I’ve been experimenting a little more with frenchcore lately, after working on my FL studio debut track. Outside the hardcore scene, I’ve heard criticisms about our genre and the harder styles in general in that the drops sound the same, with most of the track revolving around the same hypnotic kick.

So I wondered, what if we made each sound of the kick unique? By changing the kick tail (the bass part) and the kick head (the transient and body) we could create unique kicks that don’t sound as repetitive. It would be similar to dubstep or ridden where producers use multiple bass riffs or melodies to vary up their drops.

And thus I attempted to create a frenchcore drop out of multiple kick heads and tails, with a total of 13 unique heads and 18 unique basses spanning well over 20 hours just for the sound design. I then tried to structure the heads and tails to mimic a dubstep drop as best as I could—using a different head every 3rd out of 4 bars, for instance, and changing the tail constantly. You’ll notice the rapid variation in the kick’s bass in the track.

I also added some cymbals, pads, keys, and of course sidechaining to try and mimic a typical dubstep atmosphere. I wanted to add in an arp, but I felt that the keys covered it well enough.

It’s a pretty small drop and track, but I have something much bigger coming soon, so stay tuned!

- Dtr. Guo

Key: F

Tempo: 200

Genre: Frenchcore/Hardcore (experimental)

Kick drums made exclusively through Bass Murda.

Synths from various VAS emulators, mixed and mastered in FL Studio.