Mixing Breakbeats

Hi I was wondering if anyone could tell me the secret of making breakbeats sound similar meaning:

I have noticed that in some breakbeat tracks there are a certain similar vibe so it’s possible to let one play and then another break takes over and still it sounds great. though it is two different breaks.

I think this is due to the use of EQ and compressing
Can anyone confirm this or is there more to the secret :unsure: if there is please let me know I promise that I will use it with caution :ph34r:

regards…

ahhh yes. that genre of music known as ‘breaks’ - the one without any breakbeats in it :P

Breaks “beef up” the beats.

Check the sample packs on this page:

http://www.resolutionaudio.nl/files.html

Essentially, along with EQ and Compressors, you compliment your breakbeat with drumkit sounds.

So every-time your “Apache” or “You Betcha” crusty sample does a kick, you match synchronize it with a drum machine kick (attenuated, of course). Snare? Match with a drum machine snare. Add hi-hats and “chika chika” sounds to taste.

That’s pretty much it.

Other than layering in hits on top of breaks sometimes I like to find two different breaks that go good with each other (or tweak them to sound good together via EQ, timestretch, pitchshifting) with “beatmatching” on, and then play them together at parts. Sometimes start one beat ahead of the other by an even number of rows (in 4/4 timing) and use the 09XX commands to chop things up. Having two going at the same time and switching start/stop points can add a syncopated"swing" to the beat.

there is no secret, there is only audio and willing ears to hear it

cheers!!! once again you guys have been very helpful.

just one more thing:

after you have tracked the drums. will you then render it down to one drum loop or would prefer to have it divided so you can add and remove…

regards… :ph34r:

wise comment. Me like :)

Sometimes…you can take drumloops that have similar audio to them (do not concern youself with the rhythm at this point…just the ‘vibe’ of the snares and kicks and such) that you can cut apart and recreate the same rhythm using the loops chopped up into kits.

You can even do this with loops that sound nothing alike and get good results…for practice, try chopping up the amen break and reconstruct it into a rhythm that sounds like the hotpants break. Don’t worry about eq or anything, just the rhythm itself.

Sometimes I do this for fun…it works at a subconsious level for me to hear a break that I know should sound like itself but instead, it’s playing rhythms from other known breaks…

Hard to explain and I don’t have any samples on this computer to make a demo file, so you’ll just have to try and decipher…I’m assuming this is what you mean, though…by ‘vibe’ and groove and such.

thing is, if YOU like the flow of your beats, then it’s a good flow
there’s no such thing as a rule or a right way of doing something
that relies so heavily on how you feel when you hear it.

and for more freedom, do what hseiken said, it allows you to
reprogram drumloops, replacing all the hits. check out this thread
for examples of intense breakwork that’s mostly loopless