Leftfield Song of Life Dub Style Drums

[Supremebeing]

Hello,

Can anyone please tell me how to get my drums to sound like the above and also countless other dub style records please. Im using reason 4.

Many thanks

[slimmandjango]

I'd love to know how to get any Leftfield sounds at all!

The one thing I can say is that a lot of dub is programmed in half-time at around 140 BPM.

To me the question seems a bit vague because I think Leftfield's drums were quite different to those of most other dub tracks I know. No idea how they got those drum sounds either. Sorry I can't be more useful .

[coldrush]

Hi, if you're looking to source drum patterns like this, look up a cd called mike vires incredible bongo band, you will recognize so many dance artist have sampled breaks/riffs from this including leftfield, And it's pretty funky in itself.

Chris

[slimmandjango]

I recently heard a Massive Attack song with the same drum loop, so I immediately realised it must be sampled from somewhere, so what you say makes sense. Thanks

[ArtySmokes]

I just dug out my Leftism CD to remind me, and the track does indeed feature a slowed down version of the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" which was first sampled by Grandmaster Flash in the 1970s. Overlaid on that is a standard open hi hat, but that's also been pitched down to make it sound more crusty.
The little drum fills sound like they were sampled off an old reggae track. Playing loops slower than they were originally recorded (and I mean pitchshifted down, not timestretched at the same pitch) often gives a dubby feel. In practice, you can achieve this by recording something off a CD/record into your sampler and map it across the keyboard. Instead of playing it normally on middle C, try pressing a couple of notes lower down the keyboard.
Precisely the same trick was used for the drums on "Original". It uses a hip hop break that's been pitched down a couple of semi-tones. Bands like Massive Attack were doing it before Leftfield, but Leftism clearly had an effect on the trip hop scene.
When the track finally gets going, it's a typical 909 kick drum pounding away, perhaps overlaid with another electronic or acoustic kick.
Like most dance artists, Leftfield have always used samples for their beats, but for me, it's their synth sounds which make them stand out.
Another tip for the dubby fills is to use a subtle delay effect that is not in sync with the track. Leftfield probably used the Roland Space Echo for their dubby delays. There are now several plug-ins that ape that legendary box.

If you can't afford to buy a reggae-dub sample CD, have a look in your local charity shop. Just about any 50p record with a black man on the cover will have something worth sampling on it.

[SteveAstronaut]

Of course in the days when these tracks were made if you wanted to use a drum loop at a slower tempo you could only play it pitched down. Time stretching hadn't been invented then.