[Gear Talk] Basic gear for Dubstep production?

It usually comes down to the quality of the Converters. The short answer is the best one you can afford, but different people have different needs too - like I said, if you plan on recording anything into the box (hardware, mics, etc) then you have a different set of requirements from someone who does everything in the box. Focusrite, MoTU are nice… UAD if ya can afford it… not a fan of M-Audio personally but many like 'em just fine… Mackie is popular but not everyone’s favorite…

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I will just be producing “in the box” as you say, using free samples/sound effects for now. :grinning:

However, somewhen in there I may record some vocal samples using a snowball mic… :microphone2:

Alex, I would be very grateful if you could post us all the best list you can! :pray:

Thanks! :adios:

~Nate

https://us.focusrite.com/scarlett-range

highly recommend these, rock solid interfaces, converters are fairly transparent (for the price they are incredible imo)

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Thank you cyclopian! :pray:

This seems very professional and reasonable. :smiley:

Id get a focusrite Scarlett if I are starting out.

I always like the uad ones and the rme fireface when I’ve tried em…

The best was prism and DAD converters but they god like 8k a pop

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I have Scarlett solo, and haven’t encountered any problems so far. I bought it out of curiosity, because I wanted to know if there’s any difference in quality between that and MacBook’s built-in soundcard. If I would have been smarter at the time however, I would have bought something with multiple headphone outputs, because I’m producing on them for about 99% of the time.

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Yea it’s def a huge step up from any laptop converters.
The sound quality difference feels massive lol

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Would def. prefer UAD but for the money the Scarlett Solo Studio bundle is ridic. Might wind up getting one for a laptop rig I’m pondering.

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okay.

im going to break this down into 3 sections (maybe 4)

OUTPUT PROGRAMS: these will be your synthesizers. really anything that send a signal…

SERUM - SOUND DESIGN IS EASIEST ON THIS PROGRAM . More hands on experience, you get to see what exactly happens to your waveforms as they are modulated, also filtering is endless as they have well over 100 filters accessible to the user. (side note: filtering in this context would be either boosting or diminishing certain frequencies to achieve a certain sound. a good example here is to search what a comb filter is and what it does to a waveform. gaining the skill to know exactly how to make a certain sound just be hearing it takes years of constant work.)

Massive - A cornerstone plugin for dubstep production… this plugin has lots of wavetables to choose from. I find it also useful for creating snare tails, as they have a variety of white noises you can use and modulate to your personal need. you will find that even with this, you will need the skillset and understanding of what waves are, and how the modern “dubstep” sound is derived.

FM8 - More niche than most synths, often you will find this is used for melodies more so than for growls, just because as you go on you will find that using massive or serum is just plain easier in most cases, but its really a personal preference kind of thing.

POST PROCESSING: you will often use these programs to enhance your raw signal.

OTT COMPRESSOR - I don’t really know what this does, but this is definitely something to use in dubstep, it makes things much more crisp, without making them sound “wide”

Fab Filter : Basic Filter. You can use it in whichever way you please.

Fruity Reverb, ValhallaRoom, Ozone 5 Reverb : All put your sound through an algorithm to make it sound like its in a certain atmosphere. You pick it, or you create it yourself. The wider the sound, the less crisp it will sound. Best used in moderation, or strategically.

MASTERING:

Basically, this section and the post processing section are very similar, but some programs can be better classified here as they are only applied at the very end.

I only use:

OZONE 5 : This is a package that consists of 8 (i think?) mastering programs that have to do with making your mixdown louder, stronger, more punchy…

Check out some videos by virtual riot, Dodge & Fuski, and the many available sound design oriented youtube channels. Perfecting your production quality will take years. There are alot of things that I haven’t covered here. The best thing to do is to just put yourself into your DAW and do your best to try to figure things out one by one.

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Hi guys , I need your help ^^
I’ve make an intro but i need to create an epic short lead identical with chords .
how can help me I’ll send him my email or FB for talking about this ?
PS: I have juste fl studio demo :persevere:
Thanks ^^

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These fuckers are reading my post history and taunting me lol

http://www.uaudio.com/apollo-dream-studio

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Thanks for your awesome reply Alexander! :pray:

That’s a lot of great data relative to dubstep creation! :smiley: :thumbsup:

:grouphug:

Massive is famous for its analog feeling, modulation matrix and fat sound, is the most used synth in music production even if fashion is now on serum. (which is a really different synth)

OTT compressor from Xfer or ableton are pre configured multiband compressor, it allow you to compress frequencies band separatly.

FM8 is not a niche, it’s one of the most used synth, FM synthesis is the most versatile synthesis, the sound range is infinite but the learning curve is slower than wavetable/substractive synthesis.

Fab Filter is a brand, not a plugins.

For now, you should not bother on mastering

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@Alexander_Krivoi …As good as your list is (and I think it probably has a lot of stuff that the majority of producers around here rate) I think it’s a little much for two reasons:

  1. Cost. We’re not endorsing cracks so assuming someone’s gonna buy all these - we’re talking four digits (American dollars). That’s a lot to bite off for a beginning producer - and he doesn’t even need any of these just to learn. It’s like telling someone who wants to learn how to cook to go out and buy a shit-ton of knives and food processors and stuff when they just need to start to learn the difference between a julienne cut and mincing (sorry for the analogy, best one that came to mind atm). The point is if someone doesn’t know the first thing about how to fly a plane, putting him in the cockpit of a 747 is probably not the best way to learn. He needs a Cessna to begin with.

  2. +1 on the suggestion about not fucking with mastering at this point. Honestly: most of you (and me) have literally no clue what proper mastering is really about. It’s not about “making it louder” or brickwalling your waveform with choice outboard gear. You cannot polish a turd so to speak, and mastering is exactly that - polishing the final song so it shines on any playback system it’s dropped on.


Not personal at all m8, just piping up as someone who’s spent decades as an amateur and heard all this stuff about what one 'must have in order to do _____". It’s all bollocks. You can produce good sounding tunes with a minimum of gear/plugs - it’s all about learning to use them well.

Also @IllumiNate - don’t concentrate on mixing so much right now - get the sequencing/sampling stuff down and just make sure your volume meters aren’t in the red. Once you get the musical stuff down mixing is more or less intuitive with a handful of things to learn. It’s mostly about your ears (which is why monitoring is so important.)

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Big up on this

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whoa this post is a load of crap

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What you say here is true, however , I’m going under the assumption that he’s not driving blind, and will take the time to do research and learn things. You can’t teach someone how to produce by throwing a bunch of plugins at them - there’s a lot of thing people need to make sense of before getting somewhere with mixdowns. Maybe the reason I emphasize mixdowns so much is because they are often some of the most difficult things to achieve, it’s taken me almost a year to figure out a proper mastering chain.

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Regardless, best way to learn to produce is just to throw yourself in it and try imo. Dodge and Fuski do a really good job at explaining drums and what they should sound like (if you’re going for a more mainstream feel).

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Remember, mixing is not mastering.

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