Basics of Drum And Bass?

[Facade]

i was just wondering what the basics of a drum and bass song would be like all the different sounds synth bpm and stuff like that any help is appreciated!

[Icky]

Drum and Bass is probably one of the most diverse genres out there. The only thing that really defines it is the tempo that's usually around 165-185 and the drums which have a syncopation in the beat.

The standard Drum and Bass drum pattern would be "Kick - Snare - KickSnare"

Like this
Ofcourse this will sound rather empty and boring, so spice it up with some hihats, perhaps some accidentals, cymbals, loops, whatever you feel like really!

You usually want to cut off the kick below 60-120Hz (depends on the kick) and boost it around 100. This way the kick is punchy but doesn't muddy up the lows were you'll have your subbass.
The snare needs a boost around 170-250 (again, depends on the snare) where you boost it to make it punchy. You usually also boost the highs to make it snappy.

Most DnB (well, most popular electronic music) also has a subbass playing underneath the normal bass to make it sound deeper. For the sub you can use a single sine wave at a low pitch.

I can't really help you on anything else though, DnB is a really diverse genre. creating stuff like Noisia and Spor make is way different than for example the music Rameses B and Netsky make. Perhaps if you could be a little bit more specific about what kind of DnB you want to create I could give you some more help on specific things you're having problems with.

[Facade]

thanks i'll get to work if i have any questions ill ask you here or something

[PrincessAddictia]

Icky's post pretty much covered the basics, although I'd like to add that the low-cut on the kick is not necessity and it's up to personal preference if you want to keep those frequencies in the kick and sidechain the subbass. I personally prefer that and I know that some pro's do it aswell (camo & crooked for example).

[soup2504]

Not only is the genre itself diverse, but reese bass is extremely diverse, too.

Like, literally, you can make a good reese bass in 3xosc in less than a minute, but then you start adding FX to it, and you can make SO many different sounds, it's amazing. But Icky pretty muck covered everything else, so I have nothing to say. I'm useless. KBAI.

[Expy]

For beats, I'd recommend getting some breaks. It's a bit cheap, but mixing them into your beat (like the one Icky used) is a really easy way of getting that drum and bass beat sound. There's a few decent free packs of them going around, I've particularly enjoyed the use of this one: http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/sam ... les-335840

Random stuff I've found sounds nice:
Automating the pitch on a break can sound really good, especially during the build-up stage (not sure what to call it) before the 'proper' dnb part of the track. I'm pretty sure I've heard Princess Addictia use it before in his Hush Now remix. It's where I got the idea from.
And yeah, reese basses are awesome. I've found sidechaining it to a kick is a really good way of making it more interesting. Also, fiddle with the pitch envelope for some really cool sounding stuff.

EDIT: Oh, and if you need an example of a reese bass (Not sure how much you've done with dnb, you probably already know how to make one, but whatever), here's one I made in 3x Osc: http://www.mediafire.com/?ggcnj5mcn5ztzn6

Pretty average, it still needs effects and whatever, but you can see the detuned saw waves at work quite well.

Also note, I don't claim to know much about music creation, I'm just sharing what I've found useful. I could be spouting rubbish for all I know.

[K3WRO]

Basically, DnB is so diverse, it's easy to get your own unique style

[Thirteen]

The snare I think is the most important part of the drum set. A good snare can define a song imo. Like, look at these two songs here:




Two totally different snares, two completely different songs (Although it's not the only defining feature, but you catch my drift).

[the4thImpulse]

The snare I think is the most important part of the drum set. A good snare can define a song imo.

This is what I look for in every DnB song I buy, unless everything else is killer without a great snare I don't buy it. You want the snare to cut through the mix like butter.

Basically, DnB is so diverse, it's easy to get your own unique style

You dont want to sound exactly like someone else anyways. Its good to draw inspiration from another artist but to copy their sound wont get you far so making your own style, that isn't drastically diffrent, is good.

Thats all I could add everything lse here is good info.

[Big AppleDoom]

Any guides for creating the lead from "Netsky - Pirate Bay" on Massive?
Jackal Queenston's "High Gear" also had similar lead.

[Whitetail]

Generally you never want to make a DnB song with just one snare, pick around 2 or 3 or else you'll end up sounding rather empty.

Why 2 or 3?

Well a foundation of DnB drums is the heavy focus on the percussion rhythm, normally with kick, hi-hat and snare being the main instruments. Generally the main rhythm is very well defined
KICK SNARE KICKSNARE

Then you start filling in some of the spaces with hi-hats, a lot of times a simple 16th pattern

- = closed hi-hat
0 = open hi-hat

KICK --- SNARE ---0-- KICK - SNARE ---

Thing is since the hi-hat is high, it tends to not be a very good drive of the rhythm aside from keeping it constant. That's where ghost snares come in, you generally don't hear them very well but they do help drive the rhythm, you feel them. (Listen to any DnB song, you'll hear the kicks and power snares clearly, but if you pay extra attention to the drum line you should (on most, not going to say it's without exception) notice weaker snares ornamenting the rhythm in between)).

These don't need to be nearly as strong as your main snare since they're not driving the main rhythm (which is the strong kicks and snares). Play around with their placement in the rhythm, put them before the beats, make them play their own rhythms, etc. etc. They help give more character to your drum line and can be the dividing factor from really static sounding drums to a more lively drumline.

Also velocity randomization on the hi-hats, do it - DnB drums may sound impossible at times to be performed, but you don't want to sound like you've got a robot drummer. Just a little bit of difference can help make the drums feel more organic.

[PrincessAddictia]

Edit: I should read before commenting.

[Whitetail]

That'd be a lot of automation to have it all on one snare track.
Unless you're talking about having it on separate tracks and EQing it differently, which is basically making it function as multiple snares anyways.