Drill

Most drill tracks run intro, then alternating 16-bar verses and shorter hooks, typically 8 bars, often with a beat switch around the two-thirds mark to reset the energy. Total length usually stays tight at two to three minutes to match streaming attention spans.

Program your drums at the full 142 BPM but arrange around the half-time feel (~71 BPM): kick and snare hit on the 1 and the 3, leaving wide space for the signature sliding 808s. Those gliding 808 basslines are the identity of drill, so tune them to the key, use portamento to slide between root notes, and keep them long enough to fill the gaps the half-time skeleton opens up. Hats are where the speed shows: triplet rolls, stutters, and ramps clearly read the 138–145 BPM grid against the slow backbeat. Keep melodies dark and sparse, often a single eerie piano, bell, or string line with heavy reverb, and resist over-layering, the tension comes from emptiness. For UK drill lean into syncopated, rapid hat patterns; for Brooklyn drill lean into harder, more aggressive 808s and a slightly punchier 142 BPM kick.