Off-Grid Beat Programming - Creating Tracks
If you really want a beat to natural, fluid and unique, you most likely need to explore some off-grid beat programming techniques.
Using a studio drummer to lay down your beats is only really going to work for a handful of musical genres these days. Most of you who tune in to our tutorials are producing music that utilize electronic drums and percussion. This means that you need to continuously stay up-to-date with the latest beat programming techniques and trends. And as you probably already know, you simply cannot make truly impressive beats that are grid-centric.
By this we mean that you cannot allow all of the notes in your beats to snap to a basic 4x4 grid. Your music would translate to the listener as rudimentary and plain, perhaps even unimaginative. The rest of your arrangement could be great, but if the beat is lacking, then the overall production will be as well. The beat leads to the groove and the groove is what makes the people, and the music, move. Your approach to beat programming needs to be in-line with the 'life force' of the music you are creating.
Sometimes, you can use a groove template to apply a very specific type of quantization to your drums to get the feel you want. Other times, all you need is the right amount of swing. But for truly original music, you may need to create a truly original beat to bring everything together.
Beat programming is not always inclusive of plugins, sequencers or loops. This means rolling up your sleeves and diving into developing your real arrangement skills. You need to explore the various tools available to you, like nudge options, grid settings, mouse tools, etc as well as being open to other peoples' beat programming ideas. The methods shared in this lesson are just basic starting points and if you are serious about this endeavor, you should set aside regular time to work on beat programming exclusively to consistently improve.
Cheers,
OhmLab