Trap Beat Cheat Sheet

Introduction

The main focus of the explorations project is to have us freestyle students pursue a type of art or expression that we have never done before or are trying to build upon

My specific explorations project was to create a trap beat within reason 9. Our main goals being to becoming more familiar with the software Reason 9 aswell as producing a final product that is in key with no conflicting notes

Process

First in the process was opening up reason and connecting up the drum pad and piano. We then started off with a simple beat that we made using the kong drum kit. We then added an NNXT synthesizer and decided the key that we would be in, which ended up being G major. We changed our beat up many times throughout this process. Much of our pre planning process was focused on the notes we were going to play and how experimenting with lots of different sounds until we found the one we wanted. Choosing the patches for our instruments might have been the longest part of the process.

Final Production

The process of making the beat went as follows. First we layed down a very simple beat. Then we exerimented with different melodies until we settled on a good one using the pan flute. One thing I added that Geri didn't think of was a music sample. I sampled a song from a video game I had been playing at the time called Chrono Trigger and really liked one of the songs called Corridors of time so I sampled that. Even though it might sound a bit off in the intro, I think it was worth it because it taught me how to sample other music and change its timing within reason

Reflection

Although there are some things that I wish I could have done differently, I think that my experience overall was meaningful since it was my first time really making a layered beat of my own, with help from geri of course. If there was one thing I would want to go back and change than it would be that I wish I spent more time on just one song instead of getting bored and moving onto more and more little snippets and melodies of potential songs. That way I could be proud of one large and high quality finished product instead of multiple okay once

I could not be more happy that I decided to join freestyle academy. I have never had a platform like this for me to express myself creatively to my peers and feel that I have grown a lot from the experiences I have already had. The friends I have made in freestyle and the ones I already had that I got to know better are some of the nicest people ive ever met. I will learn important skills here that I wish to use throughout the rest of my life, like the ability to make music digitally.