Trouble with my build up to drops

C

Code:Red

Defiant
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Sep 5, 2009
Location
Bicester/Oxford
I've been trying a lot of different things over the past couple of days to really get my build up towards the drop bang on, and to have a full on effect when it drops, so that it hits hard. But i just can't seem to get my drum patterns right e.t.c...e.t.c and it just never sounds right, it just bland and boring..whatever i've been trying. Its frustrating! But is it something in production that really takes a long time to get the hang of? Thanks!
 
Think I posted a response in the production forum about this, when you're making a track try and sit back and think of the first section of the song...how you want it to build up drop blow up etc etc. Try not to think of the whole song otherwise you'll constantly be making changes. Write the first bar of drums, use some velocity (max low medium max is a good pattern..) and pitch control on the hits to signify an anticipated drop on the next bar. Then once you got the first measure or so done see how the drum pattern rolls out, figure out the melody it brings..you know....does it go up up down up, up down down up....once you have this figured out you can put together the progression build. Write a synth or something that follows that melody, this is key to building up progression. Keep the same melody throughout, but write contrasts in between bars to keep your brain thinking something is changing soon. This is where you put in a filter or a gate or some velocity changes to the line, when you go down in one bar you'll maybe want to go up in the next so on and so on. Hopefully this helps, I checked out some of your soundcloud stuff you're on the right track that's for damn sure! Keep it up :)
 
thought this was well worth another reply, so here we go!

the imagin the drop thing is actually pretty accurate. imagine how you want it to sound, and build after that. some suggestions are uplifting chord progressions, the cheesy drumroll in 1000s variations (just listen to some, combine them, or even just rebuild them), lots of risers combined and so on.

or even absolute silence before the drop can pronounce the feeling of a tune.

its all about hearing, rebuilding and adding your own edge here. you heard so many buildups in your life, take the best out of each, combine it and add your own flavours. i wanted to write more direct pointers, but that sums it up pretty much..
 
Probably the most important thing is to actualy have a good tune to 'drop'. If you're dropping a bomb it's obviously going to be a lot heavier than if you're building up to some half arsed fire-cracker, where no amount of buildup work will make it sound powerful.

Besides that obvious gem, think of you're drop as being your 'fullpower' mode, where your tune is well produced, full spectrum (low freq - thru high freq), well mixed (therefore loud as possible). Basically, quality.

Now in the build up, subtly reduce some of the frequencies (eg cut low end, or have no sub low end before the drop?) or low pass/high pass some of the elements leading to the drop.
If you do it quite subtly, and give the ear just enough time to adjust to the weakened sound, then the drop come across more punchy/weighty

Or you could use fx, as in have a reverb that slightly reduces the power of/muddies your bass, then cut it on the drop. etc etc


Just some thoughts about the sonic aspects as well as the structural elements of the build up.
 
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