If you want to learn how to make Jump Up DnB like Skantia, there are two elements you need to get right before almost anything else: a huge, gritty formant-filtered bass and a set of tight, hard-hitting drums.
This style of Jump Up is built around relatively simple ideas, but the sound selection, movement and processing have to be right. The bass needs to feel heavy and almost industrial, while the drums need to stay short and punchy enough to cut straight through it.
In this tutorial, we're going to build that sound from scratch and break down the complete production process: drums, bass sound design, A/B/C drop structure, reese bass, sub bass, sidechain, buildup and final mastering.
Prefer watching instead? Watch the full Skantia DnB tutorial on YouTube →
What Makes Skantia-Style Jump Up DnB Different?
The main characteristic of this type of Jump Up is the bass.
Instead of an extremely clean or highly melodic bassline, we're looking for something heavy, grotty, textured and constantly moving.
A huge part of that character comes from formant filtering. Even a relatively basic waveform can immediately start sounding much closer to this style once it is passed through the right formant filter and heavily processed.
The second major element is the drums.
The kick needs to be short and punchy. The snare is often closer to a clap/snare hybrid than a huge traditional DnB snare. The hats can actually remain relatively simple.
So before adding hundreds of layers, focus on getting these fundamentals right:
- Short, punchy kick
- Snappy clap-style snare
- Simple but effective hi-hats and rides
- Heavy formant-filtered bass
- Strong contrast between different bass sections
- Clean sub underneath the processed basses
Start With the Jump Up DnB Drums
For this style, starting with the drums can make writing the rest of the drop much easier.
Once the groove is already established, you can design the bass rhythm around it rather than trying to create a bassline in an empty project.
Choosing the Kick
Start with a kick that is very punchy but also relatively short.
You want enough weight to make the kick feel powerful, but you don't want a long tail occupying the same low-frequency space as the bass and sub.
For the basic groove, place the first kick on beat one and another on the offbeat around the third beat.
You can then repeat that pattern across the phrase and make variations later once the core drop is working.
Building the Skantia-Style Snare
For the snare, look for something that feels more like a clap or clap/snare hybrid.
In this style, a shorter and snappier clap-like sound can often work better than an oversized traditional snare.
Place it on the standard second and fourth beats and then begin layering.
One layer can provide the main body and transient, while another can provide a slightly different texture. A third layer can be used primarily for the tail.
If two layers have strong transients that compete with each other, you can remove or reduce the transient from one and let it contribute only its body or tail.
This is often cleaner than simply stacking three complete snares on top of each other.
Keep the Hi-Hats Simple
The hi-hat patterns don't need to be extremely complicated.
A simple closed hat playing once per beat can already create enough movement.
You can then add a wider or more open hat around the third beat to create some additional contrast.
Finish the top end with a ride or similar cymbal layer.
The important thing is that the drums already feel energetic before the bass arrives.
How to Make a Skantia-Style Formant Bass in Vital
Now we can move to the element that gives this style most of its identity: the main grotty formant bass.
Interestingly, the foundation of the patch doesn't need to be very complicated.
A relatively basic waveform can become completely different once we introduce the right filtering, movement, noise and distortion.
Start With the Main Oscillator
Start with a basic waveform in Vital.
In this case, the oscillator starts from the Basic Shapes wavetable. Using Spectral Morph, the waveform can be transformed into a curved saw-like shape.
The next important step is adding Sync.
Without Sync, the bass remains relatively basic and dark. Increasing it creates more upper harmonics and introduces the higher-pitched texture that helps the bass cut through the mix.
Add a Clean Sub
Under the main oscillator, add a traditional sine-wave sub.
Pitching it down by two octaves puts it into the correct bass register and gives the patch its fundamental low-end weight.
We will eventually separate the clean sub from our main processed basses, but having it while designing the initial sound helps us understand the full frequency balance.
The Formant Filter Is the Key
The formant filter is arguably the most important part of this bass.
Without it, the oscillator sounds much closer to a normal bass patch.
Once a Formant filter is introduced, the character changes immediately.
That's where much of the recognizable grotty, vocal-like quality comes from.
You can also create multiple variations from the same basic patch simply by changing the filter position.
Experiment with:
- Filter cutoff
- X-axis position
- Y-axis position
- Small modulation amounts
This means you don't necessarily need a completely new synthesis chain for every bass variation.
Moving the formant around can create several related basses that share the same overall character while still sounding different.
Create Movement With Fast LFO Modulation
A static formant bass can quickly become boring.
To fix that, use a very fast LFO to subtly modulate the formant filter.
The modulation amount doesn't need to be extreme. Small movement on the X and Y parameters is enough to introduce a fast tremolo or vibrato-like texture.
Disable this modulation and the difference becomes obvious: the sound immediately feels much more static.
With the modulation enabled, the bass has constant microscopic movement.
This is an important sound design concept for heavy Jump Up: movement doesn't always need to come from dramatic filter sweeps.
Tiny, fast modulation can be enough to make a sustained bass feel alive.
Add Organic Noise for More Texture
The final part of the raw patch is noise.
Rather than using completely basic white noise, try something more organic and textured.
In this example, a grinder-style organic noise is used.
That works particularly well because the bass itself already has a dirty, physical character.
The noise should reinforce that texture instead of sounding like an unrelated layer sitting on top.
Processing the Formant Bass
The raw synthesis gets us in the right direction, but a large part of the final weight comes from the effects chain.
1. Multiband Compression
Start with OTT-style multiband compression.
This can bring forward the lows and mids while controlling some of the excessive high-frequency information.
The goal isn't necessarily to completely destroy the dynamics. We're using it to bring hidden details of the sound forward.
2. Heavy Hard-Clip Distortion
Next comes one of the biggest transformations in the chain: heavy hard-clip distortion.
Without distortion, the patch is much cleaner and smaller.
Heavy clipping creates the aggressive, dense character we want from this type of bass.
This is also why the source waveform itself can remain relatively simple. The processing generates a huge amount of additional harmonic information later.
3. Use EQ to Highlight Important Frequencies
After distortion, use EQ to emphasize frequencies that define the character of the bass.
A resonant peak can make the vocal or formant character feel sharper and more obvious.
A high shelf can also bring the organic noise forward, increasing the gritty top-end texture.
At this stage you're not simply fixing problems. EQ is part of the sound design.
4. Remove Unpleasant Resonances
Heavy distortion and aggressive EQ boosts will almost always create frequencies you don't want.
If a narrow resonance begins sticking out too much, remove it using a notch filter.
This allows you to keep the aggressive character without letting one painful frequency dominate the entire sound.
5. Add Controlled Stereo Width
A small amount of chorus can make the bass feel wider.
You don't need an extreme amount. Somewhere around the lower end of the mix control can already create enough stereo movement.
The goal is not to spread the entire low end across the stereo field. We're trying to widen the character and texture while keeping the important bass frequencies controlled.
6. Wash the Bass Out With Reverb
Reverb is particularly useful for this style because these basses can have an almost industrial character.
Adding some ambience gives the sound a larger, washed-out feeling and makes it feel like it exists inside a space rather than being completely dry and synthetic.
Be careful with the low frequencies, though.
You usually don't want a huge reverb tail on your sub bass, so use filtering or separate routing to keep the deepest frequencies clean.
Want to use the sounds from this tutorial?
The sounds used throughout this project come from Jump Up Box 2 , our dedicated toolkit for modern Jump Up Drum & Bass.
Writing the Main A-Part Bass Pattern
Once the first bass is working, we can start writing the actual drop.
Instead of creating one bassline that plays continuously, this style works very well with an A/B structure.
The A bass establishes the main identity of the drop.
It repeats regularly, while another bass fills the space between those phrases.
This creates an immediate call-and-response effect without making the arrangement overly complicated.
You can also change the final note of the A phrase by pitching it higher or lower. Small note variations stop a repetitive pattern from becoming too predictable.
Creating the B-Part Bass in Serum 2
The second bass acts as the B part of the drop.
The basic structure becomes:
A → B → A → B
That pattern can repeat throughout the main phrase, while additional variations are introduced later.
Start With a Saw Wave
The B-part patch can start with the default waveform.
Pitch it down by two octaves so that it sits in the correct bass range.
From there, introduce waveform processing such as PWM and sine folding.
PWM changes the shape and harmonic balance of the waveform, while sine folding creates extra distortion directly inside the oscillator.
That gives the bass a higher, growlier texture before it even reaches the effects section.
Use Different LFOs for Different Movements
One of the biggest techniques used in this patch is assigning different LFO shapes to different parameters.
The main oscillator level has one movement.
The oscillator warp has another.
The filter can have another.
Instead of every parameter opening and closing in exactly the same way, the different modulation curves interact with each other.
That makes the bass feel considerably more organic and alive.
A triangular or curved LFO can also feel more natural than a perfectly linear modulation shape.
Filtering and Distorting the B-Part Bass
The B-part bass uses additional filtering to create even more movement.
A band-pass style filter can be modulated independently from the oscillator, creating another layer of rhythmic motion.
After filtering, add multiband compression and then heavy overdrive.
If your distortion allows stacking, a small number of stacked distortion stages can create a significantly more aggressive result.
You don't necessarily need to push this to an extreme. A couple of stacked stages can already create more than enough harmonics.
Add Chorus and Reverb
Chorus provides width, followed by more multiband compression to control and push the sound forward.
Plate-style reverb can then create the washed-out industrial feeling we discussed earlier.
Again, filter the reverb so the sub region remains clean.
Split the Frequency Spectrum
A frequency splitter gives you even more control.
Instead of treating the entire bass with the same effect, split it into lows, mids and highs.
You can then:
- Keep the lowest frequencies more controlled
- Process the mids more aggressively
- Add extra texture to the highs
- Notch unwanted resonances independently
- Create stereo width only where you actually need it
This is especially useful for sounds that have already gone through several stages of distortion.
Keep the Low End Mono
Having stereo information in a bass isn't automatically bad.
The problem is uncontrolled stereo information in the lowest frequencies.
Use a utility or mono-bass function to collapse the low end below roughly the sub/bass crossover area into mono.
Around 90 Hz can be a useful starting point, but always adjust it to the actual sound.
This leaves the higher texture wide while keeping the fundamental low-frequency information stable in the center.
Add a C-Part to Break the Repetition
Once the A and B structure is working, we can introduce a third variation.
Think of this as the C part.
It doesn't have to appear as regularly as A and B. Its purpose is to break the tension and stop the drop from sounding like an endless two-bar loop.
A reese bass works extremely well here.
Instead of:
A → B → A → B
you can start creating phrases such as:
A → B → A → C
or even replace the B section completely in selected bars.
How to Make the Reese Bass
The foundation of a classic reese bass is extremely simple: two detuned saw waves.
Load two saw oscillators and detune them in opposite directions.
One can be tuned slightly positive while the other goes slightly negative.
The difference between their tuning creates the characteristic beating movement.
Increase the tuning difference and the movement becomes faster.
Reduce it and the movement becomes slower.
Add Glide
Enable mono, legato and glide or portamento.
This allows notes to slide into each other rather than restarting completely every time.
Those slides can make a relatively simple reese much more expressive inside the C section.
Add Noise and Filtering
White noise can add extra high-frequency texture.
Then shape the overall sound with filtering and EQ before moving into heavy processing.
Use a Smiley-Face EQ Curve
For this heavy reese, emphasize the low and high frequencies while reducing some of the midrange.
This creates the familiar broad smiley-face EQ curve.
The result can feel considerably larger even before distortion is added.
Distort and Compress the Reese
Add distortion after the EQ and the sound will immediately become much heavier.
Follow it with compression to control the result and bring the different harmonic layers together.
A final chorus can then add more stereo width.
Use a Separate Clean Sub Under the Whole Drop
Once the A, B and C basses are written, it's a good idea to separate the sub from the main bass processing.
Create a dedicated synth with a simple sine wave pitched down by two octaves.
Add a small amount of attack and release if necessary to prevent clicks.
The important difference is that this clean sub now lives independently from the heavily distorted basses above it.
Group the Main Basses Together
Route the A, B and C basses into one bass group.
From there, high-pass or low-cut the group to create room for the clean dedicated sub.
This gives you much more control than trying to preserve a clean fundamental through every distortion, chorus, reverb and multiband processing stage.
Keep the Sub Notes Simple
The sub doesn't always need to reproduce every rhythmic movement of the main basses.
In many cases, longer sustained sub notes can create a much more stable low end underneath a busy Jump Up bassline.
If your reese or other basses use slides, you can recreate those slides on the dedicated sub using mono, legato and portamento.
How to Sidechain Jump Up DnB Bass Properly
With the basses and sub working, one of the most important mixing steps is sidechain.
The kick and bass are both fighting for the same low-frequency space.
Sidechain creates a small gap in the bass every time the kick hits.
That allows the kick transient to come through cleanly without simply turning the kick up louder and louder.
Match the Sidechain Shape to the Kick
Instead of using a random sidechain envelope, try to mirror the actual shape of your kick.
Think of it like this:
As the kick fades out, the bass fades back in.
If the sidechain is too long, you'll hear an unnecessary hole after every kick.
If it's too short, the kick and sub can still clash.
Matching the curve to the actual kick gives you a much cleaner result.
Sidechain the Snare Too
You can also create a much smaller sidechain dip when the snare hits.
Unlike kick sidechain, this is less about solving a low-frequency conflict and more about bringing the snare forward in the mix.
The snare sidechain usually needs to be considerably shorter and more subtle.
You're only creating enough room for the transient to punch through the bass.
Final Bass Processing
Once the sounds are working together, listen to each one in context rather than processing everything automatically.
If one bass already sounds strong, leave it alone.
If another feels weaker, that's where additional processing makes sense.
A subtle clipper can increase the perceived weight without requiring an enormous volume increase.
Small amounts of input gain are often enough.
OTT-style compression can also bring the sound forward, but it doesn't need to run at 100%. A relatively low depth can be much more controlled.
Finally, multiband saturation can add harmonics specifically to the mids and highs while leaving the lowest frequencies untouched.
This maintains a cleaner foundation while still making the audible portion of the bass feel more aggressive.
Building a 16-Bar Intro and Buildup
Once the drop is finished, we can work backwards and create the intro and buildup.
A simple structure is:
- 8 bars intro
- 8 bars buildup
- Drop begins at bar 17
This gives you a clean 16-bar section before the main drop.
Introduce Elements From the Drop During the Buildup
The purpose of the buildup is to gradually introduce the energy and character of the drop.
One simple technique is bringing in the same hats that will later appear in the drop.
You can also introduce the main bass, but heavily filter and wash it out so it feels like a preview rather than the full sound.
This creates continuity between the buildup and drop.
Create a Kick Riser
Start with spaced kick hits and gradually increase their speed as the drop approaches.
After several bars, double the rhythm.
Then double it again closer to the drop if necessary.
This naturally increases tension without requiring an extremely complicated drum fill.
Add FX and Risers
Layer the buildup with elements such as:
- Crashes
- Sweep ups
- Sweep downs
- Risers
- Atmospheres
These sounds fill the frequency spectrum and reinforce the feeling that energy is increasing.
Automate the Bass Filter Into the Drop
Put a low-pass or high-cut filter on the bass during the buildup.
Begin with the sound heavily filtered and gradually open the filter as the drop approaches.
The bass becomes brighter and more recognizable over time.
At the drop, remove the filtering completely so the full high-frequency content suddenly arrives.
Automate the Reverb in the Opposite Direction
Reverb can move in the opposite direction to the filter.
Start the buildup with a relatively large amount of reverb.
As the drop gets closer, gradually reduce the wet signal.
When the drop arrives, the bass becomes dry and immediate.
That contrast between a washed-out buildup and a dry, aggressive drop can make the impact feel significantly larger.
Introduce the Snare Later in the Buildup
Another useful arrangement technique is withholding the main snare during the first half of the buildup.
Introduce it during the second half as the energy increases.
You can do the same with the ride or other cymbal layers.
This means the buildup continues gaining new information rather than playing at full intensity from the first bar.
Create a Dark Jump Up DnB Intro
The intro itself doesn't need many elements.
A dark atmosphere can run throughout the intro and continue into the buildup.
Add some of the high hats and occasional FX to establish the rhythm.
A small snare fill or transition effect at the end of the intro can then lead into the buildup.
For this style, leaving some empty space can actually make the atmosphere feel darker and more intimidating.
Mastering Heavy Jump Up DnB
The final stage is getting the entire track to feel louder and more aggressive.
For this type of Jump Up, clipping can work extremely well.
Use a Clipper for Controlled Aggression
A limiter and a clipper behave differently when peaks exceed the threshold.
A limiter primarily turns those peaks down.
A clipper cuts into the waveform and creates distortion.
In an aggressive genre like Jump Up DnB, that additional distortion can actually become part of the desired sound.
Even adding a clipper without extreme settings can immediately make the drop feel more controlled and dense.
Be careful with the kick level, though. Once you start clipping the master, an overly loud kick can become obvious very quickly.
Add Tiny Amounts of Multiband Compression
If the master still needs additional density, a very small amount of OTT-style processing can help.
The key word is small.
At this stage, you're processing an entire mix that already contains heavily processed elements.
You don't need another extreme sound-design chain on the master.
Saturate the Mids and Highs
Multiband saturation can provide one final push.
Split the signal into frequency bands and leave the lowest frequencies clean.
Add saturation primarily to the mids and, if necessary, a little to the highs.
This creates extra harmonic density without unnecessarily distorting the sub.
Key Lessons for Making DnB Like Skantia
1. Sound Selection Comes First
No amount of processing will completely fix drums that don't fit the style.
Start with a short, powerful kick and snappy clap-style snare.
2. Formant Filtering Creates the Main Bass Character
You don't need an insanely complicated wavetable to create a grotty Jump Up bass.
A relatively simple waveform combined with formant filtering can get you surprisingly far.
3. Small Modulations Make Basses Feel Alive
Use different LFOs on different parameters instead of making every part of the sound move in exactly the same way.
4. Distortion Is Part of the Sound Design
Heavy clipping, overdrive and saturation create much of the aggressive harmonic content in these basses.
5. Use A, B and C Sections
Build your bass arrangement around contrast.
The A bass establishes the main idea, B answers it and C creates occasional variation.
6. Keep a Dedicated Sub
Separating the sub from the processed basses gives you much better control over the low end.
7. Control Stereo Width by Frequency
Wide bass isn't automatically a problem.
Keep the fundamental lows centered and use stereo processing mainly on the upper-frequency texture.
8. Sidechain to the Actual Shape of Your Drums
Make the kick sidechain roughly mirror the kick itself instead of using an arbitrary envelope.
9. Build Tension With Contrast
A filtered, reverberated bass in the buildup makes the full, dry bass in the drop hit much harder.
10. Don't Overcomplicate the Master
Clipping, subtle compression and controlled saturation can be enough when the mix itself is already working.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make a Skantia-style Jump Up DnB bass?
Start with a relatively simple bass waveform and run it through a formant filter. Add small, fast LFO modulation to create constant movement, layer organic noise for texture and then use distortion, EQ and multiband compression to create the final aggressive character.
What synth can you use for this type of Jump Up bass?
This tutorial uses both Vital and Serum. The exact synth is less important than understanding the techniques: formant filtering, waveform manipulation, LFO modulation, distortion and controlled stereo processing.
How should you structure a Jump Up DnB bassline?
A useful approach is an A/B structure in which two contrasting basses answer each other. You can then add an occasional C section — such as a reese bass — to create variation and stop the phrase becoming repetitive.
Should DnB bass be mono?
The entire bass doesn't have to be mono, but the deepest low-frequency information should usually remain controlled and centered. Higher-frequency texture can be widened using chorus and other stereo effects.
Do you need a separate sub bass?
Using a dedicated clean sub can make mixing much easier. It allows you to heavily distort, widen and process the main bass layers without sacrificing control of the fundamental low end.
How do you make the buildup hit harder into the drop?
Introduce elements from the drop gradually. Filter the bass, add more reverb at the beginning of the buildup and remove that reverb as the drop approaches. Add increasingly fast kick patterns, risers, cymbals and snares to continuously increase tension.
Final Result
Making this style of Jump Up DnB isn't about adding as many complicated sounds as possible.
The final result comes from getting a few important decisions right: the drum selection, the formant bass character, movement inside the sounds, contrast between bass sections and a clean, controlled low end.
Once those fundamentals are working, distortion, clipping, reverb and saturation can push the production into the aggressive, industrial territory we're looking for.
If you want to see the complete process inside the project, including every sound and processing decision, watch the full tutorial:
Watch: How to Make DnB Like Skantia →
Get the Sounds Used in This Skantia DnB Tutorial
If you want to make this style of Jump Up without designing every sound completely from scratch, the sounds used throughout this tutorial come from Jump Up Box 2 .
You can use the presets and samples as starting points for your own tracks, study how the sounds are built, change the processing and modulation, and turn them into your own variations.
