i'm a fan of 2/4 clap in the right situation. but it seems that to my ears that sitatuation is coming up less and less.
some music styles, you can't argue against the strong use of 2/4 clap. it just works. But I do feel that it can hold things back, thru relying on it too much. Certainly in techno where you can really cut loose musically but still make it accessible.
For me, the core of the 2/4 clap is the number 2. It's a good number. It's half of four which is also a good number. You can use 2 in different ways than just the obvious clap.
movement/accents on percussion
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oblioblioblio
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i think it's strange that noone has mentioned the rest of the track yet, to me this discussion seems bottlenecked by people only examining the beat/percussive part and not taking into consideration what else is going on.
I love the aspect of music that Steevio calls tribal, but to me the weight is on tribal as in tribe, a group of people sharing something - in this instance the pace of the music. If you play 4/4 techno everyone on the dancefloor will be included in the ceremony, but if you play some leftfield track in 7/8 with every 5th bar being 9/8 only a very small group of rainmen will be able to fully keep up with the music and react to it.
As for me, i try to not build the rythmic foundation of a track with percussion only, but to use synths and sounds and percussion in unison to create movement. When I'm happy with what i've got (when producing a track) i feel no calms whatsoever about adding a clap/snare/whatever on the 2 and 4 to accentuate a build or heavy part of a track. All the groundwork is already there and offbeat hihat and 2/4 clap is just icing on the cake.
pardon my french, but frankly i dont give a sh!t about what is experimental electronica and what is techno and what is this or that, what history it has or has not. When people ask me what music i like i often say techno only because it is what most people can relate to, but the way i see it is that you should rather give the people that makes the music a label, those who are playing around on the blank pages at the end of the atlas, instead of the actual sounds they happen to create.
it might sound pretentious and already-done to rant about labels and experimentalism, but i believe that if it sounds good and you or someone else will enjoy the music, then do it. A wise man said to never limit oneself.
And now, as for the actual topic
as I was already mentioning, try to add harmonic content to your beat. It adds movement and tension on a level you can achieve with untuned percussion. So add some micro synth stabs or sommet, synthesise your percussion and play around untill you feel happy with it. Instinct is a&o i think so trust your ears. Start building your loop with one sound that you really like, then add another that you like, make them sound good together and proceed in any order you like. Perhaps the kick is the last thing you add or its the first. Meaningful play and playful work is what it's all about
I love the aspect of music that Steevio calls tribal, but to me the weight is on tribal as in tribe, a group of people sharing something - in this instance the pace of the music. If you play 4/4 techno everyone on the dancefloor will be included in the ceremony, but if you play some leftfield track in 7/8 with every 5th bar being 9/8 only a very small group of rainmen will be able to fully keep up with the music and react to it.
As for me, i try to not build the rythmic foundation of a track with percussion only, but to use synths and sounds and percussion in unison to create movement. When I'm happy with what i've got (when producing a track) i feel no calms whatsoever about adding a clap/snare/whatever on the 2 and 4 to accentuate a build or heavy part of a track. All the groundwork is already there and offbeat hihat and 2/4 clap is just icing on the cake.
pardon my french, but frankly i dont give a sh!t about what is experimental electronica and what is techno and what is this or that, what history it has or has not. When people ask me what music i like i often say techno only because it is what most people can relate to, but the way i see it is that you should rather give the people that makes the music a label, those who are playing around on the blank pages at the end of the atlas, instead of the actual sounds they happen to create.
it might sound pretentious and already-done to rant about labels and experimentalism, but i believe that if it sounds good and you or someone else will enjoy the music, then do it. A wise man said to never limit oneself.
And now, as for the actual topic
as I was already mentioning, try to add harmonic content to your beat. It adds movement and tension on a level you can achieve with untuned percussion. So add some micro synth stabs or sommet, synthesise your percussion and play around untill you feel happy with it. Instinct is a&o i think so trust your ears. Start building your loop with one sound that you really like, then add another that you like, make them sound good together and proceed in any order you like. Perhaps the kick is the last thing you add or its the first. Meaningful play and playful work is what it's all about
@AK
i know where youre coming from bro, but theres a lot of good techno which doesnt have the 2/4 accent, and in my opinion is better to dance to.
alot of old techno had claps on every beat, or on the one etc.
ive got a deep mix my mate Joe Ellis did of old skool techno/house and new techno/house, and theres probably only about 5% of the mix that has blatant 2/4 snare/claps and its probably my favourite mix of deep techno/house at the moment, and makes you realise that not all techno, new or old relies on the 2/4 snare.
http://soundcloud.com/tracks/search?q=armchair%20techno
i think the point i was trying to make originally, is that new produces kind of assume they have to do it, its somehow become entrenched without people realising it, if you listen to the quality sh!t, those cats know the score.
i know where youre coming from bro, but theres a lot of good techno which doesnt have the 2/4 accent, and in my opinion is better to dance to.
alot of old techno had claps on every beat, or on the one etc.
ive got a deep mix my mate Joe Ellis did of old skool techno/house and new techno/house, and theres probably only about 5% of the mix that has blatant 2/4 snare/claps and its probably my favourite mix of deep techno/house at the moment, and makes you realise that not all techno, new or old relies on the 2/4 snare.
http://soundcloud.com/tracks/search?q=armchair%20techno
i think the point i was trying to make originally, is that new produces kind of assume they have to do it, its somehow become entrenched without people realising it, if you listen to the quality sh!t, those cats know the score.
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NoAffiliation
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+1Casanova808 wrote:Of course your drums suck, you are programming them in Ableton.
Quit being a peckerhead, buy a drum machine already. Everybody knows you can make mnml in 2010 without real analogue hardware!
this is actually true, you can fck around in ableton with samples forever and it wont give you what you want.
its all about the sound sources
this is it.Ingemar wrote: As for me, i try to not build the rythmic foundation of a track with percussion only, but to use synths and sounds and percussion in unison to create movement. When I'm happy with what i've got (when producing a track) i feel no calms whatsoever about adding a clap/snare/whatever on the 2 and 4 to accentuate a build or heavy part of a track. All the groundwork is already there and offbeat hihat and 2/4 clap is just icing on the cake.
this is what i was trying to say in the first place.
but unfortunately quite often the first thing people do is start with those elements, and then theres no room for the other sh!t to breathe.