Beatbay guide
House drum pattern
A house beat is “four on the floor”: a kick on every beat of the bar, a clap or snare on beats 2 and 4, and an open hi-hat on every off-beat between the kicks, at about 120 to 128 BPM.
The pattern
Four kicks a bar, evenly spaced, are the heartbeat. The clap doubles beats 2 and 4. The open hat sits exactly between the kicks, on the “and”, which gives house its lift; a closed hat on the beat cuts it off, the way a real hi-hat does. A shaker in sixteenths fills the gaps.
| Drum | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punch kick | X | · | · | · | X | · | · | · | X | · | · | · | X | · | · | · |
| Big clap | · | · | · | · | X | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | X | · | · | · |
| Tight hat | x | · | · | · | x | · | · | · | x | · | · | · | x | · | · | · |
| Bright open hat | · | · | X | · | · | · | X | · | · | · | X | · | · | · | X | · |
| Shaker | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x | · | x |
Read across: each column is a sixteenth note, numbered on the beats. X is an accent, x a hit, r a quick roll, ? a hit that plays only some of the time round.
Tempo and feel
Classic house is 120 to 125 BPM; deep house slower, around 118 to 122; tech house a little faster. Keep the kick punchy and short so the bass can sit with it, and add only a touch of swing, if any.
The beat above is Beatbay’s “House” starter: 124 BPM, swing 53%. Tap any step to change it while it plays.
Make it your own
Bring the open hat in on the second time round, not the first, to build. Use Beatbay’s Fill button for a snare roll before a change, and pull the sweep down and let it go for the classic filter build. The bass on the off-beats under the kick is the other half of house.
When you like it, “Open in Beatbay” takes your version into the app, where you can save it, add patterns and share it as a link, a video or a WAV.
Questions
Why is it called four on the floor?
Because the kick drum, played with the foot, hits the floor on all four beats of the bar.
What BPM is house music?
Most house is 120 to 128 BPM, with 124 a common middle.