How to Make a Beat in Reason 4
Reason 4 is an audio engineering software developed for music production purposes. Derived from Sweden's Propellerhead Software Group, Reason 4 offers a plethora of high quality production essentials, ranging from sequencers and mixers, to synthesizers and samplers. While the Reason 4 functions can seem quite overwhelming when the program is initially launched, it's not hard to make a simplified beat in a couple minutes. With proper instruction, you'll be able to work your way around Reason 4 in no time.
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Instructions
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Double-click the Propellerhead Reason 4 icon on your computer's desktop to launch the program.
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Hit the "Click" box at the top of the Reason launch window to activate the metronome. The metronome will serve as a tempo monitor that will assist you to keep up with the tempo of your beat. Then, click the "Loop" button.
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Move the actual tempo meter to 95 BPM to match the metronome tempo.
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Access the Reason 4 sequencer. Slide the marker to the twelfth bar in the sequence box. This will enable you to create an eight-bar beat loop.
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Click "Create" in the upper-left corner of the Reason 4 window. Then, click "Mixer 14:2" in the collapsible menu. This action will reroute the sound channels to the mixer.
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Select the "Re-Drum Drum Computer" in the Create section to view the Reason 4 preset drum sounds and templates.
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Click on one of the "Re-Drum Drum Computer" collapsible folders to view one of the sound columns in the browser.
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Browse through the list of sounds and click on one of the "Hi-Hat," "Snare," and "Kick" sounds. The sounds will be sent to channels in the sequencer.
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Press the "Play" icon at the bottom of the Reason 4 window to start the metronome at 95BPM.
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Start the kick drum pattern by highlighting markers 1, 7, and 11 on its channel in the sequencer.
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Create the snare drum pattern by highlighting every fourth button in the snare channel.
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Place hi-hat markers in every two markers to create a consist hi-hat loop to correlate with the kick and snare drum pattern. This will complete the beat, as all of the patterns will be playing simultaneously.
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Click "File" on the Reason 4 menu at the top of screen and click "Save" to store the beat to your hard drive.
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Tips & Warnings
Sometimes having a visual interpretation of instructions makes things a little more understandable. If you'd like a visual to coincide with the instructions, there are several video tutorials for advanced beat-making.
