you are willing to get. It requires an open mind and a loosing of all of those “hard and fast rules” you were taught to follow. While it does pay to stick to formulas that have been known to work, sticking too much to any given formula will only lead you into the arena of “heard it once, heard it a million times” and no producer wants that. Think for yourself, use your ears, and open your minds! The possibilities are endless.