What do you mean? Kicks can be anywhere - it's only that if you use something else than 4/4 it's not really trance anymore.

It's usually the snare/clap that keeps the drums in beat so just experiment with your bassdrums... you can get pretty wild results!

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Latest releases:
Endless Cycles [Capital Heaven]
The Charlatan [Morphosis]

when you experiment with leaving 4/4 kick for what it is you should be "careful" that you don't end up with drum n bass, and not really renewing or anything

Especially with techno tho you can do some fun stuff with the kick like 1,5,9,12 or 1,4,5,9,12,13 (x0x style)

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All rhythm evolves around a kick...

I spin and produce electro with trance type melodies...Thats the only thing I know of that sounds like trance but dosen't have the 4/4 kick....

Yes, go against the 4/4 and see how many DJ's will play your tune. I'll tell you now, no-one will because it will sound crap when mixing in.

Tony Walker - Field of Joy, great tune, rarely played because it sounds crap in the mix!

So it is almost have to use 4/4 if U want your track to be played in commersial scene?

no ur wrong, its a MUST have if u want ur track 2 be mixed by good dj`s coz otherwise it would sound like shite..

not the commercial scene, i mean, u have 2 step stuff also played by the commercial scene..

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www.luukmaes.tk

Isn't it depressing to think that all you have to do is move the kick around and suddenly you have to change record labels? It's like a nightmare about having to write every song in the same tempo, and everyone having to dress the same way, and do the same dance moves; and if there's any change, EVERYONE has to change to it at once. Kind of like the way it is now.

But, as I heard in a little Tiesto interview, the time is coming soon when people will be more willing to mix it up. Plus, corporate "cool hunters" are going out of style. This genre nazi crap could come to an end soon.

In the meantime, you can sneak in a break-y bridge if your song is dynamic enough, as long as you keep the 4/4 at all the big drop points.

I know, this may sounds like a really stupid question, but I don't know the answer (or I think I know it but...). So how goes the 2 step? Is it like k-------k-------? Or something else? And what genre of music uses that?

Damn...these boards have always been a learning place for me. Great replies, great topics! These boards never cease to amaze me with their great users.



I was thinkin the same thing awhile back; the 4 Kick scenario was in my head, and I was wonderin if they would do somethin to change it up; I mean, sure the beat is your basic Trance, House, and Electronica beat. But, it makes sense that if you don't use the 4/4 rule, DJ's ain't gonna play your song in a DJ set. Well, I've been lookin for an alternative, and so far, I can't find one yet. I mean, I've been trying to use Break Beat, or somethin else, but I can't seem to find the solution. Well, I guess you can mess with the bass, or bass drums, snares, and hi-hats, but it's still gonna have that 4/4 sound; just different from teh other tunes. Well, I guess stick with it; if it ain't broke then fix it...I just hope the music will evolve more, and more, like it has over the past decade. -Mental

Of course, if you only have only percussions (no kick) throughout the intro/outro it might help the mixing a bit

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Latest releases:
Endless Cycles [Capital Heaven]
The Charlatan [Morphosis]

If you're going to stick with 4/4 kick, go for a unique kick sound.

To use a rock analogy, every drummer from Ringo Starr to Tommy Lee played the snare on the second and fourth beats:

---- X--- ---- X---

but there were a zillion ways of tuning the snare, miking it, hitting it a certain way, etc.

Also, tempo and the arrangement of the rest of the tune will greatly affect how the kick feels.

And how can I forget - secondary kick patterns!

Ian Wilkie - Guten Morgen

Main Kick:
X--- X--- X--- X---
Secondary Kick:
---- ---X --X- -X--

Last edited by Taz on Aug-30-2002 at 05:37