Watch producer & drummer Ian Chang make an original beat inspired by the rhythmic phrasing of a Björk melody.
How can you make your beats sound interesting and human, full of variation and interest? Well, according to producer & drummer Ian Chang, one great way to do it is to take inspiration from the vocal phrasing and rhythms of singers.
In this short course, Ian shows us how he produces a beat using a rhythm inspired by the phrasing of a classic Björk melody. It's a quirky approach — but one that shows how much there is to learn when we expand our frames of reference and look for inspiration in surprising places. And we get to see lots of cool production tricks along the way, from sound design to sampling and effects.
This is a partner course for Warped Rhythms & Abstract Beats, Ian's other course about drumming and rhythm. This one is for producers specifically, particularly those with an interest in something more experimental and organic-sounding. Watch Ian create a demo from scratch, showing both how he thinks about rhythm and a variety of other production tricks along the way.
Ian Chang is a Hong Kong-born, U.S.-raised journeyman drummer/producer/composer. He makes forward-looking experimental electronic music using technology that allows him to control samples directly from his drum kit. He’s a full-time member of Academy Award® and BAFTA-nominated band Son Lux, and has contributed live drums and recorded tracks to a wide range of artists, including Matthew Dear, Moses Sumney, Landlady, Body Language, Chvrches, Rubblebucket, Woodkid and Kazu Makino.
From age nine, Chang studied classical percussion and piano at Hong Kong's Academy for Performing Arts. In 2011, he was awarded a degree in jazz drumming by NYU. By 2017, he was playing drums-only live sets inspired by Sunhouse's Sensory Percussion technology, in turn leading to the release of his debut EP, Spiritual Leader. 2020 saw indie mainstay City Slang Records issue Belonging, a full-length realization of Chang's vision, which incorporated vocals from Kiah Victoria, Kazu Makino, and Hanna Benn.
Ian's online course, Ian Chang: Warped Rhythms & Abstract Beats, is available now exclusively on Soundfly.
Drummer/Producer Ian Chang is always pushing the limits when it comes to rhythm and beats. In this mini-course he makes a beat from scratch using a vocal phrase as the starting place, and exploring a variety of different techniques to bring the beat to life in the DAW along the way.
This course is primarily for producers, especially those with an interest in making beats full of variation and interest. If you're a drummer looking to learn from Ian about rhythm, check out his other course on rhythm and drumming.
You'll learn topics such as:
And much more.
You'll get the most from this course if you have a DAW. Ian uses Ableton Live, but it's not necessary to the core ideas and everything he shows us can be done in a different DAW too.
This course was designed for you to go through at your own pace, but it's one of the shorter ones in our library. Ideally, you could complete this course in a single sitting — about one hour.
You can start the course anytime.
This course includes 13 lessons, including videos, graphics, text, activities, creative prompts, and much more.
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