(See, we weren’t kidding when we said mixing was just about changing the volume!)ĮQ is important in a genre like drum and bass, where the kick and the bass compete with everything else, including each other, for sonic real estate. As a general rule of thumb, ALWAYS use subtractive EQ (decreasing the volume) before additive EQ (increasing the volume).
Often, this is the first time we hear the kick and the bass to their full extent. This is where you give the listener everything you’ve got.
The pace picks up and you begin layering in more sounds.
They might hint at the melody or tease other elements that will be heard later on. Intros are usually slower and more atmospheric.
įurther, since most breakbeats are sampled from vinyl records that were recorded using older equipment, there are sometimes sound artifacts or other organic textural qualities present in the sample. Try and source your samples from quality sample packs or trusted sites like Splice. Depending on where you got it from, the sample could have been compressed and encoded dozens of times, which is no bueno in terms of fidelity. First, the quality of the breakbeat sample is not always guaranteed. Working with breakbeats can be a bit of an art, and there are several things you’ll want to keep in mind.