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MTEC 111 - Week 5 BEAT MAKING

This document provides information about beat making and drum sequencing in Logic Pro. It discusses hardware used for beat making like drum machines and samplers. It then covers drum sequencing topics like using the step sequencer, creating rhythmic patterns in different time signatures, programming realistic drum sounds, and drum kits and instruments available in Logic like Ultrabeat, Drum Machine Designer, and Drum Kit Designer. It also discusses how to create variations and drum fills to change the musical form.

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Ingrid Wang
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279 views24 pages

MTEC 111 - Week 5 BEAT MAKING

This document provides information about beat making and drum sequencing in Logic Pro. It discusses hardware used for beat making like drum machines and samplers. It then covers drum sequencing topics like using the step sequencer, creating rhythmic patterns in different time signatures, programming realistic drum sounds, and drum kits and instruments available in Logic like Ultrabeat, Drum Machine Designer, and Drum Kit Designer. It also discusses how to create variations and drum fills to change the musical form.

Uploaded by

Ingrid Wang
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MTEC 111 - Week 5

BEAT MAKING
BEAT MAKING
A colloquial term synonymous with Hip hop production, referring to the creation of musical
and rhythmic tracks or “beats” in hip-hop music. Whereas in other musical genres the figure
of “the producer” often refers more to an overseer and coordinator of the larger recording
process, in hip hop the producer/beat-maker is generally presumed to create, compose,
and/or arrange the music for a recording.

Chic - “Good Times” Sugarhill Gang - “Rapper’s Delight”, 1980


HARDWARE
● Drum Machine: a drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that has
percussion sounds stored. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion
instruments, or produce unique sounds. An early example of a sequencer. Early drum
machines had a limited amount of memory.

● Sampler: similar in some respects to a synthesizer, it uses sound recordings (or


“samples”) of real or artificial instrument sounds.
HARDWARE

Roland TR 808
Akai MPC 60
Drum Sequencing
The Logic Step Sequencer
This is a MIDI editor that let's you create patterns in a traditional step sequencer paradigm. This is the same type of
sequencer seen in most hardware drum machines like the famous Roland TR 808.

In the Step Sequencer, each


horizontal lane represents
a note or a drum sound and
each lane will have multiple
steps to place a note.
Clicking on any of the
rectangular blocks will create
a note on that step. Every
note is perfectly aligned to
the grid so there is no need
for quantizing a pattern in
the Step Sequencer.
The Rhythm Grid
Although musicians typically use standard notation to write out musical parts, drum machines store
individual drum attacks on a grid. Each position on the grid is called a step. It's often easier to
visualize drum parts on a grid.In Logic we'll be looking at the Step Sequencer, which we can use as a
virtual drum machine. Here is an example of how a drum part in standard notation might look in a
step sequencer:

Basic Drum Notation


The Rhythm Grid
Duple Meter
To sequence a rhythm we'll need to see how the beat is subdivided in order to determine the rhythmic
denominator, or the number of steps we'll need in a pattern. Duple time divides a beat into groupings
of two, with eighth notes dividing a beat by two and sixteenth notes dividing a beat by four. This is
part of basic musicianship, and it's also basic to sequencing.

Eighth-Note Drum Pattern

Sixteenth-Note Drum Pattern


The Rhythm Grid
Triple Meter
To sequence music in triple meter, we'll need a different way of organizing our steps. In the example below we see that
although a measure of sixteenth notes needs sixteen steps, a measure of eighth-note triplets only needs twelve. Since
a sixteenth-note grid is set up to divide a beat by a factor of 2, we won't be able to use that same grid to step
sequence eighth-note triplets.

Triple meter drum pattern


Drum Sequencing
Traditionally, the kick and the snare define the basic beat, while the hi-hat defines the rhythmic feel. Drum patterns
often start with the kick drum playing on the strong beats 1 and 3, while the snare plays on weaker beats 2 and 4. In
practice however, there are few hard-and-fast rules, other than the fact that most effective patterns will alternate attacks
between the kick and snare drum.

The hi-hat will always define the rhythmic feel or groove of a pattern. This often is the difference between what we
think of as a rock, funk, or a house pattern. The same kick snare pattern can take on very different characteristics
depending on whether the hi-hat plays quarter notes, eighth notes, or sixteenth notes.
Drum Sequencing
Alternating between open and closed hi-hats can provide certain accents that will contribute to establishing a rhythmic
feel.

Although the drum kit is the typical model for defining rhythm patterns, we can always substitute other sounds to take on
the roles of the kick, snare, and hi-hat. Remember the frequency ranges that each drum occupies and you'll be able to
stretch the sonic boundaries in your rhythm programming.
Drum Sequencing
Programming Realistic Drum Patterns

When programming a drum machine using acoustic or drum-kit samples, these parameters are designed to more closely
replicate the performance characteristics of an actual drummer or percussionist. These will also help you produce
better beats for electronic styles.
Drum Sequencing
Drums in Logic
Logic Pro comes with a wide collection of software instruments, but there are a few that are specifically geared towards programming drums.

UltraBeat

UltraBeat is a synthesizer that is designed


to produce percussive sounds as well as
polyphonic rhythms. Unlike all the other
instruments in Logic, Ultrabeat has its own
step sequencer. All Ultrabeat presets contain
25 different sounds with the 25th sound being a
chromatically playable instrument. So
technically you could use Ultrabeat to create a
percussion as well as a bass pattern.
Drum Sequencing
Drum Machine Designer

The Drum Machine Designer is a Modernized Interface for Ultrabeat. It scraps the step-sequencer for a better user interface
to access individuals drum sounds and their parameters. Three pages of a 4 x 4 grid pad layout lets you access individual
sounds. Clicking each pad will let you audition each sound and if the Library is open, it will also let you swap out individual
sounds easily. The bottom section provides controls to tweak for the entire kit or for the selected pad.

After you're comfortable


with the basic layout of
Drum Machine
Designer, try creating a
custom kit that will
serve your specific
needs as a producer.
Drum Sequencing
Drum Kit Designer

The Drum Kit Designer is used to reproduce realistic acoustic drum kits. Individual drums in the kit can be swapped out by just clicking on the
individual parts of the drum kit.

After you're comfortable


with the basic layout of
Drum Kit Designer, try
creating a custom kit that
will serve your specific
needs as a producer.
Drum Sequencing
The Logic Step Sequencer
This is a MIDI editor that let's you create patterns in a traditional step sequencer paradigm. This is the same type of sequencer seen in
most hardware drum machines like the famous Roland TR 808.

The only way to create a


Step Sequencer pattern is by
Right-Clicking in the
Tracks Area and selecting
'Create Pattern Region'.
This will create a 4 bar step
sequencer pattern region
and automatically open the
Step Sequencer tab.
Drum Sequencing
The Logic Step Sequencer:
Drum Sequencing
The Logic Step Sequencer:
Drum Sequencing
Rhythmic Feel
Drum machines have always had the bad rap of sounding mechanical and soulless, yet creative artists and producers
have made countless hit recordings using them. Drum machines and sequencers have, in their own way, a sense of
groove that's often modeled after what us humans do when we play in the groove.
There are three elements that greatly affect how we perceive a player's particular rhythmic feel, their sense of
groove. They are:

● Subtle variations in timing.


● Patterns of rhythmic accents.
● Variations in duration.
Drum Sequencing
Rhythmic Feel
In Logic's Step Sequencer we can edit the velocity of any step to produce accents, and we can adjust the amount
of swing feel for an entire pattern. These all contribute to how we feel rhythm, however, a player's rhythmic feel, their
sense of groove, comes from the tendencies they have to make subtle variations on all of these in predictable, repeating
ways in anything they play. A drummer playing sixteenth notes might always play certain attacks either ahead or
behind the grid in a cycle of measures. A bass player might always play short notes on beats 2 and 4. All these
factors contribute to a sense of groove.

Step and Pattern Editing


Editing velocity in the Step Sequencer Step Editor will let you create accents. Swing is applied to the entire pattern.
Drum Sequencing
Creating Variations
Here are some simple ideas you can try to create variations on rhythmic patterns.:

● Change the pattern of accents by adjusting individual velocity settings in pattern that have been copied
● Remove some notes in the pattern. This works well with repetitive hi hat patterns. Simple delete one or two notes tp create a
variation.
● Try substituting instruments. This works well with hi hats where changing a closed hi hat to an open hi hat subtly changes the feel
of a part.
Drum Sequencing
Creating Variations
One technique drummers use to set up a change in musical form is to add a fill. Typically, a fill consists of a few tom hits at the end of a
pattern. This helps define a song form by breaking up the basic pattern and signaling to the listener that a change is coming. There
are two basic approaches:

● Imitative. Keep in mind that a drummer only has two hands, and in order to play a fill, they have to stop playing something else. To
simulate this, add your fill then take out the snare and hi-hat parts while it's playing.
● Overdub, where we add fills to a steady pattern, leaving the snare and hi-hat parts intact. This is a technique commonly used
by dance music producers who want to keep a steady groove, adding a fill without breaking up the pattern.
Drum Sequencing
Creating Variations
● Adding Cymbals
● Most drum kits will typically use two kinds of cymbals: a crash and a ride.
● A crash cymbal is used to signal the beginning of a musical section or to highlight an important
musical event. Fills are often used to set up a crash. When making patterns that will be part of a
song form, we'll usually have at least one version of the basic pattern that starts with a crash.
● Another way to mark time with a drum kit is to use a ride cymbal. Jazz music uses the ride cymbal
more than the hi-hat to define the rhythmic feel of a piece.
● Once again there are two approaches to using cymbals in electronic drumming. If we're trying
to imitate what a drummer does, we'll remove the hi-hat parts when using the ride to mark time.
We can also just add a steady ride to an existing pattern.
Drum Sequencing
Converting Patterns to MIDI:
● Any of the Step Sequencer patterns can easily be change to a traditional MIDI Region and further
edited with the Piano Roll tools. To convert a Sequencer Region to a MIDI Region, Right-Click the
Region and select Convert > Convert to MIDI Region.
Beat making like a pro!

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