Ten Tips For Making Beats In Reason

Originally printed by Ray Digga on RM

Tip #1
Making a piano grimey -
Load up NN-19
Load up Grand Piano
Select HP 12 on the NN-19
On the MIXER
Change TREBLE to 40
Change BASS to -20

Tip #2
Customize your starting setup.
Load a MIXER
Load a REVERB
Load a DELAY
Load a COMPRESSOR
at this point start loading the modules that you normally use
SAVE AS default.rns
This saves time loading up modules for projects
I got several setups for EASTCOAST, CLUB, and WESTCOAST

Tip #3
Drums boring? Creating headnoddin' beats a challenge?
Create your own beat using REDRUM
Load up DR.REX
start surfing through the loops
find the best loop that fits your groove


Tip #4
Need new drums kits?
use DR.REX or NN-XT to create beats using sounds from a drum loop


Tip #5
You ever been in a situation you have a great two bar groove, but dont want it to play the same way the entire time?
Use CHANGE EVENTS
Get your two bar loop
Copy and paste til you have eight bars
Select the PENCIL TOOL on the MAIN SEQUENCER
Highlight the second half of the 8th bar
Right click it
Select CHANGE EVENTS
Goto to alter notes
adjust the value to 25%, 50%, or 75%
Click APPLY
Listen to the results.....
Its a shot in the dark, but REASON can create some interesting grooves
DONT like what you hear, click APPLY several times to listen to more random grooves
Your bound to find something that fits your original groove, works great for creating basslines and chopped up sounding sequences.

Tip #6
Cant find the right bass for your project?
Create your own.
Load a SUBTRAKTOR
You have 32 different wave forms to choose from.
Goto WAVEFORM on the SUBTRAKTOR
You want something sharp, use a triangle wave
You want something smooth, use a sine wave
Next is the OCTAVE
3 and 4 work fine for basses and subs
5 and higher are good for CLUB and WEST COAST synths
Want a more complex bass sound?
Enable the second OSCILLATOR
Adjust the WAVEFORM and OCTAVE as desired
Want your basslines to have smooth transistions from note to note?
Enable LEGATO
adjust PORTAMENTO to 50
Lower the POLYPHONY TO 1 or 2

Tip #7
Guitars sound dull? Want that commercial feel?
Load up NN-19
Load up Accoustic Guitar
Select HP 12 on the NN-19
On the MIXER
Change TREBLE to 40
Change BASS to -40

Tip #8
Want that commercial feelin' 'thin as air' string sounds?
Load up NN-19
Load up Orchstrings
Select NOTCH on the NN-19
On the MIXER
Change TREBLE to 50
Change BASS to -64

Tip #9
What are the best refills to use?
These refills will arm you with a well rounded pallete of sounds for any style of music.

AMG - 160dB Drum&Bass Interface
AMG - 260dB Drum&Bass Interface
Propellerheads - Strings
Latin
Norman Cook - Skip To My Loop
Quadra Story

Tip #10
You want to create Primo style chopped beats or Timbaland-like guitar grooves?
Use RECYCLE with REASON
Piano and guitar samples work great for those styles

** Bonus Tip 1 **
Cant find any good samples to chop up?
Use your own instrumentals
Load up any track, mute the drums
Create an eight bar loop
Export to wave
Load the wave in RECYCLE
CHOP CHOP CHOP
Save REX file
Load up in REASON via NN-XT or DR.REX
Create a new groove


** Bonus Tip 2 **
Want Spanish guitars?
Load up NN-19
Load up Accoustic Guitar
Select HP 12 on the NN-19
On the MIXER
Change TREBLE to 40
Change BASS to -40
Load up RV-7 under the NN-19
Select Hall 2
Change SIZE to -25
Change DECAY to 64
Change DAMP to 30
Change DRY/WET to 127