Project 2 - Creating a Dubstep Song in Ableton Live

Project 2 – Creating a Dubstep Song in Ableton Live

Welcome to Project 2 of learning music production!

Project 1 was giving myself a crash course in Ableton Live 11 and was more focused on the learning the practical/technical side of using a DAW than actually attempting to learn/make music per se. Day 2 will be more focused on EDM/Dubstep while we get more familiarized with Ableton and the basic elements of a Dubstep song.

As I look for a tutorial video to follow along with for today I’m also reading This Article from EMastered.com. I’m a very visual/tactile learner so Day 1’s Ableton Crash course definitely illuminated just how much I don’t know about the different elements, sections, and overall composition of a song. EMastered.com’s article provides a nice breakdown of the different structural and sonic elements of a song and lays-out some common song structures, all of which I found helpful. Furthermore, the article provides a general overview and advice for new producers so I read it as a preface to breaking into Ableton today.

For Today’s self-study session I decided on the Youtube Video: Ableton Live Tutorial – DUBSTEP 101 w/ Wolf-e-Wolf

However, I realized at the start of the video that I didn’t have a drum rack that aligned with the video so prior to getting started I downloaded the Dubstep Empire Drum Kit and Installed it according to Ableton’s Help Article “Using Third -Party Packs”. After successfully installing the drum kit into Ableton I then followed this Youtube tutorial: “Create Drum Kits in Ableton Live”, to create a drum rack similar to Wolf-e-Wolf’s so I can follow along with the tutorial more easily. Additionally, downloading, installing, and customizing this new drum kit was an interesting way to familiarize myself with importing and setting-up new sounds to use for producing, definitely give it a try when you’re ready for your next recording session.

A few minutes into the video. he brings in a chant to fill out his drum beat, which is when I realized that I didn’t have any chants in my collection. So, after a little research I stumbled across this article: 81 Free Sample Packs That Will Make You Boss It As An Electronic Music Producer which is really well put together and made it extremely easy to CTRL-F “chant” which lead me to 808 Trapstep Vol 1 which has 18 different chants for you to use, along with a ton of other sounds to add into your music. Just follow the same steps for adding the Dubstep Empire Drum Kit to add the 808 Trapstep Vol 1 pack.

Additionally, around the 8:30 time mark in Wolf-e-Wolf’s tutorial he adds in some neuro-wobbles from a sample pack he had previously made. As a beginner myself. I’d like to remove money as a barrier to learning as much as possible so I did a little digging and found Ghosthack.de, who has a Page of Free Sample Packs for Dubstep, so after checking out a few of them I settled on their “Free Dubstep and Trap Soundbank No. 8” Sample Pack. I used their bass loops which worked nicely following along with Wolf-e-Wolf and it also included plenty of drums and a few chants, synth loops and risers that you can also use for this tutorial.

Ultimately, I used the Dubstep Empire Drum Kit to build a drum rack similar to Wolf-e-Wolf’s, some synth and bass loops from Ghosthack’s Free Dubstep and Trap Soundbank No. 8, and a synth sweep and white noise riser that I found in the “W. A. Production Free Anniversary Collection Vol. 7″. I had already found a chant to use in my track from the 808 Trapstep Vol. 1 Pack but you can use the chants and drums included in Ghosthack’s sample pack if you’d like to cut down on prep and spend more time in Ableton. Additionally, I skipped the portion where he added sub-oscillators from Serum because I don’t currently have Serum and I think that would be a bit to broad for the scope of today’s lesson, so we’ll save that for a future lesson.

I spent a considerable amount of time looking for sample packs which made it difficult to work through the tutorial initially, so I would suggest grabbing your samples first, loading them into Ableton and then sitting down to work through the tutorial. Now get out there and make some music!