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Dubstep grew out of UK garage.

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6. Progressive basslines
UK bass-driven styles are notoriously fond of basslines that progress over an octave. This can be played out slowly over bars, played consistently quickly, or simply used as a flourish at the end of each four- or eight-bar section, but it's a surefire way to make sure even an aspiring urban novice can inject some authenticity into their tracks.

7. Wave editor
Anything that grunges up samples is useful in dubstep, and one of the best ways to do this is to use your wave editor (whether in your DAW or a separate program) to reduce sample rates and bit rates, thus reducing the audio quality. Just keep in mind that this can have an effect on a sound's attack, so you might need to edit the sample too.

8. Keep it real
Part of the charm and character of dubstep is that it's not the most polished or overly processed sound, which means that it's ideal for those on a budget. Search the net for free synths and effects, as these can often be more convincing than overly smooth and polished high-end commercial plug-ins.

9. Stutter is good
Stuttering effects are a staple in UK urban styles and fit well with dubstep rhythms. There are plenty of plug-ins you can strap across the master output (Audio Damage Replicant and Live's Beat Repeat for example) and apply to the last beat of every two bars, but you can even just manually chop up your bounced loop and sequence the stutter.

10. Keep things simple
Dubstep isn't particularly processing-heavy, so if you find yourself applying ten plug-ins to every channel, you're probably working with the wrong sounds. Keep things simple. Delay, compression, limiting and reverb are the order of the day.

11. Take the tail off
When you're sampling sounds and synths from other tracks, you'll often find them liberally coated with reverb. In this case, it's usually best to leave the reverb tail off your own samples, as these will be adjusted to fit the original track and so will often tail off too soon, interfering with any reverb you add.

12. Keep things breezy
We've said it before, but really try to keep things simple. Dubstep grooves need space to breathe, so if your bass is busy, keep your beats sparse, and when your bass slows or drops, try ramping up the number of drum parts playing. That way you always keep things grooving without losing the energy.

13. Up the octave
Whatever kind of bassline or musical riff you have playing, a great dubstep trick is to let the last bar of every four or eight play one whole octave higher. Riffs also benefit from alternating between playing ascending and descending patterns, and vice versa. Ascending then descending within a two-bar loop is pretty effective, too…

14. There are no rules
Most important of all, feel free to ignore all of our advice - these are only guidelines. Do be sure to have a good listen to the genre before you start re-inventing dubstep, though.

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