Beat Building: how to make a Berlin techno beat
In our Beat Building series, we show you how to produce beats, grooves, and drum patterns in a variety of styles and genres, touching on different eras of production to help you identify the key rhythmic elements behind many of the greatest tracks to understand from today.
Techno has been the dominant force in electronic music, from clubs in Detroit and Berlin, since the 1980s. The faces and gear have changed, but the basic style is the same. Juan Atkins was there at the beginning, then artists like Richie Hawtin and more recently Ben Klock are flying the flag.
In techno, the kick drum is the most important thing
Techno evolved with the hardware of the day – Roland machines like the TR-808 and 909 drum machines. Nowadays you’re more likely to come across modern clones of it or plugins running in Ableton Live or Native Instruments software.
Typically techno is very grid based and not very swing or other variation oriented, although this is sometimes true of samples or other material laid on top of the beats.
The art of composing in this style revolves around minimalism and the balancing act between too little and too much, and the ultimate test is how people react when the music is played in a club.
In techno the kick drum is hugely important – and effects are just as important to the structure, we’re obviously using machines here – no need to humanize or hide that fact.
build a beat…
Techno tempos vary a bit, but around 120 BPM is a good starting point. A simple 4-stroke KICK Loop is ideal, adding an extra kick or two at the end of the cycle. We’re using the classic 909 kit here – surely everyone has a 909 in their DAW or hardware in one way or another?
We’re sticking with the 909 to add some hand FLAP also on the 2 and 4 and a bit offbeat hi hats also, again with a little flourish at the end.
Track 2 contains a 5/4 time signature CONGA percussion loop. No additional musical knowledge is required – just create a clip or loop that runs over five beats instead of four. This is another way to maximize the use of simple parts – by adding a simple pattern that overlaps and shifts its position relative to the main bar as the melody progresses.
A lot of the fun comes from the effects processing, which is a big part of this style
Don’t be afraid to go minimal with the programming element, a lot of the fun comes from the effects processing, which is a big part of this style. So much of it revolves around the kick. If you feel you need it, double the kick with another sound for more impact or texture – like another kick or a sine wave or a synth like we used in our audio example.
This additional sound can go into the same kit as your main beat or into a separate track, whichever works best for you. Then you can go to town with processing the kick – try compression, reverb and filtering to focus the frequency range. Channel strip plugins like Ableton’s Drum Buss are great one-stop solutions.
Just getting the kick is a journey in itself, but there’s so much more after that. Add effects to the extra kick or synth, add bass and use sidechaining if needed to get the kick – and process the entire kick with compression as well as just the kick.