68 Digital Nation
DIARY OF AN UNSIGNED PRODUCER
SHOWCASING
THE BREAKS
Loads of drum & bass producers are turning their Neither attempt has been totally successful, but
hands to making dubstep these days. Some of this isn’t surprising. It takes time to get used to
them are doing so quietly, releasing their dubstep a new format. Drum & bass producers are fond
creations under different monikers so as not of claiming that D&B is the most technically
to confuse their listeners. Others are doing it demanding genre to produce. However, none but
brazenly, and with considerable success. Check out the most arrogant would claim that being good at
Chase & Status’ huge recent releases. D&B automatically makes them good at dubstep.
Everything requires practice.
For others still, pursuing dubstep seems to be an
extension of what they were doing anyway. In this I think the important thing for me is to see dubstep
category I’d put Breakage, whose deep and heavy as place to experiment with new sounds. A lot of
dubstep tracks bear his hallmark as clearly as any of musical ideas will work at 140bpm that don’t sound
his previous drum & bass releases. good at 174bpm. But, at the same time, music
from one genre can often inspire new sounds and
I’m not sure where I fit into this scheme. Since new directions for a different genre. I believe we’re
I don’t really have a ‘style’ to speak of, I guess it already seeing dubstep start to influence drum &
doesn’t really matter whether my dubstep tunes bass, particularly as producers begin to experiment
sound at all like my drum & bass tracks. Which is with more minimal arrangements.
lucky, because so far I’ve made everything from
cheesy, Rusko-style wobblers (‘Cockney Thug’
anyone?) to deep, reggae-tinged beats inspired by
releases from Ranking Records, among others.
Each issue we take a different break from the drum and bass
producer’s repertoire. We ask who recorded the original tune
HEIST’S TOP-5 PLUG-INS
and who first used the break. Most importantly, we ask what
makes the break a ‘classic’.
Break 7. Bobby Byrd/The JB’s – Hot Pants
The JB’s were James Brown’s backing band for
the first part of the 70s, formed in March 1970
after Brown’s previous band left him in a pay
dispute. As well as accompanying Brown, they
played for other artists in his circle, including
Lyn Collins (famous for the ‘Think’ break) and
Bobby Byrd.
When ‘Hot Pants – I’m Coming, I’m Coming,
I’m Coming’ came out in 1972, Brown and
Byrd had been friends and collaborators for 20
years, having met while Brown was an inmate
at the Alto Reformatory prison. Byrd – not an
inmate – had been playing baseball against the
prison team. He recognised Brown’s talent as a
performer and arranged for his family to assist
with Brown’s parole.
‘Hot Pants’ is one of Byrd’s best tunes – three
and a half minutes of sublime funk that still gets
played today (it appeared on the soundtrack to
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas). However,
producers only started using the drum break
after the release of a ‘Bonus Beats’ version of
the track in 1987, which appeared on a reissue
Goldie’s protégé tells all about his five favourite plug-ins. Analogic Delay – Dub Plugs of ‘Hot Pants’. The same ‘Bonus Beats’ version
This is some simple-as-fuck delay software used also appears on the JB’s 40th Anniversary
Blue – Rob Papen in every track that I produce. I find some delay single.
This Synth is so versatile and powerful. I don’t plug-ins have far too many things on them or
think I’ve made a track in the last two years that I confusing user interfaces. This, however, is This version is an instrumental mix of the
haven’t used it in. It’s really good for leads, arps, always a dream to use and looks and feels solid original recording, with the drums brought
bass, FX… anything really. It has a nice user- too… just how you want a delay plug-in to be. right up in the mix, perfect for sampling.
friendly interface too. However, the track also features some of Byrd’s
Z3TA – RGC Audio vocals and the occasional horn hit. The bass
517Mk2 EQ – Sonalksis SV Z3TA, or ‘Zeta’, as a lot of people spell it, is one from the original track is also audible, meaning
This is my favourite EQ. It has four bands with of my favourite synths and has been around for fastidious producers must filter it out to get a
high and low cuts, three bell and shelf settings ages. It has a great mod Matrix for setting up all truly ‘clean’ drum sound.
and A/B comparison. I can’t recommend this your modulation and controlling whatever you
EQ enough to be honest. It’s used in every single want to be affected. Even the built-in EQ and ‘Hot Pants’ is similar to Lyn Collins’ ‘Think’
track I make. effects are really good, which is where quite a in that its most prominent feature is the thick
few soft synths fall flat. I use this one for a lot of shaker sound. It is popular to layer ‘Hot Pants’
33 – HFG STS different types of sound but I particularly love on top of other breaks simply to get head-
This is one of those plug-ins I never get bored of the arps on Z3TA. There are many different nodding shaker groove. The break has been
using. I use it mainly for creating abstract drones waveforms on this one too – there’s even a wave used in a lot of hip-hop tracks, but in the
or atmospheric sounds to start tracks off with or shaper – and it allows for up to six oscillators. world of drum & bass it’s perhaps most famous
to use in breakdowns. It has four oscillators and for featuring on the huge Alliance remix of
loads of waveforms for each one so that you can ‘Champion Sound’ by Q Project.
mix and match to your heart’s content. It also has
a great ‘super modulation’ window that looks a
little like a galaxy. It’s a crazy, little synth.
www.kmag.co.uk
K66-69_DigitalNation.indd 68 29/4/09 13:23:33
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