SHR4C004M-003 24100513 Song Production & Write Up.

System Overlad

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SHR4C004M-003 Song Production & Write Up

Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)

System Overload Download

Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up (30%)

I decided that for this assignment I would compose and produce a jungle track. I decided to challenge myself by using a genre that’s not easy to create without using 3rd party sampling. Through my research of the genre I had discovered that many people use ‘Amen Breaks’ (which are break styles recorded on a drum kit and uploaded to the internet), they are then chopped up and put through a quick sampler and recorded as MIDI. Due to not being able to use a 3rd party sample, I decided to create my own drum patterns and drums through the use of the quick sampler and MIDI. I began by thinking of what sounds sound the most similar to certain drums/noises I would want to recreate. One advantage of the genre I picked is that the drums don’t necessarily need to sound perfect or as close as possible to a drum kit, this allowed me to be more creative during my sampling process. For my kick drum, I decided to record myself walking/stomping around my room, as my floor is quite thin it makes a lot of loud noise. I then put that through the quick sampler on Logic and mixed it so that it would sound as close as possible to an ‘Amen Break’ bass kick. After I had my kick I took an old pan that was made out of a thin metal and would hit it with a spoon in various places to try and emulate the sound of a snare, I did the same thing with a glass to recreate a ‘snare rim’ sound. After this process I realised I needed an open high hat, a high hat and a crash. I used multiple pots and recorded myself banging them together in a small enclosed room, this created a resonant high-pitched sound that echoed throughout the room and was picked up by my phone microphone. I chopped up multiple parts of this recording for my high hat, closed high hat and my crash. I EQ’d my crash in such a way that it would mostly pick up high frequencies and focused on EQ-ing the high hats in a similar fashion, except I also highlighted some of the mid frequencies so that the sound would be fuller and more apparent. The last thing I recorded was vocal samples from my housemate. I did this at home by connecting a SubZero SZC-300 through my interface and asked her to say various ‘catchphrases’ that we found by listening to samples online. The reason I did this recording at home is because of the nature of my genre, I felt I did not need to worry about having a ‘clean’ recording as I would then go and mix it in a very muddy way (i.e, I added a lot of distortion, reverb and flangers to the vocals).

During the creation process of the drum tracks, I struggled to recreate a drum pattern that fit the standard jungle ‘Amen Break’ without directly using those samples. I listened over and over to multiple jungle artists and attempted to recreate similar drum patterns by tapping on the pads on my keyboard until I got it right. Then I would write these in on the Drum Pattern machine on Logic, after loading in all of my samples that I mixed and chopped up from my recordings. This process took a while as I wanted to have a piece that varied not only in dynamics but also in tempo. I created the intro by using familiar techniques such as a walking bass, which through my research I noticed is very prevalent in old school jungle and created a punchy intro when the drums come in. The middle section is quieter and more concise, whereas the last section is very similar to the first one, except I upped the tempo and added more texture using pads I created/edited on Alchemy or ES2. During the second section of the song I also added ‘Hob Pads’ which were created by me using the quick sampler, I recorded my hob whenever I would turn it on, as it had a resonant pad sound that I wanted to emulate in the composition.

During the mixing stage of this composition, I used a lot of modulation on the bass to create constant movement within the track, as I noticed many jungle tracks feel and sound as though everything is moving at the same time in polyrhythms. Originally, I decided to chain compress some of the bass synths, however, this ended up feeling too over the top and I resorted to using modulators and flangers throughout the piece. For this, I used a recent download plugin called the ‘ValhallaSpaceModulator’ as I felt it added a lot to the overall texture of the piece and worked as more than just a modulator. For all of my pads I used the PhatFX plugin to add in more saturation so as to compliment the bass.

Lastly, the vocals were recorded through an interface and manually chopped up and moved, rather than using a sampler, I decided to create a new track for each vocal sample so that I could edit/mix them all differently, this offered me a lot more creative freedom over the vocals, especially as I struggled to come up with phrases/lyrics, as most jungle tracks don’t contain lyrics.

In conclusion, I believe that given the restriction of the assignment brief, I managed to create a concise track that still follows the conventions of the genre, despite being created in a non conventional way. In the future, I would like to aim for more harmonic melodies and overall better harmonic balance throughout the track. I could achieve this by using more music theory knowledge and creating a ‘melody line’ to act as the main driving force of the song/composition.

Bibliography:

Groovin in G (2023). Classic Jungle Pads From Scratch (Source Direct Pt.6). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbaE1RPHGm4.

Lusvordes, T. (2023). ‘SoundBoy’ Jungle Vox. [online] Sample Focus. Available at: https://samplefocus.com/samples/soundboy-jungle-vox [Accessed 27 Apr. 2026].

STRANJAH (2025). 10 Iconic Jungle Production Tricks from the ’90s (Still Work Today). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KSJVjXuXoA [Accessed 27 Apr. 2026].

Warrior Sound – Unders (2023). How to Make Jungle Drum & Bass in Logic Pro. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdyX3dawIbA.

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). A Beginner’s Guide to Jungle Bass. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeDXUBsWPlw.