The Art of Perfecting Swing....

Try Step Function on Main Screen...gives u nother perspective of how minimal can u get.

first i think one would want to know what does swing actually do to a song? Can it push it along or drag it? i would just lay down a 4 bar kik pattern str8 @ 16th 51% then i would begin to play with my hh using different swing %s find out what it does to a hit then begin to incorporate into your work cause just swanging to be swanging may set you apart or from the rest or right with em, also not everything can swing. i use swing to move an otherwise stationary song.

Just my 2

don't forget about durations. i found the durations of each drum note are madd important to the timing and feel of percussions. the right duration numbers will change the feel completely with a sequence that has the same swing. try it. getting the right length of that kick, snare, and hat can get the right rhythm that makes your head bop.

co-sign actionated..

note durations are the third key to groove- and one lots of peeps over look- it's essentrially for faster styles

greg

note duration is key.

I get really into when programming drums. BEst if you're alone haha, just nod your head abit wildly make sure you're nodding nicely on tempo and tap as you not.

Another way to go about it, is not to trim your drums so tight, leave some air in the begining, this way you can edit it how u feel, to give a later drop. i never trim my drums spot on, make it sound to Eminem ish.

I'm having a tough problem with this guys. I normally make my kicks and snares on 1/16 or 1/8 with 50% swing. (default)---the only problem with this is that it sounds too robotic. So i explored the swings....

I tried with no quantizing but it doesn tsound right.
I tried with kicks on 57% and snare on 54% and hats on 60% but that doesnt swing too well.

I just need to find that groove that i hear on most hip hop tracks that automatically makes your head bob. what swings are they using?
can you just swing the snares and not the kicks? Or just swing the hats and leave everything else on the same swing, like 50%?

KNOCKAHOLIX wrote:can you just swing the snares and not the kicks? Or just swing the hats and leave everything else on the same swing, like 50%?

I usually lay each part on separate tracks, which makes it easier to apply and adjust the swing on specific things, leaving others unaffected at 50%.

Also, you make wanna try time-shifting certain parts. I've noticed a big difference in feel just by shifting things (like the hi hat, for example) by a tick or two.

blkhersheybar wrote:

KNOCKAHOLIX wrote:can you just swing the snares and not the kicks? Or just swing the hats and leave everything else on the same swing, like 50%?

I usually lay each part on separate tracks, which makes it easier to apply and adjust the swing on specific things, leaving others unaffected at 50%.

Also, you make wanna try time-shifting certain parts. I've noticed a big difference in feel just by shifting things (like the hi hat, for example) by a tick or two.

that's a great idea! How do i time shift? I have a mpc1k

KNOCKAHOLIX wrote:that's a great idea! How do i time shift? I have a mpc1k

Oops, I goofed. I thought you had an MPC, man. I don't know if the 1k has the shift feature.

blkhersheybar wrote:

KNOCKAHOLIX wrote:that's a great idea! How do i time shift? I have a mpc1k

Oops, I goofed. I thought you had an MPC, man. I don't know if the 1k has the shift feature.

ow e


hahahah

He said the 1K isnt an MPC. hahah

Thats funny.

Correction, Knock: I thought you had a 60, 60II, 2k, 3k or 4k, which I know have the shift feature. I'm not familiar with the 1k. No disrespect to you or any other 1k users intended.

KNOCKAHOLIX

Hit MODE --> Pad 14 (Step Edit)

It may help if you have each part of your drum kit on a seperate track. i.e Kick on Track 1, Snare on Track 2, Hats Tracks 3 etc. This makes it easier to efit and see what youre doing in Step Edit,

I was messing about with this myself last night to see the effect shifting about individual drum hits has. I feel it's best to focus in on a seperate part of producing at a time and try and learn that part and see what it does...so last night I thought I would focus on shifting the hats around to see how it effects the beat. This can give a groove a more human quality apparently, without being that noticable (goes hand in hand with changing the velocity slightly of drum hits), but it gives a bit more feel to the groove and makes it more palatable for the human ear. Basically the same thing SWING does but by doing it this way you will feel like youre actually learning something and how to achieve the effect without leaving it for the machine to do behind a veil.

Anyhow, I would recommend maybe getting a 2 bar sample up and running then lay down a beat as you normally would without any quantization. Dont bother with messing around with the beat too much adding bass line etc. Just a simple loop and beat....listen to it for a while till it's planted in your head.

Now mute the loop so you just have the drums. Go to Step Edit on the Hi Hats (Mode, pad 14) and you can see the individual midi instructions for the hats. Move down to the first hit and hold ?F3? (EDIT) then MOVE (?F2?) now move the hat back by between, lets say 3 to 4 ticks. Move down and repeat till youve down all the hats (you dont have to move them all by the same, you can perhaps try changing them slightly to see the effect that has) Now play back your drum beat, it should have a slightly looser/ lethargic feel.

You can then try this with the Snares also and see the effect it has. Now I would add the loop back to the beat and you may notice more of a change now that theres a bit more of a groove there. Should sound less robotic and have a bit more bounce. I think there is probably a way to move all the hits on a track by a set value although i dont know of it.

Anyway to sum up: moving the hits back slightly gives it a looser laid back feel. Moving them forward slightly gives it more urgency and moves the track forward. (TRY IT) Experiment with velocitys to give a greater live feel. Dont move the hits by too much or it becomes a shambles and loses the feel of the beat. Keep the Downbeat in the right place to keep the timing.

Hope that is helpful in someway. Im only a beginner but Im picking things up gradually.

SUSHI

sample a swingin' beat