The Snare and the Hi Hat - Try This

For years, I've been beating my brains out to get the "feel" that sounds like what I'm hearing on the radio. The double-tempo trick helped, but something was always missing. I'm asking you kats to try the following and tell me if my ears are deceiving me. I think this is it. I hear a difference! Here goes...

I double my tempos, so if I do a beat that is supposed to play at 100, I program it at 200 in half time (do a search for more info). For this example, set your tempo at 200. No swing.

On track one, lay a basic kick pattern in 4/4.

x--------x--x
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

On track two, lay thedownbeathi hat as follows, but shift it one tick LATER

x-----x-----x-----x
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

On track three, lay theupbeat hi hat, but do NOT shift it. Decrease the velocity from 100 to about 75.

---x----x-----x-----x
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

On track four, lay the snare. Shift it one tick LATER

------x-----------x
1 and 2 and 3 and 4

Play the sequence. Do you hear a difference in the feel? It seems to have a better bounce. Any other hi hats (like 16ths or 32nds) don't need to be shifted.

What do y'all think?

yeah thats nice shit.

u should always **** wif the shift. make each hi hat, in a 1 bar, on seperate tracks, and shift em all differently.

Have u worked out how to get the swing to work with the dubble tempo?

holla

It locks in better for sure. still a bit stiff for my tastes, but the effect is more pronounced at the regular tempo, at the double time it makes less of a difference. Might be because the double time is nicer overall, or it just might be that the shift is less. try shifting both by 2 ticks instead.

def got something to it. you are not crazy, there is a difference. amazing what a tick can do.

elmacaco wrote:def got something to it. you are not crazy, there is a difference.

Hersh, he's right. You've definitely tapped into something here. I hear it, too. It's stiff, but it bounces. I'm gonna play with it a little more and get back to you.

Like what I hear so far!

something ive posted here before- if your doing a house or disco type beat- or even a straight funk beat (billie jean straight groove) alternate the shift of your offbeat hihats so the first one is late by a tick (or two if you have doubled your res) and the next one is early, next one lat, next one early

BD XxxxXxxxXxxxXxxx
SN xxxxXxxxxxxxXxxx
HH xxXxxxXxxxXxxxXx
L E L E

just another example of small movemenst hleping your groove

greg

Im lost, maybe its the way you described.

Can you retell the example in the first post, but list Note positions?

Example: 01.01.08 - kick
01.02.48 - snare
etc.


(bad example, but I just pulled numbers out of the blue)

It'll make it easier for me to understand and recreate. Thanks.

WOW! nice. I always missed the note shift feature when I went from a 2000xl to a 1000. You can get nice 'goove' especially justing shifing the hats like you suggested. Now that the new OS is out. I can go back to shifing and sliding notes!

sweetback wrote:WOW! nice.

co-sign!
at first, the feel reminded me of Mary J.'s "Family Affair"...that stiff but bouncy groove...then I lowered the velocity on the upbeat hihats and it smooved out...El's right...it's more evident when not doubled....

I like it...I'm gonna try it on my other beats

i agree wit tic...please do the note number locations, please

its hard for me to understand wat u mean

I think it would help if you guys posted an example audio. Sounds like a nice trick though.

issues wrote:please do the note number locations, please

No prob...I'll post them this afternoon.

Whats the easiest way to shift all the hi hats on the 4k or should i just punch em in?

Here are the note locations for regular and double-time sequencing. I separate my tracks for additional control, but you can combine all parts on one track, if that's your usual practice.

REGULAR SEQUENCING
1 Bar - 4/4 Time - Quantize 1/16 - No swing.

Track 1 - Kick
001.01.00
001.02.48
001.03.00

Track 2 - Snare
001.02.00 (if you prefer a relaxed snare 001.02.01)
001.04.00 (if you prefer a relaxed snare 001.04.01)

Track 3 - Downbeat Hi Hat
001.01.01
001.02.01
001.03.01
001.04.01

Track 4 - Upbeat Hi Hat (optional: lower the velocity to about 70%)
001.01.48
001.02.48
001.03.48
001.04.48

Track 5 - optional 16th Hi Hat (velocity at 70%)
001.01.72
001.02.24
001.04.72

DOUBLE-TIME SEQUENCING
2 Bars - 4/4 Time - Quantize 1/8 - No swing.

Track 1 - Kick
001.01.00
001.04.00
002.01.00

Track 2 - Snare
001.03.00 (if you prefer a relaxed snare 001.03.01)
002.03.00 (if you prefer a relaxed snare 002.03.01)

Track 3 - Downbeat Hi Hat
001.01.01
001.03.01
002.01.01
002.03.01

Track 4 - Upbeat Hi Hat (optional: lower the velocity to about 70%)
001.02.00
001.04.00
002.02.00
002.04.00

Track 5 - optional Hi Hat (velocity at 70%)
001.02.48
001.03.48
002.04.48

Basically, any hi-hat that falls on the downbeat is shifted later one tick. All upbeat hi-hats remain normal. This small shift (to me) sounds like it creates a cool "feel". A little stiff (which velocity can help), but cool.

Regarding swing, one of the benefits of separating tracks is you can apply swing to SPECIFIC parts, instead of EVERY part. As it applies to this example, apply swing ONLY to the upbeat hi-hats.

Give me some feedback.

thats tight man. thanks

Smoove when u swinging through the lab?