Apparently, neither beginners nor professional musicians need to say that when creating a composition, one of the central places in the track is the drum part (of course, if their use is provided). Of course, the best option for creating high-quality bits in the form of separate fragments or a whole batch is to record in a studio using a live drum kit. But after all, many work, so to speak, at home, preferring sequencer programs with built-in tools. How to make bits with them? This and much more will be discussed later. It will not be possible to describe all the subtleties of the process, so we will dwell only on the most important points, taking as a basis the popular sequencer FL Studio.
How to make beats: general concepts for building drum parts
To begin with, what exactly will we need to create a drum part. It goes without saying that you can use drum VST-samples or built-in instruments of the program itself, but first we’ll look at how to make beats for rap or for any other musical style manually.
If you approach the search for a solution from a general point of view, it is completely optional to use a complete drum kit. Enough will be the kick drum, snare, open or closed hi-hat, and cymbal (crash). Alts and toms are not yet taken into account. Thus, the simplest rhythmic pattern can only be built on the basis of these four elements.
How to make a bit in FL Studio: the simplest technique
Now we turn directly to the program FL Studio. When creating a new project, we immediately have a step sequencer with the above drum kit elements (only clap is used instead of the cymbal. First, let's replace it with some cymbal.
How to make beats? There are several options. The easiest one is to use the interactive view of the step sequencer, where the buttons are simply marked in the desired positions.
The image above shows the simplest smooth beat for one measure.
It is clear that it sounds too smooth and unnatural. A live drummer will never play like that. Let's try to diversify the created sequence a little and add a bass kick at the end, which for each next repetition will sound due to the beat. But if you look at how such a sequence is played live, it immediately becomes clear that the weak beat at the end of each measure sounds somewhat quieter.
The volume of the beat can be adjusted directly in the step sequencer, but it is better to send it to the Piano Roll virtual keyboard. There are much more parameters available for adjustment, especially since you can change them for each note.
By the way, it is advisable to apply the volume change for each even bit for a hat. This will somewhat enliven the sound. If you don’t like this approach, use the integrated FPC drum module. In it, the principle of creating a party is practically the same, only more instruments.
Using VST Tools
How to make beats? It’s best to start by using pre-made sequences that are available in special drum sampler libraries like Superior Drummer, EZDrummer, etc. Let's look at the use of such combinations in the Steven Slate Drum Sampler plugin. After selecting the desired style and sequence, just drag it to the desired channel in the step sequencer, and then go to the Piano Roll window.
Since initially all parts were played live, it will immediately be possible to figure out how to change the volume or which notes to shift so that the sound is not machine.
Features of the "swing" of the bit
Having trained with the plugins, we return to our bit. How to make a “quality” beat even from such a simple sequence? Elementary! You need to adjust not only the volume. Separately, you should pay attention to the installation of a small offset of notes on the grid to make the so-called guy, which is very often used for a snare drum.
Set the start of the note not in a standard flat position, but with an offset, indicating, for example, the starting position with a value of 1.05.04, as shown in the image above. When you enliven all notes in this way, you will immediately hear how much more natural even the simplest beat sounds. But setting the delay or volume values the same is not worth it. Change them to a small extent, but do not get too carried away.