Hi Shakeyla, I hope my FL Beginner Training is exactly what helps kickstart your beatmaking education!
First understand that music production is all about LOOPS.
In FL Studio, when we're in the Channel Rack, you'll notice we have Patterns. Each pattern is essentially a "loop" that we can add into the Playlist to build our song's arrangement.
So, when you go to make a pattern (loop) in the Channel Rack, it's best to think in terms of "groups of sounds".
For example.. let's say you want to make a drum loop. You'd first add all sounds into the Channel Rack, like a Drum, a Clap, a Hi-Hat, and maybe a Bongo!
If you click all of these sounds into Pattern 1, this will restrict you later on because you cannot separate the drum from the clap from the hi-hat from the bongo..
So when I say think in "groups of sounds".. let's say we want to make a hi-hat loop with two hi-hats.. in this case we can add both hi-hats in the Channel Rack on that pattern, because we know we always want those 2 hi-hats to play in that loop within the Playlist.
From what you're saying, it sounds like you're confused on how patterns work in FL Studio. (That link will give you a break down on how to make a drum loop in FL Studio).
You do not want to add all sounds in 1 pattern because you can't separate sounds to arrange the song.
So for the Drum, Clap, Hi-Hat and Bongo..
You'd want to go something like this:
- Pattern 1: Drum
- Pattern 2: Clap
- Pattern 3: Hi-Hat
- Pattern 4: Bongo
But what you'll find is making beats with only 1 sound at a time in 1 pattern is really hard and not musical!
So what you can do is add all sounds in 1 pattern, but then break it apart later (doesn't take that long), and you can gain the benefit of working with multiple sounds at once.
Another approach is to add Pattern 1 into the Playlist, then add in your sounds (drum, for example).
Then go to Pattern 2, add that into the Playlist, and add in your next sound (clap, for example)
Then go to Pattern 3, add it into the Playlist.. then add the Hi-Hat in..
Does that make sense?
Once you understand how the Channel Rack allows us to build loops in a pattern, it's all about placing only the sounds you want to use in a pattern so you can create unique loops to add and remove in the Playlist to build your Song's Arrangement.
