Food for thought 8 bars Vs. 4

How many of you bang out 4 bars Vs. 8 Bar drum loops? Just curious. My brother and I were talking about this he prefers 8 bars to 4 because it allows for more creative freedom within a drum loop. I mean I guess it does and I'm not opposed to doing 8 Vs. 4. I guess I'm just curious to see what most cats are doing. Any thoughts?

i do 2 bar....

but i guess it depends on the style your going for...

i make hiphop...and i like the basic "boom bap". with hihat variations.

BUt my instrument loops over my drums never go below 2 bars....and i try to extend them to 4 bars using variations,etc. If i cant find a loop that is 2 bars....ill add other samples....or alter it and chop it so it fits 2 bars.....i find alot of samples that are really nice one bar samples but if i cant get some kind of 2 bar spread they get too repetative.but if i go beyond the 2 bars i loose the bang of the sample and drums to gether.

I guess it all depends on the sample and drum relationship......too much drum variation might make the sample not so exiting=with that "boom bap" feel.

i do 8. it gives me more time to swtich things up.

i like doing 8 as well, more time for longer basslines

all depends.

I always at least do a 4 bar loop. 8 if I feel like it. Depends.

When it comes to drums i just do 4 bars and then lay down the bass line and then the main melody. Ill then copy that to 8 bars and add alil more magic that will distract you from the fact all it is, is 4 bar loop with stuff coming in and out. Add the hook melody where i will freak a 8 bar melody over all that. Add some vocals over and who cares how simple or complicated the beat is.

I usually do 4 bars, but I think 8 bars is really better because it makes it sound more natural, especially in R&B music since each part( verse, chorus,bridge) is usually 8 bars long, and I think most listeners, sub-consciencely, expect that.

I default at 4 bars, but depending on the track, I might make it shorter or longer.

A beat I just posted to the site this week used a 16 bar pattern.


I read that El-P makes his patterns really long, like 16 at the least. So that you almost don't realize it's a loop until it starts over.

i always start with 8

I usually start with 2 or 4 bars but I always double the tempo, so basically I mostly do 1 or 2 bars and then I copy the sequences and make different versions of them. Sometimes I like to bang out 32 bars straight tho..

But like bing said it all depends.

Mostly 4 bar loops for me...

usually 4 bar loops, with shitt popping in and out, sometimes 8 whatever sounds good, but I like to keep it simple

young_keyz wrote:When it comes to drums i just do 4 bars and then lay down the bass line and then the main melody. Ill then copy that to 8 bars and add alil more magic that will distract you from the fact all it is, is 4 bar loop with stuff coming in and out. Add the hook melody where i will freak a 8 bar melody over all that. Add some vocals over and who cares how simple or complicated the beat is.

I do the same technique. May throw in a drum/tom roll on the 8th bar to signify i change up if i fee. But yea i do a 4 bar loop, copy it, and add little pieces of percussion throughout the second 4th bar (bars 5-9).

I do mostly 8 bars. If I do 4 bars, then I program a lot of different variations , and really flip it up a lot.

Of late I have been experimenting with playing the whole section out. like first, lay down a kick snare groove. Next track put down the hi -hat. next track shakers. etc...