breaks

Krispy

Krispy

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Nov 26, 2009
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Alberta, Canada
I've never used a break before in my songs so I don't really understand how people are using them
Do you just put the break in your song and use that as your main beat?
And do you also layer it? Like the drums and such?
And then add more sounds on top of the break?

Whenever I make songs I always just use my own drum patterns and stuff that I make up in my head. SO would the reason to use made breaks be just to get cooler sounding patterns that you wouldnt think of yourself?

Just wondering how that whole thing works
 
you can do whatever you want.

sometimes wed take some break, fit it to the tempo of the song and just hipass. or slice it up and rearrange without hipassing. possibilities are endless really.
 
I know that a lot of producers program their own drum loops with single-hit samples but also have break loops playing in the background at a low volume to 'fill out' the sound more so it doesn't sound as empty. I'm on the right track with this, right?
 
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It depends what method you like and what results you want to achieve.

Here's how I use breaks, this by no means the "correct" way, it's just one that works for me and that gives me aestheically pleasing results.

I slice up a break (preferably something funky and a bit old) into individual hits, I will then go on to make my own drum beat from them. I'll select 2+ snares, 2+ kicks and 3+ high hats/rides so I can have some variety in the hits that I use. Once I've got the rhythm I want I'll seperate the individual hits into 3-4 channels (kicks, snares, high hats, ghost snares). Then I'll do a bit of processing ect to clean up the break and give it a bit of punch. It's at this point I consider whether I need/want more punch and will do a little bit of layering, most of the time I'll have two tracks of high hats doing slightly different rhythms or accenting certain beats.

Why do I generally use breaks? Because I like the timbre you can get from them, also you can use them to make more natural sounding drums, which again I quite like.
 
pretty much waht these giys have said. alot of people like the take both the kicks and snares out, some dont like the choop anything out. generaly though, you need to add enuogh hi pass for it to not conflict with your main drums. most people get a kick or 2 layer them up with each other, apply what ever proceesing, i ususaly EQ the a bit so one with all the high detail and one with the low end punch, and oftern light compression to gel them together, bounce and bring it back in as a mono wave. same with snare cept i usualy use 3, a low one a mid one and a snapp high one, compression and EQ added as needed. then i chop a break up usualy something with a bit of groove "feel" of you get me, then rebuild it as it was and layer my kicks n snares over it, some times i cut out the kicks or snare from th break depning on how they work with my "main" kick n snare. then i find some hats n cymbols with similar charicteristics to the ones in the break, layer them, but i always have a hat on 1/4 or 1/8th notes with some variation just to keep a rythm. the i layer up ghost snares and ghost kicks (quiter hi passed kicks n snares). ususaly everything gets bused together witha limter or compressor on the bus to glue it all together and give it a bit more punch. it taakes time to perfect using breaks, ive been at it for just over a year and im only just geting the sounds i want from it, but once youve got your head round how to use them it gets loads easyer. keep it up and keep trying you'll get there!
 
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