If you’ve been following this blog/site at all for the last year you’ll know that ABing or referencing your tunes is one of the MOST CRUCIAL things you could ever do! Now for all the peoples that are using Ableton Live this process is DEAD EASY to do. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be ABing properly in no time.

*** I have to give a big shout out to the guys over at the Ableton Live Forum for the heads up on this. ***

If you’re not using LIVE then don’t fret too much. Its pretty much the same process so just consult your manuals for your DAW.

 How to Set Up and AB Track

1. Make sure you activate the I-O Section (1)

2. Select Ext.Out  and then select 1/2 for your main sound card Outputs. (2)

3. I live to put a Voxengo Span on the Reference channel so that I can monitor the RMS (3) and the frequencies.

4. So all I do is DE-ACTIVATE THE CHANNEL and then just toggle the SOLO switch for quick ABing. Works great and is well easy to do!

Like i said before, this is not so hard to set up with Logic, Cubase or Pro Tools. Good luck and have fun!

See you on the dance floor.

Dauntless

The first part of this 3 part series is dedicated to:

Sub Bass! 

Yep, the really low low low how low can you go aspect of DnB.

To be honest the Sub Bass part isn’t too difficult as long as you follow a few simple rules.

1. Sub Bass is really hard to get right in the mix and your Bedroom/Studio room probably isn’t helping in any way  so do what most people do. USE A SPECTRUM ANALYZER! I use SPAN by Voxengo and the Ableton Spectrum. Spend some time getting to know the analysers because they are all different. Study your favourite producers tunes using the Analzyers but don’t rely on them! Ears FIRST!

2. If your just putting a Sub underneath a Mid layer then a regular Sine wave from a synth will be fine. You can use Albino or the EXS24 default patch. Just copy the midi notes or pitch of the Mid Bass and you’ll be fine.

3. If the Sub Bass is the prominent layer then you’re going to have to double it up. So duplicate the Sub channel. High Cut the new channel and add some distortion. You NEED to do this in order to hear the Sub in the mix. Use the Ableton Overdrive or Saturation effects or N.I Guitar Rig etc.

4. Make sure your Sub is in a “friendly” key/pitch. I normally write tunes in F/F#/G.

You can go up to A if you want but I would not go any higher or lower then the ones I recommended.

5.  You can pretty much make Sub bass from anything. Kick Drums or field recordings of pots and pans or tapping on a desk. Bung the sample into a sampler. Pitch down, loop,  experiment and have fun.

6. You really want a nice even and consistent Sub Bass so don’t forget to Compress and Limit if need be. I find that when using Span -21db if about fine when ABing against other tunes. You can go up to -18db but make your drums lighter.

7. Make your Sub Bass MONO if you plan on getting your tunes on WAX. Nuff said.

8. If you’re having a few issues with clicks and pops in your Sub Bass then playing around with the envelopes on your synth/sampler etc. If your still having problems then bounce the audio and use the FADES tool in Ableton Live etc.

9. If your Sub Bass is clashing with your Kick Drum then either

a) Use a kick that hits at a higher Frequency like 100hz etc.

b) Use Sidechain compression with the kick as the trigger.

Getting your Sub Bass right shouldn’t be a problem if you follow the steps above. This leaves loads more time to spend on some of the harder things like drums and mid bass!

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon!

Dauntless

Howdy Folks, Just a quick headz up to say “Hello there and Sorry I haven’t been around much!” Honestly, I haven’t been around much because I’ve been deep in the beats. It’s a bit of a catch 22 because even though I would love to update the site more with fresh content and videos etc when I get some spare time I’m busy producing music.

I hope you can all forgive me.

Anyways… I’ve been thinking about changing the format so that I can update the site more often.

I’ll probably just hit you with the good stuff in point form, like this:

VST Plugins I’ve been using loads in the last year that I couldn’t live with out. 

1. N.I Kontakt 4/5 – Love it. Learn to automate the Filter/Pitch/LFO’s.

2. N.I Guitar Rig 4/5 – Use each effect in small amounts.  Don’t over cook it. Great on Midz.

3. UAD EVERYTHING – The new Studer A800 is GOLD and the Cambridge is a MUST!

4. Sonnox EVERYTHING – The Limiter/Dynamics/Inflator are a must. Try just using the Warmth on the Dynamics/Effect on Inflator/Saturation on Limiter.

5. OhmForce Everything – These French Guys know what they’re doing and they do it brilliantly! Plugin Master builders!

6. Ableton Spectrum – Love this little Analyzer! I put it on every channel nearly!

7. Smexoscope – I place this on my Master Channel. Great for working out how “spikey/transient” a sound is. That way you can flatten the peaks if need be.

There is probably a few more in there but that will do for now.

BIG DNB Production Tip of the Week. 

Learn to layer some “Stereo Hits” on your Drum hits. By doing so you’ll get maximum stereo width and this in turn will make your Drums sound HUGE!

Works great on Hi Hats/Crashes/Rides/Percs and the Upper Snare Layer. Just make sure the samples are Stereo and have plenty of top frequency content.

Use an Analyzer if you’re not sure!

Well, thats it for today… speak to you guys a little later in the week.

Ez

See ya on the dance floor!

Dauntless

Fracture Cosmic Drum and Bass Review

Fracture and Neptune has been supplying us with great music for a decade now so its with great joy that we finally get to lay our ears on some sonic goodness courtesy of Loopmasters.
Cosmic Drum and Bass is fantastic sample cd and drum and bass producers shouldn’t have a hard time finding some quality sounds to add to their library to use in their own productions.

Grab Your Free Samples HERE

Lets get stuck in and see whats in there

Bass Loops
Layered Bass10 kits from 170 bpm to 174 in various keys from c-Ggreat collection of samples. you get 3/4 samples. Top, Sub and Mixed. This way you chop and change them up as you wish.
The sounds them selves sound warm, dirty have plenty of motion in them. My fav of the bunch has to the tearing Fm- Scotchbonnet!

The tops do have FX on them but don’t let that stop you from going crazy with more effects.If you’re into Neuro or artists like Ulterior Motive, Alix Perez or Octane and DLR then this pack is perfect for you.
Another good thing about having them seperated is you can then go in on them and reverse engineer them and see how they were put together which is awesome.

Single Layer Bass12 samples of single layer bass from 170-172bpm. Keys from C-Am. Dj Fracture has taken the time I must say to accurate go through all the samples and give us the BPM and the key signature.
The samples here continue with the same quality. You get a nice collection of moving distorted dirty loops that are warm and have plenty of bite and interest. You won’t have a hard time finding something substantial to get vibing off.

Drum Loops
20 drum loops with several variations of a couple of loops with tails/FX. You get the full mix of the drum loops and all the seperate elements as well.
You get a nice mix of drum loops here as well. Steppy minimal dnb vibes is the order of the day but a few nice rollers in there to keep the kids happy.
Once again the breaks are warm and have plenty of character to them with interesting sounds thrown into the mix like sweep effects and perc. All the elements have a decent amount of eq applied and thankfully haven’t been overcompressed or limited.

Full Loops
12 full construction kits for you to do as you please. You get drums, Bass, synths, Perc etc, oh and a full mix file as well so you can preview the kit.
The kits are quality plus. I have personally made a couple of tracks with the construction kits to test them out and they impressed the pants off me for the time I put into them. I have NO DOUBT that if you spend a few hours picking a choosing a few quality from this pack you would be well on your way to making a great dnb tune. (I have started to make some practice tunes using construction kits but more about this at another time.)
Some of these construction kits with a bit of work could have been released the quality is that good. So I must hand it to DJ Fracture for coming up and delivering the goods!
Lexicon and Cookies is definitely the stand out construction kits. QUALITY.

Music Loops
The music loops folder consists of 4 folders. Guitars, Pads, Rhodes and Synths. Each folder has about 12 samples inside.
The samples are interesting music loops ranging from FX sounding loops, weird/dark chord progressions or Arps and Atmospheres.
They sound great. Have loads of character and are very usuable.

Bass Sounds
20 Bass sounds that you can bung into the sampler and go crazy with. Most have a bit of motion to them and are well EQ’d and overdriven just perfectly.
You get the standard Hoover,808, Wobble bass and more so finding something that works shouldn’t be a problem.

Drum Hits
Bass Drums
20 kicks from boomy to clicky. Analog to synthetic. There is a few gems in there that i’ve added to my owen personal collection.
Hi Hats
A great collection of 20 single hit hats. Some real sounding hats to more synthetic hats.
Snares
21 really nice sounding snares. You get a nice mix of punchy snares to the more toppy minimal snares that people are using today. Some of the snares do have a bit of reverb but nothing too crazy.

FX and Atmospheres and Synth and Pad Sounds
I love FX and Atmos samples because they can really set or give your track a vibe and the collection of samples here do just that. If you’re after a darker vibe or a making a moodier number then there is some gems to get you going here.
The 40 samples here might not be to everyone’s taste but you should be able to find a good sample or five.

Final Thoughts
The Dj Fracture Sample pack is quality all the way and gets my thumbs up! The ONLY dissapointing thing to me was if you were expecting more drum funk break samples you would be very dissapointed. On saying that though you could indeed make them yourself with the quality of breaks you get so its a small gripe.All the other samples are Fracture through and through and thats a testimony to Fracture and his music.

Click Here For More Info and Free Samples

I don’t know whats going on over at Loopmasters but the quality of sample packs just continues to amaze me! Total Science blew my mind and the BHK packs always deliver but this pack from DJ Fracture is a real jem.
I have personally learned a lot from this pack by reverse engineering some stuff and taking apart the construction kits so have NO PROBLEMS recommending this to anybody serious about making drum and bass.

Howdy, just a quick post to let you know that I’m still banging on the beats as hard as ever! I’ve been on holidays for the last month in my original homeland of Vietnam so I’ve not had much time for production. However, now that I’m home its 100% full speed ahead.

The time away was truly awesome and time away from the STUDIO  was actually helpful!

I’ve made a few changes in the way I work in the studio. They aren’t massive changes but I believe they are ESSENTIAL  for finishing tunes:

1. Have a good Idea of what TYPE of tune I’m trying to make. Then I pick a reference tune I want to AB with.

2. With an Atmos sound rolling I go about trying to make the break as good as possible. Always ABing with the Reference tune.

- I’ve found that If I have to go back in on a drum break its soul destroying and normally changes the tune in a bad way!

3. Finding a good starting sample is the next crucial step. Chord Progression, Bass Loops, Horn Stab or whatever. Something musical is a good place to start. Anything really will do but we warned that what you do pick can/may influence what you end up writing.

4. Bass is the next step and then arranging.

Yes, the list above is rough guide to how I’m working and yes I will get into more detail in a later post.

Good luck producing and remember to stay focused on the beats!

Dauntless