How to spice up your drum patterns in Reason (Propellerhead)

When you're programming your drum tracks you might often find your self using the same old patterns. Every track you write doesn't necessarily have to have the same old 'four-to-the-floor' beat going though the whole song. Why not spice things up with some variations and changes.

Having the same drum loop throughout your track can get boring, not just for you but also the listener. Changing the drums every now and then can give your tracks a little more interest and a new breath of life.

In the video below Mattias from Propellerhead Software takes us through a few tricks that he uses when programming drums. He shows us how to use ghost notes to give a basic pattern a little more interest. Using ghost notes can make your electronic drums sound a bit more human especially when you change them up every two bars or so.

Mattias also shows us how he creates a simple top loop using Reason's Dr. Octorex. using the built in highpass filter he removes all of the unwanted low end elements (primarily the kick and snare) from the percussion loop and places it over his existing drum pattern.

Reason's 'alter notes' feature is also mentioned in the video. Personally this is one of my favourite features in Reason as it can be used to instantly change MIDI data (much like a randomizer function). This is a good way to create some alterations to your beats when you're feeling a bit stuck with the creative process.

The final thing that is mentioned in the video is polyrhythms. Polyrhythms might seem confusing at first but they are a great way of giving your beats a more organic or evolving quality. A polyrhythm (or polymeter in the case of this video) is where you take two parts and play them in different time signatures. for example: if you program your kick in a traditional 4/4 measure but your hi-hats in a 5/4 measure then you can get some quite interesting results. If you're still confused about polyrhythms after watching this video then there are plenty of resources online that go a little more in depth on the subject.

One thing that wasn't mentioned in this video is adding groove to your beats. All DAWs have a groove function where you can add some swing or shuffle to your programmed beats. Giving your beats a bit of swing or shuffle is a great way to get them sounding more human. If you combine the groove feature with ghost notes (mentioned earlier) then it is possible to fool the listener into thinking that they're listening to an actual drummer rather than programmed beats.

Even though the video is created for users of Propellerhead's Reason all of the techniques mentioned can be recreated in any DAW. So next time you're working on a track pay a little more attention to your drums, if they're lifeless and uninspired them maybe try a few of these mentioned tricks. They can change a dull track into something a lot more palatable.