Help with Dubstep?

[DashPony 359]

Ok, so i've been working on a dubstep song for awhile now and i'm seriously struggling with it. I have everything done up to the bass drop point. I have all of my sounds made (wobbles, wubs, ect), but when I try to incorporate them into the song, it sounds like a random mess Does anyone know of any tutorial videos or anything that might help me? I'm not very experienced with music, but I feel that I shouldn't be having this much trouble. It's driving me crazy.

 

If anyone has any experience making dubstep, and has any tips or advice, it would be appreciated.

 

Oh, and I use FL Studio 9 if that helps any

[Shadow Stallion 435]

The very beginning of the drop should have multiple sounds played at once, including a drum kick or something similar. This will give it that powerful drop feeling, and following this, should be your wobbles and such. I personally prefer not to have the entire drop consist of only wobbles (nonstop wobble through the entire drop). In some cases though, people do pull through with that and make the drop sound pretty badass. Make sure your wobbles aren't at the same speed through the entire drop, I'll try and clarify what I mean:

*Medium-Paced Wobble* *Fast-Paced Wobble* *Slow-Paced Wobble* *Fast-Paced Wobble* and so forth. This will make it sound better, trust me on that(:

 

You can also break your drop up a bit, by having your wobbles and other dirty dubstep sounds, and then switching over to those light synths and a calm drum beat, then switching back to the dubstep, etc. Like in Skrillex's Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

 

If you need clarification on anything I just said, or if you have any other questions, quote me. I'll help to the best of my ability

[Speedy Transition 788]

[ExtraPaws 1]

Although it is dubstep, you have to keep in mind that it IS music, and must follow the rules every other genre of music must follow; but be happy that you have good sounding wobbles that you can be proud of, making the actual sounds can be quite a hassle x)

 

What I suggest is learning some basic music theory, then try making some original compositions using the 3xOsc presets. This will give you a feel for how chord progression and movement works in music (it's a lot easier learning through classical styles than diving straight into dubstep.) I was in the same spot as you when i started playing with FL studio too. Spending a couple days on music theory went a long way, especially with all the composition tools FL studio has built in.

 

Personally, I'm a visual learner so I benefited greatly from this set of videos:

 

http://warbeats.com/Tutorials/Music-Theory?topic=4836&name=Make-Effective-Basslines#view

 

If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty you could check out Ricci Adams stuff, really technical and pure music theory:

 

http://www.musictheory.net/

 

There are tons of mobile apps and stuff too out there, you can learn a lot through a phone or tablet in those idle 5 minute breaks you find throughout the day.

Do some googling, find something that fits your needs... seriously, music theory, good stuff.

 

OH AND ALSO if you haven't already, make sure you've done some pretty thorough walkthroughs of FL studio (check out FL guru on Image-Line's youtube channel.) FL Studio is one hell of a versatile workstation and there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to express what's playing in your head because you are limited by your tools :|

 

Good luck! Hopefully I'm playing starcraft to some of your music soon ^^

[DashPony 359]

The very beginning of the drop should have multiple sounds played at once, including a drum kick or something similar. This will give it that powerful drop feeling, and following this, should be your wobbles and such. I personally prefer not to have the entire drop consist of only wobbles (nonstop wobble through the entire drop). In some cases though, people do pull through with that and make the drop sound pretty badass. Make sure your wobbles aren't at the same speed through the entire drop, I'll try and clarify what I mean:

*Medium-Paced Wobble* *Fast-Paced Wobble* *Slow-Paced Wobble* *Fast-Paced Wobble* and so forth. This will make it sound better, trust me on that(:

 

You can also break your drop up a bit, by having your wobbles and other dirty dubstep sounds, and then switching over to those light synths and a calm drum beat, then switching back to the dubstep, etc. Like in Skrillex's Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

 

If you need clarification on anything I just said, or if you have any other questions, quote me. I'll help to the best of my ability

 

Thank you! That actually makes a lot of sense. I'm sure layering the sounds like that will give the song a "fuller" sound to it as well. Which would help me a lot

Although it is dubstep, you have to keep in mind that it IS music, and must follow the rules every other genre of music must follow; but be happy that you have good sounding wobbles that you can be proud of, making the actual sounds can be quite a hassle x)

 

What I suggest is learning some basic music theory, then try making some original compositions using the 3xOsc presets. This will give you a feel for how chord progression and movement works in music (it's a lot easier learning through classical styles than diving straight into dubstep.) I was in the same spot as you when i started playing with FL studio too. Spending a couple days on music theory went a long way, especially with all the composition tools FL studio has built in.

 

Personally, I'm a visual learner so I benefited greatly from this set of videos:

 

http://warbeats.com/...-Basslines#view

 

If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty you could check out Ricci Adams stuff, really technical and pure music theory:

 

http://www.musictheory.net/

 

There are tons of mobile apps and stuff too out there, you can learn a lot through a phone or tablet in those idle 5 minute breaks you find throughout the day.

Do some googling, find something that fits your needs... seriously, music theory, good stuff.

 

OH AND ALSO if you haven't already, make sure you've done some pretty thorough walkthroughs of FL studio (check out FL guru on Image-Line's youtube channel.) FL Studio is one hell of a versatile workstation and there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to express what's playing in your head because you are limited by your tools :|

 

Good luck! Hopefully I'm playing starcraft to some of your music soon ^^

 

Thanks! I have been using FL Studio for about 2 years now, but I still haven't learned how to use everything in the program. It'll just take time and practice I will definitely check out those tutorials! I agree that learning some music theory will help me.

[WiponCat 54]

I've been using FL studio for a long time now, feel free to ask if you have anything more specific you need help with

[dixiehellcat 8]

This fandom never ceases to amaze me with its creativity. Dubstep even! Who knew?

[DashPony 359]

I've been using FL studio for a long time now, feel free to ask if you have anything more specific you need help with

 

 

Thank you, i'm sure i'll have a few questions once I start my project up again

 

This fandom never ceases to amaze me with its creativity. Dubstep even! Who knew?

 

Right? That's one of the things I love about our fandom. The amount of talented bronies out there is amazing

Edited May 13, 2012 by DashPony

[FortyShadows 217]

Oh, I also need help with dubstep. Seems someone asked before me, yay. I have a few so-called "dubstep" projects to redo since they all fail. I'm using cubase though. Well, ima learn along.

[DashPony 359]

Oh, I also need help with dubstep. Seems someone asked before me, yay. I have a few so-called "dubstep" projects to redo since they all fail. I'm using cubase though. Well, ima learn along.

 

The links that ExtraPaws posted helped me alot. They'll probably help you out too. Right now the hardest part for me is trying to get the "dubstep sounds" to sound just right

[Proctra Music 335]

Dubstep is a horrible genre to begin with. I knew when I first started producing that I liked and wanted to do some dubs. I knew I'd have to start off in basic electro...

[FortyShadows 217]

The links that ExtraPaws posted helped me alot. They'll probably help you out too. Right now the hardest part for me is trying to get the "dubstep sounds" to sound just right

 

Same. I'll look at the links after since I'm composing some orchestra piece. I also want to learn trance--too many things I want to compose. ;_;