Heavy Drumbeats

Hello their there!

K, so I've been making a song recently when it came to my mind. Its It's unbelievably difficult to compose for full drumsets. Does anyone know how to make a song's beat "heavy" without making it sound crowded? Advice on this matter here, I suppose.

Drum beats are most often attributed to rock styles. The difficult thing when trying to mimic these styles is that they are HIGHLY produced. Many rock songs incorporate a very simple drum beat but run that track through several compressors, EQs, verbs, and many other effects to make it sound "big". So it may not be much in the performance of the drums as much as it is in the recording and production of it.

That being said, start with something simple then add in some pickups. Here's an example: start with something that is very 8th note oriented then add 16th or 32nd note pickups before the snare hits on two and four. Also try varying the hi-hat or cymbal pattern by adding some swing type notes (dotted 8th - 16th pattern or broken triplets)

See if that gives you a start. My background is in jazz and rock drumming, so I can give specific help if you need more.

Thank you! I shall be trying these things now

I may come back though...

If you want to create big drum lines and you have access to audio editing software, chorus and audio compression are your friends.

Also, if the drum beat doesn't sound complete or full enough, you could try adding tambourine, shakers, congas & bongos, and even triangle. That way, the drumset is still heard, but there are more instruments backing it up.

It's very possible to add all these instruments ino pretty much any style of music you're writing.

~Kal

I'd say that to make a beat 'heavy' but not crowded, you actually want to put fewer HH notes in. Consider using (open) hats only on crotchet [4th note] beats and snare on 2 and 4 to give a strong pulse, then doing most of the variation in the bass drum - that'll give you quite a heavy, hard rock feel but without crowding the rest of the composition.

Unless you have a good drummer in mind (or one with a double pedal!) though, stay away from too many repeated semiquavers [16ths] in the bass - a plea from a percussionist who has played too many composers' good intentions...!