Beat Making: Drums For Beginners

Beat Making: Drums For Beginners

There is one thing that just about every beat contains: drums. Drums are the fist thing that go into your sound library; It was the first thing I added to my sound library when I first picked up Fruity Loops. There are plenty of drum kits out there, which many are named after a big name producer, like Kanye West, Dr. Dre, ect. The great thing about having these kits is that your beats might start to sound like those producers. The obvious bad point is that it won't sound original. Also, you'll realize that these kits are dated. Drum kits are a great place to start out with, but as you continue on your journey as a producer, you'll want to stay away from these, or use them sparingly in your beats.

The best way to go here is get a drummer. Record your own kicks, snares, hats, ect and use them in your beats. Most don't have access to a drum set, or don't have the money to hire a drummer, so the next best thing to do is sample your drums. Find some break beats, drum solos, ect. and chop these up and add it to your sound library. Drums are everywhere so keep an ear out for them and add them to your own kit as you find them. You'll find these sound much more live and in your face than the big name producer drum kits. Some producers just loop up a break drum that they find, and place their melody on top of it; A very simple approach, but most of the time, these break drums sound better than anything you build from a downloaded drum kit.

Stay away from those big name drum kits. There are indeed some very nice drum kits out there and I encourage you to look for them, but do not depend on them. Chances are you won't find many great kits. The nice ones you do find, other people have got to them before you. So build your own drum kits; this way you'll have a whole kit of sounds you like, and your beats will sound alot better. Remember that drums are probably the most important aspect of your beat, so you want your drums to sound on point.