The Build Up and The Drop

So when I first started looking into using my Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), I watched a lot (I mean a lot) of YouTube videos. There are hundreds of dozens of video tutorials out there about almost anything you'd want to do with your DAW. But one thing I noticed, was that a lot (not all) were for Electronic Dance Music (EDM). I watched them anyway, they always had something in there to learn from.

The Secret Ingredient

So recently I was mixing one of my songs, and it sounded good - but it was not something that you'd hear on Spotify or from a professional commercial metal band. It was missing stuff, a lot of stuff - and the big question for me was - what was that stuff.

The Build Up

I had a quick search yesterday on YouTube, as I had heard EDM audio guys talk about "The Drop" all the time. And at first I thought it was an EDM thing, nothing that I should worry myself about. But when I realised that my own music was missing something, "The Build Up" and "The Drop" sprang to mind.

Tool, The Grudge

I was just listening to Tool's "The Grudge" - I wanted to see if and how they use these kind of effects. For the first 40 seconds, nothing stands out. But then you hear it coming from the background and it peaks at around 1:00 just as the vocals start. It's very subtle.

Tool, Vicarious

Another Tool song, "Vicarious". Again, you hear an alarm clock slightly come in at 1:14, very short, very quick - a bit of a taster. But it comes nice and strong second time around at 1:36.

Common Methods

There seems to be a wide variety of ways you can do this background build up. Having a quick look around on YouTube a few common methods seem to stick out. The Ultimate Guide to Build-ups was a good read, and these videos by Tom Cosm are excellent.

Tom Cosm Creating 3 Whooshing Build Up Noises in Ableton Live

Tom Cosm Walk-thru of breakdowns and build ups

Types of Build Ups

This is by no means a definitive list, but some that I've heard, or combinations of, so far.

• The Whoosh
• White Noise
• Sawtooth Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO)
• Light to heavy reverb
• Silence / Minimalism
• High Pass/Low Pass Filtering
• Pitch delay
• Alternative Rhythms
• Everyday objects (e.g. alarm clock)
• Reverse reverb
• Guitar Feedback

And ...

So what have I done with this new found knowledge? Well, I've been playing around with a few bits. This is the work in progress song I've been working on. The mixing isn't the greatest (I'm still learning) and it's definitely not mastered, so it won't blow your mind.

This is the intro to the song.

One build up using a reversed snare hit reverb.

The is a sweeping filter (low to high) with a square wave left/right LFO towards the end.

I hope you enjoyed this post. As usual, any questions, comments or suggestions - let me know via the blog or Facebook.