Everyone new to production:

kama

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Dont limit yourself to just drum and bass. Using templates to always have the same 170-180 bpm and the same pendulum snare and noisia neuro bass is a sure way to destroy the whole scene. You dont have to have an aim to release a multi million selling hiphop album, you can just do it to amuse yourself and learn from it.

Also listen to other music styles. The reason dnb used to be (and still is to some extent) so diverse was that it took influences from everywhere else, combining them and creating new horizons. Classical, funk, soul, metal, hiphop, dubstep, traditional swedish polka... Nowadays dnb is more of a genre of its own which is good for the genre itself but that's not moving forward, it's moving inward. The bad side of this is that drum and bass tracks get their influences from other drum and bass tracks and not the outside world. This will lead to extinction eventually.

The repeated cliché is: There's nothing bad in learning the rules, but bending them is what separates the "men from the boys" (no offense to any female producers).

I don't want to sound all high and mighty, but I've been producing for a long time, and seen that everytime a new style close to dnb has emerged, it has also contributed much to dnb. The latest is dubstep and there is a clear connection between wobbly dnb of course, but maybe the more obscure connection is the one between this new minimal style and dubstep. Vice versa, new dnb subgenres (oh how i hate that word) can be seen to take influences from other more or less popular genres at the time.

Just a few thoughts.

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Agreed...I started out and was makin' breakbeats and dnb/jungle...started toyin with dubstep a few months back..I listen to all kinds of music, so much variety in what I listen to, so I know what ya mean on that account..I even play the bass and jammed in punk/hardcore bands, so I contribute to music in more than one genre in a way..thanks for postin' that, nice one when other people feel the same way..pz & respect to ya'
 
u should see my fl projects folder!!! 30% is dnb the rest is pure randomness, ranging from soka beats to 44 garage even done some idm stuff versitility is the way forward u learn loads, an then if u make summin u like u can easily incorporate it into your preffered style. wise words im sure most ppl do try they just never finish, each style has a set template tho an if u cross it you start sounding random i.e a reecy bassline in a folk song? not gona work lol
 
word up man, wish I could've thanked you thrice for stating that, especially considering your second remark. I tried to state something in the same vein in that music theory post from a while back (that a diverse musical knowledge and inspiration is much more important than knowledge of scales for example) but it can't be said enough. There's no style so open to flexibility by working in others like dnb, and if that goes to waste a large part of the dnb scene will indeed be doomed. if that ain't already a fact now. :switching off pessimist mode:
less copying, more innovating. dead simple. that's how dnb got big in the first place.
 
i appretiate this post quite alot..

i reckon innovation and talent will always be recognised... i feel thats why alot of the artists with big names are in the position they are now. because they did something different and they had alot of ideas. i think the music will always speak for itself.

drawing inspiration from other genres is definatly important.. i always see their influence in drum and bass.
 
once made a track at 20bpm..... it had no apparent ryhthm... just progressive sounds.... tbh honest it sounded pretty shite, but it was fun making it!! ;)
 
exellent post. Ive got everything in my production folder from my own version of clasical music, hip hop, dubstep, sound fx, rnb, trance, electro, spooooky noises (suspense chords etc),

just make random as fuck things, and youll always enlighten urself with musical knowlege. ive only been making dnb seriously for about 6 months, but ive been producing random stuff for about 2 years
 
thing is, i couldn't even make machete if i tried, because the things i draw influence from just don't draw those sorts of conclusions. whenever i sit down to make a tune i always have a sample i wanna use or a particular vibe i wanna go for. you can't just sit down and say to yourself 'i'm gonna make a jump up track', because you have nothing to reference except your favourite dj hazard track. i'm a believer in trying to get over your personality in music. and so even though i do make more dnb than anything else recently, my inspiration comes from everything else in my life.
 
i used to only listen/produce/buy etc jump up.

looking back i'm not sure how i did that! i appreciate all styles now and it sure is refreshing for the mind! when i start a track these days i'm not sure what sub genre it will be, i just go with the flow. i started a track yesterday which sounded like it was going to be be liquid but it turned it to be some grimey jump up! i also like producing lower tempo jump up, i hate all that 180 stuff.. i stick to 170/174
 
For a noobie producer thats some very wise words there :) Thanks for that, i'll keep that in mind when i start writting properly!
 
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