B5 – Creating Musical Material Through Production

Introduction

We have been asked to create a piece of music for a late-night radio show aimed at 16–25-year-olds. I will document everything I do here, including any research and starting points leading to the finished piece of music being completed for the deadline of Monday 19th May 2025.

Plan

The plan for this project is to compose a song in the style of 2000s jungle. This style of jungle is very ambient, using old school synths and drum breaks. I plan to use various VST plugins to replicate the sound of the synths such as the Sega 93 Pad sample pack made by Chris the Scientist. This synth perfectly replicates all the sounds made by old school Rolands and Korgs. The break beats in jungle consist of chopped up RnB drum beats and fills. Some famous breaks include the Amen break, Think break and Calling break with the Amen break being one of the most used samples. For the sub bass or 808’s, I will use Vital as well as other sample as it will be the easiest. Some songs that inspired me are METAL TEETH by Trashii, She Returns by J Laze and Breathless by Nu:Tone. These songs all have the same style of pads and bass I want to replicate in my song. Each song is around 4-5 minutes long and has a tempo of around 160 BPM.

Log

To start this project, I have done some research into how to make Jungle Music. On YouTube I came across two videos by christhescientist where he explains what instruments and drum breaks to use and how to use them effectively in a song. In both videos he explains how producers would chop up drum breaks to make a unique beat. This method was used both in the 1990’s Jungle and 2000’s. How to make Jungle from the 90s How to make Playstation Jungle from the 2000s. By downloading the drum breaks from these videos, I can now start to use the drum breaks to create new ones.

I started my song with the tempo which is at 165 BPM. This is the tempo that most Jungle songs are produced in.

I used the files tab in Studio One to select the drum break that I wanted to use. To start, I used the Amen break which is one of the most sampled drum breaks in history.

I then used the snipping tool in studio one to chop up the Amen Break. I made 7 different varieties of drum break, however when chopping up the drums I didn't realise that all the drum hits were out of line with the grid. This made for a real sounding drum kit as mentioned in christhescientist’s videos where he programmed drums into a midi part and moved the start of the note forward or backwards up the timeline. I also transposed some of the snare hits in the drums as this is heard in most jungle songs and is a nice effect to have.

I have also used the Think break from the same sample pack to chop up and used to change the drum beat up so its not the Amen break the entire song, using the transpose option to add a nice effect.

In most Jungle songs, the bass the producers use is called an 808 bass. This is because it originated from a drum machine called the Roland TR-808. The drum machine became very popular amongst various artists. It is well known for its rich sub-bass which resonates at a specific frequency that dominates the low end spectrum.

For the ethereal pads and synth commonly found in "Playstation" Jungle, I will be using the Native Instruments VST Kontakt 7. This plugin offers a wide array of emulated instruments and synths. The instrument presets I will be using are the Ethereal Earth 2.0 and the Lofi Glow preset. I kept the Ethereal Earth 2.0 preset as standard without customising any of the settings as it sounded perfect. With the Lofi Glow preset, I change a few things in the FX tab such as changing out the effects that didn't sound quite right.

With all of the sound effects and sounds sort out, I started work on the structure of the song. I started with the intro using the Ethereal Earth 2.0 Preset playing 9th chords on the E Major Pentatonic scale. To make the 9th chords, I first played the note that I wanted (the first note of the first chord was E2), then made it into a chord by adding 2 more notes. To do this I needed to skip the next note in the scale (F#2) and draw in the next note (G#2). I used this formula of skipping every other note in the scale to achieve the 9th chord.

I then finished the rest of the sequence using the same 9th chord formula.

This sequence of chords is 16 bars long. After the 16 bars, I added in the 808 bass with an EQ and a Side-chained Compressor. I added the EQ because I wanted to make more space for other instruments. I also wanted to get rid of some of the initial hit of the 808.

The side-chained compressor leaves more room for the kick in the mix as the kick has the same amount of low end as the bass which could create clashing. This is where the compressor compresses the bass so the kick has enough low end space.

After another 16 bars, I added in the chopped up Amen break drums in variating patterns. This ensures the drums aren't too boring or repetitive.

Throughout these 16 bars, I have been adding some sound effects using the Kontakt 7, Lofi Glow instrument pack. This preset also has an Ethereal sound to it although it can't be used to make chords. Because it is a pluck sound, I have had to copy the first chord of the sequence down to the Lofi Glow track and move the notes back to arpeggiate the 9th chord. Using the Native Instruments, Raum Reverb, I can make this sound more spacious and ethereal.

With the reverb, I thought it might be messing up the mix slightly with the low-ends. To combat this, I add an FX Channel with identical reverb applied to it. This way I could add an EQ to the reverb to eliminate the low-ends.

To add a bit more depth and interest to the song, I added some sound effects to make the transitions between sections smoother. I used this specific riser from the christhescientist sample pack. I then reversed it to make a rewinding sound.

This is the next section of the song. It includes the chopped up Think Break. It also includes the Morning Star Pad from christhescientist's sample pack. It is another Ethereal pad sound that I based the search for the Ethereal Earth preset, trying to match the sound.

To create a chord sequence with the Morning Star pad sound, I changed the pitch of the second chord down one semitone, transposed by -1.

After this, I copied the sequence over and messed around with the Think Break a bit more, creating new patterns by incorporating automation and transposing. I used the snipping tool by pressing the number 3 on the keyboard to chop up the snare on the Think Break down to the 1/64th beat. This create an interesting sound that I had to automate the volume on as it got a bit repetitive and it was quite loud compared to the rest of the drum break.

After using more FX to transition to a different section, I went back to using the Amen Breaks. However, I continued using the Morning Star Pad sequence for another 16 bars before switching back to the Ethereal Earth pad sound.

The next section of the song is completely experimental. I used a sound effect from christhescientist's sample pack called the Ice Fall FX. It is an ethereal sounding pad, like the Morning Star pad. However, it's more of a minor sounding chord. It's creates a dark side to the song nearer to the end of the song.

To create a sequence like I did with the Morning Star Pad, I transposed one of the chords down by one semitone, transposed by -1, and another one of the chords down by four semitones, transposed by -4, to create a nice, dark chord sequence that contrasts the rest of the song.

As this section was more experimental, I wanted to try something new that I haven't done in a song before. I opened the Tempo Track and automated the tempo to slow down from 165 BPM to 120 BPM.

I also experimented with the drums, adding random drum hits throughout the 16 bars. To add more to the drums, I added an Analog delay that is automated to bypass so that it's not too overwhelming.

This section created a good outro to the song as it slowed down to a slower BPM. To finish the song, I didn't really want to just end it suddenly, so I added another Playstation sound effect to the end to give it a bit more of a trail so it's not so sudden.

Conclusion

This project was about creating a piece of music that would be played for a late night radio show aimed at 16-25 year olds. My reasoning for creating a 2000s Jungle track is that most people born in the 2000s will have memories of playing those PlayStation games with that genre of music playing in the background. If I were to do the project again, I would research more about Jungle. Throughout the project I have listened to many songs to gain inspiration and I wish I would have done that listening before I started so I would know different techniques to used. Overall the project has been a good way to gain more knowledge on Jungle and how to produce music in general. I have learnt a basic understanding on how to mix and master track and wish to expand on that knowledge for future projects.

I have uploaded my track to SoundCloud and YouTube down below.