Beatmaking: 7 Music Genres in 7 Minutes

I will be showing you the only two patterns you will ever need to make any of the most popular genres in the world! Follow along in Ableton with my 30 midi drum patterns PDF, part of my Ableton Live online course.

Also, wish to finish more music and get inspired? The 12 Days of Creativity starts this month, on 10/27. I encourage you to sign up by clicking “Join For Free” On Patreon. You can even participate with what you come up with from following along with this post. :)

Additionally, can sign up for my online Ableton Live course for more structured learning, and access the PDF from my online shop!

This is perfect for those of us who might be...

• Beginner music producers

• Ableton Live users

• Anyone stuck trying to finish tracks

• Creatives looking for a simple way to start beat-making

Note: I use very specific patterns in this, and to see where I place the MIDI notes exactly, follow along in my video. Think of this as a written guide, putting my process in words, that you can use to supplement the video.

Happy Producing!

Pattern 1: 4-On-The-Floor.

• House

  • Go to drums and get the 909 core kit.

  • New clip

  • Start with 4 on the floor kick

  • Add snare

  • Add hand clap!

  • Add 127 tempo in top left

  • Add Hi Hat on every third of the bar

  • Next to add closed Hi Hat, hold down shift and slide mouse to get row of hi hats.

    • Make sure you take closed hi hats away where the open hi hats hit, so we can hear them clearly in the mix.

  • Highlight the hi hats and click randomize, so some are a bit louder.

    That is the basic house beat! Now we have the foundation for the rest.

• Techno

  • Make the tempo 140

  • Take away toms, hand clap, and snare

• Pop/Rock

  • Add snare back

  • Make the tempo 120

  • We can play with the kick a bit to add variety

• Drum and Bass

  • Take one of the kick drum hits away

  • Alternate between closed and open hi hats

  • Kick the tempo up to 160 or 180

• 
  

You can try other drum kits, and they will enhance the vibe of the genre!

Pattern 2: Laid Back Bounce

• Hip-Hop

  • This time, we are using the 808 Core Kit

  • 110 Tempo

  • Double click grid and make sure you are at 1/16.

  • Starting with kick, add a couple, with ghost notes that have a very low velocity. See timestamp 5:11 to see the pattern I use.

  • Add snare

  • Add Closed Hi Hat on the 16th, hold down shift and slide mouse like before

  • Now go into the grid, change it to 1/33, and go and replace some of the Closed Hi hats with two 1/33s to add variety.

  • A tip on hip-hop: you can change the groove a lot with just the kick

  • Add the randomize

  • If you change the tempo to 90, we have a very laid back vibe.

• R&B

  • Change the tempo down to 75

  • Take away a lot of the kick

• Trip-Hop

  • We need a lot wider of a grid for the hi-hats.

  • Add back in the little kicks

  • You can experiment to add groove to it

If you want to make more beats, I have a full beat-making course on youtube, for free!

 LNA is an Ableton Certified Trainer and has an amazing collection of online courses here.

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