Lesson 4: Your first original song!

Creating the drum track

So far, lessons have focused on arranging and mixing pre-recorded material. Now its time to create some original ideas and over the coming weeks, your students will put together a complete song. In this lesson, they will create some original patterns that can be arranged to form the drum track of the song. The lesson focuses on pattern construction, relating pattern steps to musical bars and beats, creating rhythmic and textural variation and using dynamics and feel for additional musicality.

Lesson preparation - What you need to know

Teaching this lesson requires some familiarity with loading Redrum patches and samples, creating and developing patterns in the pattern sequencer, recording these onto a sequencer track and editing their playback order. You can prepare for the lesson by reading the following pages, A teacher guide to creating drum patterns, and exploring the provided song file. This will give an overview of the different pattern creation techniques that can be used by students in their practical tasks.

! Check out the Student

Worksheet for an immediate overview of the lesson tasks.

About the lesson song files

The song file Lesson 4 is intended for use in the introductory activity and practical tasks. Students will also work with this file in the following three lessons. The file already contains material on the Dr Rex 2 sequencer track. This is a music loop that students may find helpful as a stimulus for creating their drum patterns. A 2-bar loop has been set on the Transport Panel, so that the looped material on the track will play repeatedly while students experiment with the Redrum pattern sequencer. If you prefer not to use this material, you can either delete it, or delete and select an alternative loop from the Dr Rex folders.

! It is suggested that this first song is kept quite short perhaps 16 bars in total. This will
allow students to complete tasks and master the different techniques that are introduced over the following lessons. They will have an opportunity to produce longer songs and try more adventurous arranging in later lessons!

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Lesson preparation and background reading

A teacher guide to creating drum patterns

Loading sounds
The first step in creating a new pattern is to select an appropriate set of drum sounds.

4 5

1 3
D Click on the folder icon in the Patch Select section (1). This takes you to the Patch Browser, where you can check out the different category folders of Redrum kits, and select a kit from one of these folders (2). See Lesson 1: Loading different sounds for playback. D Use the up/down arrow buttons (3) to step between kits in the same music category. You might want to change one or two of the individual kit sounds. D Click the up/down arrows at the top of each sound channel (4) to step through a selection of alternative sounds.

! If you find that some of the new drum sounds are louder or softer than others, you can
adjust the Level control (5) on each sound channel until the drum sounds are balanced.

About Redrum samples and patches

Redrum samples are audio files with some common formats including .wav and .aif. The samples that are supplied form part of the Reason Factory Sound Bank. Individual samples are loaded into the Redrum sound channels to provide the drum sounds. Redrum patches contain a complete drum kit, with information about the individual samples used to make up the kit and the parameter settings for each sound. If you make changes to individual drum sounds, these changes will be saved with your song.

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Lesson preparation and background reading

About patterns
Patterns are built up from individual steps. Using the default settings, a basic pattern has 16 steps and a resolution of 16th notes. In musical terms this means that each pattern you create will consist of one 4/4 bar with 16th note divisions.*

Marked steps show the actual quarter and eighth note beats in the bar.
* Changing the resolution to 1/32 would mean that the steps play twice as fast, so they would take up just half of one 4/4 bar. Choosing 1/8 resolution means that the 16 steps would play over 2 bars of 4/ 4 time. Changing the time signature on the Transport Panel affects the actual pattern change points. You can experiment with different settings and changes.

Creating a pattern
D Select a location for creating the new pattern (1). D First choose a drum sound by clicking the Select button (2) on the appropriate sound channel.

1 3 4

D Click the Run button (3 - it turns red when activated), then click one of the pattern step buttons (4). This records a note into the pattern sequencer. As the sequencer cycles through the steps, you can hear new notes as they are entered.

1 Enter kick drum notes on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13. 2 Enter snare drum notes on steps 5, 13 15 and 16. 3 Enter hihat notes on steps 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 and 15.
D If you enter a note by mistake simply click on that note to remove it.

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Lesson preparation and background reading

Dynamics
You will notice that the pattern sounds quite mechanical. A human drummer playing this pattern would accent some beats, and play some off beats more softly. You can recreate this using the Dynamic switch.

! If you have already

entered a note and want to change the dynamic, select a new dynamic and click again on the step. The color and the dynamic level will change.

1 2

1 Set the dynamic switch (1) to hard, medium, or soft. 2 Click on a pattern step (2) to enter a note with the selected dynamic. Different colors indicate which notes have hard, medium or soft dynamics.

1 Additional tip
The Flam switch (1) and its related control can be used to add a small grace note just before a pattern step. The control allows you to adjust the distance between the flam and the actual note. This is quite useful for creating snare drum rolls for example.

Developing and varying patterns

When you have created your pattern, you can make a series of similar patterns containing slight variations e.g. a crash cymbal on step 1, or a half-bar snare and tom fill on steps 9-16. Start by copying the pattern to an empty location:

1 Select the pattern you want to copy. 2 From the Edit menu select Copy Pattern. 3 Select a new location for the pattern copy, and select Paste Pattern from the Edit
menu. (Use the copy/paste keys on your computer keyboard if you prefer.) You can then add additional notes to the new pattern copy to develop the material. D To clear a pattern completely, select Clear Pattern from the Edit menu.

Random and randomly altered patterns

You can create quite interesting results with random patterns. D Select an empty pattern location and choose Randomize Pattern from the Edit menu. This creates an instant pattern. D To create a quick pattern variation, make a copy of the pattern, select the copy then choose Alter Pattern from the Edit menu.

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Lesson preparation and background reading

Teaching Plan Lesson 4

Exploring drum kits and individual drum sounds. Introducing pattern creation, relating pattern steps to musical bars and beats. Introducing the use of step dynamics in pattern creation to achieve a more musical result. Exploring pattern development and variation.

! Lesson Aims:

Exploring and evaluating drum kit sounds. Creating original drum patterns, understanding the concept of steps and relating these musically to bars and beats. Understanding the purpose of step dynamics, using these to achieve musical results. Showing some practical awareness of pattern construction, development and variation.

! Student Skills:

Introduction: Sounds, steps and dynamics

Its time to begin work on an original song. In this lesson we will start by creating some original drum patterns that can be made into a drum track. There are 3 things to think about when creating patterns: Using drum sounds appropriate to the style of music. Creating rhythmic interest and variation. Adding dynamics and feel appropriate to the style of music.

Introductory activity
This is intended as a class demo, where you briefly demonstrate pattern creation basics in preparation for Task 1. However, if time is limited, you could instead make this a guided class exercise, with students working at their computers under your direction. In this case you will actually be covering the Task 1 practical activity at the same time. Students can refer to Task 1 on their worksheet during this activity. They can then continue with Task 2 by themselves.

D Open the song file Lesson 4, play the looped material on the sequencer and explain how this can be used to help students create their rhythmic ideas. D Show how to load a Redrum kit and change individual sounds as required. What kind of musical styles might the loop suggest? Which kits would be suitable for use here? D Show the Redrum step buttons, explain briefly about pattern steps and how they relate to musical beats. Demonstrate this by
entering kick drum notes on steps 1,5,9 and 13 to create a four on the floor pattern on quarter note beats of the bar. adding snare drum notes on steps 5, 13, 15 and 16. Which actual beats of the bar is the snare playing on? adding hihat notes on steps 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 and 15, showing how the bar is now subdivided into 8th notes.

D Ask students how this pattern might sound different if played by a human drummer?
The drum hits would not all be the same volume. Show how to add dynamics to some steps to emphasize strong beats for example. The pattern might have a groove or feel. Revise the use of Shuffle!

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Teaching Plan Lesson 4

Task 1: Setting up your drum kit and creating a pattern

Students can now explore drum sounds and create a first pattern. Refer to the worksheet requirements (below) and remind about using the How to pages.

! see Student
Worksheet

Student practical work

Students open the song file Lesson 4 and work as follows:

a. Explore some sounds.

Choose a drum kit that you think suits the type of music you are going to create. Audition the individual kit sounds. If you dont like some of these sounds, try changing them.

b. Record some pattern steps.

Start building your pattern by selecting a drum sound channel and clicking on some steps. Now select different drum sound channels and add more notes until your pattern is complete.

c. Add some dynamics and feel.

Add dynamics to some individual pattern notes. Try adding Shuffle to the pattern for some extra feel.

d. Experiment with tempo.

Try changing the tempo on the Transport Panel. What do you notice when you play the pattern you just created? Which tempo do you prefer and why?

Your notes:

Task 2: Developing patterns and pattern variations

Students can now develop further patterns, attempting to create contrast and variation. You might want to briefly introduce the task by demonstrating one or two of the guidelines (below). Alternatively you may prefer to let students start and explore more for themselves, using the How to pages for reference.

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Teaching Plan Lesson 4

Student practical work

Guidelines:

! see Student
Worksheet

a. Copy your Task 1 pattern to one or two other empty locations. b. Create pattern variations by adding or removing notes in the pattern copies. c. Create one or two fill patterns to use at the end of a phrase, or to lead from one song
section into another. For example, you could make a 1-bar fill pattern, or build a simpler fill into steps 9-16 of a Task 1 pattern copy.

d. Create a random pattern, or try randomly altering an existing pattern.

Your notes:

If time activity: Recording and arranging patterns

If there is sufficient lesson time, or if some students have already completed Tasks 1 and 2 in advance of others, they can record some of their new patterns onto the sequencer track named Redrum to build a short drum track. They can also re-name the sequencer track as appropriate!

Student practical work

Guidelines:

! see Student
Worksheet

a. Aim to record about 16 bars altogether.

(You might want to record 4 or 8 bars of patterns and changes at a time.)

b. If you need to, you can change the playback order of the recorded patterns in the Pattern
lane. Additional lesson notes and comments:

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Teaching Plan Lesson 4

Student Worksheet Lesson 4

! Use your How to
guide to help you create your patterns.

Its time to start working on your first original song! In this lesson you are going to create some rhythm patterns that can form a drum track for the song. Open the song file Lesson 4 and start the sequencer. A loop has been provided on one of the tracks. You could use this as an idea for getting started. What kind of drum sounds and rhythms might fit the style of this loop? Now find Redrum and try out the following:

Task 1: Setting up your drum kit and creating a pattern

Check out: How to load a drum kit and change sounds.

a. Explore some sounds.

Choose a drum kit that you think suits the type of music you are going to create. Audition the individual kit sounds. If you dont like some of these sounds, try changing them.

Check out: How to create a pattern.

b. Record some pattern steps.

Start building your pattern by selecting a drum sound channel and clicking on some steps. Now select different drum sound channels and add more notes until your pattern is complete.

Check out: How to add step dynamics.

c. Add some dynamics and feel.

Add dynamics to some individual pattern notes. Try adding Shuffle to the pattern for some extra feel.

d. Experiment with tempo.

Try changing the tempo on the Transport Panel. What do you notice when you play the pattern you just created? Which tempo do you prefer and why?

Task 2: Developing patterns and pattern variations

Now create some more patterns that you can alternate or combine with your Task 1 pattern to form phrases and song sections. Try some of the following:
Check out: How to copy a pattern.

a. Copy your Task 1 pattern to one or two other empty locations. b. Create pattern variations by adding or removing notes in the pattern copies. c. Create one or two fill patterns to use at the end of a phrase, or to lead from one song
section into another. For example, you could make a 1-bar fill pattern, or build a simpler fill into steps 9-16 of a Task 1 pattern copy.

Check out: How to create a random pattern. How to randomly alter an existing pattern.

d. Create a random pattern, or try randomly altering an existing pattern.

! Save your work

regularly!

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Student Worksheet Lesson 4

If you have some time left, try this

Recording and Arranging Patterns

Try recording some of your patterns onto the sequencer track named Redrum. You could perhaps give the track a new name that reflects the style of your music!

a. Aim to record about 16 bars altogether. (You might want to record 4 or 8 bars of patterns and changes at a time.)

b. If you need to, you can change the playback order of the recorded patterns in the Pattern
lane.

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Student Worksheet Lesson 4

Lesson 4 - How to student guide

How to load a drum kit and change sounds

The first step in creating a new pattern is to select an appropriate set of drum sounds.

4 5

1 ! If you forget how to

load sounds, check out the How to... pages for Lesson 1.

3
D Click on the folder button in the Patch Select section (1). This will take you to the Patch Browser, where you can check out the different category folders of Redrum kits, and select a kit from one of these folders (2). D Clicking the up/down arrows (3) lets you load other kits in the same category folder. D To change individual sounds in the drum kit, click on the up/down arrows at the top of the sound channels (4). D If any new sounds are too loud or too soft, you can adjust the Level control (5) on the appropriate sound channels.

How to create a pattern

1 Select a location for creating your new pattern (1). 2 Choose a drum sound by clicking the Select button (2) on the appropriate sound
2
channel.

1 3 4

! As the sequencer
cycles through the steps, you will hear the notes you have added.

The marked pattern steps show the actual quarter and eighth note beats in the bar.

3 Click RUN (3) to start the pattern sequencer. 4 Click each pattern step (4) on which you want to add a note for that particular sound. 5 Select a new sound channel and add more notes for that drum sound. 6 Continue like this until your pattern is complete.
D If you enter a note by mistake simply click on that note to remove it.

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Lesson 4 - How to student guide

How to add step dynamics 1 2 ! If you have already

entered a note and want to change the dynamic, select a new dynamic and click again on the step. The color and the dynamic level will change.

1 Set the dynamic switch (1) to hard, medium, or soft. 2 Click on a pattern step (2) to enter a note with the selected dynamic. Different colors indicate which notes have hard, medium or soft dynamics.

How to copy a pattern

1 Select the pattern you want to copy. 2 From the Edit menu select Copy Pattern. 3 Select a new location for the pattern copy, and select Paste Pattern from the Edit
menu. (Use the copy/paste keys on your computer keyboard if you prefer.) D To clear a pattern, select Clear Pattern from the Edit menu.

How to create a random pattern

1 Select an empty pattern location. 2 Choose Randomize Pattern from the Edit menu and an instant pattern will be created
there.

How to randomly alter an existing pattern

It is best to start by making a copy of the pattern you want to alter, (see above). D Click on the pattern copy to select it. Choose Alter Pattern from the Edit menu and that pattern will change!

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Lesson 4 - How to student guide

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Lesson 4: Your rst original song! Creating the drum track

Lesson 4 - How to student guide