How to Make Burial Style Beats (Computer Music Guide)

[mico viejo]

you can't accuse anyone of copying some other producer because they use the same sample. It's what they do with it that matters.

completely agreed...so lets see if all the burial copyists come out with something of their own. so far i'm not impressed. but i'm sure someone will come along and surprise me soon...

[nitz]

Using things like samples of rain is a good tip though. Adds a lot of interest to a track.

No. It added interest to Burial's tracks. To your tracks it will only add accusations of copying Burial.

Depends how you use it.

I've put rain samples in both of the last two songs I made but they are so low in the mix that they are used just as noise to fill out the silence, with burial I think he was using it fairly up front so you could actually notice it.

There's so many more things you can do with a sample too that you can't accuse anyone of copying some other producer because they use the same sample. It's what they do with it that matters.

yeh i do that same, i use rain samples made from a subtracker but its so low in the mix you can really hear it at first, but then if i take it away you would hear a different.

Good points have been made but i think we should just let Burial does what he does
Learn his techniques... but not to copy hes techniques

[nowaysj]

If someone can make dope ass tracks that sound like burial's tracks, fuck if I care. I'm satisfied with dope ass tracks.

[slothrop]

I like the way that half of dubstep, including really respected producers, uses jerky halfstep beats and heavy bass, but noone accuses them of ripping off Loefah, but as soon as anyone talks about using a wonky garage beat they're a burial ripoff.

Tbh, this entire style and all of its predecessors have been built on people copying stuff that they like and making their own twist on it. Maybe Burial should have come up with his own style rather than trying to copy El-B? Maybe El-B should have come up with his own style rather than tring to copy Wookie? Maybe Wookie should have come up with his own style rather than trying to copy Todd Edwards? Maybe the UK garage people shouldn't have been using jungle bass and vocal techniques?

[Littlefoot]

nice drum pattern

sounds like any Garage loop from a sample pack ten years ago

[hackman]

for those of you who had logic pro 6, there was a pack of drum loops that came free with the exs24, called rude loopz, one of them is exactly the same as the archangel drum beat

[karmacazee]

Wasn't Burial just trying to copy those old garage beats that he loved?

[cloak and dagger]

I like the way that half of dubstep, including really respected producers, uses jerky halfstep beats and heavy bass, but noone accuses them of ripping off Loefah, but as soon as anyone talks about using a wonky garage beat they're a burial ripoff.

Tbh, this entire style and all of its predecessors have been built on people copying stuff that they like and making their own twist on it. Maybe Burial should have come up with his own style rather than trying to copy El-B? Maybe El-B should have come up with his own style rather than tring to copy Wookie? Maybe Wookie should have come up with his own style rather than trying to copy Todd Edwards? Maybe the UK garage people shouldn't have been using jungle bass and vocal techniques?

I agree with this post, but I don't really get what it's in response to in this thread. I'm seriously trying to figure it out, and it's just getting me more confused, unless it's just a rant inspired by the words "Burial" and "ripoff," in which case it makes sense to me.

[swomp]

Cringe.

A step-by-(dub)step guide

Mega Cringe.

[wormcode]

Cringe.

A step-by-(dub)step guide

Mega Cringe.

Hahaha yeah this. It's all in good fun though I suppose.

Wasn't Burial just trying to copy those old garage beats that he loved?

Basically, and classic jungle. No different than what anyone does that draws from their inspirations growing up.
And like people mentioned he certainly wasn't the first person to avoid quantizing or use odd sounds, but not to take anything away from him.. he obviously did it extremely well.

Someone from CM is probably reading this thread too.

[dignan]

Three words - mid range bass

everybody copies off everybody, it all depends how you do it. if it's dope, it's dope. end of story.

[bandshell]

Wasn't Burial just trying to copy those old garage beats that he loved?

[slothrop]

I agree with this post, but I don't really get what it's in response to in this thread. I'm seriously trying to figure it out, and it's just getting me more confused, unless it's just a rant inspired by the words "Burial" and "ripoff," in which case it makes sense to me.

yeah, pretty much.

It's something I see semi-regularly on this forum - someone posts saying "how do I get this sound that such-and-such uses" and they get a load of responses saying "omg why do you just want to slavishly imitate such-and-such, why don't you create your own sound." Despite the fact that the history of dance music is absolutely full of brilliant innovations that have come from someone taking a sound from somewhere else and recreating (or even just sampling it) in a new context. So you get all the old hardcore guys taking mentasms and just sampling them off belgian techno or each other, you get the reese starting off as a Kevin Saunderson ripoff, you get dubstep and dub techno taking old reggae FX and sticking them in different surroundings, UK garage nicking bits from pretty much everywhere, all the old reggae producers in Jamaica frantically coming up with new tricks to get ahead of the competition, and then copying them as soon as they could figure out how...

Trying to think about dance music as a personal quest for total artistic individuality seems pretty wrongheaded.

Sorry, keep meaning to start a new thread for this rather than coming in ranting irrelevantly at any provocation...

[mks]

I like the way that half of dubstep, including really respected producers, uses jerky halfstep beats and heavy bass, but noone accuses them of ripping off Loefah, but as soon as anyone talks about using a wonky garage beat they're a burial ripoff.

Tbh, this entire style and all of its predecessors have been built on people copying stuff that they like and making their own twist on it. Maybe Burial should have come up with his own style rather than trying to copy El-B? Maybe El-B should have come up with his own style rather than tring to copy Wookie? Maybe Wookie should have come up with his own style rather than trying to copy Todd Edwards? Maybe the UK garage people shouldn't have been using jungle bass and vocal techniques?

You just said everything I was going to. To be honest, I personally kind of lamented the fact that everything went half-step starting around 2004 and the swing was disappearing (although there was plenty of good music in that style). Now that people are being interested in 2-step shuffly riddims again it's a bit of a cop out to say anything 2-steppy with some atmosphere sounds like Burial. I actually liked the fact that he was using 2-step riddims when I first heard him in 2006 because I had been bumping those kinds of rhythms since 1999 and was always into the swing. I don't know, that's just how this shit works, people are influenced by each other and styles are born. Movements are made. We wouldn't have had jungle if people weren't influenced by each other, the beat structure and the basslines.

EZ

[therapist]

I don't get what's so bad about it. It wasn't useful to me, but might be to beginners who didn't know how Burial was making his beats. So apart from the regular armchair producer elitism, what's so terrible about it?

That's a big hurdle.

[hurlingdervish]

the "nothing new under the sun" argument is a cop out. burial nicks bits and pieces but on a whole, the sound is new, if familiar.

there's a big difference between inspiration and copycats blatantly attempting at being something they are not
/thread

[mmjdw]

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/ ... /8#content

Yeah. Sick beat...

[slothrop]

the "nothing new under the sun" argument is a cop out. burial nicks bits and pieces but on a whole, the sound is new, if familiar.

there's a big difference between inspiration and copycats blatantly attempting at being something they are not

I guess what I'm getting at isn't that nothing is original, it's that originality isn't a reductionist thing - it's possible to produce a very original tune that uses several ripped off components. I'm not excusing lazy, boring producers, just making a case for the odd bit of inspired theft that can actually open up new possibilities.

There are more things to do with an off-kilter garage beat than rip off Burial. Even if you start making it because you want to sound like Burial, a lot of people are going to get distracted along the way and bring their own thing to the sound. And the rest, I can happily ignore.

[hurlingdervish]

the "nothing new under the sun" argument is a cop out. burial nicks bits and pieces but on a whole, the sound is new, if familiar.

there's a big difference between inspiration and copycats blatantly attempting at being something they are not

I guess what I'm getting at isn't that nothing is original, it's that originality isn't a reductionist thing - it's possible to produce a very original tune that uses several ripped off components. I'm not excusing lazy, boring producers, just making a case for the odd bit of inspired theft that can actually open up new possibilities.

There are more things to do with an off-kilter garage beat than rip off Burial. Even if you start making it because you want to sound like Burial, a lot of people are going to get distracted along the way and bring their own thing to the sound. And the rest, I can happily ignore.

my point as well...in fewer words

[hurlingdervish]

but i think some people take that as an excuse to set the bar too low