How To Produce A Hit Dancehall Riddim - [VIDEO]

Quick note before we get into it: I didn't went into too many details, this is only an overview of how I might put together a quick riddim.
For this demonstration I kept the overall production simple, and I also produced it within protools.

About Dancehall
If you know about producing music you will know certain instrumentations, sounds and patterns dictate what is known as genres.
In dancehall the drums and the bass together form the overall structure and backbone of the song as it is in most dance music. All other instruments sort of take a secondary place or plays a supportive role.

Timeframe
This took me 45 minutes to an hour to choose and put the instruments together then play them in the dancehall style. It Took another hour to mix the various sounds to how I want them to sound.

Melodies
When Producing dancehall a basic chord progression will be added to the riddim, from which all the melodies will derive. The melodies are usually left out of the production process until we get the artist's take on the song or until the artist/s record the song with their own melody/s then we can write in the instrument following their melody to compliment the song.
The reason for this is to prevent each artists from singing the same melody when producing a riddim compilation. This is also way of making each song stand out on a compilation.
(It is common practice in Jamaican music to have various artist on a instrumental with their own song or version)

With That Said Let's Get Into it...


The Instrumets used in this riddim:

1 Drums
         Kick
         Snare
         Hi hats
         Claps
         Delayed Snare FX
2 Vocal SFX
3 Strings
4 Bass

Video1 The Production Process:

First I started with some drums which consist of the Kick and Snare, then the Hats followed by Claps, all these created a nice groove, then I added some delayed snare fill to created a sort of sound effect to add character and a unique sound texture to the riddim.

After laying the drum with had a nice groove I played a chord progression with some string hits/stabs. There are also two other stings in this production playing a atmospheric background and a transitional role.

Then finally the Bass was added, playing a simple melody and formed a nice warm blanket over all the other instruments. In dancehall music or historically anyway the bass should envelope you and create an immersive feeling.

You can listen and buy now at: CP1 RECORDS

Video2 The Finish Riddim:

The hardest and most time consuming part of producing a riddim is giving it a name.
After going about a hundred names I've decided to call this the "Recipe Riddim".

You can listen and buy now at: CP1 RECORDS

The Full Video - Production Process & The Finish (1 & 2)

This is the Recipe Riddim by CP1 RECORDS
You can listen and buy riddims at CP1 RECORDS: www.cp1records.com/production.html 


If you would like me to make more blogs like this one leave a comment bellow

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