words: MICK WILSON
TECHPRODUCER
We reveal some handy tips and tricks to help you on the
road to wicked productions...
S
KILLER theOUNDS s
freshest sound
How to create
on the dancefloor...
HARDROCK SOFA’S
DUBSTEP BASS
DENIS CHEPIKOV from Russian DJ and production duo
Hardrock Sofa details how they got the Killer Sound on
their dance?oor smash ‘Quasar’...
“During one of our summer Russian tours we came up
with an idea for ‘Quasar’. When we got back home we
already had the track almost done. It took us a week
to master it and we sent it to Axwell. He was impressed
with the break but advised us to work on the main drop
to make it more powerful. We tried quite a few different
basslines, playing the test versions at clubs and festivals
for a month or so, but still weren’t fully satis?ed with the
sound of it.
“Eventually we came up with the idea of using the
dubstep bassline, blending it with the melodic sound of
progressive house, keeping it at 128bpm. In the process,
new ideas were constantly coming to us and we really
enjoyed creating something we had never done before.
To make this dubstep-sounding fat bass we used a few
synths like Logic EFM1, Sylenth1, Synplant and Gladiator,
switching the waves, changing decay, sustain, release
and LFO.
“When we sent the ?nal version to Axwell everybody in
the Axtone crew was really impressed and thought it was
awesome. After its release, right before the Ultra Music
Festival and during Miami Music Week, almost every
house DJ used it in their sets. We were happy that it
turned out so sweet and everybody enjoyed it.”
SAMPLETANK: LOOPMASTERS ‘QUANTUM THEORY — ENTRAPMENT’
THIS month’s Sample Tank takes a look at the bass
music genre and its trap variation. Loopmasters
deliver a trap-inspired sample pack, put together by
Quantum Theory.
They’re dedicated to bass, be it moombahton,
dubstep, trap, or any other incarnation of heavyhitting music. The Quantum Theory sound has many
fans on the dance?oor. They’ve taken that extensive
knowledge and applied it to this new sample pack.
Anyone who is producing heavy bass music should
check out this pack, inspired by the productions of
the likes of Diplo, Mayhem, Antiserum, gLAdiator and
OZ. It comes loaded with plenty of low-end theory
and is guaranteed to add that bass-house edge to
productions.
‘Quantum Theory — Entrapment’ comes in the style
of construction kits, 13 in fact. Each kit folder holds a
mixture of broken down stems and one-shot samples,
including drum and percussive elements, synth loops,
sub kick and bass melodies, vocal shots and phrases, and SFX. All these elements can be
arranged, mixed together and/or slung into productions to create dance?oor killers.
The kits come in a range of compatible keys, with tempos ranging from 140-170bpm for
easy mixing and matching. As per usual, Loopmasters’ ‘Quantum Theory — Entrapment’
comes in all the usual audio and sample formats.
240 djmag.com
Welcome to Plug-in
Corner, our monthly exposé
of some of the best plug-ins
around for creating electronic
music
sponsored by
PLUG-IN:
DEVELOPER:
FORMAT:
PRICE:
ADDICTIVE DRUMS
XLN
VST, AU, RTAS AND AAX
£150
THERE is an age-old problem for modern
producers trying to recreate that “live” drum
sound and feel using software or samples.
It can often be a dif?cult area to get right.
However, XLN’s Addictive Drums aims to help
with this little conundrum.
Addictive Drums is one of the most powerful
and popular drum software programs on the
market. It lends itself well to any genre of
music, so electronic producers who are after
that real drum feel will bene?t from XLN’s
program.
It comes with three pristine drum kits, 100+
producer presets and thousands of MIDI
rhythms that can be easily dropped into
sessions. Load a complete drum kit with
mixer settings and insert effects with one
click — it’s designed to be easy to use.
In use there are thousands of beats and ?lls
played by professional drummers to choose
from. Drag and drop the beats into a DAW
and start building a drum track, simple! DJ
Mag was immediately struck by how vibrant
the basic sounds were. We opened a track
we’d been working on but had parked due
to the song sounding a little ?at. Drums
had been added, but we replaced them with
the Addictive drum sounds and the track
immediately came ?Y?K?] ??[?Y?Y{? Y\???Z?Y\?[?[?H \??[? ??? ?? X?\???[?^ [?YX?]?H ?[\??H \??\?[??^ [??[? X??? ?]??\?^?[[??] ?[????\??H??HY?Y? ?] ?\? H ?[?Y?H?] ?[?B? ?? X?\?????[?? ? ?X?X]H ??H?\??X?X\?????? ?[H ??[? ??H?Y?] ?[????H\?\ ?[?Y ?H8?&
? ??]\?[ ?? ?\?B???? ??\?[?? ??H X?? ?H ??[? ?Y?[?H ???H ??[??Y?\? H]?[? B??\?XYZX?? \??X????X][?? H ?Y? ?[[?[?? ?X?H?? ?[\? ?][?H ?X???YX?]?H ?[\?\?[? ????H? B??\? ?[B? Y?Z[?? ???[\???HX\??] ????T?P???? ?L???P?B????K?NB????P?????X\?\????B???T?P???K?L?? Y?Z[????\?\? ????Y?B? Y?[???]\]YK???K [?\???[??? Y?Z[??B??