Creating build-ups

electrogrimey

Anyone have any tips for creating build ups after breakdowns (of anywhere really) in tracks? I've been messing around with delays and reverbs and rising synths and stuff, but it always sounds gammy.

How do you guys do it?

lowerstate

Strings are always a good way to build tension...
Also doubling up on percussion (1/4th high hats -> 1/8th high hats -> 1/16th high hats).
Synth swooshes with long tail reverbs...
Reverse reverb is a great technique too, particularly on cymbal crashes...
If you're not happy with the sounds you are using for buildups/breakdowns then either get better samples (download or record) or spend some time at making them sound better ( using some mastering software / eq etc. ).
Hope this helps!

.ak

I like to record an 8 bar riser on sylenth, fairly basic, just using the cut-off filter, and set the decay to rise just near the end of the note.

Then once I'm happy with the sound and tone (i.e: smooth for house, gritty for tech, throw and lfo in there for electro), I'll bounce it down to audio. Then in ableton (I'm sure it's the same with any DAW) I'll bring it back into a channel, set it to 're-pitch', and drag it to 16bars (double the original length), then in another channel I'll put 8bar riser, repeating the same as above but leaving the length at 8bars, then repeating the step again, but halfing the riser to 4 bars, repeat again, then to 2 bars, then repeaat again to 1bar.

So what you should have now is 5 channels, with 5 risers, all ending at the same point (not starting). Send all of the outputs to one channel, mix them down so they sound smooth, and add a bit of reverb.

Record what you're hearing and bounce it down to audio. The final result should give you an EPIC riser, that increases in tension constantly. You can then bang this into your mix, use sidechain compression with your kicks to make it pumping... Play a white noise riser over it for added effect. And I absolutely love adding a white noise 'crash'. Just a qtr note, with plenty of delay on the first hit after the riser... Instant fan-fare.


Another good tip I think is putting a filter on all your effects, you reverb sends, delay sends, etc., etc. Filter out all the low ends, say anything below 300hz, maybe 500hz... This way when your reverbs are building, as you'll likely be using them on a few seperate channels, they don't get all 'muggy', and you can just hear the high end tension, but the bass notes stay 'solid' and straight.


Hope this helps.

-A

ICN

.ak wrote: »

I like to record an 8 bar riser on sylenth, fairly basic, just using the cut-off filter, and set the decay to rise just near the end of the note.

Then once I'm happy with the sound and tone (i.e: smooth for house, gritty for tech, throw and lfo in there for electro), I'll bounce it down to audio. Then in ableton (I'm sure it's the same with any DAW) I'll bring it back into a channel, set it to 're-pitch', and drag it to 16bars (double the original length), then in another channel I'll put 8bar riser, repeating the same as above but leaving the length at 8bars, then repeating the step again, but halfing the riser to 4 bars, repeat again, then to 2 bars, then repeaat again to 1bar.

So what you should have now is 5 channels, with 5 risers, all ending at the same point (not starting). Send all of the outputs to one channel, mix them down so they sound smooth, and add a bit of reverb.

Record what you're hearing and bounce it down to audio. The final result should give you an EPIC riser, that increases in tension constantly. You can then bang this into your mix, use sidechain compression with your kicks to make it pumping... Play a white noise riser over it for added effect. And I absolutely love adding a white noise 'crash'. Just a qtr note, with plenty of delay on the first hit after the riser... Instant fan-fare.


Another good tip I think is putting a filter on all your effects, you reverb sends, delay sends, etc., etc. Filter out all the low ends, say anything below 300hz, maybe 500hz... This way when your reverbs are building, as you'll likely be using them on a few seperate channels, they don't get all 'muggy', and you can just hear the high end tension, but the bass notes stay 'solid' and straight.


Hope this helps.

-A

Good tip Adam!

seannash

i tend to make them out of a combination of a few rising sounds.

whitenoise

sustained saxaphone note with wolume automation with no decay
same for a string

any wave shape with a lfo that increases towards the end depending on the type of track

pad that moves up through some octaves as it progresses.


bang the all together and use this one for the big buildup.
apply a filter to some of them and automate the cutoff and resonance

then use a combination of a few of them or singlely to introduce the elements throughout the track

so introducing a bassline you might use the sax and string buildup
introducing a snare might just be the whitenoise one etc etc

can be varying lenghts

can also lump in snare rolls or place a delay on a send and automate it on the hats so that they blur into a hat frenzy as it builds.

also if there synth elements in the buildup,automate the envelopes and cutoff of the synth and also the reverb.
you can always automate any effect on the lead sound if its in the build up and have it dissapear when it kicks back in(bitcrusher,phaser,chorus,delay etc)

.ak

ICN wrote: »

Good tip Adam!

Hmm, think I saw that on a video tutorial somewhere...

Theprodigy11

A 4 bar LFO sweep....... rising the pitch right till the beat kicks in... thats the ****.. HAMMER TIME!!!