dnb, breaks, house, downtempo tips!! get it started!

i love hiphop and have made mostly hip hop beats so far. i want to get into more "dance" type music to be really broad.. i know how to make a simple house beat but i want to hear any tips you all got stored up. i know this is more a hip hop board but dubmonkey whatsup? swiss? who can get this ball rolling?? i have dj'ed all types of house, jungle, lounge, and hiphop of course so i know what kind of beats i want to make but could use some nudging from the production angle... do i need a computer to sequence my builds and drops? can i do it all from the song screen or track mute? how does a pro track get built?
i welcome all info on the subject

in the next coming few days or so when I get some time, i'm gonna be posting up some basic eight and 16 bar paterns ripped from the book Jungle Drum and Bass for the Acoustic Drum Set by Johnny Rabb....its a great book for anyone looking to get into creating dnb but dont know the basics of the patterns....I mean, this book wont turn you into a dillinja or twisted individual overnight, but it will give you the basics for constructing ill drum patterns...Even though its written for drummers, the notation can be easily understood if you have any knowledge of basic notes and beats/bars......if you an identify a sixteenth note then you will be set......

Perfect Swiss! i can't wait.
peace

yo . i'm the same my roots is hip hop been in to hip hop since it came out , but yeah me to i've dj'ed all types of music and now i'm trying to learn how to produce some dance tracks ,
i think i got an idea, but what is the sequence build up , i now hip hop is like intro , verse's breaks and verse and outro, but for house how would this work, or for electronic music in general,
some tip's i got from this board is to use the compressor to give your beat more of a feel, i queit don't understand that,but i have learned to really use the quantise while making your beats this really help's alot to change the feel of your beats also.

this may or maynot help you any, but this could be a good thread let's get some tips going on this.
p3@c3

Try making a hip-hop beat (drums only) first at something like 85bpm, 8 bars long. Then change the bpm to 170 and there you go: D&B.

(i'm no expert on D&B production, i just do this when i get bored sometimes)

what do you wanna know?

sampled house/techno?

old skool breaks?

nu-school- ie not reliant on loops but programming...

keyboard house/techno

- there are loads of different styles all with different tricks and techniques....

let us know what genre you mean and ill tell you what i often do...

greg

This may be unrelated but like, whats a downbeat, upbeat, etc trying to understand the terminology

Like a guy will say I'll break into a downbeat... some shit may be a little confusing, but obviously Im confused, I don't know exactly what that means

Downtempo as well, why do that call it that?

downbeat...downtempo....its basically slower stuff which isnt hip hop....

check out trip hop, nu-jazz/lounge and some idm.....

but in musical terms the down beat is the opposite of the off-beat...

greg

dub,
i want to make those sampled house beats, programmed jungle, instrumental house, really all of it but the really hard techno that goes nowhere...

cool....even though there are techqniues you can use in techno that will benefit other styles...

sampled house....pick your sample....could be from a salsoul or disco record...but could be anything- star dust used a tiny segment from chaka khans 'fate' looped it and worked it into a new tune....

once you've picked you sample- can often be 1/2, whole bar or even a 1/4 bar long...decide how you want it to sound....you may want that classic french sound- if so rip out those filters.....mess around with dual low pass and high pass for those daft punk/cassius style filter sweeps.....

or do it the american way and have the sample play and then embellish all over the top with new bass, melodies, counter melodies and thick drums....

the derrick carter remix of kid creole and the coconuts 'stool pigeon' is a good example of this....

when ive found my sample...eq'd and made some tweaked copies- ie one with a high res filter sweep, one backwards, one with no bass etc.... and load them up....get them to respond to filters and velocity, get them to cut each other off....that way you can get that akufen microhouse style...

drums: i have loads of sources...from tutors kits to vinyl samples to stuff ive layered.....with house and faster style you wnat to be able to control the length of your notes so i generally set all my percussive elements to be note off and fake a small tail so they dont cut ubruptly- you'll find if your right a house tune in 125-135 bpm and you play the whole samples tail and all the beat will get clutered and loose the groove...you need to be able to specify the note lengths so you can control the spaces in between the notes....

bass drums...salsoul bass drums with 909 underneath, sample from the beginning of a house tune so its already compressed like diamonds.....

snares and claps...tight and snappy please....you can use longer ones for acents and stuff but for the tight beat you want it to snap through and end quickly...

hi hats- try high passing around 2khz to 3khz....help reduce that click sound without reducing presence.....909 and 808 hats of course but try and get some other types of hi hats as they are very overused.....

percussion and shakers...scoop the bass out of these....again you want to be able to control the length of these hits...

bass- sub bass to under pin the root notes...layered with the bass drum for that big club sound....bass hits from the yamaa dx range for that classic sound......proper slap/ real bass for funky bass lines....depends on the style....303 bass tends to be more techno than house...

instrumentation: anything pianos, rhodes, organs, guitars, horns, flutes, strings.....all fit as well as all manner of other stuff....nu underground mash ups incorporate hip hop accapellas....latin and balearic incorporate many other ethnic instrumentation......its can be dark, funky, smooth and jazzy.....

sequnecing: decide your tempo and swing- deeper styles have more room and tend to be slower 120-125....tech hosue can go up to 135bpm....

you can use a straight swing and program your note placements....or you can use one of the mpcs swing settings for that 'tight sound'

157 is nice and loose but not too 'swung'

162 i use a lot for that skippy feel

165 is also good for that slip slidy feel....

make sure you look at your velocities....if you can nail the beat so it grooves on its own it will groove even more when you introduce some compression....

bass drums always on the beat....you need to keep a tight metronome for the rest of the beat to refer to.....everything else is fair game....shift snares back and forth for urgency/laidbackness.....shifft your nhihats 3 ticks forward for that urgent feel.....keep shakers in and aorund the beat but not bang on nessecarily- ditto percussion....you want your bass drum/hihat interplay to be tight- if it is everything else if done right will flow with it....

christ i can go on cant i!!!! right im gonna go now before i bore you anymore...any q's or more tips gives us a shout....or if this isn't what you mean pm me....

greg

ps- these are only things I do.....certainly aint gospel....rules are for breaking!

yo ! Dub thats very insitefull, thanks

nice info dub! how many different percussion sounds should be in one beat? sometimes it seems like i try to add to many.. what about sequencing these beats? do i need a computer?

Hey Dub, you get that book yet?

good knowledge dub

nah hopefully should arrive today.....or tomorrow although amazon are less than speedy when its stuff im really looking forward to....

greg