How to Write Drum and Bass
Set the tempo (speed)of your sequencer to 170 - 180., Assuming you have a 4/4 bar of music, adjust the sensitivity of your sequencer/drum machine (i.e., Add a "snare" or similar sound (high hats can work, check your soundbank for a sound you like-...
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Set the tempo (speed)of your sequencer to 170 - 180.
This is roughly the speed you want for DnB. -
Step 2: Assuming you have a 4/4 bar of music
Reason, Logic Audio) to
16.
This means that each "beat" in the bar (i.e. where you count 1-2-3-4) will be broken into 4 pieces.
Write a Bass (Kick) drum on the first and eleventh beat within the bar.
If you are playing your tune, you will have a "syncopated" drum beat, i.e. the drums will not fall exactly on the "1-2-3-4-" we discussed earlier, but on the 1 and between the 3-4 beat.
On its own this doesn't sound too rhythmic, so, we need something else. , Add this beat to the fifth and thirteenth beat of the bar.
This should give the familiar DnB "Bang---TickBang--Tick---" sound.
This is the basic break beat for DnB (at this speed) and Hip Hop at lower speeds. , For example, one could add hi-hats over the 1-3-5-7 etc(every other 16th beat) of the bar, or you could add a snare around the 7th beat, or a kick around the 14th beat.
That's for you to discover- this is one of the areas where the creativity comes in... , A song with one simple bar loop is going to get dull mighty fast, so you need to vary the drums a bit.
However, this doesn't mean just change them bar after bar- this would lose the tune's structure (a vital ingredient in DnB).
In order to add change, but keep structure, you must make your changes repeat over a "phrase".
In this case a "phrase" is a sequence of 4, 16, or 32 bars.
For basic hardstep a la Roni Size/ general club DnB, change the drums every bar for 4 bars, then repeat again.
This should be complex enough to stop the song from sounding boring for now, although you will have to think of changing the drums again, later in the song (again in a 4-8-16-32-64-128 etc etc bar phrase--remember, it's how it sounds that matters, not how mathematical it is.
These are guidelines, which, on occasion, are made to be broken, after you have mastered them.).
If you want a more complex (as was once called "intelligent DnB") beat, you should aim to use a 16 bar progression, or if you are exceptional, 32 (listen to Paradox
- a DJ's nightmare, brilliant music, impossible to mix). , Also, try to "break" the beat at the end of phrases by doing something different in the last bar of the drums
- change the pattern somehow
- dropping notes, adding notes, changing the note locations. -
Step 3: adjust the sensitivity of your sequencer/drum machine (i.e.
-
Step 4: Add a "snare" or similar sound (high hats can work
-
Step 5: check your soundbank for a sound you like- but it must be tonally higher than the bass drum).
-
Step 6: Build on top of the beat.
-
Step 7: Add some variety.
-
Step 8: For more variety: If your sequencer will let you
-
Step 9: try editing the 'velocity' of some of the drum notes so they're not all the same loudness.
Detailed Guide
This is roughly the speed you want for DnB.
Reason, Logic Audio) to
16.
This means that each "beat" in the bar (i.e. where you count 1-2-3-4) will be broken into 4 pieces.
Write a Bass (Kick) drum on the first and eleventh beat within the bar.
If you are playing your tune, you will have a "syncopated" drum beat, i.e. the drums will not fall exactly on the "1-2-3-4-" we discussed earlier, but on the 1 and between the 3-4 beat.
On its own this doesn't sound too rhythmic, so, we need something else. , Add this beat to the fifth and thirteenth beat of the bar.
This should give the familiar DnB "Bang---TickBang--Tick---" sound.
This is the basic break beat for DnB (at this speed) and Hip Hop at lower speeds. , For example, one could add hi-hats over the 1-3-5-7 etc(every other 16th beat) of the bar, or you could add a snare around the 7th beat, or a kick around the 14th beat.
That's for you to discover- this is one of the areas where the creativity comes in... , A song with one simple bar loop is going to get dull mighty fast, so you need to vary the drums a bit.
However, this doesn't mean just change them bar after bar- this would lose the tune's structure (a vital ingredient in DnB).
In order to add change, but keep structure, you must make your changes repeat over a "phrase".
In this case a "phrase" is a sequence of 4, 16, or 32 bars.
For basic hardstep a la Roni Size/ general club DnB, change the drums every bar for 4 bars, then repeat again.
This should be complex enough to stop the song from sounding boring for now, although you will have to think of changing the drums again, later in the song (again in a 4-8-16-32-64-128 etc etc bar phrase--remember, it's how it sounds that matters, not how mathematical it is.
These are guidelines, which, on occasion, are made to be broken, after you have mastered them.).
If you want a more complex (as was once called "intelligent DnB") beat, you should aim to use a 16 bar progression, or if you are exceptional, 32 (listen to Paradox
- a DJ's nightmare, brilliant music, impossible to mix). , Also, try to "break" the beat at the end of phrases by doing something different in the last bar of the drums
- change the pattern somehow
- dropping notes, adding notes, changing the note locations.
About the Author
Matthew Tucker
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in creative arts and beyond.
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