History of Trap Music

Trap music is beginning to grow as a genre in the music industry quite rapidly through other sub-genres. Even though there is an excitement in the industry about some trap music that is recently developing, EDM, there is some history behind this genre of dance music that is still new. However, the new EDM movement that is evolving has realized the use of the dutch house, techno, and dub such as sound that is incorporated with the original Roland drum samples being included as well as vocal samples that were used by the inventors. To produce trap music, a lot of techniques that will be required to be implemented to achieve it. The methods are to be incorporated skillfully to produce quality trap music

Rhythm and stealth

As established before, trap music is usually super-slow hence the need for enough space within the drum patterns as well as grooves to work . The trap music achieves lots of its power to develop and dispel tension and momentum when the individual decides to fill things up and later break them to get the desired sparse quality. With a little focus on the main snare and put on typical beat 2 and 4, the music produced to get to be a lot more creative incorporation with the syncopation of kick drum (Kawohl and Kretschmer 2009, p.210). When cover kicks are put further below, attention needs to be turned on skittering hits.

Trap tunes

The above technique can be achieved through their definite slower tempo of approximately 70-85 BPM. However, if one finds it easier to deal with, it is also possible to double the speed and hence crate beats in half the time. In this case, the hit is spread over two bars rather than a single bar of tempo (Solberg 2014, p.70). Once one dial a tempo that is above in the above range of 70-85 then listen to the metronome click, the trap is noticed to be slow. The epic and head-nodding rhythm majorly comes from that trick. When the trap tunes are combined with other techniques starts to whip up some low-slung magic.

Classic snare roll;

Rolling is a technique in which the percussionist produces a sustained sound that is above the written notes. Spacing out the snare hit each 1/8 note, followed by 1/16 note, and finally, 1/32 note before the drop hit is done to create the effect (Plumbley et al. 2002, p220).

Layering textures and EQ

Some textures can be added to fill up space, to add grittiness and some mood to music, One can automate a low-pass and high-pass filter on a texture to develop an EQ transition (Solberg 2014, p.70). The shift will vary from low frequencies all the way to high.

Reverb

 Reverb is a music technique where the amplifier and amplified musical instrument produce a sound which is made to reverberate (Exarchos 2016 p.5) slightly. A producer verbs sound about 40% to 50% wet and are followed by LPF at averagely 6-8khz verb and 2-3 sec without delay.

Modulation

One of the significant modulation effects is the flange. The flange develops by mixing two similar signals and another delayed by changing time which ought to be less than 20minutes. Another simple modulation effect is the phase. In phasing, two versions of the same signal play back simultaneously (Kawohl and Kretschmer 2009, p.210). However, instead of adjusting speed the tape manually, small inconsistencies of the tape machine’s motor as well as flow of tape cause the two version signals to slide together out and in phase. As a result, various frequencies phase will cancel.

Dynamics

The technique is more concerned with the intensity in addition to the volume of a song. Of importance when one wants to achieve dynamics is the crest factor. The afore-said refers to the standard difference between the loudest and quietest peak (Plumbley et al. 2002, p220). If the crest is small, it will result in loud music hence the kick will not be felt like it is punching.

Bass enveloping

All that is necessary for this technique is the application of an Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release envelope to the bass part. When using a soft synth for instance Massive to generate bass, the synth will automatically contain an envelope sector. The envelope section can be used mode audio presets for easy access (Rogers 2006 p.100). When working with sound, it is possible to use a plugin for example Logic’s enveloper or otherwise cut up the basslines to have notes in separate regions which later will be applied a uniform fade in.

Contrast

In creating contrast as a technique, understanding that trap music is seldom a repeating loop is necessary. In trap music, there is always some form of crucial change in arrangement or chord progression (Rogers 2006 p.100). A song may go from an element containing only drums and perhaps one melodic element into a full orchestra of samples and synthesizers.

References

Exarchos, M., 2016. Synth Sonics as Stylistic Signifiers in Sample-Based Hip-Hop: Synthetic Aesthetics from ‘Old-Skool’to Trap.

Kawohl, F. and Kretschmer, M., 2009. Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and the trap of inhalt (content) and form: An information perspective on music copyright. Information, Communication & Society, 12(2), pp.205-228.

Plumbley, M.D., Abdallah, S.A., Bello, J.P., Davies, M.E., Monti, G. and Sandler, M.B., 2002. Automatic music transcription and audio source separation. Cybernetics &Systems, 33(6), pp.603-627.

Rogers, M., 2006. Trap Music: Drummer Frankie ‘Kash’Waddy Stays on the One. Wax Poetics, 18, p.100.

Solberg, R.T., 2014. “Waiting for the Bass to Drop”: Correlations between intense emotional experiences and production techniques in build-up and drop sections of electronic dance music. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture, 6(1), pp.61-82.