by djnarrative | 8 Oct, 2010 | Reckorder Tutorials
For beats i've always been interested in understanding how to make a really good breakbeat from scratch. There are obviously many ways so here's some of the things i've learnt or found along the way. The first tutorial i found was from this future music article below. I did a few searches on the net and found a few good resources which i'll list below, but the main thing that makes those interesting breaks is the clever use of ghost notes and (for electronic music especially) adding dynamic sounds (e.g reverse cymbals, rises, short rhymic fills etc) The ghost notes when programming drums are basically putting quieter notes next to your main ones. So next to your main snare add in one before and after it (on 16th timing) at half the volume. I think of them as little fills or rolls within the powerful kick and snare. When i used to hear breaks it used to seem so complex thinking that a lot of different sounds were being used. But hat i was actuaally hearing were the ghost notes which was the same sample, just half the volume. Soon as i added those in that rolling break in my head really started to come to life. Aside from the kick and the snare there were obviously the 3rd main element - the hi hats, which give drum rhythms their movement. I could simplify the way i hear it as the kicks powering the groove, the snares giving the roll, and the hi hats giving the movement, though obviously thats dependant on genre. For an interesting drum groove or...
