Setting up Drum Patterns in House

[SevagNYC]

So on my way of really getting down the key basics in house arrangement, one problem i always run to is percussion. I noticed that many tracks actually use percussion very minimaly but it really sounds good... For some reason I can never set up a groove that really works. \Also just to mention the basic order of how im working right now. I usually set up the kick first, then set up the bass, then a nice lead pattern, then ultimately the drums till I find a good 8-16 bar loop that I can actually work with and evolve. Thats when I start setting up the arrangement of the track.

Now just to give an idea of how I work when it comes to percussion, I pretty much use sample cd's with one shot hitz. I usually load them up into Logic's esx2 sampler so I have a full range of sounds (ex setting up all hihats in one instance) and go from there.

I know the basic structure for house is claps on beat 2+4.. and generally an offbeat hihat... After that its basically up to the producer to do. I know i start off with closedhats/shakers to give it more of a continuous groove. Also once i have the samples set up on the exs strip, i basically set up the groove through clicking on midi notes and then quantizing/fx usually somedelay/ sidechaining. Obviously this hasnt been cutting it for me though when it comes to finding that groove. Any suggestions or examples how you progress with percussion in your house/tech/minimal/progressive track is greatly appreciated.

[MOK19]

Have you tried using swing-time? Sometimes getting that pattern of offset hats is just whats needed.

Also, maybe you could post an example of what you think of as good house drums? I don't feel that house's percussion needs are so codified as you appear to imply, but you certainly have a certain flavor in mind. Share it with us, maybe we can find that secret ingredient.

[Nice2b]

It really helps to alter the velocities of your hihat pattern. eg:

S - W - M - W

that's a strong hit, then a weak one, a medium one, and a weak one again. It will sound much more realistic and less like a machine!

[savemysoul]

I can suggest you to make the track arrange at the beginning. Mostly the dance tracks have standard time for introdution,chorus etc so wuold be better if u have this idea in your mind and you proceed from intro to the end. So u'll find before a drum pattern and then you'll work on bass and leads. I used your same working order as u and I always had problems with drums!
I had also another problem with track arrangement because when I make the track in my studio I want to use more variations and I got rapidly bored of the same groove but then in a club the track timing is different.
I suggest also an external device with drum pads to play in real time on the track to find the drum pattern. Sounds in offsets help to add more sounds in the track.
I hope you'll find my tips useful.

[theriver]

Some things that really help me get a groove going:

1) Start with drums. I produce more techno stuff from what you do, but depending on the sort of house a lot of it is driven by the drums. Get a groove going and then fit a lead/bassline into it.

2) Use swing. Guru has a great swing-option that lets you pick a swing template then apply it. I went from lives piano roll to guru with the swing and my beats sounded so much better just from that little function.

3) Run 2 drum machine/samplers, one on an 8 beat loop and one on a 16 beat loop. Stick kick/hats/snare on the 8beat and use the 16 to add extra stuff now and then. The longer the loop the more intresting it sounds.

4) Set up a good routing/effect template. Seperate channels for a kick/snare/hats/perc to start with, then each of those into a Drum bus with a good compressor (the glue is great).

5) For inspiration effects can be great, just stick 1/2 hits into a tempo synced delay and play around.

6) Most of the groove in drums isn't from the kick, once you have a few basic elements going, mute the kick and build up the drums. IMO a good groove should chug along really well without a kick.


Hope some of thats useful.

[TheAK]

sorry, but can someone explain swing-time

[ghettosynth]

...

[glokraw]

A parametric EQ can do wonderful things to your completed beats, try one on a favorite, ride them sliders and knobs!

[AL321]

sorry, but can someone explain swing-time

Here is how you would create the classic House swing manually:
(About 7am here, so hope this comes across clear enough).

Put a closed hat into your drum sampler, and go into the channel's piano roll.

Change the 'snap to grid' to 1/16, and enter 16 closed hats, over the course of one bar. That should be 16 equally spaced hits over the bar.

Change the piano roll's snap to either 1/64 or 1/128. (1/64 will have the most dramatic effect).

Now you need to shift every second hit, one nudge to the right. So that's notes 2,4,6,8, etc, so you no longer have the rigid 16 equally spaced hits.

Note: make sure you shift 2,4,6 etc, and not 1,3,5, because that doesn't give the same rhythmic feel.

That should give you an idea of what house swing looks and sounds like. Learning to use quantize is better though, because the ideal swing for a given track may be somewhere between 1/64 or 1/28, or an even heavier shift.

There's numerous other little tricks, like giving '4' a heavier swing than '2'.
And remember, swing isn't only for percussion. Even synths and vocal effects can benefit from it.

[lilith2k3]

What about trying this Pattern?

Base: 4 on the floor (s/m)
Clap: beat 5 and 13 (m/m)
Snare: beat 14 and 16 (m/m)
Rim: beat 2,5,8,11,14,16 (s)
Shaker: 1,5,9,13 (m) 3,7,11,15 (s) rest (w) so all 16 beats have a shaker on
Cowbell: 1 and 11 (m), 8 and 9 (w), and at last 14 (s)
Closed Hihat: 1,5,9,13 (s) 3,7,11,15 (m) rest (w) like the Shaker
Open Hihat: 3,7,11,15 (m)
And for the end of the pattern some "clicky-noise": 14 and 16 (m) 15 (w)

Where s means strong, m medium and w weak hit.

If you want to spice it a lil bit up you could play around with some congas

Of course you could refine it with the help of the swing settings.

[Neil G]

reverse a high hat every once in a while, mainly leading up to the claps so it sounds like they suck up into the clap. adds alot of swing juat by doing that.

[Sascha Franck]

reverse a high hat every once in a while, mainly leading up to the claps so it sounds like they suck up into the clap. adds alot of swing juat by doing that.

Pretty much a spot on tip, I'd say.

- Sascha

[MOK19]

reverse a high hat every once in a while, mainly leading up to the claps so it sounds like they suck up into the clap. adds alot of swing juat by doing that.

Pretty much a spot on tip, I'd say.

- Sascha

Seconded

[SevagNYC]

hey guys, I haventt forgotten about this thread haha... thanks for all the input... have been real busy with school work in the meantime.. im def gonna try these over the weekend. That rever hat trick is great tip i didnt even think about lol im so used to doing reverse crashes but never reverse hi/open hats haha

[dark_virus]

What about trying this Pattern?

Base: 4 on the floor (s/m)
Clap: beat 5 and 13 (m/m)
Snare: beat 14 and 16 (m/m)
Rim: beat 2,5,8,11,14,16 (s)
Shaker: 1,5,9,13 (m) 3,7,11,15 (s) rest (w) so all 16 beats have a shaker on
Cowbell: 1 and 11 (m), 8 and 9 (w), and at last 14 (s)
Closed Hihat: 1,5,9,13 (s) 3,7,11,15 (m) rest (w) like the Shaker
Open Hihat: 3,7,11,15 (m)
And for the end of the pattern some "clicky-noise": 14 and 16 (m) 15 (w)

Where s means strong, m medium and w weak hit.

If you want to spice it a lil bit up you could play around with some congas

Of course you could refine it with the help of the swing settings.

Nice tip! I'll try it!