DnB Percussion

D

DJ Skill

Guest
I'm just getting into composing dnb and i can do basslines and simple percussion easily, but how do you make those really complex beats with snares? I cant even find any voices for it. I get the basic idea of things like:

BD: x---|----|--x-|----|
SD: ----|x---|----|x---|
HH: xxxx|xxxx|xxxx|xxxx|

But i just dont know where to start with those complex beats! Anywhere i can see drum machine patterns?
 
I think that complex stuff is created very spontaneuslly, because I can't imagine anyone fool around with those complex beats and do exactly what they want. I think it is done with a sampler. Chopping the loops and stuff. Or by "random patch generators". I know Aphex Twin does his crazy stuff with those. How does random patch generator work? I don't know, because I never used one, but I think you can find lots of info on the web.
I might be wrong, but that's the way I would do it. SPONTANEUSLY! Just putting the notes in, remove some, add some, close my eyes and play the notes with arpeggio and record it that way, .....kind of...

Well, it's good to have some basic of the beat down, and that you know how it has to sound, but then the improvisation and experimentation comes in.

I don't know how the pros do it, but I would do it that way.

It all depends on your way of making music, and your view of making music.

peace.
FISHI:)
 
HERE'S A FEW TIPS

A good tip is to continue the way you are doing creating simple patterns. The next thing to do is to add delay to your hats, this will create more of a rolling effect. Mess about with the positioning of notes and the variations are endless.

Another tip is to create your basic pattern as above, sample the whole thing, chop it up again and re-sequence it and your loop will gradually start to change into something totally different.

Add compression to your break as it's chopped up to highligh each hit and mess around with the EQ to give more punch to the overall loop.

Use different amounts of reverb on hats, and other percussion to the reverb used on your snares. This will give the loop a kinda scraping sound underneath your main drums.

Hope this helps as a starting point.

Let me know how you get on.

Ez

Rich
 
Thre are several ways to go about Breaks. To get D&B there are many metheds and alot depends on what you want to sound like. LTJ Jazzy ambiant style? or Dark Club Jungle?

I do Ambiant jazzy stuff sometimes when I am sick of working on house and I usualy program my beats in fruity loops.... but that not all I do.

I start in the knowladge taht I want natuaral sounding drums...do I get out my jazz and rock records and listen for the hits I want. I then sample ten or 15 versions of each hit.... I use my finger to controle the speed of the record...that allows me to come up with many variasions on the hits.


I edit those in wavelab....make them clean and smooth sounding...how to do that is another story... I like to get it clean and then fuzzy. But use your owen ears to gt your owen sound.

Smoke a Phatty and drink a bit...relax your almost there..

take those bass hits ans snare hits and high hats and satart butting together a jazy or rocky sorta beat in frutie loops I try and make softer rock beats because I like softer Jazzy D&B. Get a few really good beet loops of 32. Take those into wave labe and use a noise gate or something to get it to sound SNAPPY and your going now...

At this point you should have a few beats to playwith and cut up and rearange in acid or Recycle cut and enjoy...the more cutting up and aranging on this levle the more cacading changes...just get a few good beats to play with.


Email if you need a coraspodance on this


Taos
 
Thx guys. :) I can do it pretty good now. Ive got an (ahem) 'payed' (ahem) version of peak, and thats pretty good for editing beats. I do it first on the sequencer, then sample it all on computer. DnB rules! how do you do your basslines? I either use really low sine waves in different ocatves with lots of distortion, or take a bass drum beat and give it loads of distrotion and low pass filter. It works pretty well.
 
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For bass, carry on using the sine waves like you have been doing, but layer a nice saw on top put through a high pass filter. This will make your b-line buzz more and sound fuller.

There are a million methods of layering like this which should keep you amazed for hours.
 
addition: I usually start with some breaks and rearrange them... then I add normal kicks and snares on top of it (play with them, add delay on some of the snares, add different levels of volume, get some flowy kick/snare action), sometimes another break with heavy compression helps the cause, then some hihats on top of it... add snares that are softer and higher in order to create ghost notes....

blalbalblalblal **** I'm tired and ****ed up
 
u guys sure know yer dnb! one last question: what about cymbals? I really like the beat in horizons by ltj, the cymbal comes at the same time as the second bd. also, theres thing track on the rollcage (psx game) cd, i dunno who its by or even what its called but its at 131 bpm (slow for dnb i know but its a cool track), and in the fourth beat theres one cymbal and two on the eighth, which gives a really cool effect. how do u come up with where 2 place your cymbals?
 
man give me a break. How do you expect to make anything innovative or fresh if all you do is try to ape other people's drum patterns? I'm not trying to be harsh, but for crying out loud just EXPERIMENT, find what works FOR YOU, and stop trying to get all the easy answers from other people. Use your ears and most importantly your imagination.

later
 
How can you be innovative if you don't understand the fundamentals ?

This guy hear is asking all the right questions if you ask me.
When i first started making beatz i didn't have a clue where to start positioning hits and how to effect them.

If it wasn't for places like this i wouldn't know a thing about producing music and i'd still be sat at home tearing my hair out.

Rich.
 
hmmm it is a bit off topic but there is a question to be answered.


I have been working with Synths for 10 years now and I definitely think it takes awhile to learn things. Its very important to learn from those who know how but at the same time its more important to discover on your own. That's how you get your own style you find your won way of making the music you want.



taos
www.djtaos.cjb.net
 
. . .don't limit yourself by the definitions of "dnb". Learning how other people do it is an excellent start, but from there you want to innovate and produce what excites you and what you want to listen to, even if it doesn't sound like your dnb cd's

supa drop kicking-type dude illustrates some excellent tips on creating dnb patterns in Reason, but you can apply his methods to any program. check 'em out

originally posted by Taos
Smoke a Phatty and drink a bit...relax your almost there..
Click to expand...

heed the words of the master!!
 
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Where would I be without futureproducers....:D
Uve all been a great help 2 me, + i'll upload a track or 2 on the net soon, comin along well. Where can I hear your stuff? (If its DnB of course :) )
 
dnb

when I create dnb tracks(thats about all i produce) I start off simple and just layer like a mofo. Like start the beat how you would like but maybe add a snare on top of a snare. maybe have some fast highats going and put some more fast highats on top of those. I like to have alot of **** going on.But not to the point where it sounds bad. Experimenting and listening to other peoples drum patterns is the only way to learn.

peace

fizikz
 
hey fiziks

I've heard the term before, and I think I know what it means, but what do you mean when you say "layered"?
 
layers

I guess what I mean by layers is just what it is. I may have a basic drum sequence.
( kick---snare---kick-snare ) over a 64 note pattern.
But, as I progress more into the track, as the track gets harder, I will put another snare(a different snare maybe with some reverb) on top of the original snare.I usually have some fast high hats going. I will put another set of fast high-hats on top of the original hats to add more power to the track.I like to change up the drum pattern some how every 64 notes. But there are endless combinations of drum patterns, its all about experimintation.

peace
 
i think one of the hardest things for me in learning how to make a bear right now is the drum pattern. I guess its because I dont really have basics and drum theory. I think one of the things that are helping me right now is recreating beats that other people have made. It still really hard for me but i am getting more exposed to different styles of drum beats.
 
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