These are slides I created from a Logic Pro Masterclass I took with David Carbone at CityLit in 2007

1. Drum n Bass Masterclass
With David Carbone
www.bs1records.com
davide@bs1records.com

2. Tune Elements
 16 bar loop + alternative 16 bar loop
(drop, cut out or filter 1st 16 bars) = 32
bars
1. Beats
2. Bass
3. Vibe (chord progression, vocals etc.)
4. Energy (riff, guitar, synth etc.)
5. Character (sweeps, builds)

3. Tune Structure
 Try and keep track under 6 mins
 Typical DnB track @170bpm = 256 bars
1. Intro = 64 bars
 Keep it mixable for DJs; minimal (beats, FX & builds)
2. The Drop = 64-128 bars
 Drop in the bass; maybe cut beats for 16 bars
3. The Breakdown = 16 bars
 Drop out bass or beats
4. The 2nd Drop = 64-128 bars
 Like 1st Drop but should be different i.e. ‘deeper’
5. Outro
 Similar to Intro (mixable; minimal)

4. Beat Elements
1. Kick (x3)
2. Hat (x2)
3. Snare (x3)
4. Ghost hat 1
5. Ghost snare 1
6. Ghost hat 2
7. Ghost snare 2
 Important: Make groove templates from live
samples then use the quantization throughout
the track
‘Ticks’ in between kicks
x2 each hat/snare

5. 3 Layers to a Beat
1. Backing break
 Live sample  take quantization
2. Main break
3. Kick, snare, hat
 Apply:
 EQ
 Saturation / distortion
 Shaping / envelope (punchier beat)
 FX
 Compression

6. EQ
 EQ each sound individually! (try to avoid overlapping
frequencies)
 Sweep EQ spectrum and reduce bad frequencies
 Any reverb on drums has to be minimal (1/4 of a
second)
AI-55Hz
Sub bass
(nothing <60hz
except sub)
1KHz
Mid
Vocals, snare
60-75Hz
Kick drum
20KHz
High end
Cymbals, hi-hat,
rides, crashes
0db to -60db
= hearing

7. Compressor
 0db to -60db
(threshold)
 Attenuates transient
peaks
 Ratio (start with 2:1)
-10db-10db-10db-10db
-10db

8. Looping in Logic Pro
 Load chord in sampler (edit instrument
then load)
 Turn ‘Loop on’ in sampler
 LS = Loop Start
 LE = Loop end
 Crossfade: fades the loop start and end
points to give more natural sound

9. Filtering and LFO
 Filtering is good to combine with LFO
 Filtering the EQ (e.g. cutting high frequency for a low pass filter)
 LFO (low frequency oscillation)
 Like an audio controller
 Modulation: Source (sets the rate) and Destination
LFO delay or decay 1. Volume / amplitude, or
2. Frequency (filter), or
3. Pitch

10. Triplets
 Cut ¼ of a bar (e.g. 2nd beat)
 Repeat ¼ bar every 1.5 beats on a new
track (useful for vocals)

11. Bass
Bass Layers
1. Sub bass
 Gentle LFO e.g. volume; no FX (leave clean)
2. Mid bass
 Apply EQ, filtering, shaping (ADSR), importantly LFO, FX
3. High bass
 Apply EQ, filtering, shaping (ADSR), importantly LFO, FX
20Hz 120-160Hz
Punchier kick
50-60Hz 206Hz
Sub bass only Snare

12. Bass
 Roland TR808 = hip hop bass
 Roland TR909 = techno bass
 Roland TB303 = acid bass
 Record bass keynote from drum/synth machine
 Export sound and load in sampler to play on
midi keyboard then apply techniques
 Shift+Tab in Logic = Legarto (notes equalize)

13. Dynamics vs. Loudness
 -6db on each audio track/layer makes perfect
mix (not 0db)
 Layering is using the same beat/groove with a
different, but similar, sound
 i.e. mid bass and sub bass
 Try and get master output down to 0db (no
clipping)
 Select all audio channels on mixer (not buses and
master!) and lower volume on one channel – all
should lower relatively

14. Vibe / Melody
1. Question 2. Answer
(e.g. chord) (e.g. sax)
3. Revised question 4. Conclusive answer
(e.g. altered chord) (e.g. stronger altered sax)

15. Buses
 Send-Return Method
 Assign effect (i.e. reverb, tape delay etc.) to a bus
then share that effect with other audio tracks (frees
CPU power)
 ‘Send to Bus1’
 Grouping Method (post-production)
 Change output of group of audio tracks (i.e. 3 layers
of drums) to ‘Bus1’ then assign compressor to Bus1
 Repeat compression ‘grouped’ for drums/beat, bass,
vibes, ‘the rest’ (FX etc.) and make them similar
levels

16. Mastering
1. EQ
 Look at increasing bottom and top end frequencies
 Sweep for unwanted frequencies
2. Compress (again)
 Gentle compression
3. Limit
 Increase limiter VST gain to audible level as loud as
possible

17. Limiting
 Like compression but not rolling-off the
peaks
 Cuts off peaks completely (high ‘rogue’
peaks halting further compression)