MusicRadar

Freestylers are legends of the breakbeat scene.

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Combining elements of hip-hop, house, funk, reggae and techno, breakbeat has become an extremely popular dance music genre. MusicRadar presents some tricks of the trade…

1. Noodle-friendly synths such as Cakewalk’s Z3TA+ offer multiple LFO sync options. The tempo sync aligns the oscillator to the track regardless of the notes’ timing, meaning it will always peak at the same position no matter where the notes are placed (think Pendulum vs The Freestylers' Fasten Your Seatbelt). This produces a different feel to that created by using the Speed control to find the correct tempo. Try experimenting with these two approaches, as well as the phase and wave shapes.

2. If you’re a hardcore breaks head it’s likely you’ll need a big spanking hoover sound at some point. Though most synth preset designers have caught onto the joys of the hoover, it’s easy enough to create one yourself. Simply detune as many sawtooth waves as you feel comfortable with and apply a low-pass filter. If the mood takes you, add a little tasteful overdrive (try experimenting with the effect’s frequency controls, if any) and you’re good to go.

3. The classic hoover is a versatile sound. With a short release time it makes a handy stab, and with a little glide you can create big, Aquasky-style, trouser-rattling riffs. EQ the bass end up high - as long as it doesn’t interfere with any other bass playing at the same time.

4. As great as they are on their own merits, hoover sounds can be made more individual (they are somewhat ubiquitous, after all) with the addition of different wave shapes and a bit of extra processing – particularly degradation effects such as a good bit crusher plug-in. Apply too much degradation, however, and your sound will turn to mush – although this can actually come in handy when bringing in a breakdown, for example, or at any point in a track where you want to twist things up a little.

5. To get a nice full frequency spread, layer multiple drums of the same type. You’ll want a full kick drum in there (a 909, for example), but not too loud or it’ll overwhelm the track.

6. If your synth's got wave shapes aplenty, try using something more exotic than a sine wave when creating a sub-bass. You’ll need a bit of low-pass filtering to keep it around the fundamental frequency, but with a bit of headroom to let those harmonics through. To add punch, apply some resonance and change the filter slope setting – just watch those bass-bins, though.

7. Once you’ve programmed in your new beat, try changing the pitch – pitching breaks down often makes them sound tougher.

8. If you’re not lucky enough to have the latest knob-encrusted MIDI controller, take solace in the fact that your keyboard’s modulation control makes for a handy substitute, despite the fact that you can only vary one parameter at a time. Try tying it to the filter cutoff frequency in your favourite synthesizer – you'll find that it's much more satisfying than drawing in automation by hand or with your mouse. It's also more conducive to generating new ideas because you can play the keyboard at the same time as making your moves.

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