The Drop has become one with EDM music. Who doesn’t love a tension filled buildup that builds and builds until we just about can’t take anymore – and we need the… ahem’ release. It’s sort of the big tease before the main show. A massive buildup followed by a dope drop can make the audience go crazy and “put their f#&*ing hand’s up.”
Heres a few techniques that will help you produce better buildups and drops.
The Foreplay (A.K.A. The Buildup)
Since the drop is your tracks’ cats meow, it’s important to create lot’s of tension in your buildups. Think about being on a roller coaster. The buildup is the part where the cart starts to climb the hill until it reaches the highest point and then the drop is what (for lack of better words) the drop is. With your buildup be sure to create enough tension as though your audience was on a HUGE roller coaster in order for the drop to be effective.
So in order to have create a lot of tension from strong buildups, try introducing new elements slowly throughout this section.
Here are some element I probably would consider putting into my buildup:
- Snare rolls: Usually two different snare sounds and patterns on top of another. Sometimes, gradually increasing the velocity values as the track builds hitting on every beat. This helps creae the tension we want. For the second snare roll I’d usually like to pick the speed with roughly 8-bars left in the section. So the snare would go from a quarter note to a sixteenth note and then go super fast hitting at thirty-second notes into a big snare hit (with lots of reverb).
- Snare rolls: Put a nice BIG live sounding clap on every beat. This gets the crowd into the buildup and clap along. Also create good tension because all this clapping has to lead to something 😛
- Element Stutters: Another trick would be to take a small clip of a vocal or synth part that’s featured during the other parts of the song and use an 16th note stutter pattern that gets repeated with some tape stops. Also try pitch-shifting the sound as your buildup builds.
- Noise sweeps: Use a white noise sweep opening up over 16 bars. Try adding some side-chain to get a nice sweep that matches the rythms of your track. Use our kick to control the sidechain or use a plugin like Waves OneKnob Pumper.
- Synth risers: This would usually consist of a single whole note held for the entire buildup section building in volume and pitch. Think about adding some spreader effects to create width. Also think about using a Flanger to add in some movement. Take a look at this tutorial we did showcase a Nicky Romero synth riser. It showcases all the elements you need to create a nice tension filled synth riser.
The Drop (time to get… crazy)
Simply put, “the drop” is the part of a track where the crowd goes absolutely crazy! Drops usually consists of a kick, bassline and some sort of lead for the melody. It’s typically very minimal yet this is the part of the song everyone loves the most. In other words its EDMs chorus. The drop typically follows the breakdown/buildup section of a track.
Keeping the drop minimal is important to separate it from the buildup. Especially, if your buildup has a lot of sounds. It’s a good release and break for the listener.
People just want to jump and dance to the beat so try not to confuse them by making your drop too cluttered. Keep it simple for at least the first 8-16 bars and then you can gradually introduce elements like live hall claps, some percussion to match the bassline, synth risers, etc.
How to transition effectively
So we know what the drop and buildups should have but what about how to transition from one into the other? An easy yet effective way would be to build up (in the buildup) to a crazy high peak (where your song is the most busy) and then have everything cut out for it least 1/2 bar -1 bar before the drop hits. Be sure to include a big impact sound at the start of your drop. That’s a recipe for a hit record!
Let us know some of your favourite buildup/drop techniques in the comment below.