When writing electronic music, there are several schools of thought when deciding how to write the percussive side of things.But which one suits you? It's time to take a look at what's available for the aspiring beat makers out there...
BYOB (Build your own Beat)
Get yourself a nice drum sequencer and stick some samples in, then build your beat from scratch. This one is for the control freaks out there who want absolutely every part of the beat to be as they envision it.
The advantages of this method are that you get exactly the rhythm you want, with no compromises. It'll also be much more unique to you, and you'll walk away with the smug satisfaction of being the creator of the loop.The disadvantages include that it can take a while to get it how you want, it can sometimes feel lacking if you can't find punchy / airy enough samples and if you're not feeling inspired, you might get frustrated before you even get to the rest of the sounds in your song!
Loops
Do you despair at making beats from scratch? Find yourself frustrated that you can't just get straight to work on something? It's time to get loopy with some pre-programmed percussion!
Find a rex loop player or something similar (most sequencers natively support .wav file looping) and you can jump in at the deep end by chucking a percussive loop right into the mix, making it sound awesome straight away and giving you a cool starting point.The advantage here is obviously the speed of access; the workflow with loops allows you to quickly fill up your track with a beat so you can concentrate on the melodies - if you are more of a melody person than a passionate percussionist, perhaps this is the preferred paradigm for you!
The disadvantages are that it might not be unique, particularly if you use a loop that is overused (Amen breaks, I'm looking at you!) - However, by slicing the loop into sections and re-arranging it, you can get something more tailored to your needs. You still won't be able to take individual soloed hits to make cool fills unless you have them separately, though.
So each method has their advantages and disadvantages, but perhaps the way forward lies in another method...
Use Both!
Chucking a loop in and backing it up with some punchy one-shots, or filling out a minimalist beat with an airy, interesting loop means you can get something more unique and not lose your mind trying to perfect that break without any external elements!
While this may still take a while, one way around the aformentioned problem of losing your spark before you can get to the melody-making is to set aside a day for making beats. Build a bunch of breaks, then when you want to make a song, you'll have your own pack of custom loops ready and waiting for you to utilize them in your next smash hit.Otherwise, use the loop to build the song, then go back at the end and re-build it as you please with your own one-shot beats, so you don't lose that valuable inspiration.
So try some new methods, find the break-making workflow that works for you and get to... uh... work!
