The number of bars used when sequencing drum samples can vary quite a lot. Usually, the total number of bars will be equal to the length of the song as a whole, and if you’re making loops to start with, it can be a bit more complicated.

When composing an average loop, four bars is a good, solid number to start with musically. Often enough, this number can give your listener a good idea of the outline of the song and the way things will end up sounding eventually. Going any more isn’t really worthwhile, while a few bars less (let’s say, two) will not be a good enough sample to base any opinion on. Four bars is usually enough to also add some variance in the drum samples towards the end. While velocity modification is a great technique to make use of, also introducing instruments towards the end can be a great way to spice things up in your beat. You want to keep the listener comfortable and on the edge of his or her seat at the same time.

The second most popular number of bars to base a musical loop on is sixteen. Why is this? Well, in hip hop and rap, 16 bars is the standard length for a rapper’s verse. So it turns out that using this figure to structure a loop on is great. Your creative limits are really tested, and to keep things moving through the whole verse length can be quite a challenge. One common tip is to introduce the hi-hats at the half-way point, and this will add another layer to the variance required to develop a great beat. At the end, start working on your pre-chorus skills.

When considering changes to the music, you can easily look beyond drum samples and even instrument patches and notes. The more advanced composers will start some new harmonic progressions or expand the note selection in current form. If you change multiple things at once, this is a very powerful message to your listener that things are not at rest; movement is in the air!

Looking outside instruments and drum samples, vocals can also be a great trigger tool. A singer or rapper may perform the first four bars in a very monotonous tone and then simply explode with emotion. This is a wake-up call on its own, but coupled with the other techniques, you could really run wild in your listener’s mind.

Having said all of this, though, drum samples are definitely the easiest way to introduce some change into an existing musical piece. Your singer does not have to sing anything different to switch up their vocals and you don’t need to play new harmonies or anything else to add that subtlety.

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There is a debate going on in many forums related to audio and music sequencing and production, and it centers on the method that producers use to sequence and input drum samples. We have people that use the keys on regular MIDI keyboards to record drum patterns, where normally they are used to play instrument lines and such. In the meantime, others use made-for devices like the Akai MPD range, which allows for drum input via dedicated pads.

In recent times, some of the companies who have been putting out drum pad units have made available a cheaper range for people that may just be on the fence, and to lure advocates of the opposite side. Manufacturers like Akai have made a lot of changes to their own equipment, with the said company now offering devices like the MPD32 (their flagship input device) and several lower-cost option. The only processing these devices do concerns the velocity levels; the rest is up to the computer or keyboard workstation.

On the keyboard end, we can see many producers preferring to stick with key input for drum samples. One of the advantages here is velocity recognition, but it’s nowhere near as good as the pad sensors on the MPD, for example. A common reason expressed for choosing the keyboard is that it’s very easy to hit multiple instruments at the same time, and also that many producers already have a great feel and rhythm on the keyboard keys.

We can see that the trigger response is the final drawback for those on the edge of making a decision to switch to pad systems. With the sensor timing on the keyboard, one needs to be somewhat firm with their fingers to allow the sensors to accurately place the notes. However, if your timing is not perfect, it’s probably not the best platform to hone your skills on. Get some pads and at least try them out!

Pad devices are not angelic, though. There are plenty of reported problems with these, and you can find out a lot about a product by visiting the manufacturer’s forum and seeing the kinds of repeated support issues. One major issue is the quality of the pads – a lot are very rubbery and simply do not last more than a few weeks of usage. You’ll need replacement pads if this happens.

Lately, we’ve seen a stream of all in one products hit the market. Keyboards with drum samples above the keys are coming out in force every few months. One of the most popular is the Akai MPK series, which combines velocity-sensitive keys with the MPC-style pads that producers have revered for much more than a decade. The jury is still out on most of these products and their gimmicky nature. A common complaint and concern is that while these devices take care of both inputs required, they do neither of them truly excellently, so it’s many a pro beat maker’s advice to get one great keyboard and one great drum samples input device.

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There are so many different-sounding types of hi-hats (or just hats) available today, and the range of drum samples that go along with them is also ever-increasing. Many people, when thinking about their favorite songs of the year, could probably tap out the snare and kick drum samples without thinking, but the hats? That’s another deal. You see, the hi-hat has resigned itself to be simply a supporting sound, backing up its big brothers, the snare and kick drums. This is not a bad thing, though.

The two mistakes often made by music producers regarding the hi-hat are not made exclusively by amateurs, but also by so-called music production veterans and beat making professionals.

The first mistake we need to address is the volume. Hip hop drum samples need to be loud, we all understand that there is a loudness war, but the hi-hat is one exception. It is said by some biology and evolutionary experts that many thousands of years ago aerial predators were attacking us that made noises that have similar frequencies like those in hi-hats and cymbals. We simply have a tendency to hear these sounds more than others, so lowering them a few DB below where you think they should go is a smart move.

Mixing the hi-hats in a little bit lower is great practice – two or three decibels should do. Unless you’re going to ‘mix out’ these samples completely, you can go pretty low and still be sure that your audience will pick them up. Remember that for every six decibels up or down, the sound doubles or halves respectively.

The second mistake that gets a lot of attention in audiophile circles regarding hi-hat drum samples is the lack of authenticity in songs. If you’re developing a MIDI track for a rock song and decide to include, say, a 1/16th constant hi-hat pattern throughout every bar, you need to be wary of the possibility of other instruments to play off this constant hit. Your drummer should not be hitting the hi-hat, snare, tom and cymbal all at the same time, as this is practically impossible to achieve with two and even three arms if that came along. So aim for an authentic pattern, especially if you’re producing rock tracks and other genres where the ability to replicate the sample track in a live setting is a necessity. If, for instance, you’re making a dance track, the realness can be toned down a bit or completely dismissed, as there is a general acceptance in your listener that this is all made on a drum machine or sequencer. So you can really go wild here and not worry about those rules.

You can learn a great deal using professional drum sequencing sample libraries and sets like EZ Drummer and BFD. These will show you the physical implications and deliver standard and advanced patterns that you can immediately digest and take in mentally, noting what works and what doesn’t work. Then apply what you learn to your own songs.

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If you’re new to music production and beat making, you may be wondering about all the fuss regarding snare and kick drum samples being ’snappy.’ Why would we place so much emphasis on this sound characteristic of drums when the arrangement and other aspects of a song seem to be much more important? Well, the fact is that it’s a hugely important topic of debate. There is such an importance placed on the snappiness of your drum track that it’s paramount to suicide to ignore the techniques to make things cut through a mix.

If you have any fears about altering drum samples yourself, don’t worry. It’s not too hard to achieve the snap effect; in fact, it can be child’s play with a bit of guidance and a bit of critical and proactive thinking on your part. If you already have tools like compressors and EQs, you are two steps ahead of a lot of people. Software or hardware, these tools will make life easy for you and getting them to modify a sound the way you want it will be easy after learning their menu systems and hearing the effect that different functions have on your initial sound file. There is nothing like experimentation in this case!

Both software and hardware effects usually have factory patches that display the capabilities of the effects unit. This is very useful for the budding audio engineer and drum samples editor; feed the device some standard samples – but first analyze the samples and really listen to them – then start applying some of the default effects, not the parameter levels and starting doing A/B tests on the sound; that is, before and after the effect. If you can start to internalize the changes and link the sound alteration to the settings, you will be well off!

Compressing your drum samples to add snap is a very common road taken by mixers and music producers alike. Sometimes it can be a bit hard working out what the knobs and dials actually do, so writing down – in your own words – what the changes do to the drum samples, will help you out a lot when making critical decisions later on. Try out different software and hardware compressors, as they also sound a little bit different and you will have trouble with some, while others will be easy to work for you.

When you’re making notes on the settings you change, try to describe them in plain English – by that, I mean all the effects and the way they change the sound. If you can well and truly comprehend the way that a sound is effected by the different switches and level meters, you will be well-equipped to make real decisions in a studio environment. Keep a sheet that includes the different settings, supposed effects (according to the manual) and perceived effects (the stuff you hear).

As a last tip, you should always try to choose the correct drum samples to start with. If your library is big enough, you really won’t have that much of a problem, which is a good thing. The less you need to tweak and alter your current selection of samples, the more time you will have making the actual beat. It will be easier for you to translate the rhythm and sound in your into the sequencer and move on to the other instruments and such, so keep expanding your sounds.

Came here looking for information on how to make beats? I’ve heard that before. Simplest way to start: get a good basic tutorial and some banging hip hop drum samples, then let creativity take over!