For this part of my research, I will look into how different genres of music incorporate different drum beats and how I could incorporate this into my work.
House:
One of our tracks is going to be heavily house styled, this means I will take a lot of inspiration from this genre of music, as well as similar genres. In my research, i found that house drum beats begin with a simple bass drum on every beat with either a clap or a snare drum on every second beat. This creates a simple beat that stays steady throughout the entire song. This was then usually built up with another layer of hi hats over the top, which varied from track to track. This gave the tracks their variation and difference to other tracks of the same or similar genre, making them stand out in a different way.
YouTube. (2018). Best House Music 2014 Buildup Mix. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-RszQzQCvg&t=546s [Accessed 27 Mar. 2018].
Bassline:
Bassline is very similar to house music in the fact that they are both built off the same simple beat, however, I found that bassline tracks created a build up in a different way to house music, usually using a bass drum on every beat, along side a snare drum that is fading in using volume, and other effects automation. This is then sped up to every half a beat, and so on, until the drums completely drop out and song drops into its main beat. I found that most bassline drum beats were just like house beats, except the hi hats were more intricate than in the house beats, and they have a more synthesized sound compared to the hi hats in the house tracks. I believe that the way the bassline beat is created gives it more of a groove than house music, making it much more interesting to me.
YouTube. (2018). BASSLINE MIX (FEBUARY 2017). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39XpEzRu5R0 [Accessed 27 Mar. 2018].
Trap:
Trap music has a very interesting drum beat as the hi hats are much more intricate, however, this creates a very laid back feel that i wouldn’t have thought intricate hi hats could create. I found that the bass drum usually follows the bass line whilst the clap, or snare, hits on every second beat, like in house music, and the hi hats hit in fast, dense bursts or in triplets, or other non standard beat divisions, between a standard 4/4 beat. This creates the classic trap beat that is very unusual but incredibly unique and iconic at the same time.
YouTube. (2018). Trap Nation: 2018 Best Trap Music. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOgvA98FifU&t=1771s [Accessed 27 Mar. 2018].
Drum & Bass:
I found that most D&B tracks can be described as allegro due to there incredibly fast paced and lively feel. This is mostly down to the the incredibly high tempo (Usually around 170 bpm or more) and the drum beat, as it is usually very fast and intricate, using sixteenth notes to keep the pace and speed up. The basis behind most D&B beats is ‘ghost’ notes on a snare, being hit on sixteenth notes in between hi hats that are hit on the eighth notes. This gives the beat a ‘skippy’ feel, which is iconic to the D&B style. D&B, or Break Beats, originated from the technique of sampling drums from the drum breaks in older songs, where only the drums would play. A good example of this is the ‘Amen Break’, which is sampled from a song called ‘Amen Brother’ by The Winstons.
YouTube. (2018). The Winstons – Amen Brother. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZuq57_bYM [Accessed 27 Mar. 2018].
The drum break in this song was sampled to create hundreds of songs that we hear everyday. For example, the Amen Break was used in;
- Straight Outta Compton – NWA
- Poison – Prodigy
- Pigs – Tyler the Creator
- More than 2800 more confirmed songs
I found this list of songs that were sampled using a website called www.WhoSampled.com
WhoSampled. (2018). Amen, Brother by The Winstons on WhoSampled. [online] Available at: https://www.whosampled.com/The-Winstons/Amen,-Brother/ [Accessed 27 Mar. 2018].
Since the track was first sampled, no royalties have ever been claimed by anyone for this song, but if they did, they would create a huge storm in the music industry thanks to how often often it has been sampled.