02 Beats and Instruments (1)

  

Make a Beat

(30 minutes) 

• Start a new, blank Project (File - New)
• Turn the Master level to -12 to avoid clipping
• Increase your computer's main volume level if necessary

A. What are the parts of a beat?

1. Kick drum 

2. Snare 

3. Low tom

4. Mid tom

5. High tom

6. High Hat

7. Crash

8. Ride

B. Try making your own beat

1. Drag of one the Drums onto a new MIDI Track

2. In this new MIDI Track, select one bar/measure

3. Right click and Insert MIDI Clip

4. In the Device View, right click on the bottom right hand corner, make sure the Fixed Grid = 1/16th

5. Set Tempo to 86, and try entering this beat patterns below

6. Once you have created one bar/measure, click the [Dupl Loop] button once to make it 2 bars, then another time to make it 4 bars. Then you start moving the different parts of the beat around

Add instrumental tracks

(30 minutes) 

C. Add an instrument

1. Drag of one the Sounds onto a new MIDI Track
2. In this new MIDI Track, select four bars/measures

3. Right click and Insert MIDI Clip

4. In the Device View, right click on the bottom right hand corner, make sure the Fixed Grid = 1/16th

5. Enter your own melody, or use this melody below as an example - you can either double click in the grid, or change your cursor to Pencil to use single click

6. Try dragging different Sounds onto this MIDI Track and hearing how the same melody feels when played by different instruments

use Sounds \ Pads \ Warm Pad

D. Try adding a bassline

"Basslines are patterns of low-pitched notes. They often serve to reinforce a song's chords, while also using interesting rhythmic patterns that relate to or contrast with the drums" - Ableton, Learning Music

1. Insert a new MIDI Track and drag of one the Sounds from Bass onto it
2. In this new MIDI Track, select four bars/measures

3. Right click and Insert MIDI Clip

4. In the Device View, right click on the bottom right hand corner, make sure the Fixed Grid = 1/16th

5. Enter your own bassline, or use the guides below as an example (they are compatible with Melody example 1 above) - you can either double click in the grid, or change your cursor to Pencil to use single click

6. Try dragging different Sounds onto this MIDI Track and hearing how the same melody feels when played by different instruments

Use Sounds \ Bass \ JX Chorus

E. Try adding other instruments

1. Insert a new MIDI Track and drag another Sound onto it

2. In this new MIDI Track, select four bars/measures

3. Right click and Insert MIDI Clip

4. In the Device View, right click on the bottom right hand corner, make sure the Fixed Grid = 1/16th

5. Enter your own bassline, or use the guides below as an example (they are compatible with Melody example 1 above) - you can either double click in the grid, or change your cursor to Pencil to use single click

6. Try dragging different Sounds onto this MIDI Track and hearing how the same melody feels when played by different instruments

Try this on your own

Ableton's Learning Music website is an excellent resource for self-learning

Try out a few parts every day and you can learn a lot.
 https://learningmusic.ableton.com/index.html 

Links to more resources

Learn more patterns at the Electronic Music Lab Blog (EML Blog)

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