Drum & Bass

The 2-step skeleton: kick, snare and the break underneath

Every DnB track is three drum layers: programmed kick and snare (the skeleton), a chopped break (the feel), and a hat/ride/percussion layer (the top). Start with the skeleton — it never changes much.

1. Drum Rack: kick on C1 (Drum Sampler, short, Decay 150 ms, high-passed 45 Hz — the sub lives below it), snare on D1, clap layer on D#1 in the same choke group.
2. Program the kick on step 1 and step 11 (the ‘and’ of 2) in bar 1, step 1 and 9 (beat 3) in bar 2. Snare on steps 9 and 25 of each bar (beats 2 and 4). This two-bar alternation is the ‘2-step’.
3. Add a break on a separate audio track (next technique). Layer a 16th shaker at low velocity and a ride on 8ths.
4. Group the three layers and add Glue Compressor (Ratio 4, Attack 3 ms, Release Auto, 2–3 dB GR) and Drum Buss (Transients +15, Drive 10%).

Chopping a break: Simpler Slice, Drum Rack and Recombine

The break provides the ghost notes and swing. Chop it into hits, re-sequence it tight to the 2-step skeleton, and keep the original texture by leaving the ride/room bleed in.

1. Drop the break into Simpler, set Warp on with Beats mode, then switch to Slice mode: Transient slicing, Sensitivity around 60% so you get ~12–20 slices for a 2-bar break. Set Playback to Mono, Trigger mode, and turn down slice Fade for tight hits.
2. Right-click the Simpler and Slice to new Drum Rack. Now each slice is a pad with its own Simpler: tighten the kick pads with Decay, shorten the snare slices, high-pass everything above 120 Hz (your programmed kick and sub own the low end).
3. Sequence: lay the break’s kick slices on your skeleton kicks, the break’s snare slices on 2/4 under your main snare at −6 dB, and ghost hits (velocity 40–60) on the 16ths around them. Use Live 12’s Recombine (shuffle, 1/16) on a copy of the clip to generate fill variations, then keep the best 2 bars.
4. Alternatively keep the break as audio: Warp mode Beats, Preserve Transients, Transient Loop Mode Off, Transient Envelope 50 — then Cmd-E chop the clip at hit boundaries and rearrange. This keeps the room sound intact.
5. Add a Compressor at 4:1 with a 10 ms attack and 4 dB GR after the Drum Rack so the ghosts come up and the hits stay punchy.

Variations: Time Warp (MIDI transformation) on the sliced-break clip compresses the last beat into a roll for fills. Use Granulator III on the break with Grain Size 40 ms, Spray 5% for frozen ‘smeared snare’ textures in breakdowns.

The DnB snare: layered, loud, dry, bright

A DnB snare is a composite: a body sample (180–220 Hz), a crack/clap layer (3–8 kHz), often a rimshot for the attack and a break snare for texture, transient-shaped and clipped to sit at the top of the mix with almost no reverb.

1. Pick a body with a clear 200 Hz fundamental, tune it to the key (Drum Sampler transpose) — the snare note matters at 174 because it repeats 350 times in a track.
2. Layer a clap or crack sample, high-passed at 2 kHz. Rimshot layer at −10 dB for a 1 kHz click. All three in one choke group, all triggered by the same MIDI note (use a Drum Rack with the three pads receiving the same note via a Chord MIDI effect at 0 st, +1 st, +2 st, or just duplicate the notes).
3. Drum Buss: Transients +30 lengthens the attack; Crunch 15% adds high-frequency distortion. Saturator Hard Curve with Soft Clip flattens the peak so the snare can be 3 dB louder without clipping the master.
4. Reverb is a short plate (Hybrid Reverb Quartz, 0.5 s, pre-delay 10 ms) at 10% on a send; longer tails only on the last snare of a phrase (automate the send).

The sub: one sine, one note per bar, nothing else

DnB subs are almost pure sines playing long notes (whole bars or half bars) that follow the root. The mid bass does the movement; the sub provides weight and must be boringly consistent.

1. Operator, sine only, mono, Glide 30 ms for legato root changes. Envelope A 5 ms, D 0, S 1, R 60 ms. No filter, no LFO.
2. Write whole-note and half-note roots in F0–A0 (44–55 Hz). Leave 1/16 gaps before a root change so the sine doesn’t click; or use the Glide.
3. EQ low-pass at 120 Hz so the sub never reaches the mid bass range. A touch of Saturator Soft Sine adds the 2nd harmonic for small speakers.
4. Sidechain from the kick: Compressor, external sidechain, Ratio 3, Attack 1 ms, Release 60 ms, 3–4 dB GR. Short enough that the sub is back before the snare.

The Reese mid bass (Analog / Wavetable detuned saws)

The Reese is two detuned saws whose phase beating creates a slow, grinding movement — the sound of 90s techstep and modern dark DnB. Mono low, wide top, with a filter opening on each phrase.

1. Analog: Osc 1 Saw, Osc 2 Saw detuned +10 cents (increase to +25 for faster beating). Both into Filter 1, low-pass 12 dB/oct at 400 Hz, resonance 10%. Amp env A 10 ms, D 0, S 1, R 100 ms. Mono, legato.
2. Add 2–4 voices of Unison (Analog’s Unison or use Wavetable Classic unison instead) only if you want the ‘wide’ modern Reese; classic Reese is two oscillators, no unison.
3. Saturator Medium Curve 6 dB after the filter so the beating creates moving harmonics. EQ high-pass at 110 Hz; the sub below handles the fundamental.
4. Chorus-Ensemble in Ensemble mode at 15% for width, then Utility: Mono below 150 Hz (12.x Utility bass mono) and width 120% above.
5. Automate the filter cutoff 300 Hz → 2 kHz across 8-bar phrases, and resample the result to audio to chop it (bounce in place, then slice).

Jump-up ‘rubber’ and hoover bass (Wavetable + Roar)

Jump-up basses are bouncy, pitched, mono mid-basses with a bend on every note: a filtered saw or square with a fast pitch drop, and heavy FM or distortion for the ‘rubber’ snap.

1. Wavetable: Osc 1 Basics > Saw, Osc 2 Harmonics table at position 40%, Sub osc on (−12 dB). Mono, Glide 60 ms (the jump-up ‘wah’ bend).
2. Filter 1 MS2 low-pass, cutoff 300 Hz, resonance 35%. Mod matrix: Env 1 → Filter 1 cutoff +60% (Env 1: A 0, D 200 ms, S 0.2). Env 2 → Osc 1 pitch −12 st with a 40 ms decay for the knock.
3. Roar in Multiband routing: mid band Soft Sine 10 dB, high band Fold 6 dB, low band clean. Multiband Dynamics with upward compression (raise the ‘below’ thresholds) 30% for the OTT-like loudness.
4. Write 8th-note riffs in F0–F1 (44–87 Hz) with octave jumps; use the Live 12 Scale clip setting and the Glissando MIDI tool for automatic slides between phrase ends.

Liquid chords and pads: minor 9ths, short and sidechained

Liquid DnB uses jazz-derived chords (min9, maj7, sus) on electric piano or soft saws, played as short 8th-note stabs or sustained pads, always ducked by the kick and snare so the drums stay in front.

1. Write a 4-chord 8-bar progression in F minor using 4-note voicings in the C3–C5 range; keep the root out (the sub plays it). Use the Chord MIDI effect or Expressive Chords (12.2) with spread for instant voicings.
2. Electric: Tine model, Mallet force 40%, Pickup type W, Damper medium. Or Wavetable Basics > Saw with Unison Shimmer 4 voices and Filter 1 LP 3 kHz; or Meld with the Chord engine (12.2) for one-finger stacks.
3. Stabs: Note Length MIDI effect at 1/8 so every chord is short. Pads: sustain and sidechain from a ghost kick+snare track (Compressor, Ratio 4, Attack 1 ms, Release 150 ms, 4 dB GR).
4. Hybrid Reverb Tides or Shimmer at 25%, high-passed 400 Hz; Echo 1/4 dotted at 15% with Duck on.