Getting into some 2-step..

[legend4ry]

Create a hiphop beat at about 90bpm.. Bring it back up to 135ish and you should have something decent with a little tweaking but its a great starting point to work slower then re-adjust.

[serox]

I have heard/seen loads of people explain how to make a beat but I have never once seen any of them make a decent 2step Garage beat, it is harder than they say imo. I have heard many ways to get it down but mine always sound like they were programmed by a robot. So I then take off the quantize on my hats/off beat percs and they it sounds all out of time and wrong

To get the groove right you need the correct hits to start with. A mixture of closed hats and open hats seems to work well for me. Once I have the right sounding hats I will play with the ADSR on a small loop and also change the pitch at the same time. With a bit of luck every now n then I record some automation that sounds good and the swing feels right.

I would suggest keeping things simple with the number of drums at first and trying to build onto it. It is really easy to get a decent groove going and then messing it up by adding more drums to it;)

Burial’s track Versus has a sick simple riddum going with just a few channels.

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

[B-Frank]

I have heard many ways to get it down but mine always sound like they were programmed by a robot.

Swing for me is the biggest key ingredient and would definitely help prevent that.

[MikkiFunk]

you don't really need to worry about that, swing quantize settings should keep your main beat and backbeat square. If every note was swung, then you'd just have the whole beat playing straight, but a bit late. All swing is is a short delay on every other 16th note (for the UKG syle stuff anyway, a more conventional swing is 8th note)

I know exactly what swing is my friend. I just don't use it, never have used/ relied on 'quantize' settings for swing, and a lot of people don't. Some people just know where to put certain notes on the grid to get a swung feel. I've been doing it like that since i started 6 years ago and prefer it like that, manually that is. I'd much rather just learn what sounds good and where to put hits to achieve different grooves than relying on a 'setting', and would recommend people starting off to do it like that too. It takes a bit longer but it's more useful to have the hang of.

When I said ALL of the drums, I meant that if you had the main kicks and snares straight, but then the downbeat hi hats (e.g. the hits you should keep fairly straight), for example, swung along with all the offbeat percussion hits, snares and closed hats, the whole beat would sound out of time with the main structure e.g. the main kicks and snares. I didn't mean if you swung all of the drums at the same time...

[skyh]

Damn you swing.... so illusive. I give up on swing... I guess I will just try and make the swing feel without using Regroove and or off-setting drum hits.

[legend4ry]

Your basic 2 step beat is pretty simple..

I tend to start with a 4x4 beat and move the kick a few times these days. I started a new 2-step tune earlier, it started off as a house tune but it needed more rhythm to it so it turned out more garage than house... Just by moving a few kicks around!

Baring in mind, this is still a WIP so composition wise and mix down its rough but the beats on point for what I want and a very basic 2step beat.

Soundcloud

[MrAural]

Your basic 2 step beat is pretty simple..

I tend to start with a 4x4 beat and move the kick a few times these days. I started a new 2-step tune earlier, it started off as a house tune but it needed more rhythm to it so it turned out more garage than house... Just by moving a few kicks around!

Baring in mind, this is still a WIP so composition wise and mix down its rough but the beats on point for what I want and a very basic 2step beat.

Soundcloud

That's an awesome tune. Big ups.

[cloak and dagger]

I always say this, but I think sound selection has at least as much to do with swing...you can have a great swung beat, switch the drum sounds, and it'll sound terrible and rigid.


here's the last garage tune I did:

Soundcloud

[skimpi]

I always say this, but I think sound selection has at least as much to do with swing...you can have a great swung beat, switch the drum sounds, and it'll sound terrible and rigid.


here's the last garage tune I did:

Soundcloud

that is a sick beat! i fail to see how that is garage though haha, just sounds like some hessle style percussion bass music

[skyh]

Cool beat Legend4ry! I kind of copied your drums and am now on my way to finally figuring this out a bit better. Thanks a ton for posting that clip.

[B-Frank]

I always say this, but I think sound selection has at least as much to do with swing...you can have a great swung beat, switch the drum sounds, and it'll sound terrible and rigid.


here's the last garage tune I did:

Soundcloud

Drums are a little "start and stoppy" for me (that was possibly the worst musical explanation the world has ever seen)... But for me Garage flows, Garage is smooth music.

It is basically literally all I listened to growing up when I was young and immature and everything else was "shit". After listening to Wookie - Battle, think I may have to go and give a 2 step beat a go.

[cloak and dagger]

Drums are a little "start and stoppy" for me (that was possibly the worst musical explanation the world has ever seen)... But for me Garage flows, Garage is smooth music.

It is basically literally all I listened to growing up when I was young and immature and everything else was "shit". After listening to Wookie - Battle, think I may have to go and give a 2 step beat a go.

Haha the start/stop is kinda the point of the tune...I could have easily just added a couple more hats and had it "flow," but I've done traditional garage beats before and don't really see a need to keep doing them.

I should mention though, the start/stop feel has very little to do with the drums and much more to do with the placement of the other sounds in the tune...the bare drum loop flows a lot differently than the finished tune.

And yeah, as the guy above you said, maybe it's not garage...just my interpretation of garage

[B-Frank]

Drums are a little "start and stoppy" for me (that was possibly the worst musical explanation the world has ever seen)... But for me Garage flows, Garage is smooth music.

It is basically literally all I listened to growing up when I was young and immature and everything else was "shit". After listening to Wookie - Battle, think I may have to go and give a 2 step beat a go.

Haha the start/stop is kinda the point of the tune...I could have easily just added a couple more hats and had it "flow," but I've done traditional garage beats before and don't really see a need to keep doing them.

I should mention though, the start/stop feel has very little to do with the drums and much more to do with the placement of the other sounds in the tune...the bare drum loop flows a lot differently than the finished tune.

And yeah, as the guy above you said, maybe it's not garage...just my interpretation of garage

Yep, I kinda assumed it was what you were going for. I did actually like it mind you but not in a garage sense if that makes any sense to you (should really work on my wording).

It's just one of the things that really makes me love garage is the whole smoothness of it all. Whether it be in your face party garage or dark and/or chilled garage, garage is just easy to listen to and thats why I love it.

[cloak and dagger]

yeah I feel you, different people find different things they like in the same music...for example, the thing that drew me to dubstep was its sense of space, dynamics and minimalism. I actually kinda like some brostep like Rusko, etc., but as dubstep I hate it, if that makes sense. I like it as music, I just don't want to hear it out at a dubstep night for the most part

[Mushroom Buttons]

try sampling a portion of hihats from breaks but without timestretching the breaks to match the tempo of your song. that'll give you some natural slightly offbeat swing.

[serox]

I should mention though, the start/stop feel has very little to do with the drums and much more to do with the placement of the other sounds in the tune...the bare drum loop flows a lot differently than the finished tune.

And yeah, as the guy above you said, maybe it's not garage...just my interpretation of garage

I always find keeping the track in time with the groove helps tbh:)

Having a drum loop doing one groove and then other stuff doing something else that is not in time with that groove will just sound wrong most of the time.

I often like to get my head nodding with just a few channels and then un mute or mute other bits and make sure the same groove is going. Works for me anyway.

[cloak and dagger]

I should mention though, the start/stop feel has very little to do with the drums and much more to do with the placement of the other sounds in the tune...the bare drum loop flows a lot differently than the finished tune.

And yeah, as the guy above you said, maybe it's not garage...just my interpretation of garage

I always find keeping the track in time with the groove helps tbh:)

Having a drum loop doing one groove and then other stuff doing something else that is not in time with that groove will just sound wrong most of the time.

I often like to get my head nodding with just a few channels and then un mute or mute other bits and make sure the same groove is going. Works for me anyway.

I'm kinda confused about what you're trying to say here...I made a creative decision to place notes in a way that accentuates a certain rhythm. Did that not sound in time to you?

[serox]

I'm kinda confused about what you're trying to say here...I made a creative decision to place notes in a way that accentuates a certain rhythm. Did that not sound in time to you?

nah, it sounds fine

[serox]

I thought I would give it a go too

https://www.yousendit.com/dl?phi_action ... d0hOTzhUQw

[legend4ry]

^

If you had a slightly different sounding snare for every 2nd hit.. Added a hat instead of a shaker and maybe a perc on the off beat that'll sound sick.