Drum Programming

Drums are the heartbeat of almost every modern track. In this lesson you'll learn what each drum does, how the step grid works, and how to build your first beat one sound at a time.

The Drum Kit and What Each Piece Does

Drum programming means creating drum parts with software or a drum machine instead of recording a drummer. Each sound in a programmed kit has a clear job.

The 16-Step Grid

Most drum programming happens on a step sequencer or a piano roll set to a grid. The standard grid splits one bar of 4/4 into 16 steps. Each step is a 16th note, and four steps make one beat.

In this course, patterns are written as a row of 16 characters: x means a hit and . means silence. For example, x...x...x...x... is a hit on every beat. If you need a refresher on beats and bars, see Rhythm & Tempo.

Build a Beat Step by Step

Let's build a basic beat in three steps using the drum machine below. It starts empty. Click squares to turn hits on, and press Play at any time.

Step 1: kick on beat 1

Click step 1 on the Kick row. Press Play. That's a pulse, once per bar. Now add a second kick on step 9 (beat 3). The beat now has a "heartbeat" feel.

Step 2: snare on 2 and 4

Click steps 5 and 13 on the Snare row. That's the backbeat, the snare on beats 2 and 4. It's the core of rock, pop, funk, hip-hop and R&B.

Step 3: hi-hats on 8th notes

Click every odd step on the Hi-hat row (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15). That's eight hits per bar: 8th notes. Now the beat flows.

Step 4: make it your own

Now add one extra kick. Try step 11 (the "&" of beat 3) or step 8 (the "a" of beat 2). One extra kick in the right place is often all it takes to turn a plain beat into a groove.

Here is a finished rock/pop beat with that extra kick on step 11. Compare it to yours.

Velocity

Velocity is how hard a note is hit. In MIDI, it's a number from 1 (softest) to 127 (hardest). Most drum samplers make a note quieter at low velocity, and some also change the tone, because a real drum sounds darker when hit softly.

When every hit has the same velocity, a beat sounds robotic. Some simple patterns:

• Hi-hats: accent the beats and soften the off-beats. For example 110 on the beat and 70–80 on the "&".
• Snare: keep backbeats strong (100–127). Add quiet extra hits (20–50) called ghost notes.
• Kick: usually steady and strong, but a quieter extra kick can add bounce without crowding the low end.

Choosing Drum Samples

A sample is a short audio recording, such as one kick hit. Most producers build drum kits from samples. Good choices save hours of mixing later.

• Choose for the genre. A trap 808 kick in a rock song sounds wrong. Short, punchy kicks suit house; dusty, vinyl-like drums suit boom bap and lo-fi.
• Choose in context. Audition samples while the beat plays, not on their own. A kick that sounds huge alone may vanish in the track.
• Match the key. Kicks, toms and 808s have a pitch. If a kick clashes with the bass, tune it up or down a few semitones in the sampler.
• Watch the length. A kick with a long tail can blur into the bass. Shorten it with the sampler's decay or amp envelope.
• Fewer, better sounds. Build a small folder of favorite kicks, snares and hats instead of scrolling through 10,000 files every session.

Most DAWs include good stock drum kits. Free and paid sample packs are available from many sample sites, and we cover where to find them in Sampling.

Layering Samples

Layering means playing two or more samples at the same time so they sound like one hit. Each layer covers a different part of the frequency range.

Rules for clean layers:

1. Give each layer one job. Use EQ to remove the parts each layer doesn't need. For example, high-pass the click layer at about 150 Hz so only the sub layer carries the low end.
2. Line up the starts. Make sure all samples begin exactly together. A delay of even a few milliseconds can cause a flam or a thin, phasey sound.
3. Check the phase. Two low layers can cancel each other out. If the kick gets weaker when you add a layer, flip the polarity of one layer or nudge it slightly.
4. Group them. Route the layers to one group or bus so you can process them as one sound.

Fills

A fill is a short break from the main pattern that signals a change, usually in the last bar (or last half-bar) of a 4- or 8-bar phrase. It tells the listener "something new is coming".

• Snare roll: 16th-note snares through the last beat, getting louder (common in EDM build-ups).
• Tom fill: run down the toms from high to low (rock and pop).
• Drop-out: remove the kick for the last beat or two. Silence is a very effective fill.
• Hat variation: an open hat or a quick hi-hat roll on the last "&".