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Structure of a Hip Hop BeatWhen speaking of hip hop music,
generally the beat refers to everything in the song with the
exception of the vocals.
That means a hip hop beat is made up of drum patterns or loops,
a bass line, supporting orchestration, and often dubs
inserted like punctuation marks are in text.The various elements
of a hip hop beat can change and develop throughout the song or can
simply loop over and over
under the vocals. While arrangements can vary greatly, hip hop
songs usually follows this classic pop structure:
Intro 8 barsVerse 8-16 bars
Chorus 8 bars
Verse 8-16 bars
Chorus 8 bars
Break 2-8 bars
Verse/Chorus 8-16 bars
Fade Out 2-8 bars
Elements of a Hip Hop BeatLets revisit the four elements that
make up a hip hop beat:
1. Drum Patterns or Loops
This provides the rhythm and could be considered the absolute
most essential part of a hip hop beat. There are two ways
to lay down the rhythm of your beat. First, and more
complicated, is to sequence your own drum patterns using
software
samplers, hardware samplers, and a sequencer. Second, you could
use drum loops that come included with your
sequencer or that you purchase online and process and alter the
loops as you wish.You can also do both of these, mixing a
self-composed drum pattern with a pre-made drum loop to create a
complex and
layered groove. Remember, this is hip hop, and rhythms can be as
simple or complex as you want to make them.
2. Bass Line
Again, you can use pre-made bass loops found in your sequencer,
but with bass lines, its a much better idea to compose
your own using a soft synth or hard analog or digital synth in
your sequencer. Hip hop bass lines are usually relatively
simple and support and drive the drum beat with their thick and
low pulse. It is also common for hip hop beats to have a
sub bass layer as well to fatten the low end even more.
3. Supporting OrchestrationThis simply means choosing instrument
sounds that complement the foundation youve already built for your
song and
composing music to support your beat. Choosing instruments
simply involves trial and error. Try to imagine a band
playing together creating your beat. Who are they and what
instruments would they be playing? What style would they
be playing in? Try to imagine their characters. Are they smooth,
funky, sexy, silly, fun, adventurous, sad, inten se,
carefree, gentle, or rough?
4. DubsDubs originate from deep down in the roots of hip hop.
Pioneering hip hop artists sampled short drum beats, vocal
artifacts, record scratches, riffs, chords, and single hits to
add flair and character to their beats. Today, dubs are a
signature of hip hop music. You can buy dubs online, use samples
included with your sequencer, or you can sample
them yourself and process them to fit your beat.
Now, before we get into actually assembling and arranging our
beat, let's d iscuss a few technicalities that are essential to
understand before you start.
TechnicalitiesHip hop beats tend to hover around 80-100 bpm, but
of course this varies greatly. Trust your gut and your mood
when
you sit down to create your beat.
Rhythm is all about the groove. While some beats are left
quantized with no swing, hip hop tends to have a groove based
on 16th notes with a swing value in the range of 57 -83%. Past
around 57%, the groove starts to relax and into 70%,youll hear the
classic hip hop groove. Try this method with your beat to see if it
works: quantize the kicks with a 24th
note groove and the rest on 4th, 8th, and 16th notes. Try
removing any kicks on 2 or 4 as well. Experiment and see whatsounds
good to you.
The Hip Hop Drum KitThe beat you create can only be as good as
the sounds you choose for your drum kit. Your drum sounds can make
or
break your beat. Let your character come out through the sounds
you choose. Let yourself be serious, silly, or sexy
through your beat.One drum sound that tends to be characteristic
of a hip hop beat is a kick drum with heavy sub bass. Hats can
range from
real hat sounds to electronic noises. Usually they are grooved
on the 16th notes. Snare sounds often reflect the character
of the song you are composing: clean, full, compressed, sharp.
They are often relatively understated and are rarely
dominant. Claps almost never sound realistic but that artificial
clap is a trademark of the hip hop beat and remains very
prominent in the beat.
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Assembling the BeatWhile there is no rule for how to do this,
here are the steps I take to create the basic beat:1. Create an 8
bar pattern foundation in this order: kick drum, claps, hats, then
snares.
2. Create a bass line.
3. Add supporting orchestration.
4. Copy this pattern to use as your second 8 bars. Then go back
to the original 8 bars and drop out some of the elements
so that they don't kick in until after the first 8 bars.5. Copy
the first 8 bar pattern to the third to start working on a chorus.
Here, you need to get creative in your alterations.You could change
the drums, the bass line, or you could change the rhythm.
Experiment and have fun! Then, add new
orchestration to the chorus.
Arranging the BeatAgain, there is no rule as to how a hip hop
beat should be arranged into a song, but here are the basic steps I
usually
take:
1. Now that you have a 16 bar verse and an 8 bar chorus, copy
all 24 bars so that you have Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus.
2. Develop a break for the next 8-16 bars. Basically, this is an
alternate chorus in which you can add or drop outelements, remove
all elements but the kick, or change the orchestration.
3. Add another verse or another chorus and fade it out.
4. Now is when you add your intro. It can be 2, 4, or 8 bars and
the o nly rule I would give it is that it should have at least
some flavor of the essence of the beat. I often choose the most
interesting part of what I have created so far and use
some of it as the intro by modifying it but highlighting the
hook.
5. Your beat serves as a bed for the vocals. Now that your beat
is in song form, prepare it for the vocals by smoothing itout. You
might want to add some fills to the drums, add effects, add
transitions between parts, or rearrange some of the
orchestration.
If this sounds complicated, don't worry. It just takes practice.
There are plenty of resources that include videos to help
you learn how to make a hip hop beat step-by-step.
