Programming a 2 bar loop

[Matt Hughes]

Hi DF- thanks for the opportunity.

I always start my productions by creating a solid two bar loop. After lots of reading, taking courses and practice I have started to set myself certain guidelines. I wondered what thoughts and lessons you could pass on to us on the following areas.

Kick A- Mono or Stereo?
Kick B- Ghost notes- how these should relate to the main kick- any rules relating to tone control.

Snare A- on the 2 and the 4
Snare B- bring the rhythm- again a different tone but how different?
Clap- 2 and 4- play with the delay
HH Closed- here’s your rhythm
HH Open- group with HHC to great that nice gated effect

Panning- centre kick; snare to the right, HH to the left- what works best for you?

Groove- I use MPC or MPC groove templates in Logic. But what percentage?

Delay- I only really use this on the claps but where else could benefit? Hats?

Tuning- this is where I use my ear but I feel that I really need to focus here. Any tips and tricks?

EQ- as with the panning I am always trying to give the drums there own space. Looking for sweet spots with the kicks, snare and hats. Dropping off the bottom frequencies.

Tape Head- I use this to bring more warmth to my beats and remove those high frequencies.

NYC Compression- again to provide warmth, volume and presence.

Muchos thanks bud, Matt.
www.soulfulbeats.com

[dennis f]

Kick A- Mono or Stereo?

For compatibility mono...but most instruments and plugs are in stereo. So as long as you have a mono sum button somewhere and check that the kick doesn't disappear when it's summed to mono...you can keep it in stereo. I do it all the time.

Kick B- Ghost notes- how these should relate to the main kick- any rules relating to tone control.

It's all a feel thing and rules don't apply to that area. Do what you feel sounds cool.

Snare A- on the 2 and the 4
Snare B- bring the rhythm- again a different tone but how different?

Again...a feel thing...there are no specific rules. Whatever sounds cool and is in line with whatever is current in your musical genre.

Clap- 2 and 4- play with the delay
HH Closed- here’s your rhythm
HH Open- group with HHC to great that nice gated effect

again a feel thing

Panning- centre kick; snare to the right, HH to the left- what works best for you?

kick = c , snare = I usually leave it center but sometimes L10 or R10, HH = main OH or HH center or OH main groove C and HH's L15 - 25 or R 15 - 25

Groove- I use MPC or MPC groove templates in Logic. But what percentage?

another feel thing...anywhere where from 52 to 66 will work..no rules. Not uncommon for me to do the high hats at 56 and then the other drums at 58

Delay- I only really use this on the claps but where else could benefit? Hats?

again no rules....for example the voxes on Hey Hey only had delay on them. A very short one at that! Left was 22ms and Right was 45ms lightly mixed in. This gave it a bit of space with out being overtly too spacey which reverb tends to do. I didn't want an 80's or 90's sounding vocal. I needed upfront. so see? no rules for delay. Do what you feel.

Tuning- this is where I use my ear but I feel that I really need to focus here. Any tips and tricks?

Hint: Tune your kick to the tuning of the song.

EQ- as with the panning I am always trying to give the drums there own space. Looking for sweet spots with the kicks, snare and hats. Dropping off the bottom frequencies.

Hint: use low pass filters and hi pass filters on all of your tracks within your daw. You don't need anything below 20hz for a kick or above 10khz. Those unused freq's are taking up space as the digital domain will reproduce frequencies up and beyond your hearing range. This reproduction just eats up headroom and you can't hear it anyway so cut them.

Tape Head- I use this to bring more warmth to my beats and remove those high frequencies.

I concur..but you can do that by rolling off some frequencies on those hi hats. They are the biggest offenders in the DAW world of mixes right now. People tend to forget that tape rolled off high frequencies. You can emulate that ...so do it. Warmth isn't some special magic. It was a combination of audio medium, variations of frequency amplitude and response and built in compression of each channel on that tape machine (a little known fact).

NYC Compression- again to provide warmth, volume and presence.

OVER-RATED Imho

[Matt Hughes]

Thanks D- much appreciated. Will feedback how I get on...