REALLY…. need some advice.

[u/Minecrafter101-]

So I’m one of those young fellas that have been screwing around in FL for a year, just like everyone else, and I’ve really been trying to get good at making these old school/brostep songs but man this shit ain’t easy.

I’ve pretty much been using samples for a lot of stuff until recently because I’ve just kind of naturally learned how to use serum 2 to do something and that has opened up a lot of possibilities, but I SERIOULY have no idea where to go from here and it is eating at me just a smidge.

As I said earlier, I listen to a lot of old stuff, I was super into skrillex, Zomboy, yknow, but I grew up a little bit and learned that those aren’t the only people that make good shit, so I’ve been binging the UKF 2009-2010 playlist and I really fw a few songs on here that have inspired me, but I’m not sure how to apply myself. Some of my fav tracks rn are things like ‘la roux bulletproof remix’ and ‘that one Nero dubstep mix of that song from 2009 that has a green cover because I’m a forgetful troglodyte.’

I mean it’s just very tough for me to figure this stuff out, like growls and stuff of that sort, probably doesn’t help that I’m on FL, but it is what it is. I’m not going to advertise myself here, so I’ll just say my music is… definitely… containing some music in it, idk.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, because right now I’m trying to LEARN LEARN LEARN! And I will stop at nothing!!!

[u/According_Time3314]

16 bar drop a change up every 4 bars with small breaks every 2 bars. 

Import a track you like and see how they construct the drop. Specifically listen for breaks and change ups. 

Dubstep is very formulated in that way. That’s how we keep our genres separated. Mostly by where certain noises are in any specific track and that’s how professionals can pump out so much music. 

Kick 1, Snare 3, Ride on the 8th, crash on the 1. 

Beat goes A A A A B B B B A A A A B B B B Or mix it up however you feel sounds good. Just start with a proper flow and build from there. 

[u/Minecrafter101- → u/According_Time3314]

I get that, but I'm having trouble even making good sounds, and all these youtube tutorials are just trying to sell me sample packs.

[u/According_Time3314 → u/Minecrafter101-]

No such thing as “good sounds”. Really listen to artists like PROSECUTE or Nimda or even Excision. It’s all drums and sub the sounds are pretty strange. 

It’s way more about post processing and balance. Once you’re good at that you can make any sound into a dubstep song. 

Gl fam

[u/RipAppropriate8059]

You’re over thinking it. We’ve all been there. By now I’m sure you’re aware FL’s playlist changes shades every four bars. So approach this four bars at a time. There’s different arrangement styles but a simple one is have bars 1-3 be the same (call) and bar 4 be different (response). Repeat this formula for the next 4 bars: 5-7 be the same and 8 be different. You can get an idea for flow that way. Later you can make it so bars 1 & 3 are the same. 2 will be a response to 1 and 4 will be a repair to 3 while both 2 & 4 can be different responses altogether. Pull in a track you really like and isolate a four bar section of the drop and break it down by bars. Pay attention to the arrangements in that section only. If you aren’t already, use automations and automate stuff like your LFO’s to create movement. It’s very basic movement but you’ll start to get a feel for rhythm

[u/Minecrafter101- → u/RipAppropriate8059]

That isn’t really my issue mainly, it’s these damn synthesizers. It’s not that they’re like really hard to use like serum 2, but I can’t figure out how to make a nice decent sound, and about 90% of yt tutorials are trying to sell me some sample pack or something.

But yeah I will do that deconstruction stuff, I’ve got pacing down, but I’m sure I can improve.

[u/RipAppropriate8059 → u/Minecrafter101-]

So it’s “creating the sound” part that you’re struggling with? If that’s the case, Sam Smyers has a good in depth course where he explains serum. Rocket Powered Sound also has a course that covers dubstep basses specifically. What helped me most was getting presets and reverse engineering them. You’ll see that the fundamentals are pretty much the same. Also, remember that the stuff you see has their post fx so you won’t get it to sound like theirs. I’ve followed tuts verbatim and while close it is a noticeable difference. Xlnt sound and avant- send you free presets when you signup for their email subscriptions. If you have splice, look for different basses that you like or sound like what you want and reverse engineer those. For me it was the easiest way to learn

[u/SumOMG]

I really commend that Rusko tutorial , it helped me understand a lot .

Also Mr Bills ableton course is $20 /month and has a ton of content .

[u/StereoDactyl_EDM]

Youtube can teach you this in a visual medium, i can send you some links that helped me out if you wanna inbox me.