When making a drum beat, do you...

[zawmbee]

Have an original idea of how you want it to sound and stick to this?
Write down the notes needed before even starting?
Or have an original idea of how you want it to sound, and then work from there?

[Maell_CF]

Its hard to know exactly what drums you're giong to need at the very start of a track, unless you have something very specific in mind. And your bass wont sound its best without some sort of precussion behind it, so I usually start with a 4 4 beat, get to work with some synth and basslines then play around with compression before going back and making the final beat and any variation that i intend to use in the song.

[wub]

I build the main body of the track first - synth, melody, sample whatever. Then add the drums and bassline around that. Build the drums to the track, not the other way round.

[lloydy]

you should always pick the drums depending on the type of track you wanna make,like if i'm making a track with a lot of sub i will pick a kik without a lot of low end,all the hits i use in my tracks i pick for specific reasons.I normally sit down and write a few different beats in one night then come back to them out a later date,like using percussive elements normally i will come to kits i have pre built up with a lot of different sounding percussive hits like bongo,shakers....etc Bulilding kits i use battery,ultrabeat or kontakt.i think this is also a good way to work because if you are like me i have thousands of drum samples and searching through them for certain hits can be a nightmare.When i start building a track i normally start just having a jam on my keyboard with a sound i made or something like that record it in midi then build the drums around it and just let it flow from there really.
Recently i have found myself chopping breaks up i have had for years then using these for my drums instead,what i will do is bring the break into logics arrange as audio time stretch it to fit the project tempo then start dicing it up and rearranging the break to suit my track,you can do this to breaks to accompany the beats you have written or use them as the soul body of your beat.
I think you should learn all ways of writing beats whether it is writing them first and then adding other elements or writing then when you have other elements going its all good practice.The more practice you give yourself the quicker you will find you can get your ideas down but understanding the proper hits to use i think is crucial to learning to write decent beats also layering your drums to make them sound fuller is also something you should teach yourself.Its all about the practice,practice makes perfect!!

[Pedro Sánchez]

Kick Hat Snare Hat @ 140 innit, no need for anything else.

[zawmbee]

I build the main body of the track first - synth, melody, sample whatever. Then add the drums and bassline around that. Build the drums to the track, not the other way round.

Makes perfect sense. But, you'll build your synth? What exactly do you mean o:

Kick Hat Snare Hat @ 140 innit, no need for anything else.

QFT.

[jaimelee]

I'm with wub's idea, I can't really start with drums without at least having a harmoney to base it on.

[wub]

I build the main body of the track first - synth, melody, sample whatever. Then add the drums and bassline around that. Build the drums to the track, not the other way round.

Makes perfect sense. But, you'll build your synth? What exactly do you mean

Find a patch I like, or else get a new synth I'm not too familiar with and play around with it. I'm using FL, so have Edison running at all times to capture what I'm doing. Play a few small melodies or whatever on the MIDI keyboard. Save any patches or playbacks that I like, sample bounce, drop it back in as audio, whatever, then bring the drums and the bassline in to fill in around it.

[hakka]

I always always start with drums. Never plan how i want them, just load samples into Groove agent and program a nice simple kick snare beat. Then i concentrate on percussion to really add some diversity to the track. Sometimes i go as far as creating a whole intro of just drum edits before adding anything else. Really gives me creativity when i get round to adding pads, foley etc. Plus it really helps you concentrate on keeping the drums interesting. I always side chain 1 kick and assign the other parts to 6 different channels for delays and different reverb types.

[drokkr]

Drums first, every time. The only exception is if I have installed a new vst and I'm playing around with it and a sound triggers an idea.

[vertx]

Have an original idea of how you want it to sound and stick to this?
Write down the notes needed before even starting?
Or have an original idea of how you want it to sound, and then work from there?

All of the above.

And i almost always start with drums and percussion

[nowaysj]

What ever I start out a track with ends up either being chucked, or digested into something else. Took me a long time to just accept that, delete those first 32 bars and get on with the real inspired shit.

I usually start with drums. Actually, a little less lately, it is disconcerting.

[PR1NCE]

Best way you should start. Especially producing dubstep is to start it off simple.. Easy KICK, SNARE... KICK SNARE ... KICK SNARE... and go from there.. once your pretty comfortable where your at, try elaborating with what you got and spice your beat up OR NOT ..

[Shum]

Most of the dance stuff I've written has started from the bassline and building the rest of my rhythm around that.

[RmoniK]

i start out with a kick on 1 and and a snare on 3, then process that, then make the rest of the song, then work on the beat itself.

[AxeD]

I build the main body of the track first - synth, melody, sample whatever. Then add the drums and bassline around that. Build the drums to the track, not the other way round.

Intrigued

[Dreadfunk]

I always start with at least a simple kick snare pattern, and sometimes that inspires me on what I want to do with my leads/basses.

I nearly always change the drum pattern after I have the track more fleshed out.

[nowaysj]

^ I don't like metronomes. Simple kick snare pattern often is a better metronome, if you're going to work in that way.

[jaydot]

yeah I always start off with my bass and build from there... it's also very tough to know what the beat will sound like pre-production but the more you experiment then the better it will sound

[deadly_habit]

i generally always start with my drums and have an idea of what i want from the get go