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Amable / Guides / Afro house beat
How to make an Afro house beat in Ableton Live 12
Afro house is house led by percussion: four on the floor underneath, and congas, toms and shakers playing syncopated patterns on top. Here it is step by step in Live 12, then the one-line version.
1. Set the tempo
Afro house usually sits between about 118 and 125 BPM. Click the tempo field in Live's Control Bar, type 122 and press Enter.
2. Add a MIDI track with a drum kit
Insert a MIDI track (⌘ Shift T). In the browser, open Drums, pick a kit and drag it onto the track. A kit with a round kick, open and closed hats, and hand percussion (congas, toms, a shaker) suits the style.
3. Make a clip
In Session View, double-click an empty clip slot on the drum track. Live makes an empty MIDI clip and opens it; the pattern below is one bar. Set the grid to 1/16 with the grid chooser at the right of the Clip View header (⌘ 1 and ⌘ 2 narrow and widen it), so each beat has four steps and the bar has 16.
4. Program the house base
Switch to Draw Mode (B) and click the notes in. Most Live kits follow the General MIDI layout (kick C1, snare D1, clap D#1, closed hat F#1, open hat A#1); check the pad names in yours.
- Kick on every beat: steps 1, 5, 9 and 13.
- Open hi-hat on the off-beats: steps 3, 7, 11 and 15.
- Shaker filling the sixteenths between, softer on the even steps.
- A clap or snare on beats 2 and 4 is optional; the percussion often carries them.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | ||||||||||||||||
| Open hat | ||||||||||||||||
| Shaker |
Dimmer cells are notes played softer.
5. Layer the percussion
The percussion carries the groove: congas, bongos or djembes play syncopated patterns, and a high and a low tom often answer each other. One way to start the congas is the tresillo, a 3-3-2 (steps 1, 4, 7, 9, 12 and 15), with a tom answering in the gaps. Vary the velocities a lot, so it sounds played rather than programmed.
Then swing the shakers and percussion. Drag a swing groove from the browser's Grooves onto the clip, and it applies at once. Then raise its Timing in the Groove Pool (⌘ ⌥ 6) until the off-beat sixteenths sit late. Listen with the groove on and off to hear what it does.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | ||||||||||||||||
| Conga | ||||||||||||||||
| Tom |
One option to start from, not the Afro house pattern.
6. A rolling bass
The bass stays out of the kick's way: short notes in the gaps between kicks, in a minor key, sidechained to the kick (here's how). Put Drift on its own track (or Operator, in Live Suite) and keep the notes short and low.
7. Stabs and a melody
Extended chords give it lift: short minor 7th and 9th stabs on the off-beats. In A minor, try Am7 to Dm9, sidechained to the kick so they pump.
On top, a marimba, plucked strings or a bell-like synth plays a short repeating figure, a few notes of the key over one or two bars.
Or ask Amable
Amable does these steps in your set when you ask in plain words:
set the tempo to 122, load a drum kit and make an Afro house groove with swung shakers
add congas and toms, and a rolling bass that stays out of the kick's way, in A minor
add Am7 and Dm9 stabs on the off-beats, sidechained to the kick
It writes the pattern into a clip and fires it. Want to learn it instead? Ask it to walk you through it, and it guides you one step at a time, checking your set before the next.
Free trial, no card needed. Needs Ableton Live 12.