Parts
What a guide is asking for when it names a part, and what each one is doing in a track.
What this page is for
A guide hands you a list of parts and a box to play each one on. It says stab and ghost-perc and bass-mid without stopping to say what those are, because it is written to be read at a machine with your hands busy.
This is where they are explained. Each one says what it is, then what it is doing — the second being the half a definition normally leaves out, and the half that tells you whether the part is working.
For what the drum sounds themselves are and where they came from, the drum machines page is the companion to this one.
kick
The pulse
- What it is
- The low drum on the floor, and usually the loudest thing in the track.
- What it does
- It sets the tempo you feel rather than count. Almost everything else is placed against it.
- Asked for as
- dark · dirty · hard · soft
sub
The weight
- What it is
- The lowest part, often a plain sine, felt more than heard.
- What it does
- It carries the low end on a big system and does almost nothing on a laptop speaker.
- Asked for as
- clean · dark · dirty · hard · soft
bass-mid
The bass you hear
- What it is
- The bass part with enough upper harmonics to survive a small speaker.
- What it does
- It carries the tune of the low end. Split from the sub so each can be placed on its own.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dark · dirty · hard · soft
snare
The backbeat
- What it is
- The bright crack that answers the kick, normally on beats two and four.
- What it does
- It is what makes a rhythm walk. Move it and the whole feel of the bar changes.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dirty · hard
clap
The wider backbeat
- What it is
- A handclap, or a stack of them, sitting where a snare would.
- What it does
- Used instead of a snare for a softer, wider hit, or on top of one to make it broader.
- Asked for as
- bright · hard · soft
rim
The quiet click
- What it is
- A stick on the rim of a drum rather than its skin — dry, short, no body.
- What it does
- A backbeat that stays out of the way, and the usual answer when a snare is too much.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean
ghost-perc
The hits you feel
- What it is
- Quiet percussion that fills the grid without asking to be heard.
- What it does
- It makes a pattern breathe. Take it out and everything sounds programmed.
- Asked for as
- clean · dark · soft
closed-hat
The tick
- What it is
- A hi-hat struck shut, so it stops as soon as it starts.
- What it does
- It fills the gaps between kick and snare and is where most of a groove’s detail lives.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dark · dirty · hard
open-hat
The lift
- What it is
- A hi-hat left to ring rather than damped.
- What it does
- Usually offbeat, and what gives a straight pattern its swing and its push forward.
- Asked for as
- bright · dark · dirty · hard · soft
ride
The steady cymbal
- What it is
- A cymbal played in a repeating pattern rather than crashed.
- What it does
- Keeps time up high, where a hat would be busier and a crash would be too much.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean
metallic
Struck metal
- What it is
- Bells, cowbell, rims, anything with a ringing tone that is not really a note.
- What it does
- A repeating figure that adds movement without adding harmony, since it belongs to no key.
- Asked for as
- bright · dark · dirty · hard
tom
The tuned drums
- What it is
- Drums with a definite pitch, normally several at different tunings.
- What it does
- Fills and turnarounds — the thing that carries you from one section into the next.
- Asked for as
- bright · dark · hard · soft
noise
The wash
- What it is
- Unpitched sound — hiss, air, static — with no note in it at all.
- What it does
- A bed under the drums, or a rhythm in its own right when it is gated.
- Asked for as
- bright · dark · dirty · hard · soft
texture
The detail
- What it is
- Background material with no tune and no rhythm to speak of.
- What it does
- It fills the space between the parts you are listening to. You would notice it gone.
- Asked for as
- dark · dirty · soft
pad
The bed
- What it is
- Sustained chords underneath everything, with slow attack and long release.
- What it does
- Harmony you feel rather than follow. It sets the mood and hides the joins between sections.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dark · dirty · hard · soft
lead
The tune
- What it is
- A single line meant to be followed, usually the highest thing carrying a melody.
- What it does
- It is what somebody hums afterwards, and the part everything else makes room for.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dirty · hard · soft
stab
The punctuation
- What it is
- A chord struck and immediately gone.
- What it does
- Rhythm made out of harmony. It marks time rather than sustaining it.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dark · dirty · hard
arp
The chord, spread
- What it is
- A chord played one note at a time in a fixed order rather than struck at once.
- What it does
- It gives harmony a rhythm of its own, and fills space that a pad would only fill flatly.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dark
acid
The 303 line
- What it is
- A monophonic bassline through a resonant filter, with slides and accents in the notes.
- What it does
- The line stays put and the filter is played by hand. The performance is the knob, not the notes.
- Asked for as
- bright · dirty · hard
vox-chop
The cut-up voice
- What it is
- A vocal recording sliced up and played as an instrument rather than sung.
- What it does
- It brings a human sound in without bringing a lyric, and it is played from a keyboard or pads.
- Asked for as
- bright · clean · dirty
riser
The climb
- What it is
- A sound that rises over several bars, in pitch or brightness or both.
- What it does
- It exists to lead somewhere and stops mattering the moment it arrives.
- Asked for as
- bright · dark
impact
The marker
- What it is
- A single loud event — a crash, a hit, a slam.
- What it does
- It marks a boundary. One at the top of a section tells the ear that something changed.
- Asked for as
- hard · soft
sweep
The slow move
- What it is
- A filter or a noise wash moving across a section, up or down.
- What it does
- Slower and less directed than a riser. It changes how a section feels rather than announcing the next one.
- Asked for as
- bright · dark · soft