To start, I'll discuss the most basic rythmns possible: a straight 4/4 beat. For those unfamiliar with time signatures, 4/4 means there are four beats per measure, and a quarter note equals one beat (the latter doesn't come into play much in tracking, but is essential when reading sheet music). Here is a straight 4/4 beat:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Note: Capital letters denote louder
H h H h H h H h H h H h H h H h hits, while lowercase letters
B S B S B S B S denote softer hits.
As you can see, each measure has hihats playing constant quarter
notes, starts with a bass drum hit and has a snare hit on the 3 beat. This,
while very plain and basic, serves as the basis for the current discussion.
The question is, with a plain beat like this, what can we add to spice it up?
Let's take a look. If we add some light grace notes with the snare, we get
a more interesting sound:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
H h H h H h H h H h H h H h H h
B S sB S B S sBs S
Note that we're not deviating from the original beat, we still have
a bass drum on the 1 beat and snare on the 3. Now, if we add a few bass
drum hits on the offbeats, we get an even more interesting sound:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
H h H h H h H h H h H h H h H h
B BS sBB BS BB S sBsBBS
Experimentation is the key here, so take a basic beat and liven it up
until you get a consistent yet interesting sound. Remember, the drums are
there to serve as the basis of your music, not the foreground. The drums,
along with the bass, should provide something for the other instruments to
build on. Thus, the bass and drums should be synched as well as possible,
with bass accents coming on the bass drum hits. They don't have to be
perfectly together, but synching the two will help you get a much tighter
sound.
One of the keys to doing percussion is to decide where the best place
for accents in the rythmn are, and then creating those accents with your
extra percussion. It'd be somewhat difficult to do ascii art for this
concept, but try and line up your percussion and drums to create a solid
basis for your music. Accents will typically fall on the 1 and 3 beats,
but also may be anywhere else depending on the style and drum beat chosen.
I've found that accents on offbeats can turn a boring beat into a very
interesting one. Just experiment until you find something you like. Note
that extra percussion is not always needed; in fact, it's not really
appropriate for some styles. However, when it's used correctly, it can give
a song a great, full sound (see Necros' Realization II for a perfect example
of percussion used correctly).
The last topic I'll cover in this article is swing tempo. Swing
tempo gives a song a very unique feel, and can really make a good groove.
Swing tempo is very easy to use, since you just need to lay down some tempo
commands in your favorite tracker. Swing beats have many variations, with
different values for the long and short notes, and which variation to use is
basically personal preference. Row tick values of 9 and 6 repeated work
nicely. 9 and 7 will give less of a swing, while 9 and 5 will give a very
heavy swing. One possible trick with the 9 and 6 swing is to break up the
9 and the 6 into 7 + 2 and 5 + 2 to add space for little trills and accents.
This article is intended as a basic discussion of drums and
percussion, so I don't expect the veteran trackers to be fascinated by it,
but hopefully some of the newer trackers will benefit from it. It's
difficult to discuss this topic generally, since each style has its own
nuances. I didn't quite get to all I wanted to, since I haven't touched
the computer much during the summer, but hopefully I'll be able to
continue the series and get to some better topics. I can be reached at
ac@interaccess.com with comments or questions.