How to write easy Dumbstep beats.

This article is just a copy/ paste of a thread I wrote up on newgrounds. Here's the link to the original thread so you can read the comments. You might be wondering where the 7/8 portion of the essay is. Truth be told, I got lazy and never bothered writing it.


At 1/18/11 08:14 AM, Quarl wrote:
Dumbstep

So dumb step is obviously not for everyone. I'm thinking of working my senior thesis around it though so I want to try and encourage people into making some. If you don't know what dumb step is at this point here's something Spikrodd wrote up a while ago. This is just a quick little tutorial on making syncopated beats. I'm trying to keep it really simple to encourage all kinds of producers to give it a shot. These tips don't even have to be applied to dumb step at all. You can apply these little rhythmic ideas to any genre for instant win. Let's start with what in my opinion is the easiest division to work with.

5/4

Making dumb step is surprisingly simple. Just make a dub step chorus and add an extra beat to the measure. This will give you a simple 5/4 rhythm instead of the typical 4/4. It's an easy division to work with but the difference can really add some funk to your beat. You can include the snare on the typical 3rd beat of a basic dub step rhythm too. A good simple structure to work with is a kick on the count of one, a snare on three and a hi hat on every quarter note. Spikrod used this exact structure in his last DumbStep track:

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/385291 

After you have the bare bones of the beat you can start experimenting with adding drum notes here or there. In this 5/4 rhythm it's really easy to just sustain that 4th melodic note for an extra beat if you can't think of anything to place in that added space.

To help you write the rhythm you might want to consider how you might change it up in the following measure. You can keep it the same, or you can modify an element within it to help give the beat some character. If you're interested in keeping a dancier rhythm, keep the snare in the following measure symmetrical to the snare in the first.

9/4

Remember when I said you could write something in 4/4 and add a beat to the measure? You can do it to a count of 8/4 or 8/8 as well. Also, as I said before you can sustain that last melodic note if your having trouble. That's really all there is to 9/4.

7/4

Fish sticks.