Beat drops and the buildups that precede them are how you create rising tension and satisfying payoffs in your songs.
They’re an essential part of modern arranging technique in almost all of today’s pop and electronic genres.
Even so, many producers find programming buildups to be tedious and time consuming, despite their powerful effect on listeners.
Luckily, it’s not difficult to create thrilling transitions with the right tools and basic knowledge of the most common transition types.
In this article I’ll break down the 8 of the most impactful transition effects and how to create them.
Let’s get started.
What are audio transition effects?
Transition effects are production elements that embellish sections of a song that build tension and expectation before a beat drop, breakdown or new section.
Transition effects are most often used in electronic genres to signal to the audience that a peak in energy or intensity is approaching.
In addition to arrangement choices that build toward the beat drop, transition effects add new interest to repeating sections and develop over time as a buildup plays out.
While they often give producers the opportunity to show off their creative flair with special processing, transition effects help define boundaries between sections and give listeners cues about the structure of the song.
How to create transition effects for buildups
Traditionally, producers create transition effects by automating multiple effects and parameters one-by-one.
With many different automation lanes required across several effects, keeping track of each curve over the progression of a transition requires some effort and patience.
But there’s an easier way to create stunning transitions than automating them by hand. We teamed up with Andrew Huang to create the simplest and most powerful solution for creative transitions.
Our Transit 2 plugin lets you create change over time in up to seven separate effects all controlled by a single macro parameter. V2 comes loaded with 4 new motion modes and 10 new effects modules for any kind of transition you can imagine—and beyond.
Simply click and drag the macro control or automate it to create any of the transition effects described in the next section.
On to the techniques.
1. Filter sweeps
Filter sweeps are one of the original transition effects from the early era of electronic music.
The term refers to sweeping the cutoff frequency of a synthesizer's low-pass filter. While the effect is striking on a synthesizer, it works even better when an entire mix is routed through a synth-style resonant LPF.
When swept from high to low, the filter gradually removes more high frequencies from the signal.
The result is an indistinct, bassy character that often sounds like it’s coming from the next room.
Sweeping from low to high adds the high frequencies back, uncovering more detail as the filter opens up.
Producers use filter sweeps in both directions to enhance the drama of a transition with a predictable trajectory that emphasizes different frequency areas in the mix.
Creating this classic type of transition couldn’t be easier in Transit 2. Simply link the Filter 12 or 24 modules’ cutoff frequency to the motion control and listen as the filter moves in sync with the macro control.
2. Risers
Risers are simple tones that increase in pitch over the course of a transition.
Often created with a single synth oscillator, risers provide an unmistakable signal that tension in the song is…rising.
Since the pitch rises freely over the span of the transition, it doesn’t always align with the key of the song.
This results in extra tension as the tone increases in pitch and occasionally clashes with the song.
Transit 2’s OSC module lets you create instant risers with your choice of sine, saw, square or triangle waveforms. You can even beef them up with thick stereo enhancement using the spread control.
Producers often add ambience effects such as delays and reverbs to enhance the basic character of a riser, so try adding these after the OSC module for even more stylish risers.
3. Washout
Speaking of delay and reverb, washouts are another popular transition created with effects.
Washouts are heavy ambience effects that increase in depth and intensity, obscuring the mix almost entirely in delay and reverb at their peak.
Washouts typically involve a gradual increase in the wet mix of the effects as well as rising intensity of other parameters such as delay feedback.
In some cases a washout ends with 100% wet mix, leaving only the reverb trails and decaying delay repeats for dramatic effect.
The new Retro Reverb in Transit 2 is perfect for extreme washout effects thanks to it’s crunchier, vintage character.
4. Tape stop
Tape stop is a classic effect that creates an abrupt drop off in pitch similar to turning off a tape machine while the transport is running.
In transitions, a tape stop often appears as the last element in a complex sequence to emphasize the silence before a beat drop.
The new Pitch+ Module in Transit 2 can create instant tape stops like the one seen in this preset.
Just make sure the pitch motion starts at a neutral position with no pitch change and rapidly decreases to a near-stop.
To make sure it feels authentic, try making the slope more severe by dragging the line inside the pitch parameter up and to the right.
5. Lo-fi
Sometimes the most effective transitions can come from intense distortion and lo-fi signal degradation.
During these transitions, the signal gets progressively more distorted until the entire mix is unrecognizable.
While basic distortion is usually a component of this technique, additional lo-fi elements can help add character to the effect.
Transit 2 comes with a host of modules for adding grit, grime and lo-fi goodness to your sound.
The Bitcrusher for an intense digital downsampling effect, or use the Speaker module to make it sound like your mix is coming out of a tinny transistor radio.
6. Pumper
Sidechain ducking is one of the most popular techniques in electronic production.
In fact, Transit 2 comes with a full sidechain mode to let any linked motion parameters react to any source signal in your mix.
But you can also create a traditional four-on-the-floor sidechain ducking effect without any complex routing using the pumper effect.
Especially effective when used on the entire mix, pumper gives you a configurable sidechain ducking effect that can increase in intensity as your transition builds.
Try this module last in the chain after a washout for a pulsing rhythmic reverb wash.
7. Loop
Glitch effects can give your transitions the unique flavor of a scratched CD or corrupted audio file.
While there are plenty of great ways to create glitch effects, some can be as time-consuming as automating your transitions by hand.
The Loop module in Transit 2 is built for easy stutter and repeat effects that work perfectly in transitions.
Watch Andrew demonstrate how easy it is to setup compelling glitch effects using the Loop module:
For transitions, try reducing the loop length progressively throughout the buildup to transform your sound into a garbled digital tone at the 1/64th setting.
If the effect is too aggressive, you can soften the onset and release of the looped slices with the Smooth control.
8. Autopan
Another classic technique from the early era of effects, panning back and forth from left to right still sounds psychedelic in 2024.
Of course, modern autopanners use an LFO to generate their motion, so the possibilities go far beyond what an engineer could do with the physical pan control on a mixing console.
For example, Transit 2’s tempo-synced autopanner can increase speed by tempo divisions like the Loop module I described earlier.
At extreme settings, the rapid panning sweeps create a whirlwind effect that’s perfect for the peak of an intense buildup transition.
The ultimate transition designer
Getting transitions right can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be difficult or daunting.
If you find it confusing to create them with multiple plugins and automation lanes, Transit 2 provides a complete workflow with deep creativity.
The next time you need to create any of the transition effects described above, try Transit 2 to see how you can get your mix moving.