drum patterns

locket

New Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Hey,

Hey everyone, I did a search on the forum but could nt find what I was looking for, I just bought b3 and have started the task of teaching myself how to program beats, I have been sat listening to samples but they go too fast in parts to really figure out the groove and im not being succesful in my imitation of them, I just wonderd if you knew of any good tutorials on making drum patterns that would help me along so I can grasp the basics, cause I dont want to use samples.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers
 
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mm ok never really thought of that cause I dont use fruity loops, ye i'l try it, are there no tutorials out there for this kind of thing then?
 
You can read how hits fit together but there's nothing like hands on experience. No matter what drum sequencer you are using you should be able to download a drum score and the load it.

I suggested FL studio as I know you can get a free version, with the capability you need

Peace Out
How3 (New Tracks Uploaded)
www.how3.com
www.myspace.com/how3recordings
 
thanks both a ya for that, might sound like a noob question but do people use swing at all to get more movement, I have never used it, so not sure what it does but the beats I have tried to make dont feel like they move aswel as the samples I have listened to.
 
Locket, I have just started in production so I am kinda noob. However, I have a couple of good friends who have been producing for quite a while, and they agree in one thing: creating beats is clearly one of the most challenging things in production.

I guess that this depends on your background (i.e. my background is classical music, so my kwnoledge about harmony and melody are very good, but my knowledge about beats is very limited), but overall, mastering beat creation is something that might take you a long, long time.

In the last few months what I have found particularly useful is to create one track with an existing sample, then create another track to try to recreate that sample very, very slowly, trying to find similar kicks/snares et all.

Once you think you have managed to create something "similar" to the original sample, listen to it soloed and you will see how you are still miles ahead.

However: this is an approach that is helping me personally, and although I feel that it will take me a long time to create something I am proud of, at least my beats are much better than when I started three months ago.

Also, make sure that you listen to anything you create with at least a bassline, it will give more of an idea of where your beat is going to...

Finally: fruity loops is a brilliant tool to start. however, if money is not an issue to you, I would recommend Ableton Live, since its warping capabilities will allow you to stretch samples at will, allowing you to play with beats in a much faster manner. This is the DAW I will be getting one day... when I am less poor! :D (RIght now I am using Reaper, which is a brilliant and cheap tool, although not that easy for beat creation)...

Regards and good luck!
 
basic drum and bass drum pattern normally goes like this:



O---D-----O-D---

thats just Kick snare

O-S-D-S-S-O-D-S-

Thats it with highhat shuffles in the usual places.

O - KICK
S- Shuffle
D - Snare




Hope I could help, nt sure if it's understandable, i'm pretty stoned. :P
 
what? :P :D

Something that would also help is a visual representation of some of the samples with the kicks... you can listen to some of the famous beats while you are actually listen to them, so that you can define the important elements...

Take the father of breaks - aka amen - for example: not an easy break to start with (i would recommend having a listen/look at the sniper, is a much simpler beat to learn or reproduce and will produce satisfactory results in no time), but it gives a good idea of the complexity of the break...

Amen_break_sample_image.png


Reading info about each beat will also help you to understand why some beats have got an inherent energy to them while others do not seem to lead you nowhere... i.e. the Amen, there are dozens of studies that try to explain why this beat has such an impact on your brain (and legs?)... have a look at the wiki entry for Amen...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen_break
 
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Thanks all of your comments have been really helpful, just sounds like it takes time and patience to really master it. I'l go check out the sniper sample too it would be good to start off with something a bit simpler.
I'l probably try all of what you have advised see if it works for me cheers
 
get a good "dnb" sounding break i.e the worm
beef it up
put kick and snares in
put ghost kicks in
put cheeky shuffle in there
put different layers of quiet hi - hats in the background for that "busy" effect
 
a dnb/breakbeat drum beat normally has a kick on 1 and 11 and a snare (or anything higher pitched) on 5 and 13. then just play around with everything else and you should start making decent beats
 
a dnb/breakbeat drum beat normally has a kick on 1 and 11 and a snare (or anything higher pitched) on 5 and 13. then just play around with everything else and you should start making decent beats

The kick on 1 and 7 and the snare on 5 and 11 is also popular
 
Just prepared this simple drum pattern for you, in about 5 minutes.

If you get hold of that free copy of FL studio, I'll forward the project file so you can see how its put together

Peace Out
How3

www.how3.com
Debut release available from iTunes now
 

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I agree that a decent drum track is the hardest thing with producing, and I've only just started to get it down myself. There's a lot of different ways to get a generic sound but yeah I'd say the best way is to get a decent groove going with hits first. Get the right hits for the sound you want otherwise making it up later with eq and effects will make the track sound muddy. Maybe put them through an analyzer to see if you could do with layering another snare etc to fill out the mix. Then once this is down and grooving listen to different breaks to go over it, which adds to the groove. If one slice or section of a break sounds good and the rest doesn't work just cut out the bit that works. Try blending breaks with different timbres together, mutt is wicked at that.

For the breaks and hits to gel together tho you must roll off the low end with an eq to avoid the low end clashing. I know most of us know all this already but I thought it's worth a type still.
 
hey thanks for all the advice just came back to this post and more people have posted so thanks for all your advice, still wrestling with it, had got a basic drum piece down so now trying to add stuff to it and experiment, gonna have a listen to the beat hows has laid out, also thanks for that mate appreciate it.

Just listened to that beat hows laid out thats awsome mate love it, if I get fruity loops im coming back for a tutorial, i makes me sick some people have just got the knack some people just aint lol.
 
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can't stress enough the importance of good quality drum samples... i found the Danny Bird sample pac very good, as well as getting a few issues of Computer music magazine to get bunch of random samples like brazillian carnival bongo loops and stuff!
 
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