Cinematic Break Intro, Part 2

We're back with part two of the cinematic hardstyle intro break. This time I create the full break, with the supersaws and all this stuff.

In this tutorial
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    My notes from this video

    01

    Chords that follow the bass line

    Watch 2:28

    First I take the bass line, copy paste it into the break and open another Serum for the bass. I do an up down bass.

    Then I accentuate these notes and follow the bass line, because this will be the chords. This one is G because the bass is G, and then it goes to A. The second time it goes to F, and instead of G it goes to A sharp, and then A again. Then make sure you have the right chords. The first one is minor, the second one major.

    02

    Let the leads pop out of the mix

    Watch 4:48

    I remove all the effects, because I want to add these manually. It's really handy because we have all these macros assigned. The leads need a little bit of delay. They need to pop out of the mix more than the chords, because then people can really follow the lead and the melody a little bit more. And I want the leads a little bit more aggressive too.

    Then I add Waves H-Reverb and put it on ducking to make sure it's a ducking reverb. Then ValhallaShimmer, because I want a really big reverb. Then ValhallaRoom, then compression.

    Waves H-Reverb on the BREAK LEAD track in FL Studio, reverb time 2.78 s, Dynamics on in Duck mode, for hardstyle break leads
    H-Reverb on the lead with Dynamics on Duck.
    03

    Pitch bend on the last note

    Watch 5:34

    Before I start adding all these effects, I also want to create some pitch bend. I take everything, put it on 24 and create an automation clip. Then you move the knob, go to Last tweaked, Link to controller, and put it on the same one. If you do that, make sure Remove conflicts is disabled, because that tends to remove everything else.

    Then I want this last note to go from down to up and then down again, so it's really dramatic.

    Serum pitch bend range set to 24 up and -24 down, for a pitch bend on the last note of a cinematic hardstyle break
    Serum's pitch bend range on 24 and -24.
    04

    Fuller chords and a small pluck

    Watch 7:00

    I want these chords to be a little bit more full, so I take the middle notes and put them one octave up. Then I add an OTT. It almost always works. Remove some high end, it's a little bit too much, and add some bass.

    What I feel is missing is a small pluck in the background, like the euphoric kind of hardstyle thingy. Then I take the chords for it.

    05

    Work in sections

    Watch 13:15

    The really important part in these kinds of things is that you work in sections. The intro, the cinematic one, then the break, then the build up and the drop. You can see these sections in the playlist, and in the pattern because I made filter groups. In the mixer there's the cinematic part, the break part, and some space between it. That's really important, because then you can really control what you're doing and it makes it easier to mix.

    You really need to think in sections, like what you want in the low part, the mid part, the chords and the high leads, stereo wise, and whether you need to add reverb or not. If I just put random reverb on everything it would have been a mess. Because I work organized, I can create this really quickly. It took me 20 minutes to make this.

    What I use in this video

    FL Studio·Serum·Layer·Waves H-Reverb·ValhallaShimmer·ValhallaRoom·OTT·Fruity Compressor·Fruity Parametric EQ 2·Kickstart·Dada Life Endless Smile·Maximus

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    Hardstyle Essentials Vol. 1 artwork

    Hardstyle Essentials Vol. 1

    I take the Serum presets for the lead and chords in this break from this pack.

    View the pack