Genre

EDM: BPM, drum pattern and how to make it

EDM, short for electronic dance music, is the umbrella name for club styles such as house, techno, dubstep and drum & bass. As a sound of its own it means the festival music of the 2010s, at about 124–130 BPM: a kick on every beat, huge supersaw chords that pump with the kick, and a build-up that drops into the hook.

Supersaw chords that pump, and a build into the drop. Tempo 128 BPM in the loop below, no swing.

The loop

128bpm

Tempo Swing 50% 4 bars

Kick

Clap

Open hatopen hats

Basssub

Chordssupersaw

Elead

Bar 1Am
Bar 2F
Bar 3C
Bar 4G

Four bars over Am, F, C, G. Mute a track or solo it to hear what each part does; tap any box to change it.

Make EDM yourself

The course starts with the beat under every genre and builds up from there. Unit 1 is free with a Google sign-in, in your browser.

Pick up where you left off

Carry on with Unit 1; the parts of EDM come one chapter at a time.

Start Lesson 1 free Continue learning

How to make EDM

Start from an empty grid at 128 BPM and add the patterns in this order. Each step names the pattern, says where it falls in the sixteen steps of a bar, and lights its lanes on the loop above when you point at it or tap Show. The same loop is in the beat maker, if you would rather start from the finished beat and take things away.

Step 1 Four-on-the-floor
The kick on every beat. On the grid: kick on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16.
Step 2 Backbeat
A clap on 2 and 4. On the grid: clap on steps 5 and 13 of 16.
Step 3 Supersaw chords
Huge chords in a long-long-short rhythm. On the grid: chords on steps 1, 7 and 13 of 16, notes held for 4 and 6 steps.
Step 4 Sidechain pump
Chords and bass duck under every kick.
Step 5 Call-and-response hook
A two-bar hook on a bright lead.
Step 6 Snare roll
Not in this loop, which is the drop: before it, a snare roll speeds up from quarter notes to rolls.
Step 7 Tempo and feel
Set the tempo to 128 BPM, no swing, and switch on the sidechain pump so the bass and chords duck under every kick. The usual range for EDM is 124–130 BPM.
Metronome

Also in the loop: open hats between the kicks; a sub bass on each chord’s root.

EDM drum pattern

The drums on their own: one bar of kick, snare and hats at 128 BPM. This is the part people mean by “the EDM beat”.

128bpm

Tempo 1 bar on repeat

Kick

Clap

Open hatopen hats

Part	Steps, 1 to 16	Plays on
Kick	x···x···x···x···	steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16
Clap	····x·······x···	steps 5 and 13 of 16
Open hat	··x···x···x···x·	steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16

x a hit, o a quiet hit, 3 a roll of three inside one step, · nothing. The named patterns: Four-on-the-floor, Backbeat.

How it fits together

Every part of an EDM drop is built to be big. The kick is on every beat, the chords are many detuned saws spread wide, and the sidechain pump ducks the chords and bass under each kick so the whole track breathes with the beat.

The shape matters as much as the loop: a breakdown with the drums out, a build-up where a snare roll speeds up and a filter opens, a moment of silence, then the drop. The loop on this page is the drop.

The loop in words

Kick: steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 of 16.
Snare and clap: steps 5 and 13 of 16.
Hats: steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 of 16.
Bass: steps 1, 7 and 13 of 16, notes held for 4 and 6 steps.
Chords: steps 1, 7 and 13 of 16, notes held for 4 and 6 steps.
Lead: E5 on steps 1 and 17 of 32, each held for 2 steps; D5 on steps 4, 11 and 20 of 32, notes held for 1 and 6 steps; C5 on steps 7 and 23 of 32, each held for 2 steps; A4 on step 27 of 32, each held for 6 steps.
Chords: Am, F, C, G, one bar each, in A minor.
Tempo: 128 BPM, no swing.

Ask an AI for it

Text-to-music tools such as Suno, Udio and Stable Audio respond to the words producers use, so naming the patterns gets you closer than the genre name alone. The loop above is what this description means; press play, mute a track, and drop its words from the description to hear what each one changes.

“EDM, 128 BPM, festival EDM, big room, four-on-the-floor kick, clap on 2 and 4, supersaw chords, sidechain pumping, build-up, snare roll, drop, euphoric, uplifting”

Say	It means
festival EDM, big room	the huge, simple 2010s main-stage sound
four-on-the-floor kick, clap on 2 and 4	the dance-floor beat
supersaw chords, sidechain pumping	wide chords that duck under every kick
build-up, snare roll, drop	tension that speeds up, then the full beat lands
euphoric, uplifting	the mood
124–130 BPM	the tempo

Why pattern names give you control over generated music

The EDM family

EDM is also the name for the whole family of club styles. Each one below has its own page and loop, over the same four chords, so you can hear what changes from one to the next.

Genre