Part 1: Kick - The Hardstyle kick is perhaps the most elusive timbre of the genre and a major sticking point for many producers.As a result, we’ve dedicated close to 4 hours of this tutorial to the production and design involved in a Hardstlye kick. We begin by designing and modifying a simple 909 kick and then walk through, step-by-step, the initial creative decisions and techniques for the production of a typical Hardstyle “barking” kick. We explain and show the various techniques and plug-ins used by many Hardstyle artists before reviewing the audio editing and various techniques involved to further modify the previously created barking kick.

Part 2: Composition, Sound Design and Arranging - In the second part we examine the various techniques in musical composition for the lead, the use of counterpoint to create dissonance and the ancillary/binary melodies and motifs. We also discuss into the sound design principles and practices for leads, screeches, reverse bass, sound layering and EQ.

Part 3: Arranging and Further Sound Design - For the final disc, we examine further synthesis layering, lead effects busses and chains, a typical processing chain for Hardstyle vocals and then we work towards building a skeleton Hardstyle arrangement examining the build techniques, reverse bass, drop and general arrangement principles before finally returning again to sound design. Here we employ a Virus Ti and show how it can be used to create leads and screeches.

NOTE: Logic Pro X is used with this tutorial due to the importance of the Clip Distortion plug-in

Runtime: 11 Hours 40 Minutes