> Step by step
21. Bespoke layered beats with the ‘bounce-as-you-go’ method
1 After setting Bitwig Studio 2’s BPM to 126, we call up PunchBox and begin work designing a 4/4 kick. PunchBox comprises four sound generators: three sample-layering modules, and a central (synth- or sample-based) sub oscillator. The Tops module’s Elephant 1 sample gives us a nice midrange thud, over which we layer a low-pitched sine tone via the Kick » Sine oscillator.
2 For punch, we mix in a transient layer via the Click section ( Barely 2). Once the overall kick has been beefed up with PunchBox’s onboard bitcrushing, distortion (both mixed in parallel) and limiting, we whack the instrument’s
Export button. This pops a window from which we can instantly drag an audio file of the newly-crafted kick onto an audio track on the arrange page.
3 Next, we move the MIDI notes triggering PunchBox to the offbeat, and search out a scraping percussion sound to sit between the kick. Once happy with the pattern, we use Bitwig Studio 2’s Bounce feature to render PunchBox’s output to a new audio file on a new audio track. After that, we find a tom-like sample within PunchBox, sequence a pattern, then render this to a new audio file, too. 4 For a characterful clap on beats 2 and 4 of the bar, we heavily limit a weird noise burst sample, then place a render of this swelling hit on the last beat of every two-bar section. A version of the clap with less limiting is used elsewhere in the pattern, to keep the ‘swelling’ emphasis as a turnaround at the end of the section. 5 To create the groove’s offbeat open hi-hat sound, we first create and render a sustained,ed, noise-like hat. It lacks transient sharpnessess and punch, though, so we layer a tiny closedosed hi-hat over the top to mix in the desiredred snap. For each sound, we adjust PunchBox’sBox’s processing effects to help things sit in the mix from the start. 6 Now for more percussion layers: for swing, we throw in a few ghost percussion ‘pops’ interspersed on even 16th-notes and pushed later off the grid; a tonal hit and clap sample are both layered on beats 2 and 4, to thicken the snare effect in the mix; and a couple of crashstyle hats come in on the downbeats. See this process at work in the video!