How do YOU make beats?

Supermarket · Joined: Mar 04, 2008 Posts: 23 Location: globe-trotter

I'm from the school of DIY... I rip individual drum samples out of old modules mostly, clean em up in Audition (just the heads and tails) then map them out using FL Studio. It's a very powerful program (now at version 8 after ten or so years of development) and allows you to easily tune, effect and freak with samples of any length or complexity.

And the program offers you lifetime free upgrades... I got onboard with version 6 a couple of years ago and haven't looked back since...

geg3 · Joined: Apr 21, 2008 Posts: 25

TRACKERS!

right now im on an Aodix kick. basic tracker interface, but with total freeform quantization and pattern scheduling.

before Aodix i was way into Renoise for years, and Buzz before that. Renoise is by far the best tracker ever made, but i always loved the way patterns were organized in Buzz. Aodix gives me the tools i need

as far as composition style... happy accidents. guess and check and get inspired and fail at realizing that inspiration but finding something better along the way by total accident. can be frustrating as hell and sometimes seem like a waste of time, but anything worth doing usually involves some hard work. the upside of this is i never get stuck doing the same thing over and over - i couldnt if i tried! - and the satisfaction that comes from completing a project that im proud of is immense

Supermarket · Joined: Mar 04, 2008 Posts: 23 Location: globe-trotter

I hear you there, geg... trial and error, and embracing serendipidy are all part of the ride...

Veil · Joined: Mar 24, 2008 Posts: 24 Location: Taunton SW UK

Kitchen utensils...can't beat them - I have a snare built from a nutcracker, thrown cutlery, metal drinks tray and a measuring jug lol. I love it.

solyaris · Joined: Jun 02, 2005 Posts: 49 Location: Genova, Italy

I only use only "delays"

( if just you wouls see beats in my music ... Smile

)

giorgio

Underwaterbob · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:24 am Post subject:

Sometimes I serialize my beats using CSound and Microsoft Excel. Take three or four percussion samples or generate some percussive sounds and have them play out durations according to some simple mathematical formula.

It's fast because you only have to set up the initial conditions and then let them play out. I've gotten some awesome beats from making each instrument play durations mapped to sine waves. Chaotic as hell.
If having the beat constantly change feel and tempo is too out there, then you can just cut out chunks and loop them to make it a bit more conventional. (Or map your durations to some simpler formulas in the first place) Take a few different chunks and the transitions between them and you've got the basis for a whole piece of music.

Mot Juste · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:56 pm Post subject: I make beats

I use Reason exclusively. Please reserve any judgement based on that fact. (I also use Pro Tools and Live, but for my own satisfaction when I'm making music it starts and stops in Reason 4.0)

My process for making music involves 'drawing' every bit of midi info in the sequencer tracks (with my touchpad). I place every hit and note and have been doing this for years now. So when I make a rhythm I am creating every part of it from the ground up (except for the original drums samples, most of the time). I tailor my rhythms.

Anyways, I find rhythm to be my best skill and I'd love to take a stab at making a 'beat' for somebody if they ever find themselves getting frustrated or stuck with it. In the very least you can take ideas away from what I tried to do.

I'm very interest in collaborating with fellow musicians so please if you're interested at all, just let me know.

Antimon · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:30 am Post subject: Re: I make beats

Mot Juste · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: I make beats

glow worm · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:40 pm Post subject:

All I have to make beats with at the moment, is the sequencer in my dear old XP-60 - but it's enough to be going on with, for now.

I usually begin with just the feeling I want to create, based on a time signature and a tempo. I start out by tapping in the main beats of the bars and adding some off-beat detail, drum by drum. Then I'll delete some / most / all of the main beats and add some more detail, then delete some of the first lot of detail.

When I have something approaching what I'm after, I'll leave it playing in the background while I have a cup of tea or three and see what sort of variations, bass lines and chords it suggests; before giving it a further tweak... or scrapping it altogether and starting again Rolling Eyes

Yes - it can be a long and somewhat ad hoc process, but by no means laborious and it produces some interesting results. Sometimes Confused

I'm still experimenting at the moment, but often get bored with single rhythms and 4/4 time sigs spread over 12 bars. I like playing with bars that have odd numbers of beats and with numbers that can be divided by both odd and even divisors.

Take the number 28, for example. I might lay down 4 bars of 7/4 and 7 bars of 4/4, with the start of the latter set halfway through the first bar of the former; so that the point where the rhythms repeat is less obvious. It's a technique I developed from programming background moving light sequences for exhibition stands, dinner-dances and the like; in order to give them a more "organic" and less pepetitive feel.

All being well, I'll have something to show for all the experimenting sometime in the New Year... maybe thinking

Just my £0.02

Doni · Joined: Jul 11, 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Canada

I'd say start with the presets in any given sequencer... find one that sounds banging and look at the arrangement... build off that

if your a lazy as with beats they are always gonna sound weak! nose to the grindstone son

abreaktor · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:42 am Post subject:

right now, i think ill have to take a major turn in my usual drum editing. i used to do a pianoroll-editing/playing along mixture, but that can be a hard thing if you use tempos above 170 bpm and very detailed breakcorish breakbeats (which i just started)

what i want to look into, are trackers (for some basic beats) - a guy on another forum recommended me those. i always thought trackers were very static (basic step sequencers), but he told me that you can create very off-beat notes via offset-parameters.

sadly, i cannot figure out how to make buzz leave its 4/4 matrix. that would be crucial, since my breakbeats are 7/4 or 5/4 (which is a hell of fun)

to get back on how to edit drums:
i make a beat in the pianoroll, add some snares/etc via overdubbing, add compression, eq, some midi effects like randoms and/or velocity effects on certain parts of the track, and then resample it several times, with several audio effects on it.

if tthere are 4-5 tracks of beats, i start with the "real" editing, which means fiddling around in the waveforms (usually in a grid of 64th notes/trioles).

to give you an idea, ill post a snippet of my current project. the "melody" is a mere placeholder, i just wanted to conservate that sound of the crystal softsynth). its 7/4 and will need a lot of editing til it really works, duration: ~1 minute.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/12/15/2225264/eattack3.mp3

uncoolbob · Joined: Feb 14, 2009 Posts: 9 Location: London, UK

Hello,

There's a genetic algorithm-based drum loop generator called musing
http://www.geneffects.com/musing/ which might help. I haven't used that particular program myself, but I do a lot of evolutionary music, and it is particularly good for rhythms.

cheers,
Bob.

GaryRea · Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:08 pm Post subject:

I admit to using "canned" drum tracks sometimes, and I've also used Acoustica Beatcraft to make my own grooves, occasionally, but, since about 2004, most of my music has completely eschewed percussion of any kind, since it's been more ambient and slowly evolving over time. Back in the nineties, I used the drum tracks I recorded off an old Casio keyboard, before giving it to my niece to learn on. I got a lot of mileage out of those tracks.

Gary

j.dilisio · Joined: May 19, 2009 Posts: 200 Location: baltimore

TRACKERS!
check out renoise,. it's free

Mohoyoho · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:58 am Post subject:

The Korg Electribes are great for beats. I'm having a blast with the ESX1.

robsol · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:08 am Post subject:

I've been an MPC user for more than 10 years. In fact, I am currently working on a method of improvising up drum beats as I go along, in real time, effectively making songs and tracks on the spot.

The MPC is very fast once you get used to it. You can of course record on the fly, erase specific beats or drums after recording, use multiple tracks etc, all without ever pressing stop.

The real issue lies with familiarity and skills. Almost anything can be utilised to a great extent and that is why I have stuck with the MPC - because I already know it. I am still working on new ways to express myself and push the envelope.