A rhythm from Brazil, Bass Brega

Community Made With Ardour
#1

In the north of Brazil, in the city Belém, state of Pará, exist a growing rhythm, a electronic one.
The name is not defined, some call it “Tecno Brega”, “Eletro Brega” or maybe “Eletro Melody”.
This is a mix of Latin American genres like Cumbia, Brega and Reggaeton, with electronic sounds.

They produce big parties with very big sound systems that they call “Aparelhagens”. If you search in Google or Youtube by “aparelhagem badalasom” you’ll see what I’m talking about (Badalasom is only one “aparelhagem”).

The most famous guys in this scene are “Gang do Eletro” (youtu.be/AGTZ5CBBLso more than 1M views), “Gaby Amarantos” and others.

Almost all my childhood a listened this type of music and now, with support from Ardour, I’m producing my own Eletro Brega, thank you guys! My style have some boost ins bass, so I call it “Bass Brega”.

This sound was made with Ardour 5.10, ZynAddSubFX, Helm, Calf Plugins, etc. Only the shaker, hihat and snare are samples, the rest was synthesized by me.

#2

Hi,

thanks for sharing.
Very impressed by the tight bass and the drums.

I am also stepping into digital production. But I found the midi note editing in Ardour super cumbersome…

Could you please share some more detailed on your technique?

  • How to you record & edit the midi notes?
  • Do you use Hydrogen for the drums or do you edit them directly in Ardour?
  • Do you use hardware controller?
  • If yes, which one?
  • Did you specifically map it?

Thanks in advance.

#3

How to you record & edit the midi notes?
I synthesized the sound, so I use the piano roll in 90% of the time. Editing this midi with a common mouse is tiring, so I use a Wacom tablet (Intuos Draw), this gear speed up my work.
I use a MIDI keyboard (Korg MicroKey 37) too. When Im looking for a melody. I simply put a Helm or ZynAddSubFX in a track and use whatever scale in the intended mode, and the melody comes up. When I’m satisfied with this I click on Rec and is done.

Do you use Hydrogen for the drums or do you edit them directly in Ardour?
I tried but the piano roll in Ardour is now my default. I put one track per sound. My Kick Drum is made in the ZynAddSubFX (search on Youtube by “Unfa Vlog ZynAddSubFX” or “Tobiasz Karoń”) this guy teaches how to make a massive Kick with simples steps.

Do you use hardware controller?
Yes, the Korg mentioned before.
(And Im trying to map a Behringer CMD LC1, but without results until now)

Did you specifically map it?
No. Just plug it on my Linux. If Im using QJackCtl I need to plug it on the “a2jMidiD”. But today I use the Cadence and Carla apps from KXStudio repositories, and it is simple. If the Korg is plugged in the computer (with Cadence running) I only need to activate this in the Ardour midi strip.

#4

To use the snare sample (in this specific track) I used the “Samplv1 LV2”, by Rui Nuno Capela (available in the KXStudio repositories).
I made the bass sound with two channels and FM in the ZynAddSubFX.
To combine the bass and the Kick Drum I used a “a-Compressor” by default in Ardour 5.10, with sidechain. The bass is compressed when the kick activate the plugin.

#5

Thanks a lot for your explanations and details.
They seem to be very basic stuff for many here but also show one could create pushy sounds with very few tools.
The motivation for my questions was also to understand your approach to controlling the DAW interface since I am looking for a more interactive way beyond computer keyboard & mouse.

Complementary to you introduction to Brega in the first post, here is a very nice podcast about the background of today’s music from Amazon:
The Mighty Amazon at

Very nice talking on the background this music.