cover feature / make better beats

This month, we’re going big on beats, the rhythmic backbone of your music, and the element that sets genres apart and gets feet tapping. Over the following 20 pages, we’ll tackle both programming and mixing better beats, with tips for better acoustic and electronic drums (and all without a human drummer in sight)

Drummers across the world are running for the hills! That’s because the world of computer music-making has never been in better shape when it comes to beat-craft, with software packages and drum machine plugins more feature rich than ever before. Now you can have practically any electronic drum machine in history on your hard drive, plus the best acoustic drum kits, played by the best players, all recorded by the most incredible mics in the finest studios in the world. There really is no reason to leave the comfort of your computer to create either the most hard-hitting electronic beats, or the most authentic-sounding acoustic drum tracks.