timc3 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 3:04 pm
Lost to the Void wrote: ↑Mon Jul 24, 2023 6:16 pm
One of the things I realised is I needed to really step up my production another level as the standards in drum and bass are a little higher than techno.
So I had to go back to the drawing board and reassess my production method, and really drill down on my methodology, and also learn some new shit.
This is an ongoing process but I'm getting there.
Bit of topic but I would love to know how the production is better in drum and bass (though I always thought that this might be the case) and how it differs.. Perhaps a question for a different thread?
Well, drum and bass had what techno is having now, but in the 90`s. ie massively commercial and money behind it.
So whilst techno has traditionally been made in bedroom studios, drum and bass had producers making BIG bucks in the 90`s, and that led to big studios, commercial engineers etc etc Metalheadz studio, Roni Size studio etc etc
They were mixing shit in proper rooms with proper speakers whilst techno people were still in makeshift rooms with absolute 2`s.
This pushed everyone to step up to meet these professional standards, which have remained in the scene, whereas techno only really started raising it`s bar when the mnml thing happened.
Techno has mostly avoided the low end problem by not having basslines. Throw a big fucking bassline in to your mix, and you`ll soon find out whether or not you can cut the mustard, production wise.
In my path to infiltrating drum and bass, I`ve always known the standards where higher, just by listening, but actively getting in to making it has really pressed my skills. The shit I can get away with in techno, just can`t in drum and bass.
You need to be able to have strong bottom end, but with strong transients in the lows, you need very defined transients in the mids for the drums, but also they need to be right in your face, then you need to fit your other shit around that, and get it to a ridiculous final level and still have it sound good.
Techno is so kick reliant, your mids don`t need the same amount of work (unless you do a lot of percussion).
All of these factors whilst also combining my own fuck with everything experimentalism with sound design is really making me slow down and drill into details.
I`ve been working with some established guys, doing some collabs, and it`s given me more insight into things. The ability to have such loud fucking mixes but yet clean, punchy and in your face. It really requires maximum skill.
I thought I was at a pretty decent standard, but I`ve basically spent the last 12 months having to rehone my skillset, because I wasn`t meeting the standard I wanted it. I would say I`m close to that now, but I`ve really had to learn a whole load of shit, and just pay much more attention to detail.
Also my rejections have changed. Usually in techno it has been, "production is boss, but the music isn`t what we like"
to "these tunes are beast, but the production needs work"
A good example is the tune below in my profile.
This is an old mix/master. I`ve improved it now, but listen to all those breakbeats, the transients are inconsistent between them all. I mean that`s expected, they are different breakbeats. But that`s not good enough for DnB, at least the standards I am aiming for.
I had to go back and reprocess all those breaks so the dynamics and transients AND EQ bias is more homogenous, so the changes sound more fluid.
There`s all kinds of other stuff I had to fix, like cleaning up the transients and punch of the lows so they aren`t mashed by that bassline, and having that bassline not kill the mix bus compression. The version in my profile is so shitty to me now... I need to take it down soon.