how to you make a 2-step drum pattern

[deadly_habit]

10/10 Mortal
you've done me proud

[Mortal]

2-step?!?!

can we PLEASE stop with all of the sub-genres of dubstep now...GODDD!

2-step was around before dubstep was one of the genre's involved in making the scene...

10/10 Mortal
you've done me proud

[freakah]

2-step?!?!

can we PLEASE stop with all of the sub-genres of dubstep now...GODDD!

2-step was around before dubstep was one of the genre's involved in making the scene...

10/10 Mortal
you've done me proud

I got well and truly played!! Nice work!

[Mortal]

[Ldizzy]

2-step?!?!

can we PLEASE stop with all of the sub-genres of dubstep now...GODDD!

:s i think hes kidding

[Ldizzy]

2-step?!?!

can we PLEASE stop with all of the sub-genres of dubstep now...GODDD!

u might be kidding ..

[kaiori breathe]

two oh one... Here's what you wrote:

Why don't you LISTEN to some 2-step records and then replicate what you hear?

When I was learning to make music, all I had was my ears and some records to listen to. No internet. No mates or 'experts' to help me.

Listen. Learn. Try to replicate. Get it wrong. Try again. Maybe come up with something that either sounds like a naive reproduction, or something even better/different/phresh.

Be part of the solution, not the problem.

If people are this lazy on their quest for knowledge, their music will be even lazier.

Now... Here's what I read:

This reminds me of the time I learned how to wank my own ego to a point of explosive ecstasy while simultaneously masturbating to a picture of myself with the words "I'm so fucking great" written under it (my mum printed it up for me).

I remember it well, there was nobody there to teach me, there was no 'interweb' or 'experts' to help me... I had to do it all on my own.

Obviously learning to do it on my own makes me better in some magical way that I only I can comprehend. It clearly makes me a part of an elite. Not being a part of this elite is where everyone else is going wrong. They're all so annoying, they keep using helpful guides to ego wanking and 'how to's that explain it all in gratuitous detail and most annoyingly of all they ask questions!!!!!

I've never once asked a question to anybody but myself... The answer is always a resounding "11"

... and the question I ask myself time and time again? "On a scale of 1 to 10, how awesome am I?"

The important thing to remember here is that asking questions and researching things online is obviously an indication that you are lazy and don't deserve the information you gleam from such methods! Obviously asking questions directed at people who are in the know is foolish!

There is no viable reason to sit and do it all on your own when you don't have to, we have the internet for a reason, granted, it's predominantly used to distribute pornography and pirated software and music, but when you wade through the pornographic content (this is assuming you haven't wanked yourself into a coma) you'll find a vast wealth of information sitting ready to be absorbed and a large number of communities like this which are or at least should be geared towards learning and supporting one another. If you're not willing to impart knowledge then why the heck are you sitting in the production forum? Considering the top two topics are devoted to giving feedback on tracks and the top two announcements are vast tutorials it seems a bit obvious that one of the main functions of this forum is to aid learning about production. If you have nothing to contribute to that functionality of the forum then why are you here?

If somebody asks you how to do something, you can tell them how if you want, or you can make grand assumptions about their character, tell them they're lazy and that they should learn it themselves. There is no 'solution' and no 'problem' only the option to be helpful in the hopes that the person you're helping might stick at it and learn the same skill set you have so they can express themselves artistically as you do, or you the option to needlessly throw somebody into the deep end and possibly turn them off from the idea of learning to produce their own music because you've portrayed it as some elite skill set that only a select few cool people who 'did it all on their own' are allowed to have access to.

I won't disagree with you that listening to records is a great way to pick it up, but man, it would have taken less time to find a couple of typical 2-step breaks and post them here than it would have to tell everyone how great you are for learning to do shit on your own then suggest everyone else do the same. Even if you didn't want to do that telling somebody to "listen" isn't exactly a great starting point, that's like a kid asking how to write and somebody telling him "just pick up a pencil." If you're gonna tell him to listen why not give him some good starting points at least? Sorry if I sound like I'm really assaulting you here, I'm told I come off as aggressive... I don't have anything against you personally as I don't know you I just think you'd have been better not posting if you weren't going to try and contribute in a more constructive manner and I see a lot of people on this forum taking the "why don't you figure it out yourself" route when people ask questions and it is the one thing I don't care for on this forum.

If you love music you should probably be helpful and try to spread the joy it gives you...

Anyway, in response to this thread.

With regards to the actual structuring of the beats, I don't know if this will help, but I took a screen shot of the beat me and Demille used in I'd Give Anything, it was pretty strongly influenced by a lot of 2-step stuff we'd been listening to:


The snap is set to 1/4 step in case you're a little lost in the picture. The 'click' sound is a light switch being turned on and off that we cut up.

http://www.ttabs.com/index.php < this is a good resource for drum tablature, it might not yield great results for electronic artists but it's great if you're looking to spice up your beats and you don't know where to start and more often than not you'll find something sparks your creativity.

There seems to be a lot of experimentation in 2-step and future garage in terms of what sounds are actually being used in drum beats. I hear weird shit all the time, like coins being flipped, reversed snares and click sounds that come from odd sources like guns being cocked or keys being jingled. I've heard a zipper and I've used the sounds of lighters being flicked on and off before. A good place to start is to get a good collection of sounds that you think you could use in a beat. Also, nearly everything in a 2-step beat will sound sharp and snappy, it's all about the attack on those hits.

Hopefully something there will help.

[desbest]

I've been stuck for weeks and now I've figured it out.
Play loads of garage tracks from compilations in Quicktime then use Quicktime to slow the track down, and listen carefully to the drums, especially the introduction drums. I like it how they break the 2step drums apart at a break sometimes, or as a fill.

The typical 2step drum pattern
1-2-3-2 ___ s2s_3-2
1-3-2 ___ s2s2_3-2

1 is a kick. 2 is a hihat. 3 is a dry snare. ___ is a pause. _ is a shorter pause.
s is a different sounding snare.
The bold numbers are joined together because they do not really have a pause, whereas the numbers with dashes do.


Real Life Examples
Before I slowed the tracks down to hear the drum patterns, I always thought that the drum pattern was this.
1-2-3 2323 1-2
I have made authentic 2step beats with that drum pattern (it's very hard). DJ Luck & MC Neat, Ain't No Stopping Us, uses that uncommon drum pattern.

Truesteppers - Out Of Your Mind (Remix), uses this drum pattern in the intro, then it goes to the typical drum pattern once the song drops.
1-2-3___ 2s_2s2s 23
s represents a different sounding snare.

Some songs use this drum pattern.
1-2-3-2 ___ s2s2 3-2

The KCI & Jojo - Tell Me That It's Real (Club Asylum Remix), uses a
1-3-2 ___ s2s2 3-2
s represents a different sounding snare.

And sometimes they use shakers or hihats throughout the drum pattern with gaps to fill it up and make it sound more bouncy and thick.
For an example, listen to My World, by DJ Luck & MC Neat.
There is always a dry snare on the first beat of every 2nd and 4th bar.

The song, Sparks & Markhill - I Dream Of You Baby, uses this drum pattern.
1-2-3-2 _ 3 ___ 2-3-2 _ 1-22_3-2
It spans over 8 bars instead of 4. And _ represents a short pause instead of a long pause like ___ that.

Imagine you was using shakers or banging buttons to produce the beat

Imagine that you have 3 shakers or buttons, or moles (as in whack a mole) in front of you, each labelled, 1, 2 and 3. Put your hands into a closed fist, and then bang an imaginary number down with your closed fist to practise. This will help greatly if you do this along with the tracks you hear slowed down.
Imagine that your forth shaker, called s, is above all the 3 shakers, as well.



Important Notes
Also, 2step drums are like pulling a rubber band, or a spring, or a slingshot; because they build up potential energy when pulled back, and then release the energy once released.
The drum pattern builds up potential energy, then there's a pause, then it releases the energy. After that there's a pause before the next set of drums. Don't forget to include the potential energy in the drum pattern. There's a reason why 2step beats have a pause, before they finally end.

Once you've got the basic beat, go crazy with it. Fill in the drum pattern and get creative with it. Artful Dodger's album has a different sounding drums on each track of the album. I'm going to slow that down now and practise doing the drum beat with my closed fists banging imaginary 1, 2, and 3 buttons, all in a row.

It's also good to turn the swing up to 50% to make the drums not quantised properly. Burial doesn't quantise his loops or drums on Sound Forge, and he keeps all the loops out of time on his songs, just like garage producers do.

[Alby D]

I've been stuck for weeks and now I've figured it out.
Play loads of garage tracks from compilations in Quicktime then use Quicktime to slow the track down, and listen carefully to the drums, especially the introduction drums. I like it how they break the 2step drums apart at a break sometimes, or as a fill.

The typical 2step drum pattern
1-2-3-2 ___ s2s_3-2
1-3-2 ___ s2s2_3-2

1 is a kick. 2 is a hihat. 3 is a dry snare. ___ is a pause. _ is a shorter pause.
s is a different sounding snare.
The bold numbers are joined together because they do not really have a pause, whereas the numbers with dashes do.


Real Life Examples
Before I slowed the tracks down to hear the drum patterns, I always thought that the drum pattern was this.
1-2-3 2323 1-2
I have made authentic 2step beats with that drum pattern (it's very hard). DJ Luck & MC Neat, Ain't No Stopping Us, uses that uncommon drum pattern.

Truesteppers - Out Of Your Mind (Remix), uses this drum pattern in the intro, then it goes to the typical drum pattern once the song drops.
1-2-3___ 2s_2s2s 23
s represents a different sounding snare.

Some songs use this drum pattern.
1-2-3-2 ___ s2s2 3-2

The KCI & Jojo - Tell Me That It's Real (Club Asylum Remix), uses a
1-3-2 ___ s2s2 3-2
s represents a different sounding snare.

And sometimes they use shakers or hihats throughout the drum pattern with gaps to fill it up and make it sound more bouncy and thick.
For an example, listen to My World, by DJ Luck & MC Neat.
There is always a dry snare on the first beat of every 2nd and 4th bar.

The song, Sparks & Markhill - I Dream Of You Baby, uses this drum pattern.
1-2-3-2 _ 3 ___ 2-3-2 _ 1-22_3-2
It spans over 8 bars instead of 4. And _ represents a short pause instead of a long pause like ___ that.

Imagine you was using shakers or banging buttons to produce the beat

Imagine that you have 3 shakers or buttons, or moles (as in whack a mole) in front of you, each labelled, 1, 2 and 3. Put your hands into a closed fist, and then bang an imaginary number down with your closed fist to practise. This will help greatly if you do this along with the tracks you hear slowed down.
Imagine that your forth shaker, called s, is above all the 3 shakers, as well.



Important Notes
Also, 2step drums are like pulling a rubber band, or a spring, or a slingshot; because they build up potential energy when pulled back, and then release the energy once released.
The drum pattern builds up potential energy, then there's a pause, then it releases the energy. After that there's a pause before the next set of drums. Don't forget to include the potential energy in the drum pattern. There's a reason why 2step beats have a pause, before they finally end.

Once you've got the basic beat, go crazy with it. Fill in the drum pattern and get creative with it. Artful Dodger's album has a different sounding drums on each track of the album. I'm going to slow that down now and practise doing the drum beat with my closed fists banging imaginary 1, 2, and 3 buttons, all in a row.

It's also good to turn the swing up to 50% to make the drums not quantised properly. Burial doesn't quantise his loops or drums on Sound Forge, and he keeps all the loops out of time on his songs, just like garage producers do.

this is knowledge

[Basic A]

2-step?!?!

can we PLEASE stop with all of the sub-genres of dubstep now...GODDD!

[img/img]

2-step was around before dubstep was one of the genre's involved in making the scene...

Mortals not exactly musically stupid, I promise, we chat ... I hav e afunny suspiscion his joke just flew right over your head man.

[In The Shadows]

just squash your dubstep beats into a single bar and change your tempo to 134 and you have 2 step. Change it to 170bpm and you have drum n bass, theres not a great deal of difference imo. Any of the 2 step patterns posted here Im sure you could drop to 69bpm and itll be a dubstep beat or speed it to 170 and itll work for dnb.

desbest when you have the 's' for a different sounding snare, I may be wrong here but just form looking at your pattern things there that other snare is a probably a rimshot no?



amen break looping, each charicter = 1/16 note

k = kick, s = snare, h = hat, r = rimshot, - = 1/16 note gap

k - k - s - h r h r k - s - h -


hats basicly tick on every 1/8th note, you then stick rim shots in the 1/16th note gaps between the hats to get the 'hat rim hat rim' shuffle, its used extensively in garage and drum n bass because its used extensively in funk drum solos which theyre just cutting up, heres amen, think and funky drummer, spot the shuffles, the patterns are almost identicle on each break, few little kicks or rims added or taken away here and there...



just listen out for the little hatrimhatrim wiggle, once your ears clock it you wont have to slow anything down to get it right itll just be obvious whats going on, 95% of break beats its going to be either an 1/8 or a 1/4 note between kicks and snares and the little rim wiggle can be thrown in to shake though a 1/4 note gap. Aside V Snares, Remarc and the like, drum patterns havent really changed much in the last 40 odd years. With garage its more about getting the sounds snappy and disjointed, not tying the hits together too much. They use the same pattern as that amen in loads of garage, they even use the amen sample, its just about making all the hits really stunted to give it that jerky feel and not letting the sheet of noise you get in those breaks roll through, or itll just sound like a breaks/hardcore tune, like debest says, little pauses here and there also.

[desbest]

Sometimes the s is the same exact hihat as 2, but instead they use an equaliser to make it sound less sharp and striking, and they might alter the pitch to be slightly lower. Or they use a similiar sounding snare sound.
You could mistake as the producer only using 2, as 2 and s, sound so similar.

[legend4ry]

put your BPM to 85-90bpm - make a hiphop sick beat, put the bpm to 130-135 and then boom you got a 2step beat (with a little adjusting)

[desbest]

I was in a music studio and this boy who made a really good grime beat at 140bpm, he slowed it down when it was done, and it instantly became a hip hop beat.
It was amazing to hear the genre change as the tempo slid up and down.

[In The Shadows]

Sometimes the s is the same exact hihat as 2, but instead they use an equaliser to make it sound less sharp and striking, and they might alter the pitch to be slightly lower. Or they use a similiar sounding snare sound.
You could mistake as the producer only using 2, as 2 and s, sound so similar.

you sure its not just a rimshot you are hearing and the reason it sounds a bit like a lower version of the hat or a similar snare is because it is the same snare drum hit on the rim and it has the wash of the hats in the break over it?

[legend4ry]

I was in a music studio and this boy who made a really good grime beat at 140bpm, he slowed it down when it was done, and it instantly became a hip hop beat.
It was amazing to hear the genre change as the tempo slid up and down.

Indeed. While this don't work a lot with halfstep, if your snares are around the 2 and the 4 you can adjust the bpm and your tune becomes part of a different genre so easily.

[serox]

kaiori breathe has shown you in a very simple way how to do it. Read his post, twice.

Also, it does not matter about the bpm really. You can make it at whatever you like as long as you keep the same space. with faster tempos you can fill the gaps in and make some interesting rolls;)

Make a simple loop with swing, make the next bar slightly different.

[serox]

I was in a music studio and this boy who made a really good grime beat at 140bpm, he slowed it down when it was done, and it instantly became a hip hop beat.
It was amazing to hear the genre change as the tempo slid up and down.

Indeed. While this don't work a lot with halfstep, if your snares are around the 2 and the 4 you can adjust the bpm and your tune becomes part of a different genre so easily.

Dont forget a lot of hip hop is made between 150 and 170 bpm.

[legend4ry]

I was in a music studio and this boy who made a really good grime beat at 140bpm, he slowed it down when it was done, and it instantly became a hip hop beat.
It was amazing to hear the genre change as the tempo slid up and down.

Indeed. While this don't work a lot with halfstep, if your snares are around the 2 and the 4 you can adjust the bpm and your tune becomes part of a different genre so easily.

Dont forget a lot of hip hop is made between 150 and 170 bpm.

No its not, traditionally a lot hiphop is built between 85-110, these days it branches all the way up to the 140 region and everything in between (85 - 140ish)

You must be listening to some drum and bass hiphop?

[serox]

No its not, traditionally a lot hiphop is built between 85-110, these days it branches all the way up to the 140 region and everything in between (85 - 140ish)

You must be listening to some drum and bass hiphop?

I am talking about Hip Hop you hear in the charts and Underground UK Hip Hop. Temper does things 150+ and loads of underground Hip Hop artists are making stuff around dnB tempo;) they just spread the drums out.