Original
Message 1/8
Date: 25-Oct-02 @ 05:11 PM -
Programming lively breakbeats
Hi,
The following quote is taken from a famous magazine's website, but they don't have the screenshots available on the website. I'm trying to figure out what they're talking about here. Could someone fill in one of the drumbox sheets to help me out a bit?
"The most common type of big beat groove is a 'kick-snare-shufflybit-snare' sort of thing, two examples of which you can see in these screenshots. These patterns benefit from 'shuffle' or 'swing' groove quantising which adds a little bounce. Both lead off with a kick on beat 1 and a snare on beats 2 and 4; fairly standard stuff. It's on and around beat 3 that the shuffly bit comes in to add a little grooviness.
On pattern one you can see that there is a double kick drum, just before and after beat 3, and the cowbell doubles up with the second kick of each pair which adds to the shuffly feel. Only the open hat actually plays on beat 3. The open hat is an important part of the big beat style, and is used in much the same way that it is in hip hop. Placing it before any of the main kick or snare beats adds an offbeat feel to the track, while placing it on them adds impact.
A similar effect is achieved by the short crash cymbal in the second half of beat 4 which, along with the final kick just before the end of the bar, rolls the beat back round to the beginning. The shaker loop in the background adds a sloppy 'human' feel to the loops which your ear latches on to. Because it is retriggered every two beats, the slightly dodgy playing doesn't distract from the rhythm but adds a loose feel to the beat.
The second pattern has a much busier feel, and opens with a double kick which is repeated on beat 3. The shuffly bit is achieved by alternating the kicks with a snare but this time, one of the kicks lands on beat 3 to keep the rhythm driving along. The hats are now playing both on and off the beat, and doubling up on the shuffle to add extra pace, while the open hats before beats 2 and 4 both add impact to the snares which follow them."