Building Your Band

A better conversation about music, with David Loftis and Peter Bulanow

More Subdividing

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We’ve already laid out how music generally subdivides each count into 2s or 3s. This means that in 4/4 (or 3/4 or 5/4 or 6/4 or 213/4) time the first duple subdivision results in a 1/8th note, and the next a 1/6th note. We can keep subdividing by 2s and reach 1/32nd notes and I’ve even see 1/64th notes in print. This can keep going to 1/124th notes, 256th note, 512th note and even 1024th notes, and in theory could continue.

If we were subdividing by 3s, an “eighth note triplet” figure with three notes takes the same amount of time as an “eighth note duple” with two notes. And three sixteenth note triplets takes the same amount of time as two regular duple sixteenth notes

The kind of subdividing going on in a song is something to listen for, no matter who you are in the band. Generally, if the song has an eighth note feel, or a sixteenth note feel, everyone is playing to that level of subdivision, and no one instrument is exceeding that. For instance it would be very unusual for a song with an eighth note feel to have sixteenth note tom fills, or riffs with sixteenth notes in them.

The possible exception to this (and something which I love) is the use of 16th-note triplets in the hi-hats in a song with an eighth note feel. For some reason the triplet used against the duple doesn’t mess with the overall feel of the song, and can really add a wonderful freshness or urgency. Michael W. Smith’s “Goin’ Thru The Motions” is one notable (old school) example of sixteenth note triplets in the hi-hats in a song with an otherwise eighth note feel.

Serving the song as a… [timekeeper]

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I love a great drummer. I love watching them paint with their sticks. I marvel at their limb-independence. I love the textures they produce. I love the spontaneity and the inspiration they bring, and how they can lean forward or back against the beat and even stretch time. A great drummer can defy the laws of physics.

But let’s start at the beginning. If there was a survey of advice for young drummers, the unanimous consensus would be: stop playing fills and keep steady time.

The classic rookie mistake of a drummer is to think that busy is better, to think that riffs/fills are important to their role, and then to sacrifice time keeping for flash. We’ve all done it, or something similar to it. But when a drummer shifts time around (plays a flashy fill and then rushes a little), the consequences are far graver. Instead of thinking about where the sound is going, the band is now trying to figure out where the downbeat is! Everyone gets hesitant and preoccupied, and that shows.

Consider this – instead of filling up space with a fill, have you ever noticed how producers in electronica build tension going into a new section? They usually pull sounds out. They pull out the kick, or pull out the snare, or pull everything! One of the few examples I can find of this in a worship song is David Crowder Band’s “Our Love is Loud”, although Crowder is admittedly fairly electronica-oriented in its production. (Can anyone think of any other?)

What is a rhythm section?

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Put another way – what is meant by a “rhythm section”? And more importantly, why is it called that?

A rhythm section is really just the drum kit and bass (upright or electric).

It’s called this because the rhythm section operates as an integrated unit by defining the rhythmic structure of the song as well as the tempo and the groove. That cool rhythm guitar part? Yeah that’s just filler or ear candy at best. The real song, the definitions of downbeat and the bass of the chord, are determined by this dynamic duo.

This idea is at the foundation of moving away from the pianist defining the song and the mix. And everyone has to be aware of this dynamic. Even if a song were to start out on acoustic piano, or with a guitar riff, as soon as the rhythm section is in, they define time.

When a rhythm section is working, it’s truly a beautiful thing. It frees other instrumentalists up to not have to “carry” the song, but to just play the parts that really add value.

Flesh and bones

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What on earth am I talking about here? This is how I think about the roles of the various instruments. The rhythm section, consisting of bass and drums is the skeleton, the bones, and everything else is the flesh that hangs off the skeleton.

So the real “song” is defined by the rhythm section. A vocal track should have no problem existing inside this space thus creating “the song”. And indeed it is all empty space in there. The other instruments – the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboard, organ, solo and orchestral instruments, backing vocals and choir – all are the flesh and muscle and organs (hah) that exists inside the skeleton, and must not conflict with the lead vocal or each other!

This paradigm, these new wine skins, must inform how everyone thinks about the song to include how it is played and how it is mixed. The mix must begin with the kick, snare, hat, etc. and then go to the bass, and then the other instruments. They can be sub-mixed in groups (the rhythm section in Group 1-2, the instruments in Group 3-4), so that the vocals speak, but the only thing that can conflict with the vocals are the instruments, not the rhythm section.