How do I make my beats groove

I do mostly hip hop and trip hop beats and the bigest problem I have is making my beats groove. if anyone has any suggestions on this it would really be appreciated.

Groove meaning what....Whats your idea of a track 'grooving'? Give an example of track you you'v heard as a reference that way it gives me and others an idea of what your after

Top Tip: Program without the full level light on (Velocity edits are key)

Something like Portishead's "Strangers" I want the track to b a hard head noder and I keep messing wih the timming correct screen but I cn't seem to get it. The full level light is off and I have the snare, bass Drum and Hi-hat on seperate tracks

Try also to record your sequences with the auto timing turned of. If your drums are too rigidly quantised it will also lack groove

programming hats using 16level (velocity) is also a top tip

Portishead are also quite heavy sample users (Breaks etc) so it might be a good idea to start messing with loops. They also dirty up their drums with filters and stuff that give it a distinct sound and feel

thank you for your replies. I was also wondering if anyone has suggestions on some settings I could use on the timming correct screen? To get me started.

I have a suggestion......try the newbie section

You have to understand the music that your trying to make. Even if you knew everything about the MPC, or any machine for that matter, if you don't know your style of music, your not going to know how to play what you want to make. Example, I make hip-hip, becaue I know hip-hop, but I can't make techno.. now, if I wanted to lear how to make techno music, i would have to listen to that kind of music, not just listen for my enjoyment, but I would study how they do theings, and try to re-create what they do when I get home. This can take years, or if your gifted, a very short time. If your dedicated, it won't take long either.
Hope that helps.

Make sure you are using the right sort of sounds to start with. In exactly the same sequence, robotic TR808-style analog synth drums are going to sound very different from a vintage maplewood jazz kit played with brushes.

Sample a loop from a favourite track & assign it to a pad. As it is playing copy the beats over it. Keep switching the original in & out & see if you are getting the feel ok.

After you've got the right sounds in the right places don't forget the records you are trying to emulate will have had things like reverb & delay added to give them a sense of space which will add to the groove. They will also have compression & eq to give them more punch.......but concentrate on your MPC programming for the time being. These are later production techniques to learn.

get your bassline right

TURN THAT SWING UP SON

ttaralli wrote:thank you for your replies. I was also wondering if anyone has suggestions on some settings I could use on the timming correct screen? To get me started.

Experiment & find what moves you. If I tell you everything then I might as well do your beat.

Maybe use different swing % on each track

1) loop a beat you consider is groovin'
2) play the kick and snare over the top of it on different tracks. Use a percusion sound that hits exactly the same as the loop and use it to feel out the groove of the sample... try and make it hit DEAD on ....
3) try very small amounts of swing and see if the KICK, SNARE, GROOVE HIT, come into line with your original loop.
4) if not try pushing or pulling the kicks forward or back a tick or two...\
5) do the same thing on the snare pushing the snare back will give drums a LAZY feel, foward a more agressive feel.
6) for minimal HHats record with quantise OFF, it will help you customise a groove.
7)for faster timmed hats, record with quantise on, and vary you amounts of swing, also try pulling the hats a few tick's ahead of the beat. This will emphasise the high hats and they will drive the beat...

Peace,