DnB tips in FLStudio?

[Macgravel]

Probably in the wrong place, and if it is, I apologize.

Anyways, I'm having trouble producing good quality DnB. Mainly because my drums suck and my bass isn't all that bass-y. Looking for some tips on what I could use in FL to my advantage to making my sounds, well, sound better. Also, some links to some good (free) sounds for this genre would be appreciated, if there is any.

[Wiesty]

For drums, make sure you variate them. Go through them and add fills everywhere needed and though it may be a pain, change the velocities note by note to give it a real feel. As for mixing the 2 together, that is extremely important. The drums and bass should basically play off each other, without one the other should not sound the same. It'll basically come down to your panning, compression and equalization. When mixed together, the drums will usually give the bass a much more stronger/rigid feel. As for writing bass riffs to go with drums, the kick drum and the bass should be closely related. If any of this is completely obvious, its because its late at night and I'm not thinking hard enough.

[Tensei]

Wiesty, are you sure you are actually talking about DnB? Have you ever heard DnB? Why would you want to change the velocity note by note for a 'real' feel when you're aiming for electronic drums?

Ontopic:

Oof, you're not exactly picking an easy genre to get started with.

The basis to good DnB are good samples, it's easy as that. I can't really help you with that, but try to find some good DnB Sample CD's, it will make the processing a lot easier. As for selecting a sample, make sure your kick sample peaks at around 100 Hz and your snare sample at 200 Hz, that way both of them will have the typical fat DnB impact.

The way the samples/loops are used is usually deceptively easy. Make sure your 'main' single hit snare and kick don't play too often (I'd say the snare should only play 2 times a measure at most and the kick drum maybe 4, though some DnB guru like Navij11 might correct me on this). What's layered over this are usually lots of hi-passed loops/breaks etc. that give the beat 'sheen' i.e. they make it sound like a breakbeat

Getting the bass right is a bitch. It's usually based on a detuned saw-wave/square wave, except it uses a lot more layers than that (I used about 12 different synths for one bass patch) and it has lots of individual processing and movement on each single layer (chorus, distortion, LFO filter movement, phaser, etc.). After you've made a suitable bass patch, be sure to add another layer in the final mix, consisting of a single Sine wave which will be the sub-bass.

The way the drums and bass usually interact is through Side-chain compression, which is why I suggested you don't let the main snare and kick play too often, since the bass wouldn't be audible at all then. With the right settings, side-chain compression makes your drums punch through the mix and your bass will start to pump.

I'm not an expert on DnB, but if one of the DnB remixers I've seen around here (Ellywu2, Navij11) makes it in here, I'm sure they will tell you a lot of stuff I didn't even know about. You could try PMing one of them.

[Wiesty]

Lol. guess he meant Drum n Bass. Im not an electronica junky.

[Skrypnyk]

Lol. guess he meant Drum n Bass. Im not an electronica junky.

Just out of curiosity, what did you think DnB meant?

[Macgravel]

Alright, thanks for the wall of text Tensei, I'm sure it'll help me alot. I've never heard Navij11's music, but Ellywu2 I'm familiar with. I love his WIP's I've seen in the WIP forum, especially the ones that are made to sound like Pendulum.