every time i go into making a beat where im like ok this is going to be a dark evil criminal type sounding beat i end up taking the 808 and during the base line i go up in the progression and it kills the whole vibe turning into a soft not what i was trying to do type vibe.like i cant just keep going down in the scale the whole time i have to come back up and let the base line resolve. any help if you know what im trying to say

 

Don't really know what you mean.
But nah. Still dark, but that Bernie Worrell type lick at the end of the bass line makes it 'slick' criminal, too!
Btw, musically speaking, "progression" usually means the chord progression. Hence why I don't get you.
In the UK, the people I've worked with recently won't touch Drill, because it's a very specific US thing from a certain place.
I don't think I've heard anything yet specifically called UK Drill.

 

Sometimes it's up to the rapper to make it evil and dark. If somebody did a horror core verse to it it would be pretty dark.

Besides that, on the production tip, using unconventional scales or modes like half-diminished scale or chords with unusual intervals, like diminished, augemented helps. Basically anything, that sonically represents itself as something being "off" from the norm.

 

This Drill style is interesting, Trap was something that chicks could twerk to but this Drill stuff sounds perfect for chicks with seizures.

 

I see that as on the writing tip! Production I see as editing, mixdown, etc..

 

I don't. In Hip-Hop, we don't write music (besides the lyrics). We produce, which includes compostion, sounddesign, arranging and mixing.

 

Okay. Interesting. Just semantics though, Stan.
When I was growing up (still am!) during 70s, 80s and 90s, a Producer was a record producer. Like Brian Epstein (who also was an arranger, compose, engineer etc.) They would oversee a project of a band, and smarten it up, and also deal with schedules and budgets. They would often do the mix, after it was recorded by a recording engineer. Some producers were also recording engineers, but it's rare. Some producers didn't mix and hired a mix engineer.
Now, the word producer seems to mean anything from a beat-maker with no record label to the full meaning that it always meant.

Btw, I am of the 'we' that you talk of! But my 'we' talks differently to you!

 

when i play threw the bass line to me i feel it should be the darkest part of the whole song but when i play higher notes it gets too happy.

 

Yeah, maybe. But to me dat's also funky! haha.
F it. Those are the things that make a track different. Push the envelope.
Everything under the original umbrella of Hip Hop always had lots of eclectic references, but in sub-genres like Drill I guess you feel like some things might not fit.
I like that bassline and I think fuck being too genre specific.
All the background elements are dark af anyway, and that bass lick only happens a few times.
Your stuff sounds good, man.

 

appreciate the help and the feed back

 

I think higher sounds are kind of "happier" by nature than lower sounds, there is not much you can do about that. That said, if you really need it to be more evil, try to use dissonances or detuned sounds to make it more unpleasant or strange which will be perceived as being more evil in general..

 

Have you tried dropping all those higher notes down an octave?

 

That's a good point @minozheros
Also just thought, why not use a lp filter on just that 'happy' bass lick, and cut the highs so it's not so bright and happy when that line happens.

 

Maybe follow your heart and make music you apparently love (more)? My experience is that trying to make something you are not, is always mediocre/never feels right/is a struggle. Let go of the mind block you are apparently in and try and make something without this block, what do you end up making if you would do that?

 

I can't really answer your creative queries... but I can tell you that I liked this beat quite a lot! Nice work!

 

or putting slowdowning pitch envelopes on longer notes ...soemthing like that...
makes also higher notes darker

 

Great minds think alike!

 

Well the roll of a producer varied and changed a lot through the times and the musical genres and technological evolution as well. It even differes with in a genre as well. For example, Puff Daddy is a completely different kind of Hip-Hop producer than DJ Premier is as far as the process of record making is concerned. Puffy's roll has always been that of an executive tellimg people what to do, whereas a DJ Premier is hands on from start to finish – from producing the beat to recording the artists vocals and mixing.

 

It sounds dark and criminal to me and when you add some nice spooky vocals it will end up beautiful

 

a grime beat need no vocals to be dark....same as all these dark bells trap