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Rhythm Programming I
EML
Today’s Topics
• Understanding Rhythm and the Rhythm Section (25 mins)
• Hands On: Understanding the Drum Kit (20 mins)
• Beat Programming Tools in Ableton Live (15 mins)
• Genre Studies: Rock/Pop, 4/4 Dance music, Hip Hop (60 mins)
• This Week’s Fun Activity (aka stuff you do at home to improve your music making)
What is Rhythm?
• It is the pulse of music
• Caused by accents and note length variations
• Often referred to by musicians as the groove
Dissecting the Rhythm Section
• The Rhythm section is the group of musicians that establish the pulse and chord structure of a music piece
• Consists of 3 key groups of instruments:– Percussion (drum kit, congas, shakers etc)
– Keyboards (electric/acoustic piano, marimba etc)
– Strings (Bass, Guitars, Banjos etc)
• Electronic versions of the above 3 are used in more electronic influenced genres
The Guitar
• Rhythm is most often achieved by strumming chords
• Genres: Folk, Pop, Acoustic Rock, Blues etc
The Keyboard/Piano/Organ
• Comping - Playing block chords, rhythms and countermelodies, often in jazz/funk styles
The Drums
• Outstanding due to its non-pitched nature
• Does not interfere as much with the other instruments
• Essential in almost all commercial popular music
A short list of percussion instruments
Acoustic Drum kit
Drum Machine/Sampler
Ethnic Percussion
BeatboxOrchestral Percussion
Bass
• Seals the low end of a piece of music
• Usually works with the kick drum in popular music
• Unlike other guitars, the bass is usually played 1 note at a time
• Supports the harmony
A short list of Basses
Upright Bass Electric Bass Synth Bass
Basic Rhythm Terms
• Time Signature: Number/Length of beats per bar or measure e.g. 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 12/8, 5/4
• Tempo: Speed of music• Downbeat: First beat of a measure• Upbeat: Last beat of a measure• Onbeat/Offbeat: The series of strong and weak beats in a
meter in 4/4 time• Accent: Emphasis of a note/hit by playing louder• Syncopation: Notes/Hits not falling on the beat,
accents/rests on weak beats, anything that breaks the constant pulse
Some rules when writing for the rhythm section
• Listen to what the other instruments are doing and fill in when there is space
• Density = excitement
• Try not to double the lowest note as it will get boomy
Clapping Exercise
• Follow along and clap.
• Try to understand whether it is syncopated or not.
Hands On: Understanding the Drum Kit
• BFD2 is a popular vst used for sampled acoustic drums.
Using the Ableton Drum Rack
• Drag the Drum Rack Instrument to a new Midi Track
Adding Single Hits to the Drum Rack
• Go to the Browser and find some single hits
• Drag and Drop into one of the boxes in Drum Rack
Slicing a Loop to Drum Rack
• Right click on a loop in the browser. Select “Slice to New MIDI Track”
Slicing a Loop to Drum Rack
• Select default options and click Ok
Entering patterns into Ableton Live
Samples
Velocity
NotesFold Keyboard Audio Preview
Midi Editor Keyboard shortcuts
• CTRL + 1 – Shrink grid
• CTRL + 2 – Widen grid
• CTRL + 3 – Triplet grid
• CTRL + 4 – Turn grid off
• Double click – Create note in grid box
Genre Studies
Dance Pop/Rock Hip Hop
Pop/Rock
Pop/Rock – Basic Drum Patterns
• 4/4 time, snare on beats 2 and 4.
• Kick on 1 and 3
• Hi hats on 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 notes.
• 16 note hats too intense? The difference is in the accent
• Occasionally replace closed hats with open hats
• Cymbals on downbeat every 8 or 16 bars
• Ghost notes on snares
• Ride cymbals
Some Pop/Rock Drum Fills
• Triplet fills
• Hit drums in 1/8 note or 1/16 note patterns
• 1 Bar Fill in between sections. 1 beat fill every 4.
Avoiding the machine gun effect
• Ableton Live Groove Features
• Turning off the grid and adjusting note timings
• Adjusting Velocity of individual notes
• Play in the pattern using a midi controller and do quantization a bit of quantization
Bass Patterns for Pop/Rock
• Root-Fifth bass patterns
• Filling in gaps in the rhythm
• Passing notes
• Playing in sync with drums during fills or pre-chorus
• Expressive playing - slides
More resources for acoustic drum patterns
• Look at the midi patterns that come with BFD
• Check out the great acoustic drum website: www.freedrumlessons.com
Dance Music
Dance Music Structure
• Basic music structure
• Tempo: 130 bpm up
Excerpt from Dance Music Manual (modified)
Basic Instruments
• Synth Lead
• Low Pad/Strings
• Synth Bass
• One shot Fx
• Reverse Samples
Basic Dance Music Drum Patterns
• Kick drum on every beat
• 1/16 note hi hat patterns
• Open hat on second 1/8 note of every beat
• Snare on beats 2 and 4
• Layering of other loops on top depending on genre e.g. tribal
• Crash on 1st beat of every section introducing a new instrument
Common Dance fills
• Dropping the kick for 1 beat before a small transition
• 1/16 note Snare/Kick roll increasing in volume for 1 bar/4 bars
• Increasing volume kick with high pass filter.
Melody Rhythms
• Offbeat pattern centered on 8th note of every beat
• Lots of repeated notes with interesting rhythms
• Use of delay/filtered delay
Bass Rhythms
• Melodic syncopated distorted bass, mostly for electro house type music
• Basic offbeat bass line on every 1/8 note of a beat.
• 1/16 note basslines
Essential technique – SidechainCompression
• Sidechain, sidechain, sidechain everything
• Most often used on bass and pads
• Gives that sucking/pumping feeling
Sidechain compression from “Dummy Kick”In Ableton Live
Basic Dance Transition effect
• Pitch bend up several octaves using glissando on a mono synth patch
More Resources
• Tutorial Master List on Tranceaddict.com
Hip Hop/R&B
Hip Hop/R&B
• Originated from sampling breaks from old funk/soul/disco records
Instrumentation
• Rap
• Soulful female vocals
• Synths as accompaniment or harmony parts
• Samples of old records
Basic Hip Hop/R&B Beat
• Kick on 1st beat + extra syncopated beats
• Rhythm is based on old breakbeats
• Tempo - 80 to 100
• Clap on 2 and 4
• The rhythm is in the rapping.
R&B and the 4-on-the-floor love affair
Kanye West - Stronger
Essential techniques
• Autotune
• Double Tracking
Choose An Exercise this Week
• Choose 1 of the 4 exercises to complete this week at home in the genres of either hip hop, pop/rock or dance.
Pop/Rock ExerciseThis Week
• Choose one of the 4-bar acoustic guitar samples provided and write 3 different 4-bar sections for bass and drums similar to what was shown in the lesson
• Write fills of different lengths in between sections
• Try out bass in sync and bass out of sync during fills
Dance Music Activity This Week
• Create the 32 bar intro section of a 4/4 dance piece until the breakdown similar to what was shown in the lesson.
• Use the technique of slowly adding elements layer by layer to keep interest
• Layer at least 1 sample on top of the main beat• Use an ascending bass line for an uplifting effect• Experiment with bass distortion and sidechaining
effects• Hint for chord progression: Keep the song to the root
chord for the whole intro. During the breakdown, vary the chord progression faster to create excitement.
Alternate Dance Music Exercise
• Complete the intro and first breakdown of the cover of Above and Beyond vs Andy Moor -Air for Life
Hip Hop Activity This Week
• Create a standard hip hop beat with a verse chorus section
• Use 2 different kick drum patterns for each section
• Sample a piece of music of your choosing and fit it into your tune through effects.
References
• Dance Music Manual (In studio)
• Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer (Adrian’s personal collection)
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