Hey there, this was quite helpful but I struggle with putting everything together and creating my own loops etc. Could anyone spare a little bit of time to help me or even show me some tutorials on how to put together a drum and bass track?
Thanks!
I don't really do DnB, but experimentation is the name of the game. Go through the loops that you have and pick out some break beats. Then cut them up and pick out a few different sounds from each. Either load them into a sampler or arrange them on the audio track (by copying and pasting) until you've got a decent background beat that you like. The best way to go about that is to start with a kick and snare from a library (not cut from a breakbeat, yet), and get your basic kick and snare pattern, with the snare either on 2 and 4 or at half speed on 3. Copy and paste it from bar 1 to bar 2, and then from bars 1-2 to bars 3-4, giving you a 4 measure kick/snare beat. Then loop the first measure and add in parts of your breakbeats until you've got something that works for you. Then copy it to measure 2, and make some adjustments. Then do the same thing you did with the kick/snare to 3-4 until you've got a 4 measure platform to work from. The key is to make sure that no 2 measures are the exact same. Then solo your break beat tracks (or just mute the kick and snare) and add some effects. Then bounce that down to an audio file. Now you've got another break beat to work with. Cut snippets of it out and replace part of your original break beat for measures 5-8 to give it some added variation. Don't forget that you can move things around too. One of the best things you can ever do is keep it simple. Meaning don't over-crowd your mix, and don't over-think a part. Also, don't be afraid to randomly hit the mute button on a track while it's playing, it can lead to a sense of anticipation, especially on a part that has been looping. Once you've got a decent 8 or 16 bar groove going, then it's time to add in that all important bass. Start with presets, and just mess around until you've got something you like. Then modify the preset. Eventually, as you learn how to program your synths, you will be able to just imagine a sound and program it without using a preset. It'll take some time, but that's the only way to truly make it. Otherwise, you'll always be one step behind everyone else in a genre where being cutting edge is absolutely key. Once you've got that all figured out, then it's just a matter of repeating the process to extend the main body of your track: Going from 16 to 32 bars. Copy, paste, variation. Then drop the drums out, or super simplify the pattern, and use a different synth for this part. Then go back into the main body of your track. The key is getting the transitions sounding like they go together, rather than Part A and Part B. Then do the same thing you did with the transitions to create an intro and an ending.
That's it, but obviously very simplified. Throughout the way, you want to experiment. Bounce things down to audio, timestretch them, pitch shift them, add effects, layer them together, create stutters by chopping out equal parts of a sound (every other 32nd note, for instance). It all comes down to personal taste, but experimentation is the name of the game in DnB. Take a sound intended for one thing and use it for another. Timestretch a snare drum or a clap, and add a bunch of delay to it, comb filters, bounce it, then pitch shift it and stretch it some more with more delays and some reverb and a big swooshing phaser and bounce it and reverse it and stretch it yet again, and figure out a way to turn your snare into a pad. Use snippets of a trance synth pitch shifted with the same exhaustive usage of FX and use the result as part of your break beat. Take a bunch of sounds and create a bar from them, and then create variations. That's all you've got to do to create your own loops.