Drums (beat and amen break)

[dicobraz]

Hey everyone

I know that everyone builds their beats in different ways. Some may place kick, snare and some percussion. Then layer an amen break cutting the lows sidechain, mostly to fill the song. Some people make amen as part of their drums so it fills all the appropriate frequencies for the drums.

Whats the kind of right way to go about it? (i know that there is no right way!)
What is the difference between the actual beat and the amen break, if there is one?

 

[Mr Fletch]

You hit the nail on the head, there is no right or wrong way to build a beat. It's all in the imagination of the producer.

The difference between the 'beat', and the 'amen is a beat is any type of kick snare purcussion combo you create, whereas the 'amen' is a legendary break created way back in the 60's (I may be wrong on that) which was then used in an old jungle track, which is how we know it now. Dont be confused though, there are many different breaks, but only one 'amen' break

 

[dicobraz]

My eyes start to open!! cheers Mr Fletch

I got really confused when i saw one of the tutorials on sonic academy website (probably shouldnt take it too serious), basically he made 2 step (i think) kick, snare, some hats and then he layered a cooked break cutting to about 800 and sidechained, it worked, but it questioned me what was the point if he could programm a bit more drums and that would do a trick, so at this point i have lost the exact purpose of a break...

 

[Mr Fletch]

People use breaks sometimes to make a beat sound more full. It's very tricky to write a beat that has lots of background percussions going on, you need to put ghost snares on off beats, play with feedback and shuffle to give it more rythym, lots of various hats (closed and open) rimshots, shakers etc etc. Even then, chances are it wont sound how you want it to.

By layering a break underneath your main beats, and slightly hi passing it through a filter you can get the punchiness of your own individual kicks and snares, with the bonus of the rythym and shuffle of a break.

Saying this, some people dont use breaks at all, others base their entire track around one break, without adding any extra drumwork of their own. Again, neither way is right or wrong, it's just up to the individual.

 

[dicobraz]

Thanks helped a lot!
I think i came to understanding and found my way now
btw check this video (for logic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1cHEJxPrg4

Tried it know, i think its a really good approach to rewrite a break to suit your drum work, just the way you want your break to be, nice!

 

[Thin and crispy]

just make sure if your using a break that its of good quality etc
I made this track around the "ashleys roadclip" break and i just cant get the phat sound i want from it cos its quite low quality, and subsiquently, i've given up on it lol.

https://soundcloud.com/thin-and-crispy%2Fashleys-break

 

[jimjimjim]

just make sure if your using a break that its of good quality etc
I made this track around the "ashleys roadclip" break and i just cant get the phat sound i want from it cos its quite low quality, and subsiquently, i've given up on it lol.

https://soundcloud.com/thin-and-crispy%2Fashleys-break

try this - create a duplicate of the break on another channel - pan one hard left - pan the other hard right - gives it more presence and can sometimes work ok. does make it more complicated to add effects etc but if you "have" to have that break.
Sometimes u cant polish a turd though if u know what i mean

 

[logikz]

id like to help you fatten that break thin and crispy, its usually pretty easy, just overdrive and eq can work wonders. want to attach it so we can all have a go?