Welcome to Crafting Beats
Beats represent the rhythmical centrepoint of your productions; they're literally the beating heart of most mixes. Whether you're brand new to Beats programming and taking your first tentative steps, or a Beats-programming afficionado ready to expand the range of your techniques into new sonic territory, Crafting Beats will elevate your productions to new heights.
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The Course
Is a drum kit 'one instrument', or is it a series of instruments all played by one person simultaneously?
It's perhaps not a surprise that, compared to recording and programming for other instruments, Beats can seem like an intimidating place to start.
How to build a pattern? How to choose the sounds for each kit piece? How to balance between them and stop them sounding robotic and basic?
This course won't assume that you've ever programmed Beats before; instead, it will show you 3 ways to get Beat patterns up and running and then move swiftly into techniques to make those parts more sophisticated. Grooves will be enhanced with Velocity offsets, drags, flams, rolls and grace notes and I'll show you how to preserve your own sense of rhythm, whilst tightening up Patterns which are too loose.
And, from those first Beat-making steps, I'll also encourage you to consider the length and Pitch of each drum kit; essential considerations when balancing Drums with other production elements.
- Brand new to Beats programming? Let's explore 3 ways to get you started.
- Learn the essential nuances which can be added to each drum hit
- Explore your own sense of timing and how to enhance it with Quantize, Swing and notes which 'rush' or 'drag'
- Program Beats one sound at a time, alongside mining Beat loops for golden slices of groove-building potential
What you will Learn
The opportunities for Beats productions to become sophisticated and sonically rich are huge. It's often at the Mix stage that things become powerful, as well as this point inadvertently laying some unwanted traps and pitfalls for things getting out of hand if we're not careful.
As well as exploring myriad techniques to enhance the programming stages of your drum productions, Crafting Beats will take huge strides into mix considerations for your Beats too.
We'll explore EQ techniques to avoid Bass masking and to enhance the individual qualities of each drum, alongside the effects of Compression to add power or deliberately tame.
The course will explore the role of stereo width and reverberant space for drum voices within a Kit.
Additionally, it will explore the enormous potential for both individual sound and whole Kit audio processing, across a wide range of musical examples.
- Discover how the length and pitch of your drum hits adds essential clarity to your drum productions
- Dive into Loops to mine and personalise them for personal groove enhancement
- Mix Beats as individual sounds and within the context of a whole Kit, harnessing the full potential of your Beat patterns
- Explore advanced techniques; Bass masking and Parallel Compression with Internal side-chained filtering
Curriculum
Expand the full list to see the free preview chapters.
Beats 01: Foundation Kits
This course includes Sonic Resources: Beats 01: Foundation Kits - a collection of 10 Drum Machine Designer kits meticulously curated from Logic’s sound packs. Balanced and mixed with tailored FX and Smart Controls for full sonic customisation.
Each Kit features hand-picked sources from Logic’s sound library, to ensure full compatibility for all Logic users. Featuring per-drum and kit-level FX processing, alongside thoughtful Smart Control choices for further personalisation, the Kits are designed to underpin productions across musical genres.
Check out the preview below!
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Fundamental
Beat patterns are at the heart of nearly all produced music - let's explore and harness their full power
Into The Details
Sophistication lies in the details; subtle and dramatic Beat enhancements to elevate your grooves and Patterns
Rich
Enhance your knowledge and productions with rich and throughly-explored techniques for mix enhancement
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Learn, listen, download, compose and head for the musical horizon.
Your Instructor
I’m Jono Buchanan. I’m a composer and producer specialising in music for TV and Production Music. I write extensively for some of the largest broadcasters around the world, having also worked on films, documentaries, composed for sports broadcasts and much more besides. I’ve always been a huge fan of electronic dance music too and in the early to mid 2000s, worked as a producer of remixes for some of the biggest pop acts of the day, including Whitney Houston, Pet Shop Boys, Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes.
I have been a visiting lecturer at London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama for 25 years. Despite a busy life as a media composer, I’ve never been able to stop myself wanting to teach - I love seeing creativity unlocked in anyone who wants to learn more. For me, the mix of composing, producing and being fascinated by developments in music technology have all developed side-by-side.
YouTube has provided a platform to offer free Logic Pro instruction and on the Jono Buchanan Music channel, a new longer-form video and a Short are posted every week. My Teachable courses will let you take your knowledge deeper, as they're all designed to allow you to unlock your creativity in a more immersive and focused way.
- Learn from a Guildhall School of Music & Drama Professor with 25 years’ experience
- Jono’s extensive experience as a media composer is central to this course
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Immersive, focused teaching