How to Make Electronic Beats
Electronic music is a popular way to create songs and instrumentals that many people do from their own home. Electronic music is made specifically for dancing. According to Synthopia, electronic music is often created by computer users, regardless of their musical training. Several types of software exist to create electronic beats, all of which revolve around the core ideas that you can learn to perfect the craft of electronic beat making. All electronic beats use the same sounds: snare drum, bass drum and high hat.
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Things You'll Need
- Electronic music making software such as Fruity Loops or Reason
- Computer with Microsoft Windows XP/Mac OSX or better
- Playback feature on computer sound card
- Computer speakers
Instructions
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1
Establish the tempo of your song by moving the tempo selector of your software to the appropriate beats per minute you desire. The tempo, or beats per minute, of the song is the speed at which the electronic beat you create will play. Remember that the faster the tempo is, the more quickly people will have to move to dance to it. However, a beat that is too slow can also be difficult to follow.
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2
Choose your drum sounds. Every type of beat-making software allows users to choose from a variety of drum sounds. This means that you will be able to choose the tone and texture of your bass drum, high hat and snare drum sounds.
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3
Indicate bass drum notes on each of beats one, two, three and four. When you place a bass drum note, you are telling the software to sound the bass drum you chose on each one of these beats that has a note assigned to it. This sets the basis of the electronic beat, and establishes the tempo for listeners who wish to dance to the beat.
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4
Put snare drum attacks on beats two and four. The snare drum type that you chose will now sound on these beats, creating what is called a backbeat. This tells listeners where counts two and four are, which is useful for dancing, since snare drum tones are audible over the bass drum frequencies.
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Create high hat attacks on beats one, two, three, and four. These final sounds layer on top of the bass drum attacks, and provide high-end frequencies to supplement the bass drum's low end.
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Tips & Warnings
Experiment with adjusting the tempo of your electronic beat once it is complete. All beat-making software allows users to manipulate the speed at which their beats play back, even after they create them.
Try adding other sounds, like tom toms and tambourines, to your bass drum, snare drum and high hat parts.
Remember to save your data once you complete your beat. Data loss is a large risk with electronic music, since you can lose all of your work due to a malfunctioning computer.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit drums image by agno_agnus from Fotolia.com
