Aight, so a while back i recieved this comment on one of my tracks…
So today i thought to myself: “Why the hell not?”. And thus i made this and thought it would be interesting to share.
First off: Drumstep is a mixture of the two genres. Specifically “Drum n Bass” and “Dubstep”. Some basic understanding of these two genres is important if you want to make drumstep.
Let’s start with how the beats work in drum n bass and in dubstep:
Drum n bass is fast paced. It’s typically around the 180 bpm mark. Usually you start out with a kick on the first beat in the bar, then a snare on the second, then a kick again in between the third and the fourth bar and then a snare on the fourth bar. Like so:
http://tinypic.com/r/2aez9ci/6
This is a VERRY basic drum n bass beat. You can build upon it to make it more complicated. Like this:
http://tinypic.com/r/33k8wap/6
Although this is a bit better it is still verry basic. It should give you an idea of how drum n bass works though.
Dubstep on the other hand, is a bit slower. Typically around 140 bpm. To some people it may sound even slower then that, but that is because the beat is build a bit diffirently compared to drum n bass. Usually you place a kick on the first beat of the bar, and then a snare on the third beat of the bar. Like so:
http://tinypic.com/r/2csgd54/6
Even though that is what i base my dubstep songs off of it is NOT dubstep yet. You need to add details by adding cymbals, percussion and so on and so forth. An example could look like this:
http://tinypic.com/r/iqhgkn/6
Let me remind you again that this is still verry basic, and you need more then just a beat to make a successfull dubstep track.
With the beats covered it is time to move on to the basslines.
This is a bit tricky, since notessimo offers you verry limited ways of making nice and crisp basses - not to mention wobbly sounds. Therefore you need to get creative. Especially when making dubstep, since a dubstep bassline usually have more wobbles then a drum n bass bassline. A dubstep bassline could look like this:
http://tinypic.com/r/ksqkx/6
Drum n bass basslines are usually a bit more simple. Something like this will usually suffice:
http://tinypic.com/r/mvje4o/6
Notice how there is conciderably less pitch bends in the bassline (what people reffer to as wobbles). Even though the wobbly basslines are primarely used in dubstep they can often sound amazing in drum n bass too. Same goes for the drum n bass basslines which can also be used in dubstep tracks. Experiment, and dont be affraid to layer diffirent bass sounds to make unique basses. And for the love of god. Do NOT use all quarter notes, or all half notes. Mix it up a bit and use diffirent note lenghts.
As for melodies there is really nothing you cant do. I heard a drum n bass remix of “hit the road jack” by Ray Charles once that sounded amazing. It had the original vocals and some of the instruments from the original track, and it didnt sound out of place at all. As a matter of fact it sounded amazing and it just shows how creative you can get with the melodies without them sounding wrong. Here is the track for those who are curious:
The kind of melody you choose should suit the track though, although that is sort of a nobrainer. You dont make a dark atmospheric track and put the melody from surfin’ bird on top of it. It just doesnt work.
Aight. With the basics about drum n bass and dubstep in place it is time to move on to drumstep.
Drumstep have the same bpm as drum n bass (although in some cases it might sound better making it a tiny bit slower) but it uses the basic beat from dubstep. This gives the illusion that the track is somewhat slow, when in fact it is everything BUT slow. You’ll want to add some more kicks to the beat and use plenty of percussion and cymbals to spice your bear up. It will make your beat sound faster, which is good! It can look something like this:
http://tinypic.com/r/16anpqr/6
For the bassline you’ll want to do a mix of the drum n bass and the dubstep basses. You’ll want a nice amount of wobbles, but not too many. Mix the wobbles with some drum n bass bassline.
Last but not least: Make it varied. Way too often i see people who almost only change the melody in their tracks, and leave the bassline and beat the same for almost the entire song. You do NOT wanna do that with drumstep (or any other genre for that matter), since drumstep is ALL about the bassline and beat. Learning how to make various effects is a great way to spice up your track too. Try experimenting by making random sounds really high or low pitched, or making the sounds really short. You’d be surprised how many weird sounds you can come up with. You should also try and incorporate some echo into your tracks. Echos are always nice… i like echos… mmmm… echos…
Before i end this thread i want to urge you to listen to a LOT of drumstep to get a basic idea of how it should sound. Here is a link to my drumstep playlist on youtube:
http://www.youtube.c…BFBF41D7167A154
Here’s my dubstep playlist:
http://www.youtube.c…F6AB86EB347873D
And here is my drum n bass playlist:
http://www.youtube.c…96E8B807995A4CA
OH WELLZ! That’s all i could be assed to write for now. Take care, i hope it was helpful. And remember: you may not get it right the first time, but practice makes perfect.
CHEERS!
I apologize for the poor english and grammar. English is not my native language and i didnt read it through after i wrote it. Deal with it:P
