What makes a good liquid dnb energetic drop?

Inkognit

Inkognit

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Hey guys,

I'm forcing myself to finish a liquid drum and bass remix I'm working on right now, because I feel like my biggest flaws is giving up on tracks very fast and as such I never actually concluded a whole track.

Well, this new track is pretty much solved except the drop that doesn't seem to have enough energy compared to the rest of the track.

I want to know from you guys (and this is kind of a broad topic):

What kind of drum elements make a good liquid dnb drop?

- Drums - what kind of percussion elements?
- Lead? Pluck?

I know there is no formula whatsoever, but I just need something that get's me started

Right now I have just the kick, the snare and some sampled break... The drop follows this snippet after a build up:

https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Finkognit%2Fastronaut-rain-inkognit-remix-wip-snippet
 
You kinda made me wanna have a crack at it now I got the stems but that comps passed, might put it as a freebie!! if I finish it lol



what bpm is your track, the bpm on the stems is 172 if that's why the vocals are off
 
The possibilities are endless so try whatever you fancy. Most people start with one or more of the following:
- Kick roll
- Pitched riser
- White noise build
- Ear candy style FX

Once you've added a few of these, the build will start to take shape rather than just basic filtering. Remember the drop has to have more energy that the preceding section so you'd need to either add more energy (possibly faster hats etc) to the main 16 or strip something back from the section before. Also, try a dip in the filtering just before the drop so it build up, ducks slightly on the last 1/2 bars then peaks in time to hit on the 1.

I'm finding myself, it comes with practice so just play about and listen to how your favourite producers go about it if you get stuck. Hope that helps.
 
Liquid can be energetic?

srsly though, id get some nice busy breaks to layer on top (with a touch of verb), a nice cheesey crash too. A bassline that adds a melody the samples chords. Cheesey vengeance build down FX, definitely, the white noisey ones. And maybe one extra instrumental melody, if it doesnt quite sound there.
Thats what i would try, youre definitely on track
 
Mania said:
Liquid can be energetic?

srsly though, id get some nice busy breaks to layer on top (with a touch of verb), a nice cheesey crash too. A bassline that adds a melody the samples chords. Cheesey vengeance build down FX, definitely, the white noisey ones. And maybe one extra instrumental melody, if it doesnt quite sound there.
Thats what i would try, youre definitely on track
Click to expand...

haha thanks, it was helpful somehow
 
I think pretty important for energetic liquid tunes are shuffling hi hats/jungle breaks on the top. If you compare e.g. Nobody To Love from Sigma with the new chords remix for 4AM - Wanted, you will notice the tunes are both using completely different elements but both of them have those shuffling hats on top.
But in general in liquid it's really about the feeling, good melodies, harmonys, catching vocals, etc... And i think writing great melodies comes with the time. And don't get stuck on a certain tune. If you are working 3 weeks on a melody, start off a new song and get back to the old one when you have a new inspirational wave!

Hope that helps, take care guys!
 
For liquid drum and bass alot of the energy will be coming from the bassline and sub bass, so I'd focus on that, but make sure you keep it reasonably subtle. It seems like a bit of a mystery to me also, there's definitely an art to making subtle and relaxing liquid dnb which is also fairly hard hitting. So, the same techniques apply for liquid drum and bass as for most genres of electronic music, to make something a song sound "full", you must fill out the frequency range, and try to do it fairly evenly, weather it's with fx, ambience, an extra layer to your pad or whatever you like.
Especially in liquid, percussive sounds can sound really nice aswell, as can some weird background ambience with loads of reverb just to fill it out that little bit more. Mastering will do a bit to bring it out just that little bit more, and don't be afraid to break some rules. Experiment, and most importantly have fun with it man, there's loads of potential here!

https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fmisti-6%2Fmisti-behemoth
 
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