Groove?

B

bembiii

New Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Okay so this is something I've been struggling with for forever. Whenever I'm putting a beat
together, it just sounds really, stiff and way too structured. Now, I'm aware that there are multiple
components regarding the dynamic and feel of the beat, such as sample selection, velocity, sample length,
and the actual spacing of your notes, but the last part is the one that really gets me. So here are a few
of my questions.

1. On or off the grid? Now seeing as how DnB is a faster tempo, working off the grid and
adjusting your percussion hits slightly doesnt really hold that much sway. I mean, it's noticeable, but only slightly. Not nearly as relevant as say like a 128 bpm, where you can really feel that swing. Now diving into the real problem Icome across when working with swung notes is this. Lets say I have a two bar measure. At the end of the first bar I have a swung hi hat, but then I have a kick on the 1 of the second measure. The kick now sounds rushed in the context of the beat.

This is not what I'm going for. As previously stated, I'm just trying for a less structured feel and trying to humanize the overall feel. So then I compensate by adjusting the kick as well. So ultimately I just end up swinging all the notes I realized that ultimately all I've done is just changed the bpm of the track without actually doing so. I mean, it sounds right, but nothing is really swung at all now, its just a different bpm. I'm so confused. So I decided to dissect what some produccers were doing in their tracks. One track I looked at was Ultimatum by A-Cray. This track has a bpm of 172, and I do like the groove of a lot of his tracks. What I discovered is that almost none of this song really fit the grid at all. Kicks and hates were all over the place. For the most part the snares lined up. And of course I wasn't really expecting everything to just fall into place, but this just looked like a clusterfuck. I'm I just retarded? What am I missing here. I guess all of that was really my only question. I hope I was able to explain it well enough.
 
Take it down a level and get the basics right first... is your pattern groovy? I wouldn't swing notes unless you swing everything by the same amount, and humanizing is only the icing on the cake. Concentrating on getting the hits in the right places, starting with the kicks and snares, then the hi-hats and cymbals/percussion. Turn on quantize and play with putting the hits in different places before you go through the process of humanizing and adjusting velocity.
 
Recently I've been using Reso's approach to making beats... I just slice some breaks and put the different parts into a drum rack / drum sampler like Battery 4 and I fiddle around until I get a beat I like. Repeat for a couple more breaks, and voilá, there's your beat
 
Try to sample drums from live loops that will then contain 2 or more slightly different hits of each sound. Use both hits in different areas. The loop may also contain a good shuffle.

On hat channels or tops channels use volume ducking. I use camelphat with everything off apart from an Lfo controlling the master volume. It's like a side chain effect I guess but more control.

Tight noise gates are also great because they don't cut to a grid they cut in relation to volume. Gives more groove to rigid patterns.
 
This might be me, but I think putting drums of the grid is not a good idea in dnb. Al the hats and kicks are so close to each other that the things of grid will sound wrong.
How to get a same groove as a certain track? Blatantly copy it. Put the track in you daw. Zoom in, and copy it.
When you got that beat down you can give it your own touch. Or not... But that's the easiest way to get a groove. I still do this alot in my tracks
 
Listen to a lot of jazz instrumentals and then let that soak into your head. Strong fundamentals in trippy drum work can be traced back to complex jazz tracks. But also like some others said, focus on the kick and snare first, making sure they're on-point, and then you just need to toy around with your other percussive elements.

Think in terms of not just timing, but frequencies and resonance as well, and pitch/tone etc. Your drums should have a subtle melodic quality to their sound as a cohesive whole, gliding along in frequencies and chords and having a specific purpose in a well-oiled machine. And that almost entirely depends on the nature/feel of the track in particular.

Also, use LOTS of references. Just other tracks you like and see how you can replicate that stuff without actually ripping it off. I don't even mean just DnB tracks, either, speaking purely creatively. You don't need to use just a single reference track for a song; in fact I've never been comfortable with that idea b/c it's a quick invitation to rip-off territory imho.
 
Use a template... Find a pattern that you like and copy the pattern with your own freshly made kicks and snares, plus other sounds. Tweak and personalise. Might help once you've repeated this process a few times to get your head around what constitutes a good groove? Just a suggestion.
 
maybe think bigger, and instead of swinging only notes of a bar....swing an entire section.....i like to slowly swing one track out of syncopation and then bring it back in using automation over the course of a song...this creates tension and movement in the song..
 
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