In this instalment by Drum and Bass technician Icicle, you'll receive a rigorous and meticulous course, giving you a thorough insight into his methodical approach to drum and bass production and sound design in Native Instruments Maschine. Constructing a track from the initial sound design through to arrangement and mastering, you'll learn professional techniques from one of the world's most technically-minded DnB producers.

Jeroen Snik aka Icicle is a household name in the electronic music scene, having released on some of drum and bass’s most renowned labels, including Hospital Records, Critical Music and Shogun Audio. His 2011 debut album ‘Under the Ice’ received widespread critical acclaim, and this was followed up in 2015 by ‘Entropy’, topping DnB charts worldwide and spawning the Entropy Live tour, an audio-visual experience like no other! Icicle has always been hugely respected for his intricate sound design and meticulous production, which has won him plaudits across the globe and cemented his place as one of DnB’s biggest names.

Starting with the core elements, Icicle designs the drum parts, giving a thorough explanation of Maschine's different drum engines, before creating an entirely original drum sample to slice and resequence. Next, he creates the bass, taking great care to carve a hole for the drums using specific processing techniques. Moving onto the leads and pads, Icicle precisely contours the sound to express his musical idea before moving on to arranging and mastering the track. Throughout the course, Icicle demonstrates how he integrates the Maschine hardware to give him immediate, hands-on control of the many parameters available in Maschine. 

Available to stream immediately and unlimited after purchase, the course includes almost two and a half hours of precision tutorials and two bonus modules covering additional sound design skills in Maschine, as well as 2 Maschine projects, 7 Groups from the course, and 100MB of bonus DnB samples courtesy of Loopmasters. Check out the trailer and sample module now!

Course Track:

Sample Module:

Modules:

Module 1: Designing the Kick

In the first module, Icicle gives a detailed explanation about designing and layering kick drum sounds, giving a methodical description of Maschine's many drum parameters.

Module 2: Designing the Snare

Continuing the drum parts, you'll learn about the different Maschine drum engines in the layering of a powerful snare sound and how to apply precision processing to the combined snare.

Module 3: Designing the Hi-Hats

Next, Icicle moves onto the other parts of the drums, starting with the hi-hats. He begins by creating an initial sound, before adding a side-chain compressor, EQ and transient shaper to give the hi-hats remarkable clarity.

Module 4: Creating an Original Drum Sampler

In module 4, Icicle starts by applying some precision buss processing, then resamples the drum break into Maschine's Sampler and sets it up for slicing and resampling to create a completely original drum sound. He applies additional processing, adding power to the sound, and creates the first drum break. 

Module 5: Layering Additional Percussive Elements

In this module, you'll learn how to add additional, unique percussive sounds to the drums. With great care, Icicle meticulously layers these additional elements adding excitement to the track.

Module 6: Creating the Bass

In Module 6, Icicle starts on the melodic elements of the track. Starting with the sub bass, he gives a thorough insight into using NI Massive to create a deep and powerful sub sound. 

Module 7: Sidechaining the Bass

In this module, Icicle adds a sidechain to the bass, showing how to apply effects to groups, carving a hole for the drums which keeps them sounding punchy and powerful.

Module 8: Shaping the Lead Sounds

In Module 8, you'll see how to quickly process lead sounds from Icicle's Loopmasters pack. He adds various FX and filters to contour the sound precisely, adding the parameters as macros for hands-on control ready for automation. 

Module 9: Automating and Editing the Leads

Continuing from the previous module, Icicle demonstrates how to add evolving automation to the lead sound, using the hardware, extending his musical idea and beginning to shape the distinctive sound of the track.

Module 10: Adding Pad Textures

In Module 10, Icicle adds the pads, creating several progressive sequences which add a futuristic sounding atmosphere to the track. Using Maschine's built in arpeggiator, these evolving sounds fill out the track, adding movement and enriching the sound.

Module 11: Beginning the Arrangement

Before starting the arrangement, Icicle adds FX and features sound including crashes, noise and risers, demonstrating how to precisely integrate the sounds in Maschine. Next, he begins the arrangement, methodically working through the different parts adding variations. 

Module 12:  Arranging the Track

In Module 12, Icicle goes into detail as he creates the different sections of the track. He creates variations in sound, instrumentation and automation to give each section a distinct flavour, taking the listener on a musical journey.

Module 13: Mixing, Mastering and Completing the Track

In the final module, Icicle demonstrates his mastering chain, giving a thorough explanation of what, why and how he processes the final mix. He uses a variety of plugins to EQ, Compress and Limit the track, with playing out to the club always in mind.