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Greetings mate and Welcome aboard!
Stuart Charles here, HomeStudioBasics.com helping YOU make sound decisions, so…
Today we’ll cover several ways to add swing to your drums in FL Studio.
The first will cover a basic method, followed by more advanced concepts.
Let’s dive in!
To start, let’s open up FL Studio and create a new project. File > New From Template > Empty.
Hit F6 to bring up your channel rack and drag some drum samples in.
If you need a tutorial on how to do so, click here.
Now make a basic drum pattern.
The first thing to know is that the swing effect only happens on the even steps.
Once you have a pattern you like, head over to the knob on the right and play around with it. This is your swing function.
Turn it up to almost 100%. Notice the hesitation in the beat which now sounds less mechanical/robotic and more interesting. Play around with the level until you find something dynamic and engaging without going overboard.
What’s actually happening behind the scenes is that the kicks are subtly shifted toward the snare, but never all the way.
Changing the volume
You can also adjust the volume of the samples. Have a look to the right of the swing knob and you’ll see some vertical bars.
Click the icon and play around with the levels to find something interesting.
Manual Method
Hit F7 to bring up the piano roll. Here you’ll see the notes you just mapped out in the Step Sequencer.
The Piano Roll is neat because you can edit and modify single pieces of audio information; allowing you further customisation of the sound.
See all the icons near the top? Click the one that looks like a magnet.
It should be on “Step.” Play with a sample first to see how it reacts. Notice how it only moves a single step over.
Now, you can switch it to “None” to move the piece of audio over slightly, but a quicker way is to simply hold down “Alt” on your keyboard and move it.
To highlight a note, Cntrl/Cmnd left-click and drag. Now the note will be red. You can do this for multiple pieces as well.
From here, simply alt-click, drag the note(s) slightly to the right, and let go.
The cool thing about this is that it doesn’t just apply to swing. You can move notes around at will; according to the project in question and what sounds good for your specific song.
If you don’t click alt-first, it will move in steps.
This method works well if you simply want to apply swing to a certain part of the beat vs. the method earlier which affects the entire pattern.
You can do this for the high hats and snares as well.
Just head up to the top and choose.
Quantization Options
Hit Alt + Q to bring up the quantizer.
Have a look at all the different presets by clicking the drop-down arrow. Select one and start playing around with the levels: Pan, velocity, release, etc.
Now adjust the start time. This will move the notes slightly to the left or right.
From here there are a bevy of options. You can pitch up or down different elements of the drum kit to your liking, you can add an envelope which is what I typically do for kicks (pun not intended), etc.
The possibilities are vast.
Again, swing can be very important in hip-hop beats specifically, because it adds a sense of realism and live flavor that some tracks sorely lack.
It just depends on the beat in question. Some sound better without swing, some need that extra bit of flair to avoid the pitfalls of a too mechanical and robotic presentation.
A great example of a beat that utilizes swing to its full advantage is none other than “Hard Times” from Thes One. The groove it creates is simply undeniable.
If you’re interested in a full guide, check out my full tutorial on How To Sample In FL Studio. Also, have a look at my resources page for a bunch of other helpful FL Studio articles!
Well, that’s about it for today my friend! I hope you’ve enjoyed this article on How To Add Swing To Drums In FL Studio and came away with some valuable insight.
Questions? Comments? Requests? Did I miss the mark on something? Please leave them down below or Contact me!!
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What kind of music are you producing? I would love to hear from you. Until next time…
All the best and God bless,
-Stu
