How to Layer Liquid D&B Breaks (Ableton for Beginners)

Liquid Drum and Bass tutorial on Ableton for Beginners. Selective sequencing of breaks is essential to get clean, rolling breaks used for liquid drum & bass and other rolling sub-genres. I show you how to do this with a 4 simple steps in Ableton.
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You can download the original breaks here:
stranjah.ck.page/7e0d4cb749
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0:44 Hotpants Break
4:54 Pitch the Break
5:32 Adjust Decay & Sustain
6:07 EQ the Break
7:00 Think Break
8:52 Pitch
9:09 EQ
10:00 Grouping and Gluing

[@ASH-ou4cg]

Going to bed less stupid again Alan. For years, I have been hard quantizing all slices to 16th notes, without ever realizing that I was affecting groove and shuffle, by not leaving ghost notes alone. I am definitely going to have to watch this in the future and see if I can help bring a little more life to my drums. Thanks a lot for sharing, top points for you!

[@SerendipityForever]

Thank you Andrew, yes its all about leaving the ghost notes humanized. Although sometimes I do quantize it all for that super tight "clean" sound.

[@sndrcve]

Me too on the quantize

[@RAYSHIO]

I'm so lucky I found you ! Learning things from every tutorial.. Peace!

[@STRANJAH]

Thanks man, anything else you wanna learn in future videos?

[@RAYSHIO]

@@STRANJAH would love to learn how to work with white/pink noise. Mid/side processing would be great to learn. Making drums in Addictive Drums 2. Maan :D there's so many things I would love to learn from you.

[@HighMonkeyMonk]

Wow finally amazing tutorial on this! Thanks!!

[@CasualChrisMusic]

amazing tutorial

[@candyflip6345]

Thanks so much. These videos have added so much happiness to my life.

[@valhallaatmedawg6446]

Outstanding!

[@selrahc_dnb]

You have taught me so much in the past couple months. Thank you for the awesome content!

[@usercreepon]

This is one of the best tutorials I've watched for dnb slicing. Lots of great tips and super straight forward.

[@STRANJAH]

Thank you!!

[@davidwun8601]

Alan, great tutorial. Keep it up!

[@bigrick4905]

the info your sharing is gold. thanks

[@a2cmck66]

merci stranjah 🙏

[@jstuffco]

Excellent tutorial!

[@samjhudson]

Thank you so much for these liquid tutorials mate - as beginner (but long time fan of the genre) they have helped so much

[@tonkatim420]

Big up the one Stranjah. Thanks for continuing to share your knowledge and skills.

[@STRANJAH]

Thanks for the kind words, I'll try my best!

[@adrianthomas4163]

Man never thought about quantizing the 8th notes. Always wondered how I could modernize my breaks. Nice one.

[@STRANJAH]

Glad it helped for modern breaks!

[@GroovyD_ukg]

Been watching a lot of your tutorials recently and got to say they're some of the best on KZbin for the more underground styles. Thanks for sharing and keep doing your thing fam! 🌐

[@STRANJAH]

Thank you means a lot!

[@ReFuzaHizDENCH]

this channel has helped me up my game drastically learnt so much. Thanks mate keep the knowledge coming appreciate it!

[@rickyspanish4792]

Thank you this is exactly the type of breakbeat that I liked to make!

[@edglue6138]

Great vid dude. One love

[@enterthesloth]

Hey man! I've only been watching your vids for a few days now! I think it's amazing that you share your knowledge with the producer community!! Thanks a ton man!!!

[@STRANJAH]

Welcome aboard!

[@djlowtek]

Amazing as always. So appreciative for what you do!

[@STRANJAH]

I appreciate that!

[@12345ruck]

Great tutorial!!

[@STRANJAH]

Thank you!

[@jackgroves-brown8346]

love the videos please keep them coming!

[@STRANJAH]

Cheers, I will do my best!

[@stevenross5343]

This is amazing brother! Thank you!!

[@STRANJAH]

Thank you Steven!

[@AlexOzone]

Stranjah you are the man! Liking ALL your vids bro. be well and keep the knowledge flowing

[@anthonyblore1651]

For years I wondered how to get that tambourine shake. Everyone said it was the Hot Pants break. I bought it on CD, sampled it but couldn't get it to sound like this. Now I know. Cheers!

[@strayburn9595]

Another stellar video! I've always wanted to learn how to make breakbeats, and you're sooo helping me get there. Just phenomenal. Big, big thanks! On to the next one! :)

[@MahmoudFarchoukh]

Great video dude! Keep'em coming, keep inspiring!

[@STRANJAH]

Thanks man, glad you are liking these!

[@HoboeJoboe]

This is so smart man thankyou big up

[@kckc8582]

Awesome job dude ! thank's for the share and for my workflow.

[@STRANJAH]

You welcome kc!

[@NOopulence]

Love these videos as I would like to get into DnB production soon.

[@00akcarl]

Thank you so much you're so awesome man

[@damianjanik4403]

thx my master

[@jamesreynolds2190]

Thanks - never realised you could slice from samples in places.

[@TheLeekyFeeder]

These kinds of videos are brilliant. Thankyou. Would love similar types on drums in Logic as well. Same with creating bass lines and pads.

[@nepsun7083]

thank you very much sir! much appreciation for this!

[@STRANJAH]

Your welcome!

[@JordyBeckers]

dude, you're the man

[@STRANJAH]

cheers!

[@benongheen7636]

bro your genius

[@danielradford5452]

More drum groove videos please for liquid! Lenzmaan style!

[@stuierich]

Thanks so much dude- this is priceless info. And thanks for the sample download too

[@SerendipityForever]

You're welcome! I appreciate the kind words - my mission is to share the things I've learnt so hopefully others can use it to be successful.

[@stuierich]

@@SerendipityForever You've really helped me get the best start with ableton, I've found your channel so useful and informative.

[@STRANJAH]

Thank you that means a lot!

[@Niteshift56411]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For including the think & hotpants rx2 file! I'm new to using rex / recycle and was looking for a way to achieve the 16 slice midi loop. Guess I should have checked the description first? 🤣

[@Redbarreels]

Great Channel. thats how it is

[@STRANJAH]

Thank you!

[@azagedon]

5:52 you could put a max for live LFO on the decay so the hats are always different across the whole track too :)

[@gnuttz1972]

Thanks for the tutorial, absolute gold.. Could you recommend a glue compressor vst as i dont use Ableton? cheers

[@OG6BLOCC]

Yo! Love how tight u got that break

[@STRANJAH]

Yes 6Blocc! Glad you like that, and bigup you're an OG!

[@MangaNeutronic]

To think i was going to make something like this myself, but you already have so thanks :) i can share this to anyone asking me the same old thing lol Big ups for the vid dude!

[@STRANJAH]

I appreciate that man!

[@G8tr1522]

all these other foos making jungle tutorials on a quantized 16 step grid, and my boy here keepin it real and tellin us to keep in the humanization! this is the real tutorial for jungle/dnb! all those other tutorials give you the most basic sterile feel, this is how dnb is supposed to sound. Insta subbed. great job.

[@G8tr1522]

i also really like how you use the midi pattern like a mini-timeline of a drum break. I like arranging my slices like that to better visualize how to break it up and time the beats to get that jungle feel. Not enough tutorials show that technique. Ned Rush is the only other guy i can remember on youtube who does it like that. If anyone knows someone else who does their break slices like this, pls lemme know

[@STRANJAH]

yes exactly, gotta keep the groove

[@joshmobbs1263]

Quality! thank you. Do some more jungle videos please ")

[@nate-lc1tj]

great video big up a the massive booyakasha bop bop bop !!

[@cdskateboarding]

Really cool tutorial man thank you! One question, Do I need to worry about the tuning of the breaks in relation to the key of my project?

[@DjPrimeberry]

& Another 1!

[@johncitizen8828]

Awesome content, as always Alan. 👌 Here is an idea for your channel: collect all the content that relates to break chopping/editing into a playlist called ‘Breaks’ or similar. I know it’s content that a lot of people would be searching for, and it would be cool to have it all in one place. (Might help your YT algorithm, too, but I’m not an expert on that)

[@tabermandnb7210]

Fantastic tutorial! This is a very similar workflow I use and while I was aware of most of the process i picked up a bunch of the nuances for editing the break, specifically the quantizing of the ghost note yet being able to keep the original groove. As far as the core kick/snare samples, do you have and advice for finding any selecting solid kick/snare samples that work well with dnb? Any things to keep an eye out for when flipping through samples?

[@SerendipityForever]

Look for clean samples that aren't over processed - the over processed ones make it hard to fit in a groove, because they stand out. I'll do a video on how to make tight kicks and snares in a future video. Glad you liked the nuances of keeping the groove. Bigup Taberman!

[@shaunfraser2520]

Hey Stranjah - where did you get the Hotpants break from your tutorial? I'm using a dloaded sample from the orignial break but it's not as clean and difficult to extract the shaker. Thanks in advance!

[@georgeclaassen5063]

Hey man is there any way you could post the breaks as WAV files??

[@rokemsdrumandbass2787]

thank you soooo much for them breaks......I actually didn't see the link and spent ages manually slicing the hot pants break because I couldn't find it in rex file lol

[@SamuelPieters17]

@stranjah hi there really sick tutorial man big up! do u have a link for the hotpants break? :)

[@harveybaker823]

love this vid, would be interested to see if you could remake the bass from bladerunner - don't break it. seems really simple but can't quite get my head around it!

[@STRANJAH]

Thanks for the feedback. So I go through the bladerunner bass, which is originally the Ray Kieth bass here. You simply have to play an octave up at the end of the phrase to get those cool little bass jabs. Let me know if you have any luck. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5Xcd4ediKeWiLc

[@djkrptdnb]

The quintessential Hotpants tutorial - this has been missing from the world’s archives so thanks!

[@djkrptdnb]

Have been trying to accomplish this in Maschine for some time, now I know!

[@STRANJAH]

I'm thnking of a hotpants, funky drummer, think video!

[@danielmoore6469]

STRANJAH do it man! You got the vibe!

[@deelotube]

link is downfor the breaks download is there anyway i can get these stranjah!?

[@integrateaudio9675]

Is there any way we could get the rx2 file? Thanks for the hugely informative videos man, appreciated!

[@STRANJAH]

Yes its in the comments, let me know if you have any issues!

[@nigmata5173]

How do you get the RX2 files? What program is being used?

[@blindcamel6236]

How do you put the break into the sampler split at transient as seen on 0:46 ?

[@seanpage2850]

where can i get the ''think and hotpants'' breaks with rx2 files

[@TheBandzai]

where to download think break without voice?

[@AaronPayne_dnb]

But how much for that snare! Damn dude!! Loving the videos

[@STRANJAH]

I might just do a video about that one ;-)

[@shermanfunk]

What do you have to select to trigger the audio of the samples by scrolling over them in the sliced midi view?

[@shermanfunk]

nevermind I figured it out, click the little headphone icon in upper left above the key layout.

[@AnthonyI1997]

where is best place to find breaks to find breaks to use like this? thanks

[@krvyinit]

if u could go over drum sound selection in a video that would be really beneficial knowledge cos when i make dnb beats from scratch they sound alright but the drums aint sounding right like a break would

[@nathanbryers]

Man I gotta get me some rx2 files. I’ve used them before, but I don’t have a puter… Reason/propeller heads made them? Any (free) resources Yu know of?

[@kingpin463]

My good man is there any chance of you doin same vids but with FL 20?

[@STRANJAH]

I would need to get my hands on FL, will see!

[@kingpin463]

@@STRANJAH homie dnt worry bout I got me a copy of Serum now, so I'm all good, so I'm gon do the Ray Keith tutorial, make some kinda tune so you can hear when it's done... Thank u so much big homie👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾

[@yunusaysan8026]

I am using the "120_HOT_PANTS.wav" supplied by you (thanks btw) but it has significantly less energy compared to when you play the .rx in your youtube video. My level is at -24 db and yours is at -12 db approx. Why is this, have you already added some post-processing previously to your .rx file? Am curious because I am wondering if perhaps my DAW configuration is incorrect in regards audio setup. Great vid btw, amazing material!

[@theoracle7463]

Only discovered this recently when listening the whole of lyn collins - think but at around 2:21 just the tamborine is isolated

[@STRANJAH]

Yes best part!

[@JuleeP01]

nice vid mate how do u download the breaks its not downloading for me

[@STRANJAH]

weird not sure why mediafire link isn't working but you can try this dropbox link: tinyurl.com/liquidbreaks

[@JuleeP01]

@@STRANJAH its a blank file ?

[@JuleeP01]

@@STRANJAH got it working thanks your vids are a lot of help thanks again

[@STRANJAH]

@@JuleeP01 awesome glad you figured it out!

[@tobiascaltre8522]

yo can anyone tell me why my Hotpants Break sounds jumpy and rubbish after I slice to midi using warp markers

[@G8tr1522]

what the hell is that keyboard shortcut he uses at 7:33? that made the clip notes grayed out?

[@mattmaurer2297]

This may be a stupid question but... is there any downside to just slicing normal break WAV files to midi (at transients) instead of using the .rx files? I have like 200 breaks in WAV format and when I slice at transients, the MIDI notes are all exactly on the grid so I am worried I might be losing some of the natural Shuffle :\.

[@STRANJAH]

are you sure you are choose "Transiet" in the drop-down when you Slice to MIDI? The other way is to manual set the warp markers and then choose "Warp Markers" in the drop-down

[@cheesebaloni]

so how do I create REX files?

[@STRANJAH]

You need Propellerheads Recycle 2.0

[@Tom-gf9js]

awesome videos! any chance to share the project file of this one (as u did in the other video)?

[@STRANJAH]

Will think about it. I'm actually working on a liquid D&B project file that I'll be putting on sale sometime soon.

[@sudsoundpunkz8189]

Please make a Vid also for your bassline in massive to understand more Massive x... :-)

[@STRANJAH]

südsound punkz sure I’ll look into it. Maybe I’ll make a segment for bass and another one for other sounds so you can complete a liquid tune from beginning to end.

[@sudsoundpunkz8189]

@@STRANJAH thx man that will be great..👍

[@jstuffco]

YO stranjah! U ever heard of Ableton crashing when trying to slice RX2 files to MIDI? It's driving me nuts!

[@vortexchilling3816]

You did not talk about wether or not to warp the original break

[@simaoski5560]

the hot pants link is down :(

[@kimfarrell6125]

Yep I just tried to download the breaks files deleted :/

[@fearofaflatearth]

Modernize = kpop

[@zublits]

I don't like how you always use pre-cut breaks in these videos. What if I want to start from a raw audio file of a break? A tutorial from soup to nuts would be way more useful for actually making music.

[@fearofaflatearth]

Nothing says "I hate people" like a gas powered leaf blower 😂 y'all aren't doing nothing. 😂

[@tangoteflon1050]

thank you so much for your videos,theyre like on point of what i need right now.Just gave you a follow here and on insta too.