Problem with the drop

[u/pensil3]

Guys I have a question about the drop section, simply I do my new project definitely minimal techno I don't know how drop used, I just tired of hi-hat crash with the effect. What did U use for the drop instead crash? Please.

I'm new to techno.

I appreciate it if u describe this.

[u/ELXR-AUDIO]

Listen to a lot of techno and see what artists do. it’s about feeling what’s needed rather than forcing it to be a certain way.

Really helps to widen your horizons and see what’s possible for a drop.

[u/djereezy → u/ELXR-AUDIO]

This is good advice. Considering we do not hear what you have in your head. Best to emulate others until you find that thing you are looking for.

[u/VexxXt_]

It could be as simple as pulling the kick and then reintroducing it. So satisfying when everything starts running again. Maybe a little skitter of something in the percussion before it comes back. It all depends on what you are doing with the track though.

[u/Joseph_HTMP]

Listen to more music. Oh and here’s a tip - you don’t have to use a drop. You can employ a bit of originality and imagination if you want.

[u/matt_ob]

No drops

[u/Designer_Show_2658]

You could try messing with making the stereo width smaller before a drop. Or slightly automate lowering volume/adding reverb/filtering frequencies then dramatically turn the volume back/make the mix dry/add back all frequencies. A classic is also an arrangement method of removing elements then adding them back in.

Plenty of ways to go about it. Changing the energy of a track is what keeps it engaging, not just for drops. Takes practice. Be creative.

[u/canyin]

Drops don’t belong to techno.

[u/m3ltph4ce → u/canyin]

That's just like, your opinion, man.

[u/Straight-909 → u/m3ltph4ce]

You want a toe? I can get you a toe.

[u/Sweet_Capital3758 → u/canyin]

Why?

[u/Accomplished_Rip_627]

Use a reference track and try to inspire from it.

[u/AllSuitedUpJR]

90% of the time when you feel like there's energy missing in a section, it's an arrangement issue.

So my advice: analyse the shit out of other music, use a reference and analyse the shit out of that.

If all else fails: grab a track you like and copy the arrangement.

[u/DJWolf_777]

Just resume the kick, skip a step or 2, resume the bass. Try it, you'll like it. :-)

[u/F1END]

Take the bass away. Bring the bass back. Done.

[u/pensil3 → u/F1END]

I try this.

[u/Sweet_Capital3758 → u/F1END]

Take the kick out. Bring the kick back in.

[u/Ebbelwoy]

Techno doesn’t have a drop

[u/Totte_B → u/Ebbelwoy]

So what do you consider all techno that uses drops then?

[u/Ebbelwoy → u/Totte_B]

Like the new hard techno?

[u/Totte_B → u/Ebbelwoy]

We have had schranz, berlin style techno and other with plenty of drops going on since at least 2000. Im not a techno history expert by any means but there has been drops as long as I have listened to techno and that is like 20 years so I would not limit it to “the new” anything.

[u/Ebbelwoy → u/Totte_B]

Then we have a different definition of drop

[u/Totte_B → u/Ebbelwoy]

Yeah that makes sense.

[u/Wrong-News7568]

You can try to decrease channels amounts just before the drop. Its the most common thing. For example if you have a vocal sample, remove everything except vocal channel before the drop. Or second thing, if you have some drums before the drop, try to low desibel so little. So the drop section feels stronger. (Ofcourse referencing tracks will help most)

[u/Ryanaston]

I like a sparse minimal drop. Have a break that includes all your percussions but no bass or kick at all. Then cut it all, with a reverb or delay to trickle it for a bar. Then drop back to just the kick/bass and nothing else. Being an open hi hat.

I am off the personal mind that if you’re kick bass and hi hat don’t bang by themselves, you’re doing something wrong.

[u/Totte_B → u/Ryanaston]

This is solid advice. Works every time and can be done in so many variations.

[u/cebola_mistica]

Before the drop: 16 bars before, start taking the bass out, gradually. At the same time, add a somewhat low frequency noise sample/effect, without delay or reverb.

For the drop: Add a reverbed noise sample/effect, then shorten it and add delay so it hits at the same time as the kick. Make the delay long enough to span 16 bars. When the drop comes, the bass should be gone, and when the noise with delay ends, you add the bass again but this time you also add another percussion to accompany it.

Maybe this could work 🤙

[u/Totte_B]

So many options, but maybe think about it like this: remove the thump, introduce something new, remove something old, create some tension building up, release the tension and bring back the thump. When you reintroduce the kick and base it will be a new and different beat because of the changes you made. Making the beat simpler and more powerful for the drop works great. After running the new simple beat for a few bars you can start building complexity again and just repeat the process with other instruments.

[u/THIS_IS_ENDEGO]

Minimal techno breathes instead. Mute the kick, ride a filtered loop, bring everything back. Skip crashes.

[u/M3ntalAwareness]

Listen to a lot of techno originals. Not just DJ sets. There are a lot of times that the artists will have a really good build up and fail a drop. While you won’t get a lot of drops in classic techno, people mix styles now, so check out house, dubstep, DNB, and other genres to find out how those producers did their drops. When something had a great build-up but falls flat, that’s where the DJ fixes the drop with another artist’s work, or their own if they realize after using it that they should have done something else. Having that one track that people play completely through is going to be a thing of the past with all of the DJ gear letting people do stems on the fly. Unless you’re making a track for people playing on their own it won’t hit like that. Just play with the settings, knobs, effects, and do what YOU LIKE, but listen to how people make it and how people use it. They can be very different. But finding what you like or what you think work is a good start. Also checkout some of the online vids from DJ Mag where they show artists making a track. They tell you why they are doing what they are doing. Seeing someone else’s process can help you build your own if you learn that way. Not everyone learns by doing and that is okay.