Liquid dnb instruments

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duckstep

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Hi, im looking for some tips on instruments to use for liquid dnb tunes.

Current ones im using that seem to fit are:
* Piano with vintage effect
* Organ
* Pads of any kind
* Sub bass, Drums and such(doh :p)

Im starting to reach the point where i feel i want to diversify more but i dont have the tools to do it, so im looking for any tips you have when you sit down and plan instruments for a song.

High pass distorted bass was suggested to me in another thread but my attempts at making it didnt sound very good, what frequencies do you cut out/strengthen on your well sounding ones?
Is there much more than this? Or do you utilize resampling / layering of pads etc to get more unique sound for diversity?

Help appreciated!
 
Just listen to producers you like and analyze what elements they use in their tracks to get idéas. I would guess that "tools" would be your plugins/vst's and such, sampling is always an alternative. I guess most DAW's have some kind of sampler!

I could also add strings and bells to your arsenal.
 
I like to use synthogy pianos and have one hi passed one layered with one that cuts the high frequencies, bus them together and add reverb and add some widening effect. Add a liquid synth lead that has low sustain and hi decay and release on the bus if you want it to sound really quite liquid.

also with pads and organs its nice to layer a rhodes behind whatever pad you're using
 
Thanks for the replys. Anyone got any tricks in their sleeves for getting a more liquid sound on the drums? I tryed messing around with eqing higher end of the snare and kick but didnt really do the trick :(
 
duckstep said:
Anyone got any tricks in their sleeves for getting a more liquid sound on the drums?
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Try finding samples that are as close as possible for the sound you are trying to achieve. There are limits for how much you can modify a sound.

Acoustic sounding snares seam to be good for liquid and for kicks I just go with anything that hits the spot, ya know!
 
duckstep said:
Thanks for the replys. Anyone got any tricks in their sleeves for getting a more liquid sound on the drums? I tryed messing around with eqing higher end of the snare and kick but didnt really do the trick :(
Click to expand...

My guess would be compress and saturation. Liquid drums sound warmer to me, almost sampled. It's not something that you can prescribe but that's what I would recommend. JimpaDirt's tip about acoustic snares sounds good to me too.
 
Yeah brass is good. I would also suggest makuing good use of echo and delay type plugins but varying the send and combining with varied reverb to get the lush and spacious sound.
 
Widen sounds, pan them, double them and thén pan them. That's what distinguishes one track from another imo.
If you space out well, combined with some simple, but effective automations you can make a liquid track with little instruments. Just listen to your own favourite ones.. I'm sure there won't be a lot of sounds to it, but more structural wise and soundscape-wise they are great. A thing to add tho is samples and fills, so your track doesn't lose interest.

For the drums I suggest to use some reverb on your snare. Eventhough hated by many this seems to work fine in liquid tracks. I even know a few tracks where the snare is doubled. Just two superthin claps panned to the sides with a bit of reverb to make them slightly bigger and fitting. Anyway the sky is the limit, be as creative as you can.

And for most (not all) liquid / ambience-based tracks is one rule: drown sounds in reverb ;) Might sound lame and mainstream and whatnot, but it usually works to get sounds this warm and lovely feeling that is found in many, if not all liquid tracks :)
 
Nucleoid said:
And for most (not all) liquid / ambience-based tracks is one rule: drown sounds in reverb ;) Might sound lame and mainstream and whatnot, but it usually works to get sounds this warm and lovely feeling that is found in many, if not all liquid tracks :)
Click to expand...

I second that. Reverb and some slight distortion will help you get that warm fuzzy feeling.
 
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