Building Beats

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NYMMEP Explore the Beat Wrap-up: Beat Making in the Cloud

Explore the Beat is part of New York Music Month Extended Play, an initiative of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

For our first beatmaking workshop, we had Rayvaughn Cabey, aka Vaughn Levy, show us how to make music on the cloud. Here’s our review, as well as some resources!

A Recap:

For our first NYMM Extended Play beat making workshop, Vaughn Levi answered the following questions:

-How to create a beat using Soundtrap, a free browser-based digital audio workstation

Beats, Bars and Loops

-Beat: the basic rhythmic unit of a measure)

-Bar: a measure that is used in writing music

-Loop: a repeating section of sound material

The importance of tempo and how it relates to genre

-Tempo: speed or pace of a music piece

Creating drums grooves and melodies

-Using loops and the pattern maker to make drum grooves

-Rhythm: repeated pattern of movement or sound

-Using virtual instruments to create melodies

Song structure and arrangement

Structure: Intro, Chorus, Verse, Bridge

Arrangement: 8-8-16 Rule

8-8-16 Rule: 8Bar Intro, 8 Bar Chorus, 8 Bar Verse

Mixing Audio

-Leveling

-Mixing

-Audio Effects

Additional Resources

Here are some additional resources that Vaughn Levi has provided to further your learning about podcasts:

How to Use Patterns Beatmaker

How to Make a Trap Drum Beat

Soundtrap Review

Music Production: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started (LANDR)

Looperman - Free Loops

Check out future workshops on beat making by clicking here!