![]() If the bass is pushing/pulling at a certain time, make the drums follow. Listen to the interplay between the bass and drums.It’s crucial, when programming, to lock all these pattern components to the same groove, to get them all in the (same) pocket. The key here is the interplay between the bass, drums and other rhythmic and percussive elements of the musical arrangement. Drummers like Steve Gadd and Clyde Stubblefield were masters of the pocket, and bands like Parliament/Funkadelic and Hiatus Kaiyote demonstrate incredible dexterity in this regard. This is an extension of the concept of groove, where the pocket is the specific push and pull of timing within a looping riff, ‘felt’ by the musicians playing it. You’ll often hear musicians referring to ‘ the pocket’. As a general rule of thumb: increase tempo by 1 or 2 BPM as the musical energy rises. If this is the effect you’re looking for, you can automate the tempo in your DAW or sequencer. Often the final chorus will be a few BPM faster than the intro. Real drummers change their timing throughout the song, particularly in band-centric music.A slightly late-arriving snare will create a lilting effect, great for soulful house and disco. If you’re making four-to-the-floor music, try locking at least the first kick of each bar to the grid, then experiment with micro-timings throughout the bar. ![]() Use your ears - not the screen - to decide what sounds best. Turn off your DAW grid/snap settings and move drum hits manually by very small amounts before and after the beat.The goal here is not total randomness, but to push or pull certain elements of the groove to give it an organic feel. Many producers manually move the notes around in their loops to create micro variations in timing. However, the repetitive nature of mechanical beats will still be hard to mask. Pattern swing and groove settings can be helpful to quickly add character to the beat, by imparting a programmed offset to some of the beats in the grid. In other words, you’ll want to dig into your sequences to tweak them manually. ![]() Though less-harsh quantize settings (70%, say) can be useful to tighten things up, quantize algorithms pay no attention to the musicality of your song. A 100% quantized beat will sound lifeless, so the very first step is to avoid automatically quantizing your patterns to 100%. While this is often painfully true, it’s these natural timing slips that give a groove its character. Drum machines are great! But sometimes, even with electronic music, you want less machine, more human… Quantization, Swing & Grooveĭrummer jokes normally riff on the fact that drummers can’t keep time. Minimal techno, for example, relies on subtle changes in mechanical patterns to build energy in music - and euphoria in the audience - over long periods of time. Their predictable repetition is not only convenient for music that is intended to be beat-matched by a DJ, but it also defines genres. In the modern electronic music landscape, computerized beats provide the relentless, pounding rhythms that keep dance floors packed long into the early hours. Practically every song by Prince features a Linn LM1 Marvin Gaye’s sultry ‘Sexual Healing’ opens with the unmistakable sounds of the Roland TR-808, and Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love album exemplifies the combination of machines and ‘real’ instruments in perfect harmony. From obviously machine-heavy bands such as Kraftwerk to ’80s pop sensations A-Ha, drum machines have been at the heart of countless classic tracks. Programmed drums have been popular for decades. While you could spend the next 10,000 hours behind the MPC to get a flow like Dilla’s or chops like Just Blaze, here are some less time-consuming tricks to help bring that real feel to your beats.įirst, some history. ![]() The quick fix of quantization - the function in DAWs and drum machines that locks beats to a grid - tends to suck the life out of played beats. Even rhythm-savvy producers spend hours finessing their percussive creations. It’s genuinely hard to make programmed drums sound good.
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