the belter blog
tips, drops & belters
production tips, behind-the-sounds, and the stories behind every belterbox video.
arrangementorgan asks, bass answers: how a bumpy garage groove works
the bumpy garage trick in one line: don't put the bass under the organ, put it in the gaps. how call and response turns two parts into one rolling groove.
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arrangementhow to bring in a new sound so people actually hear it
filtering a lead in and fading it up both hide the moment it arrives. why a new sound goes missing...
arrangementdelete the riser: the drop that works without a build-up
if your track only hits because of the build-up, it was never the track. why a big riser can eat...
basshow to make your bass sound old school (by making it worse)
old records didn't sound old on purpose, the gear was just worse. here's how to age a clean bass on...
arrangementhow to build a prog house groove in four layers
short sweepy chord stabs, a stupidly simple piano melody, a bouncy bass on the roots and one wordless vocal loop...
arrangementwhy your loop sounds boring: two chops, a big echo, a moving filter
your loop isn't boring because it's simple. it's boring because every pass is identical. here's how two vocal chops, a...
bassfour machines, one low end: the hardware behind house bass
why a dx7ii, a jupiter, a jv-1080 and an ob-6 each make a bassline sound different, where the reese came...
arrangementrolling house rolls because of what's off the beat
rolling house isn't about the kick, it's about the gaps between kicks. where the offbeats are, what goes on them,...
chordshow to write that classic house chord progression (and make it slap)
how to move between house chords: pick a key, number the chords, run i-VI-III-VII with smooth voice leading, and place...
arrangementtease the vocal, don't drop it: vocal chops as tension
the full vocal isn't the payoff, the wait is. how to cut clean chops, turn them into an 8-bar tease...
chordshow to make piano house that actually slaps
the four things that make piano house slap: a bright, punchy sound, fatter chords spread over two hands, stabs and...
bassthere are no rules: throw echo on your bassline
the rule says no echo on bass. here's why it exists, why an offbeat bassline loves a dotted 8th, and...
arrangementstop layering every note of your bassline
the fastest fix for a muddy bassline is fewer notes. why kick and bass fight, a step-by-step way to strip...
drumsbusy bass = simple drums: balancing groove density in house
busy bass wants simple drums, simple bass wants busy drums. here's how to read your bassline, duck it under the...
drumsthe percussion trick every producer needs
the trick isn't more drums, it's percussion that answers the kit. give every layer its own gap, its own pitch,...
arrangementpull everything back and the drop hits twice as hard
your drop isn't weak, the bit before it is too full. how to dig a valley before the drop, build...
groovemake your loop breathe: micro note-length & timing tricks
your loop is technically perfect and dead boring. note length, swing and a few milliseconds of push and pull are...
chordsroot + 3 + 7 + 10: the only house chord recipe you need
four numbers, counted in semitones, build the warm minor 7th chord behind so much house and garage. here's what each...
compressionstop compressing your drums to death
more compression isn't more punch. here's what threshold, ratio, attack and release really do to a drum's transient, plus parallel...
