Dubstep production programs

Instead of having one single bass line that sounds repetitive, it's also worth experimenting with creating more than one bass sound. Once you are happy with your bass hook, you can either chop up the MIDI sequence so that it plays alternating sounds, or bounce each bass line down to audio and slice them up that way.

I have only covered the basics of how to set up a bass patch, and there are many further avenues to explore. Modulating parameters on your synth, such as the waveform, pitch and filter resonance, can dramatically change the sound, while the addition of a phaser, reverb, stereo widener or delay can alter its sense of space and movement.

The techniques I've mentioned regarding the sound design of your bass lines can also be developed further with the use of layering and resampling. Taking the time to build multiple layers of sound and then playing them back from a sampler is a good way of creating something different.

For the example in the screenshots below Layering sounds using a sampler. Here, I've created three variants on a bass sound using NI's Massive, and rendered each of them as an audio file above right.

Next, I've loaded all three into Kontakt right to use as a single instrument. Each of these is set up using different settings: one static, one detuned and one with a subtle LFO. Once happy with the combination of these sounds, I bounce the eight bars as audio and load up my sampler — in this case, NI's Kontakt. Your choice of lead sound can play a vital role in your music. If you apply a similar rhythm to the MIDI sequence of your lead, it will work well with the overall swing of the track.

Alternatively, adding a contrasting rhythm to your lead will help provide the feeling of a shuffle. Playing one sound off another will also help the narrative element of your track. As with Massive, most synths will have a wealth of presets to gain ideas from. Choosing complementary sounds when balancing your leads and bass lines is important. You can apply the same techniques for leads as for bass lines, such as detuning, glides and automating filter cutoffs.

Pads should have plenty of stereo width and movement, so layering extra sounds and adding reverb and delay prior to bouncing the audio will help. As well as layered audio, you can use a sampler for manipulating vocal cuts or your own recordings in a similar fashion. You can also experiment with reverb and delay as auxiliary send effects. As the name suggests, dubstep takes influences from dub reggae, notably the heavy use of delay and reverb.

Here's a typical dub delay effects chain in Live. Ultimately, there is no set method for making dubstep, because dubstep is a freeform artistic style, and this encourages a lot of people to try their hand at making it. The techniques I've explained in this article should open up some of the most commonly used effects, and hopefully offer some help to people interested in producing this kind of music.

The thriving dubstep community tends to welcome innovation and fresh ideas, and it's this openness that continues to propel the music forward. Emalkay: "If I've already got a good idea in mind like a bass line or catchy riff, I'll lay that down first.

Otherwise I tend to start with the beats. Ikonika: "I usually start with the melodies, record and write them all out. The chords are usually next, then everything else after. LV: "Things tend to come together in clumps. Say, a bass lick and a drum idea that go well together, or a couple of chords and some notes. I will drop the link below for you:.

This site is full of information that one can use to help them create great dubstep beats. If you are new to dubstep and want to try it out, I would strongly urge you to try it. The newer you are to it, the more information you are able to learn, which in turn will make your dubstep filthy! The url above is to wikihow basically giving you 15 steps on how to create dubstep music.

It is a step by step lesson on the creation and formation of dubstep. I have a cousin that is a dubstep artist and everytime I am around him, he always has his system out and is always practicing. I will post again very soon to check up and see how everyone is doing with thier practice. You get what you pay for. The new Cubase Pro 9. So, it is a lot more efficient and faster to record and mix your songs. Cubase is a great program for producing dubstep on Windows, but it will cost a pretty penny.

Ableton Live is the newest version of this software, and it runs on both Mac and Windows as does Cubase. While this is true, if you really want to produce professionally-sounding music from the start of the process to the finish line, Ableton allows you to do that without having to wire in different plug-ins and such.

Many people do so with the another program I will talk about, Reason. It is also compatible with all instruments and controllers. Many dubstep artists do not use Image Line FL Studio to produce their music, but many of them started out with this program and used it to learn the ropes. Skrillex learned to produce on this software, which has been around long enough to establish itself — at least 10 years.

Fruity Loops, unlike other softwares, is only for Windows, so Mac users miss out on this one. Massive, another program I will discuss later, works alright for producing dubstep bass on its own, but really needs to be coupled with a program like Reason to be great.