I've been trying to learn a lot recently about how to spice up the rhythm in my tracks. One thing I've been noticing from listening to lots of songs are the rhythms employed on and around offbeats.
Trance involves lots of layers of rhythm, at different levels. For example bass + percussion provides driving layers base on a 16 tick per bar ( quarter note ) tempo.
The kick drives the on-beat on a 4 tick ( 1 beat ) tempo, while the open hi-hat drives the off-beat on a 4 tick ( 1 beat ) tempo.
At the more macro level, you get repeated elements every 2 bars, a drum skip perhaps every 4 or 8 bars, and a crash or roll every 16 bars.

What I'm really interested in is the miscellaneous stabs + fx that give movement to your track at the 4 tick ( 1 beat ) level, and mainly on the offbeats.

Here are some examples that I have found ( the + is where the note occurs )

1...2.+.3...4...1...2.+.3...4...
Usually this is a hit / stab occurring on the second offbeat of every bar. Often the hit/stab is a synth chord, with a sharp attack

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8.+.
The eighth offbeat of every 2 bar measure is great for a percussive hit/stab that usually swells or whooshes right until the kick drum comes in at beat 9.
Note that more movement is added to your track because it emphsises every 2nd 4-bar measure.

1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.
The standard offbeat pattern. Mostly played with an open hi-hat, but often emphasised by synth hits or notes. Often the melody emphasises every offbeat (old trance especially) but still used often today.

1...2...3...4.+++
A long, usually swelling whoosh that comes in every 4th offbeat, but lasts until the kick in the next bar. This is a very powerful offbeat to emphasise, it really drives the track along.

1...2.+.3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...
A single stab on the second offbeat, but only played once every 4 bars. The beauty of this one is it repeats every 4-bars, instead of 1-bar or 2-bar. That gives an important level of macro-ryhthm.

+...2.+.3.+.4...
Distorted synths playing on the first beat of the bar, and the 2nd + 3rd offbeat sound great! The swing in the rhythm ( on beat and then 2 off beats ) makes it very danceable, and adds movement.

1...+...3...+...
The snare/clap rhythm. Not really an offbeat, but is an offbeat in a more general sense, in that it emphasises every second kick. Rhythms that anticipate the 2nd and 4th on-beats sound very powerful.

1..+2...3...4...
More of a 16-tick offbeat, but the way that the last quaver of the first bar anticipates the snare hit on the second beat makes this particularly cool

1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...+...
A single stab on the 4th on-beat of every 4 bars sounds cool!

1...+...3...+.+.
Another variation again, emphasising the snare/clap hit, but also adding the offbeat in the 4th beat. Sounds great with a dotted-crotchet delay.


Well that's a few ways to add another rhythmic layer to your song! I guess the idea is that you use any rhythmic combination at all, the idea is to experiment. I love these slightly slower repetitions that give trance its powerful evolving energy.

Has anyone got any cool offbeat rhythms they'd like to share?

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Monsoon - Astrosurf

Cool thread! thanks for sharing those beats..

I'm a big fan of what I call a pre-snare:

1...2...3 + 4...

I usually use a very quick short reverse here, that puts a lot of snap and emphasis on the 2nd snare in each bar.

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I gots some of them there songs I wrote, mmm hmmm that's right ---> www.TrevorKay.tk

We are the ones we've been waiting for

Great post Pho!

I quite like adding a skip straight after the kick to help push the rhythm:

1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4+..

Can be a little hectic twice in a bar so I prefer to play it only once a bar or in this case once every two bars.

Once again, great post....keep it up!

Using an open hi-hat.
1.x.2.x.3.x.4.x.5.x.6.x.7.x.8x.x
or a slight variant of that:
1.x.2.x.3.x.4.x.5.x.6.x.7x.x8.x.

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thanks pho mo! totally broken

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http://www.supuer-music.com

one i like to use comes in after the 5th and 6th kick sound
you can use any sound effect or perc you want but i like something that has an echoed sortof airy and soft zap or perhaps a light open hat. i think if you have a reverb or delay effect on it it can sound great. The most important part is that you have 16 kicks per loop and that this offbeat sound only happens between the 5th and 6th.
heres how its setup

you have your kick(+) and your sound effect or perc(#)

maybe i should show you on the same line

+...+...+...+...+.#.+.#.+...+...+...+...+...+...+...+...+...+...


here is a visual aid. this is taken from FL studio

If you listen to a little bit of R&B or rap, moreso the old-school stuff, you will hear how they switch up the beat by removing some drums. Most of the time it's the bass, but except for a few electronica songs the bass is neccessary...

I've noticed that some producers like to stick in a different sample all together for the kick/snare/clap line, and like to use a little "flange" or "flam" effect (a short boost, i guess you could say, before hi-hats or claps)

It works really well on hihats if you use another sample (i prefer a higher pitched tick or tiss) just before the third hihat...

I like switching up the hat's in the third because it gives you flexibility on your Cymbals and your extra kicks--when you want to add them in on the fourth.

And if you increase the "swing" modifier on your song, you can get beats that sound like Zero's tune "Emit/Collect" which changes things up a bit in a sometimes unoriginal genre.

By the way, I highly recommend getting or finding Emit/Collect...it's a very unique song with a really incredible drumscheme! (it's on Oakenfold's Great Wall compilation)

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Nice one guys! Here's an example from my latest tune (wip!) of some of these types of rhythms.

I've written out the parts from the sample to demonstrate.

sample.mp3

[rhodes]
1.+.2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1.+.2...3...4...1.+.2...3...4...

[open hi-hat] (thanks Moth!) (note change in very last bar)
1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+.1.+.2.+.3.+.4+.+

[saw synth + glide]
1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4...1...2...3...4.+++


Who's got any more rhythms? Also, what kind of tricks for synths/effects do you guys use?

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Monsoon - Astrosurf

This thread should be sticked i guess

I agree,, This has opened up my eyes for a a lot of things. I really recently have been really experimenting with offbeat rhythms and found it can help a lot of movement going..

This is what i am trying to really work on to help really bring a good motion to the track..

All this help is really appreciated