ryangruss.com » Reggae

Get Out Your Hacky Sack

Ryan — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:32:36 +0000

Loop #127

Take a little bit of Sublime, mix it up with a dash of 311, and you’ve got yourself some serious stoner-funk-reggae. This particular genre requires one very ringy, high-pitched snare drum, some off-beat hi hat skankin’, and an extra large brownie.

Crunchy grooves, brah!

Here’s a four measure loop that will make patchouli oil ooze from your speakers.

Preview Here:

Download audio file (78_StonerFunk.mp3)

Get the .wav file here.

Get the .rx2 file here.

Get the .aiff file here.

78 BPM

Stealing From Stewart

Ryan — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:48:35 +0000

I’ve recently received a lot of requests for more reggae loops. Some via email, some via the comments section and some via the hippie who decided to camp out in front of my house and play his djembe all night. To prevent any sort of rogue drum circle from forming in my neighborhood, I spent the majority of today laying down new reggae infused loops.

I began by setting the click to 166 BPM and experimenting with different delays on the snare channel. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a trick I picked up from Stewart Copeland and can be heard on more than a few Police songs. The secret to making it really fit in the groove is to set the delay to a dotted eighth note and slightly filter the resulting notes. You can listen to Stewart explain this unique effect in this video (just forward to the 4:00 mark).

Stewart Copeland

Loop #83

Today’s loop is a four bar phrase with one of Stewart’s signature tom fills leading into a crash on the “&” of beat four. And yes, you’ll be able to obtain the rest of the loops from this session when Volume III is released on August 1st.

Preview Here:

Download audio file (166_DizzyReggae.mp3)

Get the .wav file here.

Get the .rx2 file here.

Get the .aiff file here.

166 BPM

Rasta Time!

Ryan — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:21:53 +0000

I just realized my “Style” category was missing one crucial genre: Reggae. But then I also realized I have no clue how to play the real “roots” stuff. Apparently I forgot to take that “Reggae 101″ class at Berklee (they still let me graduate) and Burning Spear hasn’t called me for any gigs lately.

To be perfectly honest, the majority of what I know comes from listening to Stewart Copeland with The Police and Pete Thomas with Elvis Costello. Hardly Rastafarian, but they are both masters at blending some of the authentic Reggae elements with pop music.

No, this isn't my passport photo.

Loop #70

To get in the right frame of mind for today’s loop, I trekked over to the nearest frat house, ate a few “brownies” and listened to Bob Marley’s “Legend” on repeat for three hours straight. I eventually wandered home (after stopping for another snack at Taco Bell) and recorded this beat.

Preview Here:

Download audio file (170_reggae.mp3)

Download the Logic session here. (99MB)

Get the .wav file here.

Get the .rx2 file here.

Get the .aiff file here.

170 BPM