How to Make Hip-Hop Drum Pattern Templates

Digital audio workstations let you turn your computer into a recording studio.

One of the most important applications in your digital audio workstation is the step editor. It enables you to program drum beats using just your computer. You can edit the beat, remove mistakes and add instrumentation as you go. In most genres, drum programming is a temporary measure before real drums are recorded, but Hip Hop is characterized by drum machines and sampled sounds, so this is the most authentic approach to beat creation. By saving each beat as a template, you can retrieve earlier ideas and use them as a starting point for your next groove.

Things You'll Need

• Digital audio workstation

Instructions

1. Open your preferred digital audio workstation, for example Logic or Cubase. Double-click the desktop icon.

2. Click "File" and select "New MIDI Track." Double-click where it says "MIDI 1" and rename the track.

3. Open the drum-editor window. The exact process varies from program to program, but the step editor is typically located under "Media" or "Tools." For example, in Logic, click "Media," "Instruments" and "Ultrabeat Drum Machine."

4. 

   The Beastie Boys album "License To Ill" features prominent 808 sounds.

   Assign a sound to the drum editor. Click "Kits" and select one with heavy, synthetic bass sounds. The Roland TR-808 electric drum machine has a classic Hip Hop sound (See References 2). Typical drum editors feature an approximated "808" sound.

5. Program the beat. The drum editor enables you to arrange MIDI sequences using a grid interface. The horizontal axis represents time, measured in beats. The vertical axis represents instruments, such as "kick drum, "snare" and "hi-hat." For an authentic Hip Hop groove, click the "BPM" box at the bottom of the editor, type in 120 to make the tempo 120 beats per minute. Click in the grid cells to plot beats. For example, on the "kick drum" row, click in box 1, 5, 9 and 13 to put create a "four to the floor" pattern. These boxes represent the first beat of each measure. Place the snare in box 9 and 13.

6. Click "File" and select "Save As." This saves the entire session, including the drum beat. When prompted, enter a name for the beat or make a note of the pattern number in the drum editor.

7. Minimize the drum editor. Export the beat to the track. The process for this varies slightly between programs. For example, in Logic, drag the "Pattern" box into the channel strip.

8. Click the "Pattern" menu in the drum editor to retrieve the template. From here, you can add to or remove beats. Edits overwrite the original pattern. Click "File," "Copy" then "Paste" into a blank session to keep the original intact and use the copy as a template starting point.

References

• Hip Hop Beats: An Introduction to Hip Hop Beats
• Synthmania: Famous Sounds
• Logic Notes: Exporting Ultrabeat Patterns as MIDI Regions