[Music] How Do I Make Dubstep?

[Shadowbathed]

Okay, as the title states, how would I create such music?

I have a good thing for creativity and beats, and wish to create some music. Is there a program & tutorial (Video hopefully - Hate reading) on how to make Dubstep?

Thanks for your assistance!

[Deleted]

Just press the play button on your Mac.

[nixcookies]

Pretty sure if you would have typed "creating dubstep" into youtube you would find a lot of results like I've just done, there are loads of video tutorials.

[Shadowbathed]

Just press the play button on your Mac.

I run windows. So that won't work.

Also, I think you just made me facepalm, not 100% sure.

[hq78]

Just press the play button on your Mac.

hahahahahaha!

but on topic, you need make those woomps and stuff and make it fit in

[Shadowbathed]

Pretty sure if you would have typed "creating dubstep" into youtube you would find a lot of results like I've just done, there are loads of video tutorials.

I prefer my good MMO-Champion friends xD

Youtube videos aren't as helpful, as I have tried what you have said, and I normally get these guys who don't go into a good description and I'm left wondering, so I figured I'd come to these forums and if I had any questions ask them on here and get an answer.

[roflpot]

First you need to decide exactly what program you're going to use (cubase, logic, reason etc) then watch some tutorials on how to make music. Simples. Start with learning how to make a beat and go from there, the rest really is up to your creativity.

Edit: A huge part of making music is the theory side to it. You need to learn about tempos, pitches, notes, chords and everything else eventually. We can't teach you that in a brief mmo-c post, you really need to start some hardcore learning if you're serious!

[Shadowbathed]

hahahahahaha!

but on topic, you need make those woomps and stuff and make it fit in

Yup, want a smooth clear dubstep, not some of that crazy stuff that doesn't even sound good.

---------- Post added 2012-04-07 at 04:51 PM ----------

First you need to decide exactly what program you're going to use (cubase, logic, reason etc) then watch some tutorials on how to make music. Simples. Start with learning how to make a beat and go from there, the rest really is up to your creativity.

Edit: A huge part of making music is the theory side to it. You need to learn about tempos, pitches, notes, chords and everything else eventually. We can't teach you that in a brief mmo-c post, you really need to start some hardcore learning if you're serious!

Do you have a good suggestion for a program? Perferably one that is easy to work with?

and ya, I understand the whole "brief mmo post" but hey! Help is help!

[epkolt]

I run windows. So that won't work.

Also, I think you just made me facepalm, not 100% sure.

Although not necessary, most Dubstep is made on a Mac.

[Shadowbathed]

Although not necessary, most Dubstep is made on a Mac.

I'm gonna go against the grain xP

Because I'm like that.

[Deleted]

As far a video goes, there's not much that I've seen, admittedly I'm not very experienced with making Dubstep, however from what I hear there's certain things you can do to make dubstep sound very dubstep-y(?)

1: Make the beats very splashy and vague, what a mean by that is instead of having a snare and a cymbal that last 0.5seconds, they last 1.5 seconds, making a splashy sound, that's makes for good dub step beats I think
2: Rarely jump notes, this is a new phenomenon whereby you don't go like G-E-F you go G-slide-E-slide-F rarely though do you go up in dub step, but you get the point I think
3: Make a sick drop, have about 15-30 seconds as the start where you just have the beat speeding up, getting louder, and have some random sound bytes playing behind it, then have one sound byte like "END OF THE WORLD" and then come in with your Bass notes and your Dubstep "riff" (for want of a better phrase)

And of course stick to basic musical "rules"
1: Don't repeat the main line more then 3 times in a row (Main line meaning dub line in this case)
2: Have some kind of structure to it, the basic one is:
- Start/Intro
- Drop and Verse
- Chorus
- Verse
- Chorus
- Bridge
- Chorus
- End
Of course you can modify that for dub step, but the basic structure should still be visible

But don't be afraid to do something risky, and don't give up after a couple of attempts

It's difficult to do, but it's really fun and satisfying when you're done

As I say, I'm not the best with Electro music, but I hope this helped!

- Mr G

[Oknaps]

First you need to decide exactly what program you're going to use (cubase, logic, reason etc) then watch some tutorials on how to make music. Simples. Start with learning how to make a beat and go from there, the rest really is up to your creativity.

This. If you WERE to have access to a Mac it would be easier. You could use logic which I believe uses no VST plugins which I absolutely hate. I am not sure if Macs use anything similiar, but I dread using VST plugins a lot. If you don't then reason would probably be your best bet. It may look daunting at first but after a bit it'll make sense.

A friend of mine asked me to make him a dubstep song once, and I couldn't do it. Maybe it was the fact I HATE dubstep, or the fact that it's just different from trance. I tried it on FL studio, and I followed a tutorial using a 3x oscillator. I honestly couldn't even do that. I felt so stupid.

[roflpot]

Do you have a good suggestion for a program? Perferably one that is easy to work with?

and ya, I understand the whole "brief mmo post" but hey! Help is help!

I use Cubase personally, would probably use Logic if I had a mac, but it's entirely personal preference. I tried a load out when I first started. You need to learn how to use the basics of the program first, how to make beats and setup the other instruments you'll need, how to import and manipulate samples shit like that. Once you've done that, you can deconstruct midi files (at least, I did this at first and found it really helpful) to get a basic idea of how songs are structured and start fucking about with elements of it. Then attempt to make your own shitty song by literally attempting a note for note copy of another song. It won't sound anything like that song but you'll learn a shit load in the process.

From there you have to learn about actual music, probably best to start reading some books at this point.

Good luck

Edit: This is assuming you don't know how to make music at all - the other guy above who posted specifically about dubstep is more specific but unless you can make music in the first place it will be very daunting so don't just try and jump straight in to make dubstep. That will come later.

[helheim]

get some apps, ableton live and flstudio are daw's that i use when making music.

dubstep is pretty basic itself in that it doesn't need to be complicated, just a bassline and a beat for the most part. the distinction comes from wobbles. to do this you need to link a low pass filter to the cut on a synth, adjusting the rate to get that wobble - womp womp - type sound.

some examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiQRzN84QAc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvF9...eature=related

i've been working in flstudio for over 10 years, and i can tell you that if you are serious about making music with software, that you'll need to invest some time familiarizing yourself with the workstation, and it doesn't hurt to have some hardware also, such as a midi controller, a mixer, some studio monitors and/or headphones, and a lot of patience.

here are some links for reference purposes, some stuff from my audio bookmarks collection on the subject:

http://www.dubstepforum.com/trifonic...l-t155880.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMrpPDvrbmA

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopi...echain#p747186

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul1...es/dubstep.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1oS8QP4NBU

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopi...tudio#p2668231

http://abletonlivetutorials.com/inde...&id=1&Itemid=2

edit: just another couple things to add. i typically find dubstep to be at half tempo, somewhere between 125-135bpm. on a 16 step sequencer, this would mean kicks on 1 9 17 25 etc, with snares on 9 25 33 etc. this is using flstudios sequencer in this example. another simple trick is to make high hat rhythms that are shuffled. you can google any of these terms to get a better understanding of what i am talking about. glhf.

[vvilly]

@OP, you aren't cool for liking dubstep. Obviously coming on here to try and make us think you're cool. You probably think Skrillex is dubstep.

[Deleted]

3: Make a sick drop, have about 15-30 seconds as the start where you just have the beat speeding up, getting louder, and have some random sound bytes playing behind it, then have one sound byte like "END OF THE WORLD" and then come in with your Bass notes and your Dubstep "riff" (for want of a better phrase)

Drop comes at 0:55 in most cases. You can use it as a pattern.

There are also plenty of tutorial and sample videos over youtube to give you the basics.

[Vashryn]

Take a Hammer bash a fax machine turn it on = Dubstep creation

[Therenis]

If you want to make music, specifically dubstep, you'd need a couple of tools.

- A DAW (Cubase, Logic, Reason, FL Studio, Ableton, and the list goes on.) The DAW you use is the one you feel most comfortable with, although most seem to start in FL Studio and move on, while some stick to FL Studio with amazing results. You'll need to learn some basic terms for general production, like beats, bars, BPM, as well as some general musical terms like octaves, scales.. You get the point. Just do a tiny bit of pre-research, find the equivalent in your DAW, adapt and enjoy.

- Plugins, also known as VSTs. The things that really make your music is the plugins you use. First and foremost, you're going to want a plugin called Native Instruments Massive. This is a synth-beast, so you can make your own unique bass, synth and random quirky noises. A huge majority of dubstep today is made with Massive. Secondly, you're going to need more plugins, but which depends on your DAW, since some come with some neat built in plugins, while some don't come with any even half-decent plugins at all. Then, it's all up to you. Google what you want to have. If you want a "Game Boy" sound, google "8 bit vst" and you're bound to get results. And trust me, 6/10 cases there's a plugin for what you want to do.

- Samples. In the start, you're going to want some drum samples. Many beginners use Vengeance Electro soundpack since it's on TPB. But you can probably find many decent samplepacks. But further in, you're going to want voicesamples, from say a YouTube video, movie, TV or whatever. Think the "Oh my god!" in Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. Having a bunch of those can be really interesting, and some even have a sample that becomes their trademark, like xKore with his "C'mon!" sound. (If you don't know what I mean, listen to xKore - Hello on YouTube and you'll get it)

- Hardware. And not only computers and stuff, but you might want to get a MIDI-keyboard straight away. It'll help in the long run.

Right. When you've bought/pirated what you want, learned the basic terms and gotten some snacks, you can begin being creative. You start by making the song 140 BPM, and then you make the standard dubstep beat, kick and snare alternating every two beats. Many producers have been messing around with BPMs, so in general, you can hear dubstep in the 135-145 range, drumstep in 160-180 BPM and some songs in 100 BPM. Some go above and beyond, to about 70ish BPM.

When you make the general melody before the drop, you'll want it to begin "building up" and presenting the theme of the song for about 16 bars, then gradually get more and more intense for another 16 bars, so that you at the begining of bar 33 have the drop. That way, your song will drop at 0:55 sharp, and you can make the really standard dubstep. From there on out, you mess around as you like, finding your own flow and rythm.

When it comes to effects and that kind of stuff, you'll have to learn automation to some degree. It's different between every DAW, so google it. Probs a ton of YouTube videos about it. But I mainly have effects and stuff directly in Massive, so that I don't have to make a ton of complicated automation. That's just me though.

Then you're most likely best off finding producers that use your software, see if they did any livestreams, pick up a few bits and pieces here and there, etc etc. You're also going to need to spend time learning mixing, mastering, equalization, sound layers and probably a bunch of things I can't think of at the moment, but you'll have to google your way forward, ask for help, and pray you get said help.

It'd take more than a post to help you figure it all out, but there's a start for you. Pick your DAW, aquire plugins, make music, upload it to SoundCloud, then it's all fate. Google is your best friend.

[Shadowbathed]

@OP, you aren't cool for liking dubstep. Obviously coming on here to try and make us think you're cool. You probably think Skrillex is dubstep.

I'm a Deadmau5 kid, but don't come on here and try to make me look like a bad guy. I like dubstep, I wanted to try my hand at it. No need to be a d**che about it.

EDIT: I got nothing AGAINST Skrillex...
just hate their music.

[shimerra]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3lAsdpgo50