Sunday, August 28, 2011

Funk Drum Loops Will Give Your Beats An Edge

By John Bundy


Building amazing, fresh beats is a fairly challenging thing. Modern mainstream beats rely heavily on processed, crisp rhythms that sound machine generated. For a different kind of flavor, try sampling some funk drum loops.

You already know the sort of thing you need. Your head is already filling with memories of Dr Dre, Ice Cube, and Snoop. These are often samples of Parliament tunes, and they give that deep, dancing stomp feel to the track. A hefty dose of nineteen seventies George Clinton will make even the most jaded dancer's head start to bob like their neck was a spring.

There is a nearly inexhaustible supply of amazing beats to be lifted from various Parliament tracks. The albums that feature a rhythm section comprising Bootsy Collins and Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey are among the best to mine.

There are plenty of places to lift good beats from. James Brown is one of the most heavily sampled artists in hip hop, but there are still lots of great cuts to make. Stars of the seventies like Stevie Wonder, Barry White, and Luther Vandross are also great sources.

Bringing this flavor to your beats will be easy. The very nature of them implies that they are wide open, stomping beats with the heavy accents on the one and the three. This is likely to fit anywhere you like. Layer more than one, but do it carefully. Look to the earlier Ice Cube albums for ideas on how to do that.

Maybe you can reclaim your freshness by running as far away from the mainstream, high end mechanized drum sounds as you can. Use some funk drum loops to bring the flavor of old school dance music to your own. After forty years, these beats are still fresh and exciting. If you treat them well, they will make you move.




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