Arts & Entertainment, Music, Science & Tech
Making a Beat: Creating a Breakdown
Lesson time 19:21 min
Tim believes that contrast is essential in keeping a song interesting from the first beat to the last. Here he shows how to create that contrast without changing the song’s chord progression.
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Topics include: Making a Beat: Creating a Breakdown
Preview
Everybody want to know what makes a hit song. There's no formula, really, to a hit song because I believe a hit song is really about the energy that you put out. If you really feel strongly about the record and you know it means something to you, it really manifests itself to the world. But a hit song, to say, oh, that's a hit, we-- I know always do it myself. But now, I'll just be like, if it feels good. It might not feel good to others, so it might don't be a hit. But it's a hit to me. And as long as it's a hit to you, then it's a hit. But you can't go in the process saying, oh, this a hit, because it could be the one that you don't like is the hit. So then what happens? You're confused. You really don't know. So it's all about your energy, what you put into the record. And your feeling of what you feel is contagious, and it passes throughout the room. And you're like gauging off of your peers, your friends and stuff. And if you got like 25 or more people that's like, oh, I love this record. Then you give it to radio or whoever. There's 100 more. And you hoping that it manifests itself to the world. But for the most part, you have fun doing it, and it moves you. That's a hit. [MUSIC PLAYING] - All right, cut me on. Now cut it down some. All right. [MUSIC PLAYING] Here we go. Right here is your part. A breakdown, right? But you should make a-- - I have something that I did. TIMBALAND: You got something? OK. FEDE: It might be cool. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Talk to me, speakers. Yes, yes, he put a-- shh. - For that breakdown, well, here's the bass. TIMBALAND: What bass is that? FEDE: That's a bass that I made on Silence. TIMBALAND: That's it. That's all you need to tell me, that you made. I know I can't find it. - It's really easy, very, very easy. Like basically, in Silence, if you start with an initialized preset, you get this, this sound wave. [SOUND PLAYING] And then you have an option to add more wave forms to it. It's called unison. So I added eight voices and detuned them-- really easy. [SOUND PLAYING] And it sounds like that, almost like Lady Gaga. But now we put a filter to it. [SOUND PLAYING] And that's the bass. This sound-- [SOUND PLAYING] - Woo, woo, ooh, ah. It's like this, it say, ooh-- oh, keep going. I heard a melody. I don't know. - So that sound, how you make that sound, there's a thing that's called Evo. It's like something that you put on your guitar, and it makes the notes extra long. So what I did is I sampled one note for a very long time. So if I play one key, you actually can hear that note. [SOUND PLAYING] So with one note, you can actually spread it in the keyboard. And that means that every note you play is going to have a different timing. Because when you start stretching things pitch-wise, then your timing change. So the lower notes are longer now. So if you play chords, it gives you a cool...
About the Instructor
Grammy-winning music producer Timbaland takes you behind the boards to teach you his process for creating iconic tracks with artists like Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Aaliyah. In his first-ever online class, learn how to collaborate with vocalists, layer new tracks, and create hooks that stick. Step into Timbaland’s studio and learn from one of the industry’s most innovative hit makers.
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Timbaland
Step inside the production studio with Timbaland. In his first-ever online class, Tim teaches his process for creating infectious beats and making sonic magic.
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