For this tutorial I’m going to use readily available vsts, so I’m picking FLkeys – an average sounding piano vst. Most conventional music revolves around the downbeat, or all beats equally.

In a bar of four beats we have two types of beat, the downbeat (beats 1 and 3), and the upbeat (beats 2 and 4). Play with it until it sounds how YOU want! You can try adding swing, using the open hi hat in places, moving some of the beats around, adding more percussion etc. Of course, this is the most simple form of reggae rhythm that we’ve created today. The first thing to do with the hi-hat is to mark the beat ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ (fig 1.1). Here I’ve gone with 128, but the speed is entirely up to you. First of all, set your bpm to what you want. You can use any sound set you like though, depending on the vibe you want – electronic kits, 8 bit kits or even noise samples if you want to get experimental. I’ve opened up drumkit 2 in FLstudio, mainly because it gives you the names of the items of drum kit that we’ll be working with, but also it’s a quite organic ‘reggae-ish’ sounding kit. I often start with the bassline for a reggae tune, but it’s important to know the basics of the beat before we map out the bass, so let’s start with the drums.

Reason, Acid Pro etc) the piano roll should work similarly, and you can even follow this if you’re recording instruments by listening and playing along. For this tutorial I’m going to be working in the FLstudio piano roll, but if you’re working in any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, e.g. Let’s start with the very basics and work our way up to a full blown reggae tune. So, we love that reggae groove but we don’t know just how to lay it out and get it authentic. Beneath is the classic text & audio version–which you can still use–but if you prefer video, here we are! Adjust all levels until your mix sounds balanced.UPDATE: since I wrote this tutorial people have been asking me for a video version. To get the volume levels of all individual tracks right compare your mix to some of your favorite Boom Bap beats. For an organic feel try to record it, too, rather than just drawing in the MIDI notes. Once you’re happy with the kick and snare pattern it’s time to record a closed hat. You can, later on, add variations or delay some of the hits.īoom Bap is a rather organic genre, so in order to avoid a robotic feel, you should record the kick pattern with either a drum pad or MIDI keyboard. Set the BPM of your project file around 80 BPM and place a MIDI note on every second quarter note. Place a snare on every second quarter hit.Our free “Old School” sample pack should be enough to get you started. If you want to make a Boom Bap beat you need some fitting drum samples.

Reggae snare drum kit