DRUM PATTERN HELP REQUEST

[lys-k-music]

I can compose for piano, synth etc etc but I have ZERO drum skills. Except of course Disco, Rock, Pop... well, the traditional beat patterns.

I am looking for anyone who could draw me the (very beginning - not the entire track of course !) of "SOMETHING SAYS" from Jan BLOMQVIST. You know where does the kick goe etc ? (I told you I have no drum skills).

Whatever daw or drum vst you are using (I use Ableton along with Breaktweaker and Evolution) all I want is a sample screenshot showing where you put the different beats/elements. That is all.

That would be the greatest gift in the world for me................

Thank you so much for your consideration,

Oliver

[stallos]

am not familiar with the track you mentioned and if the drums are playing on their own in isolation at any point... but if you have it as an audio file maybe bring that in to live and loop a bit of the drum section then use the right-click convert to midi function?
This might give a good approximation where the beats are hitting on the grid.

[lys-k-music]

Stallos thank you ! I tried that of course...converted it all... drums... harmony... it didn't help me at all. Got only 3 instruments for the drums and all over the place... tried to fix it but when you have zero drum skills you can imagine the mess

If anyone wants to check the song it is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE7GU7SLguo

[jestermgee]

It's a very simple beat man, would take no time to just sample a loop of it, drag it into Live and construct your own samples in a drum rack to it.

I have ZERO drum skills. Except of course Disco, Rock, Pop... well, the traditional beat patterns.

It's a pretty traditional 4/4 pattern. The only thing I can pick that may be throwing you off at the start is a small tom which is off beat but even that would be pretty easy to slot in.

Best gift you can give yourself is to TRY and KEEP trying until you nail it and learn something in the process. You learned how to compose piano/synth now it is time to learn drums and percussion.

[lys-k-music]

Thank you very much for your encouragements jestermgee ! I just can't get Jan's "swing" right... because it may be a traditional 4/4 BUT there is "something" to it.... unique to Jan. All my attempts failed to reproduce the essence, the rhythm, the swing, the groove of the beat pattern. I have started to learn on my own how to modify [preset] beat patterns (I use Addictive Drum 2 or TweakBreaker) but here I fail miserably... and then hard for me as well (never been a drummer) is what to choose (from scratch) for this specific beat: what kind of kick, what kind of this and that....... I have no problem composing keys, bass etc etc... but drumming is so hard !! Never give up never surrender: will try again BUT if anyone has tried to reproduced it...well..... let me know

[jestermgee]

There are 2 aspects to "copying" an existing style... First is the actual style and notes and second is the samples/sounds used.

It can be hard to match the samples used at first but some tips to get things progressing:

Pick out the elements you can hear first and get these down. As I mentioned the actual beat is a simple 4/4 and listening to the Bass, Hat and Snare/Clap it's pretty simple. Work with just those with a loop.

The swing piece you can hear that is throwing you off isn't the bass drum, it's just a tom and it will be confusing because it is off beat and without having a pattern to work on you will be confused if you are trying to start with that first so I would suggest forget the start for the moment and go straight to the middle of the song where it is very simple and focus just on BD, Hat and Snare

The way I like to do it is to actually use a loop and load this into live and then either play along or just program notes as the play head moves and move them until they fit. Once you have the actual pattern worked out you can then swap out elements.

Last tip would be to FORGET trying to make it exactly, especially if you have limited knowledge. Just use it as a bit of a learning experience and see how close you can get. It will really help to dial in things quicker next time and it's the same thing as a musician learning their instrument to the point they can just play things by ear without thinking. They have programmed the knowledge in their brain.