Timbral contrast in an R'n'B groove

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about timbral contrast in an R'n'B groove. We're going to be doing lots of thinking, talking, and exploring today in our lesson. So, shall we get started? Let's go. By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to create timbral variation in an R'n'B drum groove. Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords. We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down. The keywords we'll be using today are timbre, tom-tom, attack. Now, let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions. The timbre of a note or instrument is the sound quality. For example, metallic. A tom-tom, usually shortened to tom, is a cylindrical drum that makes a rounded sound. The attack of a sound describes how quickly we hear the beginning of the sound. Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play. These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson. Timbral contrast in a backbeat, using toms in a fill. In this first learning cycle, we're going to explore timbral contrast in a backbeat. Drum beats often vary, but the backbeat tends to stay consistent. It is usually played on the snare drum. Clap along with the backbeat in this clip. The backbeat has to be on beats 2 and 4, but other sounds with different timbres can be used instead of the snare to create contrast. What sound is used here? That's right, they're using claps. More laid back, soulful R'n'B might need a less aggressive timbre than a snare or claps. Which sound produces the back beat here? What did you think? If you said clicks, you're spot on. Well done. Considerations in choosing alternatives to a snare drum: Maybe the sound has a strong attack. We need to be able to hear the beginning of the sound very clearly. The sound has a similar high pitch to a snare drum, for example, claps or clicks. Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding. Which of the following sounds is not an appropriate alternative to the snare for playing the backbeat? Kick, click or clap? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press play when you are ready to continue. What did you think? If you said kick, you are absolutely right. Well done. Now, choosing alternative sounds in the Digital Audio Workstation. Watch this film clip here. I'm gonna change the timbre of my backbeat, and this is a really simple task to do. Firstly, I'm gonna double click on part of my kick and snare track where I've got the snare backbeat playing. So this first section here. If we zoom in, we can see the kick pattern at the bottom and the snare pattern up above. Let's just listen to what they sound like together. (kick and snare drum playing upbeat rhythm) So we can hear that snare backbeat. That's these notes here. Now the simplest way to change the timbre of that is to select all of those snare notes, making sure not to also select the kick notes. (snare drum claps) And I'm gonna drag them to some different timbres just to experiment and see what things sound like. So I found this one here. (light snare clapping) There's a clap sound. (deep snare claps) There's a different snare sound, (rim shot clicking) and there's a rim shot sound there as well. So I'm gonna try those out and see how they sound. (snare claps) Select them all, drag them down. (light snare claps) So that's the clap sound. Now let's see what that sounds like. (smooth soulful R'n'B music) (light snare drum clapping) It sounds quite good that I quite like that, but let's try some of the others. Let's try the rim shot sound. (rim shot snare clicks) And that's where the drummer hits the edge, the metal rim of the snare drum with their stick instead of the actual skin of the drum. (smooth soulful R'n'B music) (rim shot snare clicking) So that works quite effectively and I think I'll keep that in. Now I could decide to do this in every section where there's that snare backbeat. So all these main sections here. Or I could create a bit of variety. And I think what I quite like about the way I've got it now is that I've got that rim shop for the first section. Then we have the fill, and then it turns into the actual snare. So there's a bit of variety in the backbeat still playing the same rhythm, but using different timbres to create that variety. So experiment with different sounds on the backbeat, making sure you choose sounds that have quite a strong attack and a similar sort of effect to a snare drum. And see what you can come up with. In your R'n'B project: select the kick and snare track; highlight the snare notes on beat 2 and 4; and then drag those notes to a different sound to create contrast. It could be rim, click and clap sounds. They are likely to be the most effective. This brings us to our first learning task. I'd like you to record a backbeat into your backing track using an alternative sound to the snare. The success criteria includes: making sure you have selected the kick and snare track; that you have highlighted the snare notes on beat 2 and 4; that you have dragged those notes to a different sound to create contrast. The rim, click and clap sounds are likely to be the most effective. So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at this learning task and press play when you are ready to continue. How did that go? Well, let's have a look here. To assess your new backbeat against the following criteria, think, is the backbeat on beats 2 and 4? Has it been played in time and quantized? And does the sound have a strong attack and sound similar to a snare drum? If it does each of these things, then you've done that successfully. Well done. This now brings us to the second part of our lesson. We're going to be using toms in a fill. The tom-toms or toms are the final parts of the drum kit. There are often three of them. You can see those here. Toms are often used in drum fills, such as in this example that starts a song. How many different pitches are used in here? Have a listen. (tom fill thuds gently) (gentle soulful music) Now, fills using toms can be hugely contrasting. It could be gentle and slow, (tom fill thuds gently) or it could be fast and high energy. (up-tempo synth rock music) (tom fills hammering) Listen again to both tom fills. Each has a similar characteristic. Have you noticed what it is? (tom fill thuds gently) (gentle soulful music) (up-tempo synth rock music) (tom fills hammering) When using more than one tom, drummers tend to go round the kit from top to bottom, so the fills go down in pitch. They also work well towards the end of the bar when you are using toms in a drum fill. If you are using more than one tom, play the higher one first, then try adding them towards the end of the bar only. And keep it simple. You could go around the kit playing each tom once. Now these are just a guide. Remember, you can try a few ideas out. When you're going to be recording fills using the toms, record two new fills in bars 24 and 32 that include the toms. Quantize them to 1/8th or 1/16th depending on the rhythm. And move through the toms from high to low pitch in each fill. Consider also using snare and kick with the toms. Watch this recording fills using toms here. Now let's look at creating some fills that use the toms. We're gonna follow the exact same principles as when we're not using the toms in a fill, but now we're just gonna add these extra parts of the drum kit. And the two places I'm gonna record these fills in are bar 24 and then bar 32 at the end of the project as well. So we've got two slots here to record two contrasting fills. The first thing to do is I've selected my kick and snare track, and I'm gonna find the toms on my keyboard. So I've got my kick here, (kick drum thuds) snare, (snare claps) and there's various toms here. (toms padding) There's five different toms (toms padding quickly) on this particular one, and I'm gonna choose three of those to use. So maybe a high one, (high tom taps) Sort of medium one, (mid tom pads) and then a lower one. (low tom thuds) So are gonna be my three toms. And when we're creating a fill using these toms, it's most effective to start with the higher pitched ones and move through them ending on the lower pitched ones. So you'd start high and end lower, (toms padding high to low) rather than. (toms padding low to high) That's just the sort of traditional way that these fills tend to work. So I'm gonna loop this section, experiment with some different ideas, remembering that I can also keep part of my groove playing for the first part of the bar as well and just have the toms coming at at the end. So let's see what we can come up with. (gentle upbeat soul music) (gentle drum pattern plays) (quick tom fill pads high to low) (longer tom fill padding) (upbeat soul music) (longer tom fill padding) So all those patterns there, were starting from the higher toms (tom tapping) and working through them, ending on the low ones. I also used some kick and snare with the toms as well. So I did some patterns like this. (quick kick and snare beats blend as fills) So you can try mixing the kick, snare and the toms to create some real interesting fills as well. And when I'm ready to record, I'm then gonna move the playhead, make sure the metro's on, make sure I've selected the right track and record one of them in. (upbeat soul music) (kick, snare and tom fill drops in) I can then quantize it and depending on whether I've used some semiquavers or quavers, I'm gonna quantize to either an 8th note or 16th note. And then I can also record my second fill the contrast slightly in bar 32. Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding. Which of these parts of the drum kit is a tom? A, B, C, or D? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue. If you said C, you are right. Well done. Now, which of the following is most common in a tom fill? A: descending from the highest, smallest tom. B: ascending from the lowest, biggest tom? Or C: just using one tom as part of the fill? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue. If you said descending from the highest, smallest tom, you are right, well done. This brings us to our final learning task. I'd like you to create two fills that use toms in your R'n'B project. The success criteria includes: making sure you have recorded two new fills in bars 24 and 32, that the fills are different to each other and use the toms, that they descend through the toms from high to low pitched, and that you have considered using snare and kick with the toms, that you have quantized your fills. Then complete the drum groove for the R'n'B project. It should have a main groove on the kick and snare or snare replacement, hi-hat quavers, and four contrasting fills, including at least one that uses the toms. So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to work through this learning task and press play when you are ready to continue. How did you find that? Well, assess your R'n'B drum groove using the following criteria: It includes the main kick and snare pattern. Contrasting fills are used at the end of the phrases. The backbeat can be clearly heard on beats 2 and 4, perhaps with a suitable alternative timbre to the snare. All parts have been quantized. And listen to your fills. Why are they successful? If they are successful, they should: contrast with each other, arrive in the 8th bar of each phrase, have some links and similarities with the main groove, use different parts of the drum kit, and move through the toms from high to low when you are using the toms. So, well done for having a go at this learning task. Before we finish this lesson, let's summarize what we've learned about timbral contrast in an R'n'B groove. The contrasting timbres in a drum kit provide the interest in the drum grooves you listen to. Toms typically have a less harsh timbre than the snare and cymbals, and a wide range of pitches. Toms are often used in drum fills. The snare usually plays the backbeat as it has a strong attack, which helps to emphasize the pattern. Clicks and claps have a similar attack and can be used instead of the snare to play the backbeat. Thank you for joining me in this lesson. I hope you enjoyed learning about fills and variations in R'n'B drum grooves. I certainly did. I hope to see you for another unit of learning soon. See you then.