How To Make A Friction Track

Brighton drum and bass producer Friction, aka Ed Keeley, exploded onto the scene in the late '90s and has been a mainstay of the genre ever since. Releasing projects on celebrated labels such as True Playaz, Hospital Records and Renegade Hardware and founding his esteemed imprints Shogun Audio and Elevate Records, Keeley is a true drum and bass heavyweight.
We met up with Keeley at his studio so he could take us through the nuts and bolts of building a frenetic D&B tune and the producer came through with some invaluable insights.

[@G3NBAS]

nice behind the scenes, happy to see some dnb here!

[@BluSaphirMusic]

G3NBAS g

[@ilcapitano9915]

dnb is life

[@alexanderpaschalis4795]

I miss his radio show at BBC.

[@simiqz]

rene got it locked

[@yolosubmarine]

I still miss Fab and Groove

[@MinKziOG]

@FACTmagazine A video from Benny L would go down a treat if you could make it happen.

[@bewhereyouareimhere6425]

Serum or blade runner or voltage would be ever better 😮😮

[@MinKziOG]

@@bewhereyouareimhere6425 Seeing any of the Souped up lot do a vid would be quality

[@aduken762]

IanGC Benny never reveals his secrets😂

[@1234321mike1234321]

Paradox would be great.

[@jamielynch8267]

Young Saint Laurent a culture vulture and a thermionic kite and a slate dragon compressor all of them boys use them, hope it helps 😊

[@JIACIKx]

This is really insightful and helpful, and friction is very good at explaining about what hes doing and thinking! Makes me want to go and produce something

[@dylanreece7991]

You're so right, i would happily watch any tutorial he did.

[@ItsFrenzy26]

Actual drum and bass like this is just so beautiful.. At 10:20 it's just so nice as it is Friction was my favourite DJ back when I was into DJ'ing.. His set from innovation in the dam in around 07-08 or something has been a favourite of mine for years but I havn't been keeping up, I've missed so many sets.. Some of the mixes and selection on that dam set are just too nice though

[@skunk26355]

This is the best production tutorial i have seen in 2 years. 20minutes. Thanks Friction.

[@oneiione]

it’s so cool to watch the process of making a dnb track.. i’m attempting my own tracks/mixes but i don’t have the hang of it yet. this is so inspiring though

[@morgengabe1]

"Some basic white noise... Woulda made it in serum... Filter with a little bit of pitch" lol man

[@naught101]

Going from a loop to a full arrangement with something like this would make an awesome tutorial... Never seems to happen anywhere.

[@thedeannn]

Check out Stranjah. He just made two

[@naught101]

@@thedeannn Hah, yes, i just watched those last night, and they're great. I commented as such on the first one :)

[@jearl961]

18:32 "focus on my levels", proceeds to whack fader to max to ensure constant clipping in the red.

[@brentgoodwin3133]

Big up to Friction for showing us some insight. But I wish the producers would do more with the sound design aspect and musicality more than just the arrangement. I think everyone can hear the arrangement pretty well and there are loads of videos with small details like that.

[@kingnathh]

Honestly mate that was quality. Big ups

[@lastnamefirstname8224]

Very informative on the amount of layers he uses. I feel that's where I struggle a lot. My stuff always seems hollow and empty with just a few layers and its hard to fill it up. Also love the way he says CHUNE and licks his thumb when he uses the midi lmao

[@mutosonus4460]

Love you Friction! What a talent!

[@AtommHD]

Loving the vibe on this track. Not a big DnB fan...Appreciate this and the process. Thumbs up on this one

[@dullastonishment]

Love videos like this! Big up Friction.

[@jbaby007]

This is great to see. I love hospital records and was on a dnb binge yesterday. I was thinking about making some dnb. It was nice to see his process. Thanks guys!

[@DJL3igh]

Should check this guys label Shogun Audio if you don't know already ✌🏻

[@Unders]

Not seen Ed for aaaages! Nice one FACT an good video

[@zachmaguire7799]

i had no idea making edm was that easy!!

[@freddie7981]

LOL not edm

[@simonmedia7]

Homie, in Logic you can mark all the tracks you want to go to a bus and just do it to one of them. If they are all marked, it will apply it to them all. Great vid!

[@ellmango]

i saw friction at womb in tokyo in december and it was so solid

[@TehRc3]

Love these videos! Very inspiring and it also teaches us the simple approach to making a track can be the most sufficient! DNB DRILL & TECHNO PLZ

[@achamania]

Thank you. It was very helpful. Useful for my track production.

[@junedsl6239]

наконец то крутой музыкант! почаще таких бы!

[@aduken762]

Friction is a god tier producer/DJ

[@Eddie-rf4tp]

Always interesting to see different work flows

[@frankodontstop]

Shout out to the Axiom 25! I love it. I've been using it for 6 years.

[@machinelearning4376]

I got one too❤️

[@Unamatrix01]

Outstanding and quite informative for this longtime DnB listener.

[@allpurposeshampooandbodywash]

So just drag some loops into a DAW, got it

[@keendnb]

Nice one friction, good work flow.... Big up Brighton!

[@bugatjixl4789]

Friction!!! Love his tracks

[@TheLeekyFeeder]

Great Video and a legend in the game. Thanks More like this please!!

[@JerettFranklin]

So happy to see a dnb tutorial instead of another trap or rap tutorial

[@DarraghRedmond]

Nice 💥🥊. At last something descent to watch... I Enjoyed that

[@s-b6218]

Snare is awesome

[@liviupopd]

Best explained tutorial on dnb so far

[@diegocostaonline]

im not the biggest fan of dnb but this dude made an awesome track quickly!

[@michaelhanley7112]

Respect to Friction really cool :)

[@ZoldarMusic]

this was super inspiring!

[@jon-paulgrainger1303]

Friction a true junglist. Some awesome tips there bud from a highly respected source. Peace.

[@H8TODNB]

would be amazing to see someone from Souped up on here in future! Quality video by the way

[@kyleog17]

love the idea at 17:00 about splitting up the parameters to individual plug ins.

[@itchydez]

Ahhh! KZbin's recommendations sometimes get it right!

[@guillaumed4145]

This track is so good!!

[@dylanstevenson314]

More of these please

[@13DNBNGAMING13]

That tune sounds so familliar I like it

[@WIKTOGRIZZLY]

Very interesting! Good job! Thank.👍

[@jaakunt5898]

awesome footage.

[@n8zdagreat]

What Mac and DAW is he using please?

[@SuperJoshi]

Brilliant video.

[@michaeljames87]

this is one of the best videos !

[@MartIn-bn7yy]

Come back and do the radio 1 drum and bass show pleeeeease !

[@TheBrownie9999997]

Does anyone have a link to that DLR sample pack hes talking about at 1:10 ?

[@a.d.the.4mvla43]

great tips here from Friction ...he makes it look so simple .... its all down to using sounds you've processed and have worked well in the past, new producers can get lost in sample packs/folders looking for sounds all day, my advice is to make 1 folder of goto sounds you know work which are good quality samples then your gonna spend more creative energy on the melodic elements of your track... get more techno producers to do this series plz Fact...Phase faytale was more EBM/Industrial techno

[@samfuller9303]

He would be a God if he finished this tune,love those sort of rolling synth melodies which are slightly off tempo,adds some great dynamics to the track 👌

[@DaedalianAbilon]

wave.ac/too-vain/dnbff/kNTSTSw

[@samfuller9303]

@@DaedalianAbilon any chance you could post it somewhere else because the link is broken?

[@technocoh]

amazing result! :D

[@dylanreece7991]

Class DnB!

[@Stullett]

I really enjoyed this

[@blenderfunny2384]

Why most people dont use any type of drum racks to make the drum tracks? What Am I missing?

[@BleuYo]

I LOVE FRICTION

[@toni_hitman]

Which DAW does he use?

[@ogonek]

Nice one!

[@ethnic_on_a_technic]

He was one of my fav dj’s but he ain’t nothin on nu balance - the real heads will know what I mean

[@linardzb]

nice one bruva

[@Agrav64]

Thx fact mag!

[@elliottoward7955]

does anyone know the DLR sample pack he is on about?

[@freemind7308]

not sure from which exact sample pack it is. But DLR has "Specimen X", "Specimen Y" on his sample pack channel called "labsamples"

[@oursnico]

Mate this track is DOPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEE. Did you release it?

[@jotzky9887]

BROTHER FINISH THAT TRACK

[@elliottoward7955]

second that

[@DaedalianAbilon]

third dat

[@joaopinto3655]

fourth that

[@DaedalianAbilon]

@@joaopinto3655 i remade it wave.ac/too-vain/dnbff/kNTSTSw

[@ARCASIAUK]

Fifth that

[@klisd]

Please, I have a Question. Can you please say to me what type of drum and ritmic is the music " Wadrope" from Hooverphonic

[@rizednb]

wicked Roller Friction

[@TMTSYSTEMSATL]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@MrBeatTechnique]

Love this

[@michaelelliott3559]

Man that master fader was clipping

[@joshlinehan]

Limiter was doing its job lmao

[@Jay-be1xk]

I love my drum and bass

[@MegaBimel]

Really nice and helpful insight here. Thumbs up!

[@FiveElementNinja]

This was great. More dnb please

[@Trancetechniqueradio]

Superb !

[@tifius]

200hz area lol. DoA massive!

[@syfenx]

kicks at 200hz, snares at 200hz, hats at 200hz, master 200hz boost, all samples boosted 200hz 5db until clipping, trust me I'm a professional.

[@mvz2844]

Isnt it best to put the bus reverb 100% wet to actually control it via the bus ?

[@nicolasinguerzon9110]

thanks, really nice!

[@quasili8954]

Sounds like remember the roller in the beginning

[@section23]

Wicked!

[@xxPow3rslave]

Damn, those samples sound REALLY nice in comparison to the audio quality/volume of his voice lol

[@ilcapitano9915]

what is the track and where can i find it?

[@URRBANELEKTRO]

Well done !!

[@maxfoley7432]

Amazing lil vid. Thanks @FACTmagazine

[@cookiecutz3775]

This is actually how most full time producers produce their music. With presets, samples and loops that were created already, either by themselves or others. Thats just how you make music consistently. And I think Friction demonstrates this perfectly. This is how its done folks :)

[@sinista6536]

Don’t talk bollocks and stop projecting. Something you do all the time ≠ most producers/how it’s done.

[@antgreen3254]

90% of everyones favourite producers do this. its lazy, uncreative, uninspiring and amateur

[@deliciouspops]

hella good vid.

[@ncszy]

So which friction tune is this? I can't find it anywhere on the comments 😀

[@geraldgoodiii6993]

Against the Clock... ? In 10 min he had a basis of a solid track on the go

[@Ex0rz]

How do you know he made that in 10 minutes lol? Theres no timer, might be edited.

[@stevenjames7082]

It's 100% edited FFS haha

[@samfuller9303]

does anyone know where that DPHS sample is from?

[@DaedalianAbilon]

please release this

[@EWt5lg5alQWLqPViO9vk]

Step 1: make it sound like "boom-tick, boom-tickety, boom tick", Step 2: add "swooosshhhhhhh" Step 3: see step 1.

[@09Ozymandias]

You forgot "rumble rumble rumble". And "Ahhhhhh" and "Plinkety Plonk (echo echo)".

[@Shin_Lona]

Personally I like to add in the "wamp womp wamp wa-wa-wamp womp" with a touch of reverb and a low pass filter.

[@shepppard1]

can we get a list of the software used please?

[@N1Z3L]

more dnb!!

[@nurlennart]

the reese pisses me off because it sounds so good

[@danielemmanuel6261]

I've been playing drums for a long time and it's deceptive of how hard it is to play drum and bass on full tempo

[@UFBMusic]

That's why they use samples. It puts a terrific strain on the session drummers' wrists.

[@PunctureKit]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHK4d2OcqMZ5opI@@UFBMusic

[@gameboyadvance4256]

Play it at half time then make a sample from it and speed it back up to full time

[@cristianc.1940]

What type of subbass It is?

[@incareynolds3516]

what is this software?

[@cperception]

hes using apples logic DAW?