Im Stuck.....Really Stuck

D

Dj_Mattalik

New Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Hi,

i have been trying to get a grip with DnB bass sounds for at least 6 months now, and i cannot get anywhere near where i want to be. i have read page after page after page and still i can't get there, so, I have ended up here at your mercy, begging for help.

I love the classic 90's stuff, the hip hop samples/ragga samples, the various breaks of the time and especially that big fat clean bass.

i understand how to chop and edit breaks and use samples, but the bass is a nightmare.

i know a lot of people really don't like Aphrodite for one reason or another, but i love he's tunes with the hip hop influence and the big beats and snares, and i love he's basslines too.

i have been trying to achieve something in the region of Aphrodite's Listen to the rhythm Flow and Shimon & Andy C's Nightflight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scoCoNgaNcA

&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdX2Qvc_inU


Now, these tunes were made with gear that today we would call oldskool, so i imagine that Logic Pro X must be capable of doing this right? Right???

Like i say, i have been getting more and more frustrated over the past 6 months, and to be honest, if i wasn't so damn stubborn, i would have chucked the towel in by now.

i just need somebody to give me a shove in the right direction.

anybody's help would be very very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt.
 
thanks for the reply Mugatu, but i have watched this (several times), and i don't have massive. I am currently using the standard synths that come with logic Pro.

i have used 2 detuned waves (Square, Saw and sine), detuning them against each other in opposite directions, and i kind of see what is happening to the sound, but its not anything like what i hear in the records.

I have applied lowpass filters, High pass filters and Band Pass Filters, but still not getting the desired sound.

I tried to mix 3 separate instances of The ES2, all playing the same notes, detuning them as i said before, so i could apply eq to each channel to remove some of the unstable lower frequencies as he explained in this video. then i copied the same midi notes again with just a sine underneath.

I must be doing something wrong somewhere.
 
It's basically that. Just look into reeses.
2 detuned squares and lowpass them, nothing more.

No idea where you went wrong... Should be doable in any synth with 2 oscillators
 
You need to make a Reece and bounce one long note out and load it into a sampler. Then you need to load the sample into a sampler, edit the sample to have a loop play back.(Google search - dubspot petty test in for the kill, for a great tut) After all that run your sampler into a some mild distortion, then into a vocoder. This will be the basic sound. Then you will need to bring the filter down to about 100 hz. For final processing split the bass to into four differt frequecies. Make sure the everything below100 hz is in mono and add various width and distortion to the top.
 
Honestly mate 6 months isn't very long at all . Don't worry it's not uncommon that your nowhere near where u want to be everyone else has that problem to for some it lasts for many years and some just pick it up quickly and seem to be able to make nice tunes after a couple of years ...
A lot of it comes down to how dedicated you are to stick to it .there will be many times you feel like giving up or believing that you just can't do it . Then suddenly one day you find that your getting better and it gives you motivation to carry on .......then you start to realize maybe your not getting better and punch a fist into your computer screen ....then u get better .
 
Pauldavid said:
Then suddenly one day you find that your getting better and it gives you motivation to carry on .......then you start to realize maybe your not getting better and punch a fist into your computer screen ....then u get better .
Click to expand...

Over and over and over and over lol
 
Mate just get used to being crap haha. Ive only been doing it a year and I'm still pissed off at not being as good as i think i should be. Just start by making the best tunes you can. Then after a couple of tunes you'll of learnt a few things then apply that to your next track and repeat. Then before you know it you'll be able to make something half decent.

Try not to get sucked into making things like what your favourite style is because that can be hard work. Just write what comes to you in that moment and go with it. It's the best way. I spent months trying to make decent reeces and in the end i just said "fuck this!' and thats when it all started to improve.

After 12 months this is where i am https://soundcloud.com/tinnitusdnb
 
I've been where the op is more times than I can remember. I've been making music in some form or other since music came out on the PlayStation, yet I still get stuck with synthesising some sounds. With something that's generally heavily processed like a Reece, it's easy to get bogged down with the effects. Then all it takes is a wrong setting or processing in the wrong order to pretty much ruin your sound.
I'd suggest taking the time to create a solid, if dull Reece, understand the basics. From there I'd add the effects carefully and really listen to what they do to the sound. It's easy to copy a tutorial but unless you have the exact setup as the person in the video, it's easy to get it wrong without a proper understanding of exactly what and why they're doing what they're doing.
It's all well and good filtering at x frequency, adding x amount of distortion and compressing at this ratio but the key is to know why. That way you can tell what you've donewrong if the sound doesn't work. It's time consuming and frustrating but it's all good practice as the knowledge isn't sound specific, it'll help across the whole production.
 
i've been trying to make dnb for about 5 years now and i still have no clue what i'm doing....lol don't worry about it. Basically what IV4 said above in a post. it's all about the happy accidents along the way. just keep experimenting and you will start to develop the sounds you're looking for. you could also try to deconstruct a patch on a synth and put it back together to help further your understanding of the synth.
 
Hi Matt, I definitely empathize- you want to hit a so called sound so bad and you can't to the point its become unenjoyable. You obviously have a lot of persistence or you wouldn't have stuck with it to the point of frustration and public announcement of it.

As far as that particular sound you are chasing, I'm sure the guys on the forum can help you that (even in a separate thread in more detail), but your post seems more geared toward keeping the fire alive despite the lack of results. Every producer/aspiring producer seems to have their own route; for me, comparing where I am now to where I was really helps (not comparing where I am to Culture Shock or Wilkinson...that places me in give-up mode).

One book that helped me with production (and artistic/financial/lifestyle endeavors in general) is "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson. "The War of Art" by Seth Pressfield may also help. Cheers,

Tim
 
Last edited:
timeslut said:
comparing where I am now to where I was really helps
Click to expand...

^This is the shit. I've got tons of layered drums on my laptop, which I bought maybe 1,5 years ago (and I started making music about 4 years ago) and everytime I get a feeling that nothing's happening I listen to few of these old drums and be like "How the fuck I've made something that sounds horrible as this ever?" + considering oldest ones are only 1,5 years old, not even nearly the ones I've made when I started..
 
I am sure you will get there in the end mate but 6 months is not very long to be really good, i have been doing this on and off due to having a wife and child for 6 years and i am still shit hahaha. Just keep it up.
 
dj mirry said:
I am sure you will get there in the end mate but 6 months is not very long to be really good, i have been doing this on and off due to having a wife and child for 6 years and i am still shit hahaha. Just keep it up.
Click to expand...

I'm kinda in the same boat with the on and off thing, but instead of a wife and kids getting in the way it's been various health issues and gear issues.

This year I want to try a few different things that I think might help me advance a bit more than usual.
One is finishing tunes, even if there crap. Just finish the damn thing instead of having a bunch of half done tunes sitting around. I think it would help since I'd be mixing down more and working with song structure instead of just making it through the first drop and deciding I don't like it much, then scraping it.
Another is separating my sound design sessions and tune writing sessions. So instead of pulling out a synth and making a sound from scratch wile in the middle of making a tune, or playing with a snare for an hour... I'd make all my drums and sounds in a few design sessions, save them to a folder (or save the synth patches) and then on a day when I don't have work, start a song and catch a nice flow since the base sounds will be there at my finger tips and just work on that sucker until it's done.

Hopfully it will work out as planed. We'll see I guess.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom