Message 6/6
Date: 02-Sep-00 @ 08:32 AM -
RE: ballad drums
well, assuming you listen to alot of RnB, can't you get a sorta vibe from that?.. the main thing with RnB is that the beats sorta outline & emphasise the 'sylabic' structure/feel of the vocal, the bassline supports this also... in the most obvious form like say on JJacksons current single where you can obviously here the kik/beat supporting the vocal 'pattern' or rather the vocal pattern follows the beat... i always do ballads like this:
I record the basic keyboard part/riff & vocal for say the chorus, then create a beat that fits the feel, You MUST SUPPORT THE VOCAL & RIFF FEEL... otherwise the vocal or drums sounds like an afterthought, to make it gel it needs to all work together..... do the same for the verse... then re-record the guide vocal after creating your drum backing...
build the chorus's by adding-in to the beat, mebbe the hats pick up in the chorus, etc.. Also you can bump up the tempo on the corus by a few BPM for the chorus using tempo change on your sequencer ,(if you are using any loops you'll need to re-stretch 'em to fit)... then at the chorus 'Roll-out' drop the tempo back again by that same 1-2 BPM... all this makes a bigger build than the verse to bring-on the power for the chorus - you can say have a two bar rool/transition into the chorus, so increase the tempo by 1BPM in the middle of the roll bars, then add another BPM on the first beat of the chorus... this smoothes any tempo chages a bit more... but for RnB i wouldnt alter the tempo too much, it'll sound weird, you can do this heavier with rock & pop ballads tho as they tend not to have such a 'beat' emphasis
if i'm doing ballad backing for a guitar written tune, i record the guitar & vocal basic riff/verse, then again add drums to say a 16 or 32 bar section of the playing/vox... that's all you need to work on the 'feel' of the drums to match up/compliment the feel of the riff/vocal... after that, with RnB it is about the drum sounds you choose.... make use of tension & drops with your transitions between song sections.... end the track on a repeated fade-out chorus.. (leave 'em with the hook)