The extensive set of tutorials takes you from the initial beat construction, right through to final mixing and mastering of a heavy Dubstep track, including numerous composition, arrangement and sound design techniques along the way.

The course is brought to you by FracTroniX, the producer behind the eclectic, bass-driven vibes of Metaphra and the upfront, experimental drum and bass of Defazed. Check out the track made on the course on Producertech's Soundcloud page below.

The course comes complete with the Logic Project created in the lessons so you can see exactly how everything is done and therefore truly get to grips with every technique explored in this in-depth set of lessons. There are also over 100MB of bonus hits and loops from 2 quality Loopmasters Dubstep Sample Packs.

Module Details

1. Module 1 - Introduction

This lesson provides an introduction to the Logic Project created and developed throughout the course, showing all of the components that make it up. Then, the drums are explored in greater detail, with each individual track being introduced and played in isolation, to help better understand the role it plays.

2. Module 2 - Sample Selection and Basic Sequencing

This lesson shows the various considerations when choosing different drum samples for a dubstep track, using a spectral analyser to help visualise each choice. Then, the samples are sequenced into a simple 4-bar break.

3. Module 3 - Adding Percussion, Fills, Reverse Samples and Balancing the Levels

This lesson fills out the drum break with some additional percussion sounds, showing how they're selected and sequenced. Then, a drum fill from Logic's library is added, which is sliced up and rearranged. Reverse samples are added to make the break flow, and finally the levels are adjusted to improve the mix.

4. Module 4 - Adding Effects and Creating a Submix

This lesson looks at how to process the individual drum tracks, largely with compression and EQ, to eliminate problems and improve the sound. Then, send FX are added to create extra depth, and finally a submix track is made, allowing all the drums to be processed and mixed on their own separate mixer track.

5. Module 5 - Creating Bass Patches with ES2

This lesson gives an overview of ES2, showing how it can be used to create some simple but fat-sounding bass patches on multiple tracks, including the reese bass, fat square and band-pass square.

6. Module 6 - Advanced Bass Patch Editing with ES2

This lesson gets more technical with each of the patches, setting up some interesting modulation of the filters and pitch, to provide even more variation to each of the bass sounds. A wobble performance preset is made out of the fat square patch, the reese patch is modulated by an LFO with changing rate to create a 'shakedown' preset, and a more human-sounding 'talking' bitcrushed bass is constructed by modulating the blend of digital waveforms on ES2.

7. Module 7 - Sequencing the Bass

This module shows how the bassline is created by playing and drawing in MIDI regions for each of the bass parts and then editing them in various ways to create a gnarly sequence. Automated filter sweeps and pitch slides are added and the mix is enhanced through the addition of bus compression and distortion effects.

8. Module 8 - Mixing and Processing the Bass

This lesson teaches how to improve the mix, by making adjustments to the levels and frequencies in each bass part using EQ and sidechain compression, as well as closely examining the stereo width. Then, further processing is applied to individual bass frequency bands, through more stereo imaging and a reverb send effect. Finally, a sub bass track is added to fatten up the bottom end.

9. Module 9 - Working out the Structure and starting the Intro

This movie gives an overview of how the main drums and bass have evolved since the last lesson, then begins to work on the structure and main sections of the track, using Logic's marker strip to divide the bar ruler into segments. Then, audio regions are consolidated and various drums are pasted across and edited to begin building the Intro.

10. Module 10 - Developing the Intro

This lesson shows how to construct the Intro for the track, by first creating a lead melody, and then making a pad patch, both with ES2. These parts are then processed with various effects to help them evolve and lead up to the breakdown, and various drums are added to help the track build.

11. Module 11 - More Intro development and creating the first Breakdown

This lesson beefs up the Intro with more melodic parts, which help add atmosphere and interest to the start of the track. Then, various FX sounds are created, including impacts, risers and noise sweeps, to help ease the transitions between sections and create extra tension. Finally, the drums are sequenced to arrange the lead up to the first drop. See an excerpt of this module below:

12. Module 12 - Finishing the Arrangement

In this last lesson, the bass parts are edited and resequenced to create some new variations to the main 16-bar groove, which incorporate different synths and accompaniment that lead up to the second Breakdown. The movie ends by embellishing the second Breakdown and Drop, and then creating the track Outro.

13. Module 13 - Adding Sub Bass Drops, Incidental Effects and Movement to Sweep FX

After going through the changes to the Logic Project made throughout the course, the lesson goes on to show how to make final improvements and adjustments to the arrangement. These include adding sub bass drops for further impact at the start of certain sections, adding FX sounds to enhance the texture of the mix and create more interest, and using the Tremelo insert to produce a pseudo sidechaining effect on the sweep FX to add more movement and dynamic excitement.

14. Module 14 - More Sidechain Compression and Parameter Automation

This module covers how to further tweak the mix by adding sidechain compression to one or two parts, to help sounds become less flat and work more with each other. Then, all of the transitions throughout the arrangement are checked, to hear where volume, filter or other effects automation is required.

15. Module 15 - Finishing the Mix

This last mixing lesson shows how to make final adjustments to the each track, to ensure the mix is exactly where it needs to be. Levels are modified and EQ changes are applied, as well as some additional insert and send effects added, to make sure parts are standing out enough or not jumping out too much, and each sound is just right.

16. Module 16 - Mastering

This lesson shows how to master the final mix. Firstly, the submix tracks are saturated with an overdrive effect, then a metering plug-in is used to view the waveform of the output mix. Multipressor is then added, to get full control over the different bands of frequencies in the mix, and two limiters (adaptive and normal) are used to get the level nice and loud. Once mastered, a final bounce of the track is done.

Please note: whilst this course is taught in Logic Pro 9, the techniques described are applicable to any version of Logic Pro.