squarepusher I want to make drill and bass like Squarepusher...

If you want to make musics, then you will have to be an accomplished, classically trained, beaten with a stick jazz musician that can melt faces with your basses. And be a jazz drummer too. Apply this new found knowledge to electronic gadgetry and you will sound like someone who rips off

i don't think you can.

are we done?

no

go on

  Quote

To be honest I'm suprised at everyone saying not to copy/imitate influences when starting out - it's an excellent way of learning production methods and tricks - of course get to your own sound eventually.

 

But think of it like guitar - I personally learnt by learning all of my fav Hendrix and getting his sounds - which lead me down other paths of musical experimentation.

Was coming to post the exact same thing... COPY THE FUCK OUT OF YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS

Now...

First thing you need to do is stop calling it "drill & bass". That shit doesn't exist. It's experimental jungle or just jungle. If you want to write jungle then you need to get into jungle. Old school jungle/hardcore. 93-96 shit. Start there...

remarc > squarepusher

nah not really

Start listening to drum n bass and jungle.

Wouldn't we all like to be able to make music like Squarepusher... ho hum.

  On 9/17/2009 at 5:17 PM, ZAZ said:

Ok. I understand that he uses the amen break heavily.

I just don't know where to start when it comes to drill n bass.

Where do I start? Do I need a drum machine, tracker, or just a basic sequencer?

Are there certain techniques to start with..

I've been looking around for articles and help, but I don't really see anything.

And what are DSP processes? Because I read somewhere where SP uses these.

Help me, I'm confused and don't know where to start..........

Since no one will be helpful:

To get started, you don't need a physical drum machine, but you will need some VSTi drum machines and synthesizers. Whatever sequencer you go with will probably include everything you need to get started. A tracker is just a different type of sequencer, with a different workflow and interface. The main commercial tracker is a program called Renoise. I have no experience with trackers, but some people (Aaron Funk from Venetian Snares, for example) use trackers as their primary sequencer, and love them. They're sort of an advanced topic, with (in my opinion) a high learning curve, but keep in mind that I'm a DAW guy, and tracker users will tell you the exact opposite. All you really need to get started from ground zero is a copy of FL Studio or Ableton Live (or any of the million others, but in my opinion these are the two best for total beginners). Someone was telling me that you can find these on the net if you look around.

Digital Signal Processing encompasses all kinds of digital audio effects, but in the context of Squarepusher it usually means stuff along the lines of what DBlue Glitch (among others) can do. Keep in mind, though, that if you just run a beat randomly through something like DBlue Glitch, you're going to get laughed at, and rightly so. And for that matter:

Asking us "How do I make music like squarepusher?" isn't going to make you many friends on electronica related forums. To see why, go to Planet Mu's website, click the FAQ, and click "Can you give me some advice on my music?" I can't even imagine the amount of VSnares clone demos Mike Pardinas must get in the mail. The key is to work at it and work at it and find your own original sound. Part of (a big part of) the reason Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, etc., sound so good is that they don't really sound like anything else. A much better question would be "How do I get started making electronic music?" and the answer to that question is much longer and more complicated than "Download this and this and this and voila?" and anyone who tells you otherwise is probably doing so while taking a break from making unbelievably bad Trance on his mom's Dell.

On the other hand, immitating Squarepusher or Aphex Twin is a good way to learn their tricks, but making good jungle/IDM/whatever isn't about knowing the pieces of the puzzle, it's about how you put them together.

You start by downloading Fruity Loops and messing around.

Here is a better website than WATMM for asking things like this: http://www.kvraudio.com/

Frankly you have to learn every piece of the puzzle before you can put them together, that means you spend some years learning every trick you can do with eq, compression, flanger, delay, reverb, and all kinds of fancy sound processing unit you can find.

At the same time you have to learn to write melodies and sequence beats. If you want to sound like Squarepusher or someone else you also have to learn how to break down a track in your head; which means that you listen to every single element in the track and figure out a way to make something similiar.

So for squarepusher you start with a simple breakbeat and sequence it in a kind of staccato 2-step shuffle. Run a 20% wet signal through some spring reverb and kick the reverb at accents like snares, kicks etc. Run another part of the signal through some dsp, the DFX buffer override is a classic Squarepusher effect. Adjust the settings of DFX-BO until you get an in-tempo random glitch here and there then put it down to like 4% wetness so the signal is mostly dry, but you'll get the random glitches on top and the repeated kicks etc. Run this DFX-BO signal through either the same spring reverb or you could try another kind of reverb for some different sound.

Be sure to drop a strange sound-fx at the start of every second bar, think the sound at the start of "I wish you could talk". Fade in some grand pads ala tundra, you can run them through some spring reverb and some delay if it sounds right. After some bars of this you start building up a drum-crescendo with more and more snare-triggers until you've got the famous snare-rush. At the end of the crescendo you mute the drums, but keep the pads in the background at the same time as you drop in a fancy 303 or random jazzy bassnoodle pattern(or both)(remember to also drop the IWYCTish-sample at this point)

Repeat those patterns for a couple of bars as you do a linear increase of the signal strength from both the bass/303 and the pads into the spring reverb - as you reach very high volumes the spring reverb should start "signing" as it resonates and the build up is complete. A split second of silence. Drop the orginal 2-step shuffle with an amen on top. Be sure to mangle the amen good and do the occasional timestretches etc. You can also run the amen through the DFX-BO. End every second or fourth bar with a repeated amen-cymbal trigger, but for each trigger you lengthen the duration so that the first trigger is just a short burst but the last trigger in the bar is a full duration cymbal.

An illustration: - -- --- ----

There's your starting point, break down some classic tunes and find out what he does next.

limitations of equipment does affect your output and fruityloops is like a ball and chain in terms of flexibility. avoid

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:42 PM, shibboleth said:

limitations of equipment does affect your output and fruityloops is like a ball and chain in terms of flexibility. avoid

i don't even use it and i know that's bullshit. STFU.

start with a basic sequencer and expect to be toiling for at least 8 years, and even then you probably won't be near squarepusher.

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:42 PM, shibboleth said:

limitations of equipment does affect your output

yes, it forces you to be more creative and will probably make you a better musician

The only limit is your mind!

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:56 PM, chimera slot mom said:

start with a basic sequencer and expect to be toiling for at least 8 years, and even then you probably won't be near squarepusher.

 

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:42 PM, shibboleth said:

limitations of equipment does affect your output

 

yes, it forces you to be more creative and will probably make you a better musician

TRUE TRUE, i know 1st hand, but alas he was not stating so.

  On 10/2/2009 at 8:49 AM, impakt said:

The only limit is your mind!

hahahaha babby here hasn't used it and therefore thinks he possibly knows how shit FL is

here's a reminder; with DAWs you can either do the stuff you want to do or you just do the stuff the VSTs and sequencers want you to do; FL falls into the latter category

do you seriously not imagine that a badly designed tool could actually be an obstruction to the creative process?

lol apparently music is some doctor manhattan shit where you just imagine wicked music and lo! it is so

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:56 PM, chimera slot mom said:

yes, it forces you to be more creative and will probably make you a better musician

you might become a better musician but you sure as hell won't be making better music

And what's your equipment lord anal, if I may dare to ask?

Then what exactly do you call "do the stuff the VSTs and sequencers wants you to do" and which way does it apply to fruity loops more than in other DAWs?

  On 10/3/2009 at 6:20 PM, shibboleth said:

hahahaha babby here hasn't used it and therefore thinks he possibly knows how shit FL is

 

here's a reminder; with DAWs you can either do the stuff you want to do or you just do the stuff the VSTs and sequencers want you to do; FL falls into the latter category

 

do you seriously not imagine that a badly designed tool could actually be an obstruction to the creative process?

 

lol apparently music is some doctor manhattan shit where you just imagine wicked music and lo! it is so

 

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:56 PM, chimera slot mom said:

yes, it forces you to be more creative and will probably make you a better musician

 

you might become a better musician but you sure as hell won't be making better music

Lots of accomplished IDM and "Drill N Bass" producers are known Fruity Loops users and you'd never know from the quality of their music. Just want to drive home again that it's not the tools you use but how you use them!

  On 10/3/2009 at 11:30 PM, Deepex said:

Lots of accomplished IDM and "Drill N Bass" producers are known Fruity Loops users and you'd never know from the quality of their music. Just want to drive home again that it's not the tools you use but how you use them!

im genuinely interested as to who these are

I've only used very early versions of FL(when it was still called fruity loops). But I found it incredibly powerful, mainly because of an easy to use yet powerful piano roll, ability to use vsts, and a decent mixer. I don't understand how that could taint the music I made on it if I knew what I was doing.

Of course the tools will somewhat affect the output of your production, but by creative thinking you can work around everything really. As long as you've got full vst/i support you can basically fire up another daw inside your current daw..

  On 10/4/2009 at 1:56 AM, shibboleth said:

  On 10/3/2009 at 11:30 PM, Deepex said:

Lots of accomplished IDM and "Drill N Bass" producers are known Fruity Loops users and you'd never know from the quality of their music. Just want to drive home again that it's not the tools you use but how you use them!

 

im genuinely interested as to who these are

Wisp, for one.

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:42 PM, shibboleth said:

limitations of equipment does affect your output and fruityloops is like a ball and chain in terms of flexibility. avoid

are you aware of how basic a setup tom used up until go plastic?

apparently you are not.

even go plastic was pretty basic. I mean, he had some nice new effects, but it wasn't much different to his previous setups.

  On 10/2/2009 at 10:45 AM, sneaksta303 said:

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:56 PM, chimera slot mom said:

start with a basic sequencer and expect to be toiling for at least 8 years, and even then you probably won't be near squarepusher.

 

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:42 PM, shibboleth said:

limitations of equipment does affect your output

 

yes, it forces you to be more creative and will probably make you a better musician

 

TRUE TRUE, i know 1st hand, but alas he was not stating so.

I know you know, and that this tool doesn't.

  On 10/3/2009 at 6:20 PM, shibboleth said:

hahahaha babby here hasn't used it and therefore thinks he possibly knows how shit FL is

 

here's a reminder; with DAWs you can either do the stuff you want to do or you just do the stuff the VSTs and sequencers want you to do; FL falls into the latter category

 

do you seriously not imagine that a badly designed tool could actually be an obstruction to the creative process?

 

lol apparently music is some doctor manhattan shit where you just imagine wicked music and lo! it is so

 

  On 10/1/2009 at 10:56 PM, chimera slot mom said:

yes, it forces you to be more creative and will probably make you a better musician

 

you might become a better musician but you sure as hell won't be making better music

lol.

where the hell are you making these distinctions? based on your own failed attempts to make acid with reason or something?

SP made big loada with a fucking yamaha sampler keyboard.. i wouldn't even bother to make mary had a little lamb on that setup