4 STEPS FOR CREATING MORE INTERESTING TRAP BEATS WITH SAMPLES - HOW TO 6IX IN FL STUDIO

Hello beautiful people.

Welcome back to the channel..

My name is Chu and today I’m going to be showing you how to make beats like one of my favorite producers ever… 6ix

These steps are going to show you how to flip samples with precision so that you can turn them into trap bangers the way 6ix does for logic on the
Bobby Tarantino projects.

The steps will be;

1. Flipping samples on grid - this will cover the simplest method for chopping samples for trap beats
2. Sample manipulation and FX chain
3. Drum syncopation
4. Creating energy in boring arrangements

Please drop a like on this video as it helps my channel against the YouTube algorithm.

And as you do, I wish you a wonderful learning experience.

God bless you and enjoy!

FLIPPING SAMPLES ON GRID

Before I talk about the literal GOAT, please allow me a moment to give you a little background information on 6ix - i just have got to pay my respects!

Arjun Ivantury was born on February 17, 1991 in Bowie,Maryland.

He always had a musical inclination, but with a doctor for a dad, an engineer for a mom, and a fucking aerospace engineer for a brother (wow) his destiny was already kind of chosen for him.

And… if you are African like me or Indian like 6ix, you know exactly what I’m talking about here… literally signed, sealed and delivered - this man 6ix was supposed to be some kind of scientist.

Forget beats, he was finna be in the operating room keeping people’s hearts BEATING for real (lmao)

But!...

A young rapscallion by the name of Bobby Hall, who you might know as Logic, would throw a wrench in those pristine immigrant parent dreams of the Ivantury’s.

In 2009, Arjun would drop out of the University of Maryland, College Park, just 30 credits shy of a dual degree in neurology and physiology, to pursue a full-time career in music production.

He took on the stage name 6ix and never looked back.

I can only imagine how that conversion must have gone with his parents…

But … I bet they’ve changed the tune of their song since then.

Since dropping out of college in 2009, 6ix has produced over 50 songs for logic, including the grammy nominated song ‘1-800-273-8255’ featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid.

6ix is versatile in the ways he flips samples.

And even switching genres, say going from R&B to Boombap, seems to affect the way he flips samples.

Today, I’m going to be emulating the style 6ix uses when he is producing a Bobby Tarantino project for logic.

These beats are usually hard hitting and aggressive with dope catchy sampled melodies.

This type of vibe is right up my alley.

To start, we are going to hop into Tracklib and find a sample.

We need something dark and melodic that has interesting textures.

We can move over to “all tracks” and set up some search parameters so we can start digging.

And this is the main reason I love Tracklib.

They are the world’s first and only online record store.

They have over 100,000 pre-cleared songs for you to sample right now, including pieces from artists like Isaac Hayes, The Meditations, and Louis Armstrong.

This means you can log into Tracklib and find a real sample to work with in minutes, which is insanely dope.

Using these search parameters, I could filter for songs that were exactly the vibe I was looking for.

Later, when I release or place this beat, I or the artist can go one step further and CLEAR the sample for only 50 USD.

Actually, since 90% of Tracklib’s samples are in the C Category, they can be cleared for just 50 USD each and will allow 2-20% revenue share!

This is a really convenient way to find and clear samples, especially when you compare it to the traditional method of paying anywhere from 5k to 200k USD, drafting many contracts, and going through countless lawyers over an excruciatingly long period.

From experience, I know how difficult this can be.

Therefore, I know Tracklib can save ANY musician from tons of stress and hassle.

Tracklib has given me a special link where you can access their entire platform for 30 days at NO COST.

And they threw in 15 track download tokens so you can get to crate digging right away.

So head to the link in my description and start sampling the right way!

Huge thank you to the wonderful people over at Tracklib for sponsoring this video and making this dope content possible.

So here is the sample I went with. The horns and Latin vibe really stuck out to me as the type of thing 6ix might want to flip himself.

Once I had this, the beat was finished in my head. I just had to bring it to life in FL Studio.

I imported the sample and then found a section that looped and sounded dope to me.

This is a key part of my sampling strategy, as I have found that it is much easier to chop and flip a sample that already makes a complete loop.

If this blows your mind, don’t worry.

Just know that this has to do with music math principles that I’ve actually explained pretty thoroughly in these videos here.

I’ll put links in the description so you can check them out afterwards.

Once I found my perfect loop, I channeled my inner 6ix and got straight to chopping.

There are many ways to sample, but my favorite is with the fruity slicer which is FL Studios native beat slicing plug-in.

To use this, you just need to insert Fruity Slicer from the plugins menu in the channel rack - you can do this by right clicking on any existing channel and selecting the ‘insert’ option from the menu.

Once Fruity Slicer is open, just open the channel where your sample is, come to this waveform, and drag it into the Fruity Slicer.

This will import the sample into the slicer and cut it up in parts according to the parameters you have set and which you can change here.

I stick with the ‘1 beat’ option most of the time.

Since I usually cut my samples into perfect loops, this beat slicing option makes it easy for me to rearrange the even chops into a new composition.

So, like I said, from here it really was as simple as playing with the sample chops until I came up with a melody that I liked.

Here’s what I ended up laying down.

And now we can further manipulate our sample in step 2.

SAMPLE FX AND MANIPULATION

This part is going to be pretty straightforward, as will the rest of the video.

Finding and chopping samples is actually the hardest part.

And that wasn’t even too difficult thanks to Tracklib.

For this, I’m just going to tell you what effects I used and why.

Hopefully, this gives you insight into the way I use FX plugins.

This will be based on the way I hear samples in beats made by 6ix.

I started with a basic EQ to cut some highs and lows and then use the ‘enhance low’ preset from Fruity Chorus to bring back some color in the mid-low frequency range.

From here, I added some reverb and delay using buses because if you’re still putting your phase manipulation plugins directly on the instrument tracks, you’re a bush league amateur..

But I promise I’ll explain that more clearly in the next mixing tutorial, coming soon.

I also added a bus for chorus to bring even more color into the melody without ruining the main signal.

The last important FX that I should mention is this Halftime which I left on the default setting and automated throughout the beat to add more character and variation to the structure.

I also tweaked some of the MIDI patterns throughout the melodic arrangement of the sample just to add even more of that variation.

After this, my melody was fully structured and ready to be turned into a full instrumental.

This brings us to the penultimate step of this tutorial…

DRUM SYNCOPATION

In music, syncopation is where you have certain patterns or harmonies that interplay with other aspects of the composition - the operative word here really is ‘interplay’. This can give your beats a sense of cohesion instead of them sounding like a bunch of random parts being thrown together.

This takes years for musicians to understand and master, so please don’t stress if you can’t grasp it right away.

Just understand that 6ix is a GOD as this and it’s the reason he can make simple trap beats sound like symphonies.

I’ll show you how I use syncopation to lock in all the drum elements of this beat.

Then you can take what you learn here today and start practicing.

Okay, so first I started with the 808.

A good rule of thumb in trap production is to just follow the root note all the way through.

Most popular 808 patterns actually just do this while occasionally throwing in some kind of bump to the fifth or the octave.

This is especially true for 6ix’s style of trap production - ‘44 more’ by Logic is a brilliant demonstration of this.

So for this beat, the root note is D#.

We can start our drum syncopation by placing the 808 on the root note in basic areas.

Nothing complicated, just a simple pattern to create a beat.

From here, I noticed that the melody sort of resolves itself every 4 bars.

So in my 808 pattern, I created a variation, stutter, or melodic run every 4-8 bars in order to syncopate my 808 pattern to the melodic movement of the sample.

6ix actually heavily uses this technique, with the best examples being ‘Contra’ and “Wassup’, both of which are on Bobby Tarantino 2.

For a few of you, this concept is clicking nicely.

If not, just keep following along and remember to focus on that operative word - ‘interplay.’

After this, I added a snare using basic trap programming - by the way, the ‘Marcy’ snare from the Centerfold Drum Kit is my favorite right now. I put that shit on everything.

From here, we can syncopate our kick to the 808, which is easy because all you have to do is follow the 808, which will have your pattern sounding tucked and clean.

Then I added a perc loop, also from the Centerfold Drum Kit, to add more rhythm and bounce.

Drum syncopation is all about rhythm and bounce, which is why I also added this accenting trap bounce snare.

Last, I added this simple 2 step hi hat pattern.

I thought this added even more rhythm to the track and plays nicely with the live hats going on in the background.

And now that we have our drums programmed and perfectly syncopated, we can move on to the last step.

CREATING ENERGY IN BORING ARRANGEMENTS

Now, not that this beat is boring.

And I’m not trying to imply that your beats aren’t interesting and that i’ the only person who can teach you how to make them better.

What I mean is that musically speaking, most trap beats are ‘boring’.

The repetitive melodic elements combined with the constantly knocking drums makes for a static, and often monotonous, piece of music.

That’s why arrangement is critical.

It can be the difference between someone buying your beats or being put to sleep by them.

This is something that 6ix is a MASTER at doing.

If you want to learn my full process behind the arrangement, you can check out this comprehensive tutorial I made on the topic.

Here, I’ll just cover 2 things I did arrangement wise to make this beat more interesting to listen to.

First, I made a 2 beat cut at the end of every 2 bars.

This adds a little stutter pause where musical tension is built and then released the next time the drums drop.

I learned this from listening to a bunch of Skypierr beats on Spotify, particularly his singles ‘FLAME’ and ‘EXODUS’ where he uses these techniques a lot.

To spice this up, I added a different effect each time the beat cut out.

I believe this helped add character and an element of energy to the beat that wasn’t there before.

The second thing I did to make this beat more interesting is add this 808 delay, something else I picked up listening to Skypierr.

This was pretty simple.

I just made this 808 slide - if you don’t know how to do that, check out this video.

Then I cut some lows so it wouldn’t interfere with the low-end in the main 808.

And lastly, I added delay.

So here’s what our beat came out sounding like…

CONCLUSION

6ix is the embodiment of an internet producer’s dream.

I think that’s why I idolize him so much.

His hard production style inspires me enough as it is, but that he dropped out of school to pursue his dreams is the REAL motivator.

I’m an ivy league graduate who dropped out of his PhD program to make click tracks and YouTube videos on the internet.

I totally empathize with 6ix’s story.

And if you do too, then I hope I’ve taught you how to emulate the sampling style of such an inspirational person.

Remember, focus first on finding the right sample.

6ix goes for dark, grimy, creepy, ambient vibes when working in this style.

Tracklib is my favorite place to find samples, and it’s the best.

Be sure to hit the link in my description to get your free 30 day trial and 15 bonus download tokens now!

Thank you so much for watching.

If you learned anything at all, please consider dropping a like and/or subscribing, as it helps my channel.

And please let me know down in the comment section whose sampling style you’d like to see me cover next.

That’s about all I have for you, so I’ll head out.

Stay happy, stay healthy, and always be creating… just make sure it’s…

DOPE CONTENT ONLY.

I love you.

And I’ll see you real soon.

Peace.