Drum n bass, drum machines.

Hey all,

So all the recent talk in the dnb singles forum has me into making drum n bass again.

Now, I have reason, cubase, ableton, renoise etc... but....

I also have a roland dr-670 drum machine collecting dust.

Does anyone have any experience with this or any other drum machines, or making drum n bass in general?

Any tips on the mechanics and composition of drum n bass beats, breaks etc? For example, what counts the snares, hats, kicks etc fall on typically?

I have pretty good knowledge of this stuff but would like to see some watmmer tips and maybe eventually share some tunes here.

Cheers

Isn't dnb mostly about slicing up samples? Or am I thinking of jungle...

  On 3/15/2012 at 12:05 AM, sweepstakes said:

Isn't dnb mostly about slicing up samples? Or am I thinking of jungle...

Well theres tons of samples in both... but they still made original beats. The specific "breaks" if you will were often attributed to certain artists and the specific types of bass were also attributed to certain artists (reece bass (alex reece) etc).

I would like to learn how they made their beats (I am pretty good on making the bass etc already).

Hmm, I would just pick some of your favorite tunes and transcribe them as closely as possible, note-for-note, even, paying special attention to mixing/layering because that seems to be where a lot of the magic of dnb/jungle (thinking of Photek here...) comes from. I don't know jack shit about the genre, really, though, so I'll STFU now.

  On 3/15/2012 at 12:10 AM, sweepstakes said:

Hmm, I would just pick some of your favorite tunes and transcribe them as closely as possible, note-for-note, even, paying special attention to mixing/layering because that seems to be where a lot of the magic of dnb/jungle (thinking of Photek here...) comes from. I don't know jack shit about the genre, really, though, so I'll STFU now.

No worries =P.

Yeah I've been doing that and getting some pretty good results actually in some respects. =)

i hate to say it but rolands mc505/303 wasnt too bad at doing drum n bass

other than that an mpc would do the job easy

  On 3/14/2012 at 11:59 PM, StephenG said:

Does anyone have any experience with this or any other drum machines, or making drum n bass in general?

 

Any tips on the mechanics and composition of drum n bass beats, breaks etc? For example, what counts the snares, hats, kicks etc fall on typically?

Here's a tip: Does it sound right? If yes, then awesome. If no, then keep working.

yeah that^

You should probably listen to some drum and bass then you will maybe know what steps the kicks and snares etc fall on

  On 3/15/2012 at 2:07 PM, LUDD said:

yeah that^

 

You should probably listen to some drum and bass then you will maybe know what steps the kicks and snares etc fall on

You DO realize every song is not the same, different styles of drum n bass have different formulations, right?

Do you have anything constructive or helpful to say?

  On 3/15/2012 at 12:28 AM, soundwave said:

an mpc would do the job easy

I think an MPC would be a good choice, although for anything involving fast percussion, trackers are worth learning and trying. Steep learning curve but the workflow & speed payoff for beats is huge.

Oh, you already mentioned Renoise. :P What's wrong with that?

  On 3/15/2012 at 2:29 PM, sweepstakes said:

Oh, you already mentioned Renoise. :P What's wrong with that?

Renoise! I'm just learning how to use it/I'm really new to it. Maybe I'll give that a shot? I think v snares uses it for most of his breakcore? Just saying, yeah now that I think of it maybe that's a viable, learnable method for me!

Good thinking

Haha! I was thinking before I noticed Renoise, maybe you'd given trackers a shot but got lost. A few of my friends did this. Just don't give up until you've made some tunes entirely in the tracker!

I first learned trackers in college. I had to pause my social life and homework for a week, but after that I was hooked :)

don't feed the troll people.

"which steps to my kicks and snares go on?..." I mean come on...

ez guys

LUDD, you shouldn't have deleted your comment (luckily, I can read all deleted posts- wooh!) because what you wrote was absolutely true. Listening to music and listening to details in a specific genre you're trying to recreate is pretty damn important.

@StephenG

You're asking what counts the snares, hihats etc. typically fall on and then you tell us not every song is the same(?). Use your ears. They are your main tools.

I would not want to make drum and bass on any drum machine, including an MPC. I do not recommend it, unless you reeeeeeaally like step-editing. Hint: you probably don't like step editing enough.

ok in all seriousness, the secret to excellent drum programing is to put a kick, snare and hi-hat on every step in a pattern and just use the part mutes to bring instruments in and out really fast to create your "beat".

i just write my own midi files in hex_editor.exe

  On 3/15/2012 at 5:19 PM, BCM said:

ok in all seriousness, the secret to excellent drum programing is to put a kick, snare and hi-hat on every step in a pattern and just use the part mutes to bring instruments in and out really fast to create your "beat".

Sure, this works fine if you want to take the easy way out of starting from a "preset" drum pattern of all steps playing notes. Personally, I would never use presets in my music, and that's why I make drum patterns by putting white noise generators on every channel and using volume automation to shape my own custom drum sounds and beats out of the static. I could never live without the flexibility and precision of drawing 44,100 volume automation points per drum sound per bar (at 120 bpm, obviously).

you never wanted to work, you wanted everything ez, you heard venetian snares, you said: thats me, ez

  On 3/15/2012 at 6:32 PM, Ascdi said:

  On 3/15/2012 at 5:19 PM, BCM said:

ok in all seriousness, the secret to excellent drum programing is to put a kick, snare and hi-hat on every step in a pattern and just use the part mutes to bring instruments in and out really fast to create your "beat".

 

Sure, this works fine if you want to take the easy way out of starting from a "preset" drum pattern of all steps playing notes. Personally, I would never use presets in my music, and that's why I make drum patterns by putting white noise generators on every channel and using volume automation to shape my own custom drum sounds and beats out of the static. I could never live without the flexibility and precision of drawing 44,100 volume automation points per drum sound per bar (at 120 bpm, obviously).

*jots it down*

I can never figure out in which threads to be sincere and helpful, and in which to be a facetious ass. I guess I chose wrong again.

  On 3/15/2012 at 2:33 PM, StephenG said:

 

Renoise! I'm just learning how to use it/I'm really new to it. Maybe I'll give that a shot? I think v snares uses it for most of his breakcore? Just saying, yeah now that I think of it maybe that's a viable, learnable method for me!

 

Good thinking

Just load up the Amen loop as a sample, set sync on from sample properties and use these effects http://tutorials.renoise.com/wiki/Pattern_Effect_Commands#Breakbeat_Tricks and voila jungle/breakcore/dnb/drill'n'bass beats.

Ok, it might take some learning but that is the gist of it.

Some of this is actually interesting and useful information.

Thanks to those that are contributing.