I'd like to make my first Reggae tune. I'd like some advice on instruments/effects I could use.
What electric guitars are best to make the reggae signature guitar sound? Any particular brands or types of guitar ( nylon? Steel string? ).. I have lots of different electric and acoustic guitar samples..
I listen to reggae sometimes but never put much thought into what specific instruments are used.. what types of percussive instruments are often used?
Any advice on effects ?( aside from wah wah )
I appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks.
Making Reggae music
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- KVRAF
- 3066 posts since 31 May, 2002 from My chair
I tend to think of clean guitars with a Strat-style tone with chorus and beat-synced delays.
The real trick is getting the bass and drums right: they have the most bearing on the character of reggae. A standard drum kit and electric bass are fine, but it's the rhythms that make it work. All I can say is try to listen to all the examples you can! Here's my entry from the "KvR Island Music" competition a few months ago:
http://www.markleford.com/music/files/0 ... onuevo.mp3
The real trick is getting the bass and drums right: they have the most bearing on the character of reggae. A standard drum kit and electric bass are fine, but it's the rhythms that make it work. All I can say is try to listen to all the examples you can! Here's my entry from the "KvR Island Music" competition a few months ago:
http://www.markleford.com/music/files/0 ... onuevo.mp3
Markleford's band, The James Rocket: http://www.TheJamesRocket.com/
Markleford's tracks: http://www.markleford.com/music/
Markleford's free MFX, DXi2, DR-008 modules: http://www.TenCrazy.com/
Markleford's tracks: http://www.markleford.com/music/
Markleford's free MFX, DXi2, DR-008 modules: http://www.TenCrazy.com/
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original flipper original flipper https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=8999
- KVRAF
- 2544 posts since 14 Sep, 2003 from Essex
HI
It depends on what 'style' of reggae you want to compose - I have been making and listerning to 'reggae' for 30 years and not to put too fine a point on it the breadth of genres within reggae is enormous.
But ..... if you want a choppy sound to the rythem section which is a broad expectation for the uninitiated I would say that you might consider the following -
1) Rythem guitar/electric/very short single or double strum - reverse the notes on the up-strum, so if you want a double chop chord of say CEG you need GEC on the up strum, don't underestimate how short these notes need to be!
2) A grand/upright piano can complement the guitar chords with longer duration of the same chord work.
3) A muted/pick electric guitar is often used to play/mimic along with the bass line, get creative - play it 2 octaves above the bass with minor deviations around the key your playiong in.
4) You can use anything for bass but you might consider that Electric bass guitars were used up until the late 1980's with synths taking over from there - of course most bands continue to use guitars though - a nice deep sine wave is a good starting point for a synthetic bass but anything goes if your wanting to be more experimental.
5) Bpm can vary widely in reggae - from slow deep bass penetrative roots through to D&B territory, if you get too fast you will have to play the rythem at half the bpm IE if you end up at like 160BPM you will have to play your guitars at like 80 bpm or it will sound SILLY!
6) Drums are relative to style, again acoustic is more traditional with lots of side stick, rim shots & timbales.
More modern and you go synth drums.
Flams, rolls, cymbal clashes on the end - it is all staple.
Intricate velocity editing on double hits, ghost hits, snares up - it gets complex - military style beats, attention to the hi-hat which is a real timing/driving force.
7) B4 organ!
You can put a nice organ in to play little melodies or indeed play along with the piano/gtr with some subtle variation - some really nice lightly distorted organs go down well in 'Roots' reggae with keyboard runs and motifs.
Horn section, WOW - this can take you to another level, for me horns come in two flavours, Driving the whole song from a catchy crescendo at the start followed by fierce injected spurts of power or a restrained style where they can fill in space or harmonise with whats already there.
9) FX - to understand the part fx play in reggae is to understand the 7inch pre-release single which was generally a vocal track with a flip instrumental side - normally a dub version of the 'A' side, the wilder the mixes got the crazier the crowd went when the dj flipped the record!
It is dangerous to over use fx in reggae - it is tempting but it can end up sounding a mess, if you are doing a track with a heavily layered instrument count then you need to keep things to a minimum - a touch of reverb (a smooth one with a decay that keeps up with the bpm as far as is possible) on the snare and perhaps a little delay on the horn section with some of that same reverb - Organs don't sound very good with reverb unless it is a quick wash prior to a mute.
If your going minimal DUBwise then you can fool around till you go to bed - I mean bass & drums with a bit of interjected guitar/piano/horns washed in phase/flange/filtering or anything else for that matter with!
I learnt a lot simply by listerning to records, although I was fortunate enough to work with and meet many great JA artists in the late 70's who gave me much advice.
I am tired so I will stop there - I imagine a whole load of advice has come up since I started writting this thread!
Good luck - experiment but don't loose the spirit of what reggae is - a seemingly simplistic style of music that is so tight and subtle that many very talented non reggae musicians have never been able to emulate it, as the 'SPACE' between the notes annoys them, causing them to have involuntary muscle spasms, that causes them to fill the gaps in which leads to something musical but it is NOT reggae.
Flipper.
It depends on what 'style' of reggae you want to compose - I have been making and listerning to 'reggae' for 30 years and not to put too fine a point on it the breadth of genres within reggae is enormous.
But ..... if you want a choppy sound to the rythem section which is a broad expectation for the uninitiated I would say that you might consider the following -
1) Rythem guitar/electric/very short single or double strum - reverse the notes on the up-strum, so if you want a double chop chord of say CEG you need GEC on the up strum, don't underestimate how short these notes need to be!
2) A grand/upright piano can complement the guitar chords with longer duration of the same chord work.
3) A muted/pick electric guitar is often used to play/mimic along with the bass line, get creative - play it 2 octaves above the bass with minor deviations around the key your playiong in.
4) You can use anything for bass but you might consider that Electric bass guitars were used up until the late 1980's with synths taking over from there - of course most bands continue to use guitars though - a nice deep sine wave is a good starting point for a synthetic bass but anything goes if your wanting to be more experimental.
5) Bpm can vary widely in reggae - from slow deep bass penetrative roots through to D&B territory, if you get too fast you will have to play the rythem at half the bpm IE if you end up at like 160BPM you will have to play your guitars at like 80 bpm or it will sound SILLY!
6) Drums are relative to style, again acoustic is more traditional with lots of side stick, rim shots & timbales.
More modern and you go synth drums.
Flams, rolls, cymbal clashes on the end - it is all staple.
Intricate velocity editing on double hits, ghost hits, snares up - it gets complex - military style beats, attention to the hi-hat which is a real timing/driving force.
7) B4 organ!
You can put a nice organ in to play little melodies or indeed play along with the piano/gtr with some subtle variation - some really nice lightly distorted organs go down well in 'Roots' reggae with keyboard runs and motifs.
Horn section, WOW - this can take you to another level, for me horns come in two flavours, Driving the whole song from a catchy crescendo at the start followed by fierce injected spurts of power or a restrained style where they can fill in space or harmonise with whats already there.9) FX - to understand the part fx play in reggae is to understand the 7inch pre-release single which was generally a vocal track with a flip instrumental side - normally a dub version of the 'A' side, the wilder the mixes got the crazier the crowd went when the dj flipped the record!
It is dangerous to over use fx in reggae - it is tempting but it can end up sounding a mess, if you are doing a track with a heavily layered instrument count then you need to keep things to a minimum - a touch of reverb (a smooth one with a decay that keeps up with the bpm as far as is possible) on the snare and perhaps a little delay on the horn section with some of that same reverb - Organs don't sound very good with reverb unless it is a quick wash prior to a mute.
If your going minimal DUBwise then you can fool around till you go to bed - I mean bass & drums with a bit of interjected guitar/piano/horns washed in phase/flange/filtering or anything else for that matter with!
I learnt a lot simply by listerning to records, although I was fortunate enough to work with and meet many great JA artists in the late 70's who gave me much advice.
I am tired so I will stop there - I imagine a whole load of advice has come up since I started writting this thread!
Good luck - experiment but don't loose the spirit of what reggae is - a seemingly simplistic style of music that is so tight and subtle that many very talented non reggae musicians have never been able to emulate it, as the 'SPACE' between the notes annoys them, causing them to have involuntary muscle spasms, that causes them to fill the gaps in which leads to something musical but it is NOT reggae.
Flipper.
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- KVRian
- 772 posts since 6 Oct, 2003 from ezeeworld
Sorry for taking this OT but it's funny how helpful people are when someone asks about making a reggae tune but all people on here do when it's a more recent form like trance, the poster gets abused for being unoriginal...
Anyway back to the topic.
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original flipper original flipper https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=8999
- KVRAF
- 2544 posts since 14 Sep, 2003 from Essex
HI
Shit, sorry for being 44.
Flipper.
Shit, sorry for being 44.
Flipper.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2831 posts since 11 Jun, 2003
Wow..this is very useful information. Really, it's putting me in the right direction. I was going to ask about the B3 organ. I remember many Bob marley tunes having it..
I am not sure what kind of Reggae it will be. It's just for fun. Perhaps for the February contest.
What is the percussion sound that often starts a Reggae song, before everything hits in? dakatakataka... song starts..
sorry for the very poor description..
If you listen to a lot of Reggae you would have heard this on numerous records..
I am not sure what kind of Reggae it will be. It's just for fun. Perhaps for the February contest.
What is the percussion sound that often starts a Reggae song, before everything hits in? dakatakataka... song starts..
sorry for the very poor description..
If you listen to a lot of Reggae you would have heard this on numerous records..Play it by ear
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original flipper original flipper https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=8999
- KVRAF
- 2544 posts since 14 Sep, 2003 from Essex
HI
Timbales or highly tuned snares create a mettallic sound,
The percussion sound could be a marimba?
Many reggae tunes start with a tom-tom roll.
Flipper.
Timbales or highly tuned snares create a mettallic sound,
The percussion sound could be a marimba?
Many reggae tunes start with a tom-tom roll.
Flipper.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2831 posts since 11 Jun, 2003
Hey thanks,
I am going to experiment.. I have all those sounds.. I can't believe I actually never tried to make a Reggae tune. It should be lot's of fun..
And I have the sticky green stuff to inspire me
Thanks again for your help.
I am going to experiment.. I have all those sounds.. I can't believe I actually never tried to make a Reggae tune. It should be lot's of fun..
And I have the sticky green stuff to inspire me
Thanks again for your help.
Play it by ear
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- KVRian
- 772 posts since 6 Oct, 2003 from ezeeworld
I wasn't aiming my comments at you, if that's what you thought!original flipper wrote:HI
Shit, sorry for being 44.
Flipper.
It was just a general comment about the way people on KVR usually react. I get a little tired of the fact that people bring up the originality thing every time someone wants to try and create music in a certain style. Many (most?) folks on here are just learning and are simply after advice but if they mention any of the 'trigger' words (trance, crunk, etc) they just get abuse. Who is to say that the people who are interested in something like trance won't take what they've learnt and start making truly original stuff? Even if they don't, I doubt they would be any less original than half the ambient noodle tracks that a lot of KVR members post in the music cafe. For some reason shifting noise appears to be seen as the height of creativity on here sometimes.
I thought your post about reggae techniques was a very useful and valid response. I just wish there were more people willing to help others in the same way...
Apologies again to pheeleep for derailing his thread.
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- KVRist
- 274 posts since 15 Nov, 2004 from Gainesville, FL USA
just get an ounce of ganja and let the music make itself.
I don't know much about reggae, but I've been toying around w/ alot of samples from the versionist.com site (for downtempo/hip-hop purposes) by loading them into the Paax sampler. I made three presets with like 30 percussion samples on each and then another with their guitar skanks. Toying around with reverb and doing trial and error with the percussion yielded some sound/rhythm results that pleased my ears.
I don't know much about reggae, but I've been toying around w/ alot of samples from the versionist.com site (for downtempo/hip-hop purposes) by loading them into the Paax sampler. I made three presets with like 30 percussion samples on each and then another with their guitar skanks. Toying around with reverb and doing trial and error with the percussion yielded some sound/rhythm results that pleased my ears.
Ideas are bulletproof... I am not.
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- Fearer of cheese
- 3216 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from UK
Hi pheeleep,
You could do worse than check out the free reggae/dub midi file packs from www.dubroom.com They're all original and under copyright, but will give you some idea of exactly what's involved. The sound source on the Mp3's isn't the best, but they let you know what the midi files sound like.
You could do worse than check out the free reggae/dub midi file packs from www.dubroom.com They're all original and under copyright, but will give you some idea of exactly what's involved. The sound source on the Mp3's isn't the best, but they let you know what the midi files sound like.
RIP Black Tom and Beckett. They weren't just cats, they were MY cats, the best cats ever.
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- KVRian
- 1411 posts since 25 Sep, 2003 from The Dirty South, USA
Add on the that, the bass must be as deep & funky as possible.Markleford wrote:I tend to think of clean guitars with a Strat-style tone with chorus and beat-synced delays.
The real trick is getting the bass and drums right: they have the most bearing on the character of reggae. A standard drum kit and electric bass are fine, but it's the rhythms that make it work. All I can say is try to listen to all the examples you can! Here's my entry from the "KvR Island Music" competition a few months ago:
http://www.markleford.com/music/files/0 ... onuevo.mp3
The bass must be so deep that you can feel it with or without smoking weed.