A Beginners Guide to Drum and Bass Production

1. Introduction
1.1 Who and why?
Why this guide? Because I keep seeing people answer the question, and it's easier for me to give a URL for this guide than type out the same advice every time. Who am I to give this advice? Good question. You don't want to take advice from any old nobody: you want someone famous, respected, experienced, hopefully even signed to a well-known record label. I am none of those things. I'm just a bedroom amateur who has been producing drum&bass for about a year, at the time of writing. If you think that makes my advice not worth paying attention to, I don't blame you, and you're welcome to not read any further. If you feel like reading the rest anyway, who knows, maybe it'll help you. This guide is my opinion only and as such many people might strongly disagree with it. Disclaimer: I will use bad language in this document. If this offends you, read no further... and fuck off :)

1.2 What and how?

OK, what this guide is going to cover is the basics of writing and producing drum'n'bass. If you don't know what drum'n'bass is, you are so far in the wrong place. Drum'n'bass is sort of unique in that usually one person writes and produces. In the rock world, the writers, performers and producers are often different people, in d&b it's more common for one person to do all the jobs. Since a big part of d&b is the sounds you use, producing isn't like a layer on top of the basic songwriting like it is in pop/rock, it's an integral part of what makes the tunes what they are. So, I'll be using the term "producing" to cover (song)writing, performing, producing, mastering: the whole process from head to CD. There's a need for dual talent to produce good drum'n'bass: technological and musical. This is mostly talking about what technology you need, but I might cover the other area too. There are many different methods of production, which you can loosely divide into computer/software based, and a 'traditional' hardware setup. My own experience is much more focussed on the first camp, so that's what I'll talk about most. I can only talk about what I know. That's not to suggest that other methods aren't equally good, or better.

Note, a lot of this guide applies to other styles than drum'n'bass too. Other electronic forms like ambient, idm, techno, house, will have an awful lot in common with what's said here. Some info will even be relevant to the amateur producing of rock, pop, or whatever other music genre you can think of.

1.3 more?
If anyone else wants to add anything to this guide - particularly in those areas that I confess to being less than knowledgeable about such as using hardware instead of a computer-centric approach - feel free to email me and I'll appreciate anyone's input!

2. Computer
Like I just said, there's a basic choice between hardware and software. Olden days, everything was hardware. It's only quite recently that computers have become good enough to compete with hardware, and some people still doubt that they can. They can: believe it. Of course, you can also mix the two, which is probably best. I'll assume the core of your set up will be the computer, running an assortment of software, but you might also use certain hardware as well.

2.1 Basic specs

You need the fastest computer you can afford. Pretty simple. Most things on computers like word processing and internet use take a tiny fraction of your speed, but audio work will take a lot. You will come up against a limit due to your computer: a limit of how many channels of audio you can run, how many voices of polyphony in your soft synth, how many chained DSP (digital signal processing) effects you can run. You also needs tons of RAM. Stacks and stacks of it. Mountains. Nowadays it's recommended to have 64MB just for 'normal' use. 10 seconds of CD quality audio (16 bit, 44.1Khz, stereo, to be specific) takes up 1.7MB, and you're going to working with lots of it. You also need a big hard drive, for the reason just stated. A whole song saved as pure audio takes 60MB or so. Plus you'll need to store all your samples, soundfonts, etc. Of course, that's all very well if you're about to buy a computer. If you've already got one, you might be thinking: "oh, well it won't be good enough". Chill. I've got a lousy AMD K6-200Mhz, 64 meg of RAM and 2 hard disks giving 10 gig total. It's not great, but it copes with most things I throw at it. PS. Did I mention I was assuming a PC with Windows? It's true, some people still swear by Macs. If you're already a Mac die-hard, fine, you can certainly do decent audio work with them. If you've no ready-set preference, I'd advise going for a PC. Cheaper, more expandable, more peripherals and software available, oh, and not lame as shit. As for other operating systems, BeOS was designed for audio/visual work, but lacks software. Linux lacks software too, and wasn't even designed for it. I know there are plenty of reasons to hate Windows, but pragmatically it's the best choice.

2.2 Sound card

With a soundcard, you're going to want a MIDI port if you plan to use any outboard MIDI gear. Not too much of a problem, try finding a soundcard without MIDI support! Most of them not built for music, though, will use the joystick port, and you'll need to buy a converter which costs about 7. If you're going to be recording audio in, or out (tip: you will be), you'll need audio in/out jacks. Once again, not that big a deal since virtually every soundcard in existence will have them. Similarly, you want a sample rate of at least 44.1Khz (16 bit stereo), and full duplex (record and playback at the same time), but again, these are pretty much standard nowadays. SoundFont support - which you will do yourself a favour by getting - isn't quite so standard, but not exactly exclusive to 'professional' models. In fact, all the 'basic' features are common to even the lamest no-name soundcards. If you want goodies, though, you soon find yourself paying through the nose. Some goodies to consider:

A breakout box with sockets you can use that aren't round the back of your computer. A real bonus because you dont have to fiddle about behind your case. Big jacks (7mm instead of 3.5). Usually only comes with a breakout box because they won't fit on the back of a card. Ditto for a real MIDI socket instead of joystick port. Multiple I/O sockets. Again, generally you only get more than one input/output on cards with a breakout box. Optical or SP/DIF (Sony/Philips digital interface) connecters. Useful for very high-quality recording or mastering output. Higher quality sound, e.g. 96Khz. Onboard DSP chip... now we're really getting into fantasy land :)

If you're a mortal like me with limited money available, the best buy at the time of writing has got to be a SB Live! Platinum. You can pick them up for about 160, you get a breakout box with some juicy sockets, SoundFont support, a decent software bundle (Cubasis, Wavelab lite), basically all you need. If you've got several hundred quid, or a grand, to throw around, well, the world's your oyster: you can get studioon-a-card systems like the Creamware Pulsar or killer MIDI cards like the Yamaha SW500XG.

2.3 Other stuff

A CD-R is a great thing to have so you can burn your finished tunes to an audio CD... easier to take round to your mate's house to show off, capiche? Failing that, a MiniDisc is a nice option for digital mastering. I'll assume you have an internet connection since you're reading this, but make it a fast one. MP3's are miracle compression compared with straight audio, but they're still going to take half an hour to download/upload on an old modem. Obviously, you'll want a mic if you want to record vocals or other things which don't have a line out of their own.

Finally, the speakers that came with your SoundCard are a heap of shit. Throw them in the bin straight away. Apart from being just... er... generally shit, computer speakers "warm" the sound to make it sound nicer. Which isn't too great when you're tweaking EQ, because what you hear is not what you really have! You need speakers that don't lie to you. This is one of the more expensive pieces of kit, nothing under 500 is going to be that great. If you're a poor bastard like me, hook your soundcard up to your stereo instead. But remember: FLAT EQ! No point having 10 band parametric control over EQ to the tenth of a decibel, if you're going to run it through a stereo with some lousy "jazz" preset fucking with the sound.

3. Sounds
3.1 GM soundset and soundfonts
The GM (general MIDI) soundset that comes with your soundcard will be a piece of shit. Yes, even if you paid 500 for it: you might get decent pianos and harps on a pricey card, but it'll still be useless for drum'n'bass. GM just doesn't do sci-fi pads, scary bleeps, twisted squidgy basses and the like. That's why I told you to get a card with SoundFont support, so you can load new sounds instead. SoundFonts are something I've never messed with so I won't go into them. Lets just say, they're one way of getting non-shit sounds. Here are some others.

3.2 Synths
Hardware synths? Yamaha, Roland, Korg... Go looking. Far too many to look into in this little introduction, even if I knew much about the subject, which I don't. Software synths? I know a little bit more here. Lets start with Rebirth: two 303s, an 808 and a 909. If you don't know what they are, where the hell have you been the past twenty years? Anyway, I started with Rebirth so I can get it out of the way, because I'm well sick of it, and I'm not the only one. The last thing we need is more dorks playing Josh Wink. Other stand alone synth programs include Vaz+ (30) / Vaz Modular (249) and Reaktor (245). The last is rated very highly. I sadly haven't had a chance to play with it. With the latest versions of Cubase and Logic, you can use plug-in synths. This means they aren't programs on their own, they're plugin instruments which integrate with your sequencer. It's definitely a nice idea and the way forward. Shame is, it's another excuse for them to rip you off, with each new plugin synth possibly setting you back over a hundred quid, on top of the several hundred quid you paid for the sequencer in the first place. Finally I should mention Buzz which has plugin synths in a similar fashion, but with the advantage that they're free, and legally so. Also, from what I've read, there's no reason to suppose that they're not as good. The M4w has more features than Steinberg's comparable Model E (cost: 150). I shall expand more on Buzz later.

3.3 Samples
Samples aren't just for things that you think of samples, like that vocal lifted from a movie. You can sample anything, and you probably should. For starters, GM drums are particularly weak, and you're probably going to want to build your breaks from drum samples (if you don't have a hardware drum machine, anyhow). There are specialist programs for building drum loops, like FruityLoops, which I find spectacularly pointless, but maybe you'll find them helpful. Also look into ReCycle! which cuts up breaks into individual hits. So where are you going to get samples from? You can get them on the cover CDs of magazines like Computer Music; for free from websites like SampleNet, AnalogueSamples, SoundAmerica; or pay for commercial sample CDs from places like Time+Space. Two words of caution about samples. First, please resist the temptation to use that "cool" sample from Reservoir Dogs or whatever: it's been done before, and so many times. Novelty samples really add little to a tune. Vocal samples which are just 'plonked' there so as to reference some movie are really pointless, and it's a shame when vocal samples can be used as an integral part of the music, structurally and textually. (Listen to Orbital for how to use vocals well.)

Second, think twice before using those copyrighted samples. I'm not saying that because I'm crusading against illegal practices and piracy... shit, I've pirated enough things in my life. Nope, I'm just saying it because it's a royal pain in the arse if you ever really get somewhere with your tunes, only to find that you're in the shit for using dodgy samples. Better to save yourself potential legal hassles and not use them at all either that, or process them beyond recognition :)

4. Software
4.1 Audio Editors
You need a good audio editor. This is especially important if you work with samples, because you'll want to work on the samples before using them. If you're working without samples (it can be done, a friend never uses them), a good audio editor is still useful to tweak, post-produce, and master your finished song. Three of the best known are SoundForge (349), WaveLab (399) and Cool Edit ($70). Certainly expensive (if you pay for them, no comment), but difficult to live without.

4.2 Sequencer - the big three

This is the big one - what are you going to use to stitch it all together? The main contenders according to popular myth are Cubase (329), Logic (249) and CakeWalk (279). The general answer to "which is best?" is "none", and it is true, they all do basically the same things, and which you choose is mostly a matter of taste. For what it's worth, though, here is my opinion. Cubase is the most famous sequencer out there, and that fame is entirely undeserved. It's a heap of junk. It features surely the worst interface of any mainstream program out there: it ignores Windows conventions (like right click for popup menus) entirely, nothing works how you expect, features are scattered across its menus apparently at random, things you want all the time are deep in a menu yet things you never want are right at hand as buttons... It's unstable in its PC incarnation, crashing regularly. It's also slow as a bitch, takes hours to load and hours to do anything. And to top it off, Steinberg technical support is widely reckoned to be abysmal. (I feel a suit from Steinberg's lawyers coming on.) When it comes to Cakewalk, I have only played with an older version (6 - the latest is 9.) That version was well below Cubase in terms of features, but by all accounts version 9 is pretty much on a par. Not quite, though, for I believe Cakewalk does not support the VST2 engine, so it can't use VST plugin instruments. In fact, I'm not sure if it supports VST effects plugins either, maybe only DirectX. (Don't take my word for it - I could well be wrong.) People who use it proclaim it to be stable and blessed with a sensible interface, though. If I was going to buy one of these things, my money would be for Logic. Fully compatible with the VST2 engine, you get all the Cubase features, plus a decent interface and lot better stability. Needless to say, all those programs are very expensive in their full incarnations. You should also watch out because you'll get stung for hundreds of quid to buy more plugins, which are essential. You're going to want high-quality reverb, delay, distortion, etc, as a matter of course, not to mention the new rip-off VST instruments. Fortunately, all these programs have cheaper cut down editions available, such as Cubasis for 99. Pay close attention to what features you lose, though. You want to keep as many audio channels as possible, for example.

Interlude: why MIDI sucks in '96

The key thing about those three programs is that they are MIDI sequencers. They have audio features added on, but they were built as MIDI programs. MIDI, the mainstream would have you believe, is the be-all and end-all of computer music. Well, they're wrong, and here is why. MIDI is not sound. MIDI is instructions: "play a C# for 2 beats", for example. So, where are the actual sounds coming from? Well, unless you have racks of hardware synths, your soundcard. And I already explained that the sounds on your soundcard are going to be shit. Even with soundfonts, it's difficult to find those classically drum'n'bass sounds. Furthermore, you want effects on all your sounds, don't you? Well, unless you have a card with an onboard DSP chip (hint: very, very expensive), your DSP effects are going to be done on by your CPU, with the final result being sent to the soundcard. Therefore, you can't put effects on sounds which your soundcard is creating in the first place (because the CPU never 'sees' them). I hope that makes sense. You're going to want to filter sweep your pads and stuff like that, which you can't do with soundfonts. Admittedly this is somewhat remedied by VST2 instruments, which are controlled by MIDI, but are software synths, so you can plug them through your sequencers send and insert effects. Trouble is, do you want to pay 150 per instrument?

What am I getting at? In short, unless you have (a) a lot of high-quality hardware such as synthesisers, drum machines, etc, and/or (b) a lot of money, making MIDI the centre of your composition is not sensible for the drum'n'bass genre. So, paying hundreds of pounds for MIDI sequencers is paying money for features that aren't much use to you. You're better off working with software synths and audio samples. It's a controversial opinion, but I'm sticking to it.

4.3 Sequencers - Alternatives

So, what are the alternatives? First up there are the cheapo drag-and-drop music makers: Dance eJay is the most famous, and a raft of other similar products are available such as DJ 2000, TOTP Mix Factory, Pro DJ, etc. These are fine to get cliched tunes made of other people's work cobbled together in a very short time with almost no creative effort required. But you are not and never will be any sort of producer or musician, any more than someone who can do a Join-The-Dots is an artist. You're just a lame idiot who is fooling themselves. Notice I didn't hyperlink those programs due to sheer contempt. The next step up are programs such as Acid (249) and Making Waves. These too are focussed around arranging audio samples, but considerably more professional, and... how can I put this... less damn childish. The problem remains, though: if you build your piece from other people's loops, how much are you really the creator of your music? Not much, in my eyes - so damn me as an elitist, I don't care. If you build the loops yourself, then you'll need other software anyway. A shady category of software is trackers. Trackers are old school step-time audio sequencers, stemming from the Amiga scene, where you build patterns out of samples. The emphasis tends to be on smaller samples - such as single drum sounds, and single bass note - than big loops. Trackers get ignored by the mainstream mostly because they're generally free - everyone knows something free must be shit, while something that costs 250 must be wicked, right? - and also because they're not quick and easy to learn. You don't tend to get the drag-anddrop interfaces of eJay here, most of it is done by entering numbers into a grid, sometimes in hex. Sounds painful, but once you learn a little it's not too bad and there's an amazing amount of power in them. Modern windows trackers support MIDI, MP3 samples, even VST effects. Check out ModPlug Tracker (0) or Maz Sound for a comprehensive guide. Finally, my own weapon of choice: Buzz (0). It's sort of a tracker, but I'll treat it separately because it is a quantum leap more powerful than any other. Buzz is a fully modular digital composer - just like the big three sequencers have plugins, Buzz has "machines". Machines can be generators (eg, synths) or effects. You can load as many machines as your computer can handle, and connect them together pretty much how you please. Hard to explain in words, easy to understand with a picture, so for an example, see here. Why Buzz is good (shameless bias): astoundingly high quality synthesiser machines such as the M4, Ninereeds NRS04, Alpha, Guru; a very wide range of effects; support for VST effects; all machines are (legally) free; some MIDI support. It's also quite suited to drum'n'bass in particular, because you can do all your DSP effects on all your sounds, in real time. Plus, it's particularly good at pads, bleeps, twisted basses and using samples, all of which are major elements of drum'n'bass production. And, to preserve some neutrality, why it's not so good: interface often confuses newcomers; still in development, so occasionally crashes; doing all your synthesis and effects in real time eats CPU; MIDI support a fraction of Cubase / Logic / CakeWalk.

4.4 Other software

If you audio editor doesn't support saving to .MP3 and realaudio formats, you may wish to get utitilies which can convert WAV files into those formats, if you intend on internet distribution. If you're using MIDI, you'll want Hubi's Loopback Device to create virtual MIDI ports. IF you've got a CD-R, you'll need CD burning software (duh).

to be continued...
Copyright © 2000 Stephen Mercer, all rights reserved. Non-commercial distribution of this document is unlimited provided it remains unaltered. Commercial usage is forbidden without my express consent. | URL: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~d90hta/hipnotic/ |