I’ve been writing a lot of future trap for about 6 months or so. But I wanna move on and try to write dubstep, but not the typical “brostep” or whatever you’ll find on Monstercat (not dissing Monstercat, I love their stuff)
But I’ve been trying to get that deep/dark “dungeon” vibe for a long time.
I can write the drums and basslines easy. But when it comes to the creepy atmospherics and mid range basses, I just get the hang of it.
I’ve linked a couple of tracks from my favourite dubstep artist below so you can see what I’m talking about.
If anyone could give me some tips for this style of dubstep, that would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
I’ve searched through the old forums. It’s mostly just wobbles that I end up finding, which is not what I’m looking for unfortunately
Thanks anyway Sinnergy
I’m not sure if it was in this forum or the old one with a thread about making dungeon growls and noises. From what I skimmed through it seems to have plenty of tips and what so not, I recommend checking that out
I’ve literally looked through all the posts on the old forum…
I’m good for wobbles and all that kind of shit, I have lots of presets for wobbles that I can easily modify to make it my own and a heap of “garage” stuff that would suit this style of dubstep, but I’m just trying to recreate that reese bass kinda synth from Quaro’s tracks and get some tips on atmospherics
If you don’t know what I mean by the reese bass thing, it’s used around 0:16 seconds in “Poison”, again at 0:44
And used a lot in the drop @ 0:55 in “Down In The Hole”
I reckon pads, single shots and other various background noises can go a big way to creating a “dark” atmosphere. Not overdone though, what you leave out can be just as important to what you put in
Something I found had an interesting affect was taking my sub basses and running them through distortion plugins using various settings. I would then export that out and load it back in and cut all the lows out and drench it in reverbs and choruses and then reversing it and cutting out pieces of it. Then apply a lowpass and high pass filter and use them in conjunction to get the rise and fall sounds. A little delay on there and you got yourself a nice little sound to play with.
Another thing I do sometimes is create a midrange type bass sound and then use that as a carrier for a vocoder. You can get some really strange sounding things by running different vocals through it. Also instead of vocals I’ll rip audio from like a newscast or something and put that in there. Apply more reverb and chorus and phasers and whatever else you can think of and you can get some cool stuff.
As far as the atmosphere type sounds I look for droning type sounds. I keep a lot of ambient drones and stab samples cause they can always come in handy at some point. They also work very well when ran through a granulizer. That kind of granular fidgeting sound you get can be very unnerving when played in the right keys.
There is a prime loops sample pack called “Dubstep Demolition” that has hardcore destructive drums and basloops you should check that out if you want Darkstep
the notes you choose have a lot to do with it…and I’m not talking which key/scale is happy/sad/scary. tasteful dissonance in your melodies. though pentatonic scales have a tendency to sound dark
also, watch the frequency of your elements, let the percussion have the higher registers for the most part. you could also try low passing a big reverb …cutoff until you notice the change a lot then back it off
You should go to 99 sounds and download EVERY sample pack they have. They are filled with one shots, pad, and the kind of atmospheric elements your loojing for. Just pitch those suckers into key, slap a reverb on it and your done.
I found a great way to make creepy atmospheric sounds. Go to a place with people talking. Record. Reverse and add tons of reverb and some other taste stufflike reverb (I like the atmosphere plugin) can sound pretty weird.
