Rhythm Programming I

EML

Todays 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 Weeks 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

Video: Comping on Piano Jazz

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

Ethnic Percussion

Drum Machine/Sampler

Orchestral Percussion

Beatbox

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

Fold Keyboard Audio Preview Notes

Samples

Velocity

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 prechorus 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

Excerpt from Dance Music Manual (modified)

Tempo: 130 bpm up

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 Sidechain Compression

Sidechain, sidechain, sidechain everything

Sidechain compression from Dummy Kick In Ableton Live

Most often used on bass and pads Gives that sucking/pumping feeling

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 (Adrians personal collection)