Easy Trap beat

In this video I show you how to make a trap beat with ease.

This one was a lot of fun.

I like the idea behind trap; atmospheric sounds supporting a simple beat.

Sits well with my aesthetics; atmosphere and impact all in one.

I am no trap expert by any means but I do plan on learning more out loud so you guys can follow along with that too over here or on my YouTube channel.

How I put a simple beat together

I’m still no trap expert, but these are the habits I bring with me from writing beats for cinematic tracks, and they fit that idea of atmosphere and impact nicely.

I start by thinking of one beat with a couple of variations, then work out how to stretch it. Tease it in at the start, bring it in properly, then layer it up so the biggest, fattest version arrives at the end. You can even begin with just the kick and hold the snare back.

I keep the kit small: kick, snare and hi-hat. You don’t need toms, cowbells and rides. Logic’s own drum machine, including its 808 patch, is a perfectly good place to start. For the kick I listen for something with almost a tonal, bassy quality, not just thump.

Where the snare lands sets the feel. Put it on beat three and you get a half-time groove that feels bigger and has more swagger, with room left for everything else. Double time leans more towards comedy.

The hi-hats are where I add the decoration. I draw them in, then nudge the velocities around at random so they don’t sound robotic. I put open hats on some of the off-beats and drop in a few 32nd-note fills. Then I copy the pattern and make a variation, changing where the fills and open hats fall, so it runs for about 16 seconds before it repeats and nobody notices the loop.

Last of all I split the kick and snare onto their own tracks so I can treat them separately and give them more weight. Then I sidechain the pads or strings so they duck slightly each time the kick hits. It isn’t there to pump. It just clears some space.

If you’re following along, I started this whole journey in I want to learn how to produce amazing trap music. What Does 808 Mean? covers where the 808 came from, and my lofi drum patterns MIDI download is another quick way to get beats started. My Cinematic Hip Hop course, part of the Composer Academy, goes much deeper into building beats like this.

Happy composing!Rich