Beat makers of all ages and all expertise levels sometimes overlook two of music production's biggest 'sleeping giants' - swing and time-sensitive density. Let's go through some of the things related to the former, as many newbies and veterans still don't pay enough attention to the swing that applies to drum samples. By the end of this, you should have a better understanding of the topic!
The first question we often hear is: why should I care about adding swing to my drum samples and other tracks? This question actually appears on so many forums and blogs, it's not funny anymore. It is a very serious topic if you want to be a great beat maker and music producer, so let's start at the beginning. The human ear loves musical variance. It is simply science. We pay more attention to things that we see and hear that are not normal, things that have not happened before. Imagine if your favorite artist started and finished their concerts by simply playing their latest album in the same track order, with the same exact notes and more. It wouldn't be very pleasing to your ear!
When using it for drum sample tapping, swing is similar to quantization and it will help keep you in check to make sure that you're not hitting off-notes.
What exactly is the swing we're talking about, you ask? Swing, in music production, is a quantization level that can be adjusted and custom made. A lot of hardware devices have their own swing settings. It's nearly the same as snap-quantization except that the hits are a little off every time to give the beat a humanization factor. For a 50% swing, there is no variance at all, it lands on the grid. Going up one level to 51%, though, the swing would be one percent off either way. It can be random or hard-coded into a groove template. The famous MPC swing is hard-coded into the MPC, for example.
Swing templates are especially useful when combining drum samples tracks with electronic instruments like synthesizers - these 'synths' do not have any swing applied to them by default (most of the time), so using a swing setting on them along with a straight drum track, or the other way around, can get you some good results. You can also just quantize the drum samples and the electronic synth and simply use a swing setting on one other sound in the song.
When beginning to use this type of technique in music production, you may want to start with template percentages of fifty one to sixty three percent. Try them out on drum samples first and just mute the other tracks. Un-mute and play the track back again. Getting to know the difference in your mind as well as in your ears is an important step, especially true when you're just starting to do this on your own. Move onto other instruments and try other percentages as you get more comfortable.
The first question we often hear is: why should I care about adding swing to my drum samples and other tracks? This question actually appears on so many forums and blogs, it's not funny anymore. It is a very serious topic if you want to be a great beat maker and music producer, so let's start at the beginning. The human ear loves musical variance. It is simply science. We pay more attention to things that we see and hear that are not normal, things that have not happened before. Imagine if your favorite artist started and finished their concerts by simply playing their latest album in the same track order, with the same exact notes and more. It wouldn't be very pleasing to your ear!
When using it for drum sample tapping, swing is similar to quantization and it will help keep you in check to make sure that you're not hitting off-notes.
What exactly is the swing we're talking about, you ask? Swing, in music production, is a quantization level that can be adjusted and custom made. A lot of hardware devices have their own swing settings. It's nearly the same as snap-quantization except that the hits are a little off every time to give the beat a humanization factor. For a 50% swing, there is no variance at all, it lands on the grid. Going up one level to 51%, though, the swing would be one percent off either way. It can be random or hard-coded into a groove template. The famous MPC swing is hard-coded into the MPC, for example.
Swing templates are especially useful when combining drum samples tracks with electronic instruments like synthesizers - these 'synths' do not have any swing applied to them by default (most of the time), so using a swing setting on them along with a straight drum track, or the other way around, can get you some good results. You can also just quantize the drum samples and the electronic synth and simply use a swing setting on one other sound in the song.
When beginning to use this type of technique in music production, you may want to start with template percentages of fifty one to sixty three percent. Try them out on drum samples first and just mute the other tracks. Un-mute and play the track back again. Getting to know the difference in your mind as well as in your ears is an important step, especially true when you're just starting to do this on your own. Move onto other instruments and try other percentages as you get more comfortable.
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