Amatuer looking for help

[Wobble Wub]

Using Ableton, Nexus, and Massive I was able to create this little thing. I'm kinda trying to make this a dubstep type song, with a drop and everything, I've made the opening and I'm quite puzzled on what to do next. I keep thinking I need some sort of build up. But besides that I am pretty amateur and I would just like some basic opinions. I'm just trying to learn what the basic necessities are in making this kind of music. http://soundcloud.com/wobble-wub/a-little-somethin-im-working

[Unlimited Mana]

What jumps out at me immediately is that the reversed snare sample is too loud. It also plays at the same interval for the duration of the piece and gets a bit tedious after a while.

The synth that start at :14 is abruptly silenced for a bit at the end of every two bars, which seems to be some kind of technical mistake. Assuming it wasn't intentional.

To build things up, you can do things like gradually open filters so that sounds become fuller, increase the speed of the drums, add more instruments, use risers/other sfx, etc.

Keep in mind that most dance music is driven by the kick drum, and yours is pretty quiet (especially compared to the reversed snare).

With that said, this is a good start. The synth that comes in at :28 is gritty and funky and suitable for dubstep, and the hi hat pattern you have going on is nice. The reintroduction of the chords at :48 is cool.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt though, because I'm a noob too.

[Wobble Wub]

What jumps out at me immediately is that the reversed snare sample is too loud. It also plays at the same interval for the duration of the piece and gets a bit tedious after a while.

The synth that start at :14 is abruptly silenced for a bit at the end of every two bars, which seems to be some kind of technical mistake. Assuming it wasn't intentional.

To build things up, you can do things like gradually open filters so that sounds become fuller, increase the speed of the drums, add more instruments, use risers/other sfx, etc.

Keep in mind that most dance music is driven by the kick drum, and yours is pretty quiet (especially compared to the reversed snare).

With that said, this is a good start. The synth that comes in at :28 is gritty and funky and suitable for dubstep, and the hi hat pattern you have going on is nice. The reintroduction of the chords at :48 is cool.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt though, because I'm a noob too.

I took on a little bit of what you said. And after a bit of tinkering, I came up with this. Now I'm concerned on what the drop should sound like now. http://soundcloud.com/wobble-wub/unfinished

[Wobble Wub]

well. It's certainly alot better, but I would suggest that at the synth at 0:20, you should... well... change it. It sounds far too generic and uninteresting for my tastes.
Or perhaps you could add something different in there that we can focus on, because when I listen to the synth at 0:20, it seems a bit... annoying because it feels very empty.

I personally would try to make a lead synth and have the one that's currently at 0:20 become my background synth. (again, my opinion)

Yeah, I kinda see what ya mean. I'll take that into mind. But as for now I think I'm going to work on this tomorrow.

[Unlimited Mana]

One thing you could do with the synth at :20 is have a lowpass filter open up and increase the sustain level/reverb size over a few bars. That will turn the synth from a pluck-y sound to what you have now.
If you wanted to do what Kyoga said and use it as a backing sound for another lead, you can lowpass it aggressively and potentially lower it an octave. It will have more of a pad-like quality.

Don't get too caught up on perfecting one song though. If you want to learn about making dubstep, you should finish a song in a few hours and start experimenting with other things.

[Wobble Wub]

One thing you could do with the synth at :20 is have a lowpass filter open up and increase the sustain level/reverb size over a few bars. That will turn the synth from a pluck-y sound to what you have now.
If you wanted to do what Kyoga said and use it as a backing sound for another lead, you can lowpass it aggressively and potentially lower it an octave. It will have more of a pad-like quality.

Don't get too caught up on perfecting one song though. If you want to learn about making dubstep, you should finish a song in a few hours and start experimenting with other things.

How's this? (It didn't take me that long) http://soundcloud.com/wobble-wub/un

[Dabrenn]

I havn't read much of the thread, but a great way to do a buildup is to use generic White Noise. Operator in Ableton has a White noise setting and you can use the LFO to automate a highpass filter to get a rising Whoosh sound. Sure it's an overused sound but it gets the job done, you could also sidechain it for a pumpy--whoosh.

Also gradually increasing the kick speed then a sudden pause and then the big drop, like you did. You have the right idea in the way you used the synth getting quicker to build up, but it's a little off, can't really pinpoint exactly what's odd about it but I think that synth is just a bad synth for it, and the increases in speed are a little sudden and drastic and stick out in a bad way. It just seems out of place to me. Somebody else with more experience could really help you there.

Lastly, just automating volume of the sounds can obviously have a great "buildup" effect.


Also, that synth at :22 has a really obvious and awkward loop in my opinion, you could drag that last note out all the way to the end of the bar, it sounds like it isn't. It may be what you want it to sound like though.

All in all, I do like it! Too bad I didn't get to see the progress from the first one to that though.

[Unlimited Mana]

You have quite a track in the making now!
The square wave LFO thing right before the drop is a bit awkward, but it does successfully impart a sense of building up to something, which is good. You're definitely thinking about it the right way.

What Dabrenn mentioned about the white noise riser is spot on, although I might automate the filter cutoff manually instead of using an LFO. An envelope with a really high attack could work too.
A highpass or bandpass filter usually work best. Try adding a bit of resonance as well.
A good example of this sound is in Canterlot Dreams by 5COPY. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQm4ZoVor9I)

Gently highpassing everything before the drop makes the drop itself more powerful, because you take out all the subbass gradually, then reintroduce it all at once.

Keep at it. You're on the right track.

[Wobble Wub]

I sorta/kinda understand when you guys mention the LFO/filters/envelope things. But I'm not really familiar with them. Would researching them on youtube help me?

[Dabrenn]

I sorta/kinda understand when you guys mention the LFO/filters/envelope things. But I'm not really familiar with them. Would researching them on youtube help me?

Yep, that would definately help.

I don't know if you use Operator but it's a wonderful synth that's built into ableton.

Here's a step by step on the whoosh thing i was talking about
1. open a new Midi track
2. Drag Operator into it.
3. under Osc A, change the wave shape to "Noise White" (Its default is Sin wave)
3. Turn on the filter and set it to "Low 12dB"
4. Turn on the LFO change its "Dest.A" to "Fil" (uncheck A B C and D)
5. adjust the "Rate" on the LFO to get the timing you want.