Jan

29th

Mixology – The Essential Skill Of Beat Matching (Part II)

 

In the previous section, The Essential Skill Of Beat Matching you learned about beats and bpm. In this article (part II of the series) we build upon this and go a little further with beat structure!

Beats are arranged into a musical subdivision called a Bar or Measure with each bar containing the same number of beats. Almost all dance music is structured in a 4/4 time signature (also known as “common time”). When I say 4/4, the top number represents the number of beats per bar or measure and the bottom number tells what note value represents the beat. Generally, it would be a quarter note (1/4th of a whole note). For example, in 4/4 time, there are 4 quarter notes per bar or measure. If we were to count out each bar individually it would look something like this… 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4… and so on, There are not always four beats to the bar, but for most modern day music there most often are. On the other hand, waltz is often in ¾ time, and it would look something like this… 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 |1 2 3

In 4/4 time you will normally hear a single kick drum fall on the 1st and 3rd beats of a bar (These are referred to as downbeats) and an single snare drum or (clap) fall on the 2nd and 4th beats of a bar (These are referred to as upbeats). This is most common in break beat style dance music such as hip-hop and drum n bass. As well as most popular music such as rock, country and jazz. Other styles of dance music such as House or Trance are often referred to as ‘four on the floor’ or ‘four to the floor’ style music. In these styles of dance music, you will often hear a kick drum accompanying the clap on the 2nd and 4th beats. Therefore, you will hear a kick drum fall on all four beats in a bar, hence the name ‘four on the floor’.

Listen for the clap

With straight, ‘four on the floor’ music such as house and trance it is easy to distinguish the individual beats of a bar. However, with break beat style music, such as hip-hop and drum n bass, which has other rhythmic elements (extra sounds or percussion hits); it is sometimes difficult to hear the underlying beat. In this case, I find it easier if I focus and listen for the 'snare' or ‘clap’ and "feel" the bass beats fall into their rightful place.

Note: In 4/4 time, the first beat of the bar is the most emphasized or strongest, the third is the next strongest, and the second and fourth are weaker. So listen for this. This will help you identify individual beats in a bar or measure.

Take some time and listen to a few of your favorite tracks counting out the individual beats in a bar. It may take some time to get a hang of this but eventually you will be able to distinguish the individual beats in a bar without counting.

Knowing about this structure of beats is important, as you have to keep this sort of structure when you are beat matching two tracks in order for their beat patterns to be complimentary and in harmony.

Get a grasp of beat structure, because in the next part of the series (part III) we will actually get into matching the beats!

Category : Mixology