In this Tutorial, we show you the first steps in applying swing to your track.
Whether it’s Daft Punk’s Around The World, Fred Again..'s adore u, Larry Heard’s Burning 4 You, Jonasu’s Black Magic, or Daydream Affiliate’s 99 Eyes, swing injects a track with bounce, snap, and lively energy that straight beats lack.
In this guide, we’ll break down the theory of swing, then show you how to add this feel to your own tracks step-by-step.
Note: We are using Ableton Live to demonstrate swing but you can follow the same techniques in your preferred DAW.
What Is Swing?
Simply put, swing shifts the weak beat in every pair away from the grid by however much we decide.
Begin by taking a rhythm that’s equally spaced, like a hi-hat part playing 16ths (Fig. 1). Even with equal velocity, there’s a strong / downbeat and a weak beat to each pair. That second (weak beat) happens exactly halfway between the downbeats (or precisely on the grid); this could be called a ‘50% swing’, but it’s more commonly known as ‘straight’.
Fig. 1
Now take that weak beat and increase the time it takes to get there from the downbeat. Move that second note to the right on the piano roll, off the grid (Fig. 2). You’re now hearing a higher-than-50% difference between down and weak beats; what you’re hearing is ‘swing’.
Fig. 2
How much you moved it, that’s its swing percentage.
Here’s a simple beat played straight.
At 52%:
At 64%:
At 73%:
You’ll hear very little difference between straight and 52%, but that 2% delay adds a subtle ‘feel’ to the hi-hat. At 64%, the swing becomes clear, and at 73% even more so.
Take note, all that’s changed between any of these is the position of each ‘weak’ hi-hat beat, the second in every group of two. Look at the screenshots, and you’ll see that the gap is increasing, but the rest of the beat remains the same.
Side note: We normally associate swing with a ‘positive’ movement – one that delays the weak beat, moving it to the right on the piano roll, increasing that percentage. But you can move that weak beat earlier, to the left, decreasing the percentage. Moving notes to a less than 50% swing value is referred to as a ‘negative’ swing and creates an anticipatory, more rushed feel.
The Groove Pool
Manually shifting every weak beat is cumbersome – thankfully, Ableton’s Groove Pool handles this for you. Here you can apply a reimagining of Ableton’s grid to your clip. In other words, instead of moving the notes in your pattern off the grid, you move the grid itself.
Start by programming a beat like the one below. Use any drum kit – we’re using the 808 Core Kit with the 808 Shaper preset on Saturator and the default Drum Buss (Fig. 7).
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