Drum beat or melody first?

I know some folks around here say that they do the beat first, others the melody first.

Well, I played some beats for a friend of mine (fellow producer) and he told me that I let the melody dictate the drums too much.

But I can't make a drum beat without some kind of melody. I feel handicapped.

But for those of you that do, how do you do it? Do you just set the tempo and a really long sequence and just play out some stuff?

What's the method?

well, i thrown down beats i come up wit in my head so i usually do the drums first. my sequences are only 8 bars long then I just repeat it again to make 16. so thats not really hard to lay down. its not that long. but yesterday i started wit a simple melody. i think it depends on what idea you have. sometimes its easier to start wit the melody then the drums.

thats how I do it. I say do it how it feels comfortable to you. dont change just because someone else does it different

Isn't the MPC the ultimate groove machine for inspiring a melody? It can be.. You've just gotta build a rythmic foundation...

Listen to some music that you like and take the singers / songs melody and turn it into a drum pattern.

By the time you program the beat it won't sound anything like the melody you heard because it's a drum pattern and not chords your playing.

But it can inspire you to come up with a rhythm so to speak.

ONe

unity and variety

just something to keep in mind.............

Whichever I feel like doing first that day. I'm VERY unorthodox in my approach to production. My friends hate that sometimes cause they look for me to follow steps to get to the goal and I don't.

I always do drums first. That way i can just expierement with basslines or whatever. Or......If i have a sample i want to match..ill find the drums i like for it, then try to meet half way with the "melody" and drums tempo wise....sometimes you need drums first to find the tempo you want for the sample, but sometimes that limits you, so if you wanna keep a sample in its original groove then you have to do drums second

heres a tip.
if you feel that your melody hinders your drums too much. do the melody first
put a dummy snare track w/ snares on the 2 and 4. or a dummy hat track with hats on 8th notes or both if you want to get wild.

now do the bassline.
bassline is a rhythm instrument.
lastly, add your kicks so they rhythmically flow with the bassline, but your doing the kicks to the bassline, not the melody.
now go back, **** with your snares, hats, fills, whatever.
good idea to switch up variations.

Good info right there ^

sensewondah wrote:heres a tip.
if you feel that your melody hinders your drums too much. do the melody first
put a dummy snare track w/ snares on the 2 and 4. or a dummy hat track with hats on 8th notes or both if you want to get wild.

now do the bassline.
bassline is a rhythm instrument.
lastly, add your kicks so they rhythmically flow with the bassline, but your doing the kicks to the bassline, not the melody.
now go back, **** with your snares, hats, fills, whatever.
good idea to switch up variations.

That is good a$$ advice homes