Like it or not, Dubstep is a genre of music that is gaining in popularity. To have taken a music tech course in synthisis and to not at least mention dubstep would be a tremendous oversight on my part. The word dubstep comes from drums (du) and bass (b) it is characterized by two basic components:
1. Half time drums
2. Wobble bass
Half time drums
When we did our first project, I told you that your drums should have a kick on all four beats, a snare (or clap) on beats 2 and 4 and a hi hat subdividing that (eighth notes- or every other dot in the step sequencer starting on the first dot).
Half time drums will be well, half of that. Kick on every other beat (instead of all 4) and snare only once per measure instead of twice and hi hat on all four beats. Try writing a kick on beats 1&3, a snare on beat 3 and hi hat on all four beats. Or something like this (kick on beats 1 and 2, snare on 3):
since dubstep consists primarily of bass and drums, the drums are very important. what I have described to you is the half time feel. variations on this groove are essential. do some listening - go Google some dubstep and listen to the drums.
Wobble bass
The wobble in the bass is created by an LFO (low frequency oscillator). Many generators in FL Studio have these, but the easiest one to use (in my opinion) is the 3xosc. Guess how many oscillators it has... Go to channels -add one- 3xosc.
You'll see your 3 oscillators on the main panel. There are a number of ways to make a great sounding dubstep bass sound with this generator. Try these settings:
Osc1 triangle wave
osc2 Saw wave
osc3 rounded saw wave
or...
Square wave on all three oscillators
coarse tune all three oscillators to -12
fine tune osc 2 up a little bit.
fine tune osc3 down a little bit.
stereo detune osc 2 and 3 up a little bit.
Either one will work fine.
Now go to the ins (instrument properties) tab and select cut (cutoff frequency) and look at the LFO section. Here you can choose your wave shape (sine, triangle or pulse). There is no wrong answer here- choose what you like. They all sound different, so experiment and choose what appeals to you. When you make a selection, 6you'll see that the red wave shape changes to the shape you selected. Just below the red wave shape are 4 controls. the first one is predelay. Here, you can dial in an interval of time before the LFO kicks in. I have this set to 0% because I want my LFO to get to work right away. next is the attack parameter. I have this set to 0% as well because I want the LFO to be in full force right away. But you should experiment with this one. Turn the attack up and hold out a note. Notice that the wobble isn't obvious at first, but as time goes by it really gets noticeable. The amount control determines how much of each side of the wave you'll hear. at the 12:00 position, you don't get much wobble at all. All the way to either side, you get a ton. Mine is all the way to the right. That leaves us with the fun one- speed. hold down a note and give this knob a tweek.
Before we go any further with this, we should write something. Dubstep bass lines are usually very low- but not so low that the sound breaks up. We want strong, clear bass, so find some low notes that sound strong and full. In the piano roll write a simple bass line. try using two or three long notes that are fairly close together in pitch- check out my example at the end of these instructions or just Google some dubstep and listen to other recordings for ideas. Here's mine:
Controlling the wobble
There are essentially three ways to control the wobble bass in your piece.
1. Draw your automation. Create an automation clip on the speed parameter. This will put the clip into the playlist, and you can draw (manually) the shape that you want when you want it.
2. Record your automation- Right click the speed parameter and select link to controller. Now reach up to your MIDI keyboard and touch the modulation wheel. If prompted, click accept (sometimes it just automatically makes the link). Now the automation wheel of your keyboard is controlling your speed parameter and you can record the automation by clicking the record button, selecting automation and score and playing your piece live. The computer will remember your wheel motions and recreate them when you play back the piece.
3. The last way would be to link the wobble to the tempo. To do this, right click on the speed parameter and choose set. Then from the dropdown menu, choose a number (try 2 at first). When you close out of the dropdown menu, note that the TB (Time Based) control is now on. The wobble is now linked to the tempo of your song.
More goodies
As a guitarist, I love distortion. To put a little distortion on your bass sound, send the output of your 3xosc to the mixer for some FX. In the upper right corner of your 3xosc there is a little window with the letters FX on it. We did a similar procedure when we added the fruity filter to the slayer in our filters project. Select a channel (1 if it's not already being used for something) and then open up the mixer. You'll notice there are 8 slots available for FX plug-ins. Choose the first slot and look for the Fruity Blood Overdrive. Now try your sound. Play with the gain parameters for some variation.
Filters
One of the best things about the 3xosc is that they put a filter right next to the LFO. Great design. Hook up the XY controller to it- just like we did in our automation unit and choose a filter. Now when your song plays back you can record automation from the MIDI keyboard (your wobble) and 2 parameters of the filter (x and y) in real time. Live!
