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Ez all

I've had a look around but i cant seem to find any advice on drum patterns, does anyone have any advice on placement of drums and snares etc? everything im making at the moment just sounds like dnb @ 130bpm and i think its the drums im going wrong on

Start of bar - kick
Middle of bar - snare
Fill in gaps

JEPS wrote:Ez all

I've had a look around but i cant seem to find any advice on drum patterns, does anyone have any advice on placement of drums and snares etc? everything im making at the moment just sounds like dnb @ 130bpm and i think its the drums im going wrong on

Kick at the start of the bar


The later you leave a snare in the bar, the 'lazier' the tune sounds.


If you fancy a bit of 'randomness', get some bits of paper with 1-3 written on them, then place them face down and pick one at random. That can be how many snares you have in a bar.

Now, get some more bits of paper and write 1-8 of them. For each snare you're going to have in a bar, pick a piece of paper at random and place the snare at that interval within the bar.

i.e.
You pick 2 for the number of snares.
*rustle rustle*
The first snare goes at the 4th interval
*more rustling*
The second snare goes at the 7th interval.

Repeat until you've done enough for a whole tune. Or just do it four times and repeat that drum pattern throughout the whole tune.

If you're handy with the Java, you could even write a little batch file program that runs through the MS-DOS prompt window and tells you how many snares to place, and at what intervals, based on the set parameters discussed above.

Alternatively, just play around until you get something that you like the sound of enough (This method eliminates the wanton use of paper)

dear god.

powerpill wrote:dear god.

Wub you ledge, lol

k sn kkkkkkkkkkkkksn k snnn k

When you have finished with all the paper your tune should look like this.

Do a bit of reverse engineering! As in listen to some of your fav tracks and work out the patterns they have used. Or just do what wub recommended!

^ yeah there is always the route of listening to something and trying to re-build (aka 'getting inspiration from') it.

the extent to which this stuff is overthought...... wow.........

the way i did when i first started was to play a track n sequence the drums over it so they were in time....this was like the first time i ever tried so i could find the bpm of the tracks aswell.

djake wrote:the way i did when i first started was to play a track n sequence the drums over it so they were in time....this was like the first time i ever tried so i could find the bpm of the tracks aswell.

I was thinking bout doing this the other day. There is a tune I really like that has some serious riddim. I been trying to work out what it is that gives it this serious groove!

It is down to the drums for sure so doign what u said would help work it out.

JEPS wrote:Ez all

I've had a look around but i cant seem to find any advice on drum patterns, does anyone have any advice on placement of drums and snares etc? everything im making at the moment just sounds like dnb @ 130bpm and i think its the drums im going wrong on

do u like DnB at 130bpm? - if so, whats the problem?

If not, play something you like.

And who cares if its like other dubstep. either u feelin it or yr not. what else matters?

Battle Gong wrote:

JEPS wrote:Ez all

I've had a look around but i cant seem to find any advice on drum patterns, does anyone have any advice on placement of drums and snares etc? everything im making at the moment just sounds like dnb @ 130bpm and i think its the drums im going wrong on

do u like DnB at 130bpm? - if so, whats the problem?

If not, play something you like.

And who cares if its like other dubstep. either u feelin it or yr not. what else matters?

probably the 1st time anyone quoted me for anything other than imaginative foul-mouthed abuse, thanks

The snares are not really a problem in dubstep. It's the hihats which can cause headaches as they provide the feeling of pace/speed together with the bassline.

Kato! wrote:Do a bit of reverse engineering! As in listen to some of your fav tracks and work out the patterns they have used. Or just do what wub recommended!

best way IMO. play a track on your media player, then try to copy the beat in your software, easy as pie. try match your tempos and layout then have fun!!

brklss wrote:The snares are not really a problem in dubstep. It's the hihats which can cause headaches as they provide the feeling of pace/speed together with the bassline.

This.

I've noticed a lot of tunes (more minimal stuff where you can distinctly hear what's seperately going on) seem to use two differently pitched hi-hats that alternate to sound shuffley, if you know what I mean, and a less dramatic snare used sparsely in between the main lazy kick and snare. An easy trick if you haven't worked it out (which to be honest you should have if you're at all serious about producing dubstep) is to stick a smaller snare or hat the 1/16th before the kick or snare so it 'steps', if you get me. For example Benga's Night does this for all four beats in the bar which is part of what makes it so danceable.

But don't get stuck in always having kick on 1 and snare on 3, some tracks work with a kick on every beat, others with a couple big snares, etc. The trick (unless you want proper lazy, spaced out tunes) is to make sure you're nodding your head on all four beats of the bar. Play around with a hat on every quaver (i.e. 8 per bar on the beat) compared to just four but on the off beat, as well as adding in the steppy ones every now and then.

There's often no need to over-complicate things though, one of the my favourite drum tracks is the incredibly simplistic 'V' by Distance. It's a rhythm that could easilly be played by one guy on a real kit, yet it's so banging - check the use of hats and lower velocity kicks in this to make it nice and bouncy.

Also, I once had a four bar drum loop and accidentally moved the sequence one bar to the right for one section, and it ended up nicely varying the drums in a way you wouldn't expect!

howabout Dubstep without the beats. Just movie samples and bass.

That might sound hot.