A Trap beat is simply the background track of Trap Music, this is a sub genre of Hip Hop where a beat is created using looping beats with the breakage of the loop incorporated in the beats during playback. Trap music contains sampling, ring tones, hi hats, sampled sounds and many other features. Some examples include sampling from an analog source like an analogue tape, digital samples like samples found on an audio CD, or loops extracted from recorded music. A Trap beat often contains a single snare drum, kick drum, high hat hits, occasionally a cymbal or ride cymbal hit or claves and sometimes a percussive hit. The most basic way to describe the difference between modern or old school Hip Hop or boom bap trap beats is that the usage of the effected breaks and effected vocals used with these beats are different to traditional Hip Hop beats.
Trap Beats consist of the main beat played twice, usually four times, but sometimes double time is used. It is not uncommon to hear a break up a recording of a normal drumbeat, an example of this is “xyzzy” from Big Beat magazine. These beats often contain a single snare hit, kick drum hit or hi hat hit. In a normal drum beat if one percussionist hit another, the other will also hit it, in a trap style the vocals are usually reverb controlled or are not heard at all.
In contrast to the dark trap beats which feature sample scratch sounds, the brighter, pop or smooth style of Trap Beats often contains melodic ideas. Some popular melodic ideas used intrap beats include Auto Tune, Minor Dance Music and Melodius. Auto Tune is similar to what we hear when someone speaks over a radio broadcast. This occurs when a voice talking over a beat with a minor melody in the background. An example of Auto Tune is “…Boom Bah” by Russel Simmons.
A major part of learning how to make a trap beat involves understanding how to match vocals to the instruments. Most trap beats feature double time footwork, so when you hear someone say something, they are either speaking over a beat with a minor melody in the background or they are singing. When hearing a song like this say, for example, sample “Euphoria”, notice how each phrase is repeated. Notice how the second phrase begins and stops (a few seconds in each) exactly the same as the first phrase did. This is because the beat sample uses the minor keys of C, G and E. Another way to think of this is that each bar (or bar chord) has a corresponding key signature. Key signatures can be memorized by listening to songs you like, taking out the first note (Ringing the first string in G) and repeating it until you memorize it.
One important part of making trap beats is creating the right tempo range. Many producers tend to use their drums too low or their bass drum too high. They are missing the point of making trap beats; they should be at a tempo where the listener can clearly hear each hit and is not overburdened by the rhythm. If a listener is hit by an extremely fast drum sound, it can be frustrating because it can be hard to listen to the lyrics because the tempo is disturbing. It’s important to have the rhythm at a range where the listener can clearly hear every hit.
If you are looking for an exciting way to make a trap beat, take the time to listen to samples. You will quickly get an idea of the style of music you want to produce. Taking the time to listen to songs with similar instrumental themes will give you a better idea on what sound best fits your beat. Once you have made some decisions on the style of the music, experiment with using different instrumental samples. Listen to new tracks in the genre, as well as ones from other artists, to get a better feel for the sounds you want to include in your own trap beats.
