Song Prod. & Write Up (SHR4C004M~003)
Jackson Masih – 24100165 – Electronic Music prod.
My production process
Inspiration
For this composition, I wanted to make a drum and bass track. I wanted to emulate the liquid dnb sub-genre in this track, but draw on elements of jungle and rollers. Before starting on the track, I wanted to have a clear artistic vision of what I was trying to produce. To achieve this I did a lot of listening and I found myself drawing the most inspiration from Shy FX, particularly their sound on the Ragamuffin Reloaded album. Tracks such as Bye Bye Bye featuring Chronixx (S.P.Y. remix) and Warning featuring Gappy Ranks (Bou remix) served as the most influential on this tune.
Drums
I’ve been getting into jungle a lot more recently, so therefore thought use of the amen break needed to be crucial and this served as the basis for my drums. I tried to make my snares and tops sound crisp and punchy, with a deep club kick. After making the drum pattern I then decided to use the amen break only on the build up and drops, typical of the style.
Bass
I started the tune with the Reese bass pattern. I then layered a detuned electric piano from Serum 2, the DX Bright Keys down two octaves and that serves as the bass offbeat stabs. I also used the stock logic sub bass plugin and a bit crush filter to fatten and manipulate the sound of the bass. Along with the other electric piano, I then had a loop that served as a basis and starting point for the tune. I wanted the drop to feel heavier and dirtier however, so I decided this loop would serve best as the verse of the song.
Sampling
I used sampling here as I wanted to add another layer of interest, something higher – pitched filling the frequencies not covered by the bass whilst still leaving space for vocals. I sampled myself here, I recorded a simple melodic line on my saxophone, then layered harmonies. I ended up experimenting with the spectral gate plugin on logic and combining that with echo, reverb, filters and automation I ended up with a sound that achieved the desired effect. I also sampled a simple hip hop/ trap drum loop, using plug in’s like Dada Life’s endless smile, auto filter and EQ to get the desired transients heard in the build up.
SFX
I also used a lot of sound effects such as chirps, sweeps, reverse hats, crashes and more. I wanted these to not particularly stand out in the track, but enrich it and provide support when changing sections/shifting energy. I purposefully used the effects I did throughout the track to try and stay loyal to the genre’s roots and achieve the ragga/dub sound.
Vocals
For the vocal recordings, I used a Rhode k2 microphone with a pop filter. In the studio, I invited some friends to do vocals for me to record (see video).
Firstly, I made a list of phrases and words such as “feel the bass, drum and bass, feel the drop/feel the drums etc. I recorded these being both sung and spoken. I then EQ ’ed them and layered it so the lower pitched audio track is the melodic, sung phrases and the higher one is the same words being more ‘spoken with a pitch to them’. I heavily EQ ‘ed both of these tracks and heavily processed them. I used a pitch shifter to raise/lower the vocals so they are an octave apart and used pitch correction to make them more accurate and to also achieve the auto-tuned sound I was aiming for. I then used a compressor, automated echo and the Chroma glow/auto filter plugin(s).
For the vocal on the verse, I originally had another sung section with chopped and processed vocals but after listening and evaluation I found the current vocal to sound better. Here, I had my vocalist read out an article about Leeds musicians and after the recording session spent time chopping up the vocals and processing them. In my processing chain I used a room reverb, 1/8 dotted echo, EQ, compression and a crunch modulator filter to try and make the vocal sound like a retro recording and to aim for that dub echo feel again.
Commercial Potential
Like most of my tracks, this was built for the dancefloor and to be heard on a big sound system. However, just because my tracks are made with raves in mind doesn’t diminish their commercial potential. This is why I blended the dirty, dark drum and bass sounds of the foghorn on the drop with the more mellow verses. I found myself trying to establish a solid middle ground between being mellow enough to be listenable on the radio whilst also maintaining enough colour and interest that if played in the intended environment, it would invoke the same feelings of other songs typical of the genre. I acknowledge that a lot of the sound design in drum and bass can be quite abrasive to the ears of people who aren’t used to/ don’t listen to/ enjoy the genre so in this tune I aimed to bridge the gap between light liquid drum and bass and dark, heavy rollers, bringing a new sound to the average commercial listener.
*For evidence of these processes, I have attached some videos to the show assignment submission
