DIGITAL MUSIC
Note: This column was republished with permission from iZotope’s Beat Making 101: How to Make a Beat,
written by iZotope copywriter Griffin Brown and available at www.izotope.com/en/learn.
By Griffin Brown
Beat-Making Tools
& Techniques
Tools for Beat-Making
here are plenty of resources
out there to support those
who want to improve their
beat-making abilities.
A deep sample library is the most help-
ful tool in the learning process. Inevitably,
the samples available to you will affect
your composition decisions. Recording
your own samples can be pretty tedious,
so using a sample database like Splice
provides quick and broad access to tons
of sonic possibilities.
Expand the number of samples you
have to work with and you’ll invariably be
forced to create different ideas, helping
you find your own flavour when mak-
ing a beat. A MIDI controller with some
drum pads can also be helpful for beat-
making. While you can certainly set up a
drum groove by clicking MIDI notes into
your DAW, being able to play the drum
groove helps to internalize the process of
creating rhythms. The more that you feel
rhythm, rather than simply conceptual-
ize it, the easier it will be to create beats
that resonate with people.
Lastly, beat-making apps for smart-
phones can help to speed up the learn-
ing process. As we already mentioned,
the best way to learn beat-making is to
T
make a lot of beats. A mobile app can
allow you to work on your skills while
on-the-go and make the most out of
a train ride or waiting for a doctor’s
appointment.
Learning What Works & What
Doesn’t
If you make music, it’s probably a safe
assumption that you listen to music,
too. A great way to learn which rhythmic
phrases and tricks work is to just listen to
a lot of beats. Make use of active listen-
ing, in which you pay attention to and
analyze the music that you’re hearing.
As music lovers, we have the tendency
to get lost in the music, but this doesn’t
really help us learn anything. Try to pick
out common rhythmic phrases and the
placement of certain drum sounds in
the groove.
For example, an open hi-hat or closed
hi-hat roll is often placed between a
downbeat kick hit and backbeat snare
hit. Notice that, if you’re nodding your
head downward with each kick and
snare, this percussive hit catches your
head nodding on the way up.
These types of rhythms make the
groove more infectious by encourag-
ing the listener to move in a certain way.
You can take your active listening
even further by bringing a beat you like
into an audio track in your DAW. This is
arguably the best way to work with ref-
erence tracks (for learning arrangement
mixing and mastering standards), as you
don’t have to switch between your DAW
and a music player. Instead, you can just
solo that audio channel and stay in the
production environment.
With the track in your DAW, you can
loop sections for more detailed analysis,
using the grid to actually see how the
groove is structured rhythmically. This
makes active listening much easier and
makes the concept of the “groove” much
less abstract.
Whether you plan to make beats for a
living, as a hobby, or to help develop
your production abilities, the process can
be simplified and accessible to anyone.
With some perspective of modern trends
and a plan to improve your skills, beat-
making can help you become a better
producer, composer, and musician.
Check out the full blog post – along
with many other helpful resources
– by going to www.izotope.com and
clicking the “Learn” tab.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 31