Updated 30 Oct 2026
Brent Faiyaz sings toxic, hedonistic lyrics in an almost angelic voice over beats that feel ethereal and intoxicating. His production is the rare thing that is both minimal and rich at the same time, and that tension is exactly what makes people want to loop it for hours. The secret most producers miss is that these beats are simpler than they sound. Two or three chords, a soft piano, a lush pad and a lot of space for the voice to live in. Get that balance right and your loop stops sounding like a copy and starts sounding like something Brent could actually sing on. Here is how the sound is built, step by step.
You do not need a finished beat to start. The Brent Faiyaz loops sit in step 1 and again at the bottom, ready to play.
Tempo is flexible. His songs sit anywhere from about 80 to 120 BPM, so pick a tempo you are comfortable writing in. Producers who cook up for him often land around 90 to 110, and one popular Rhodes driven approach was built at 92. The feel matters more than the number, because half-time drums make almost everything sound slower and heavier than the raw BPM suggests.
The key is minor, and the whole point is restraint. Most of his production leans on only two or three chords rather than stacking six jazz voicings. F minor and F sharp minor come up a lot, and the mood is dark, warm and a little hazy. Choose a minor key, write a short loop, and let the emotion come from the sounds and the space, not from constant chord changes.
Keep it small. A one four or a one five progression does most of the work, and sometimes a single chord looped over eight bars is enough if you give the piano a melodic line so it never sounds static. A clever trick from his producers: play one chord, export the piano, then pitch the copy down about five semitones. Over sixteen bars that reads like a one five progression but keeps the tone fresh and slightly unfamiliar.
When you do want movement, seventh chords are your friend. A minor seventh to a major seventh and back, for example F sharp minor seven to G major seven to E minor seven, gives that smooth, mesmerizing bounce. Add a single tension note on top of a chord, or slide a major third down one semitone to turn a major seven into a minor seven, and the harmony instantly feels more like him. Use a short turnaround every four or eight bars so the loop breathes instead of droning.
Start with a soft keyboard. A piano or Rhodes with the attack pulled down loses its harsh click and sits gently under everything. Layer a lush, dreamy pad or an effected synth on top for width, and stack a second keyboard that fills a different frequency range, one bright and one darker, so the chords feel full without getting muddy.
Around that core, add the ear candy he is known for. Swelling strings built from just two notes that sit on the root and the fifth create emotion without clutter. Chime or bell textures add high-end sparkle. A nylon or west coast style guitar, often with a slide and a vibrato effect, adds organic warmth. The rule every producer repeats is to leave space. The voice is the focal point, so if a sound is not adding mood, pull it out.
The drums are heavily Timbaland inspired, and in some cases they literally are old Timbaland style demos. Go for organic, live sounding hits that knock hard rather than clean trap samples. A great tip is to beatbox a kick, snare and hat into separate tracks as a reference, then place or convert your drums to match that natural bounce. Keep the kick sparse so the groove has room.
Split the pattern so the beat evolves. One section can use simple flowing drums with that Timbaland flavor, and the next can be choppier to complement the strings. Add a shaker or extra perc with movement to make a straight snare feel more rhythmic, and reach for half-time whenever the song drops into a heavier, slower pocket. One small percussion layer is often all it takes to make everything else feel like it lands with more weight.
That blurry, underwater R&B feel comes from processing, not from fancier chords. Take a melodic element, warp and speed it up, then make copies pitched up and down a few semitones for an intro or a transition. Run sounds through a twelve-bit style reducer, in the spirit of an SP1200, using a bit crusher or downsampler, then tame the harshness with an auto filter and a resonance bump at the right spot. A phaser adds movement and life to almost any sound.
Pitching is a signature move. Brent will pitch whole sections up or down for long stretches, then snap back to the regular pitch. Copy a section, pitch it down two semitones while keeping the tempo, and you have an instant variation. Finish with reverb for space and a layer of vinyl crackle underneath the whole beat. Reversing a sound and letting it swell into the pocket where the chords fall is another easy way to add that polished, slightly eerie depth.
This is what most people get wrong when they try to copy him. Brent weaves his own voice into the production as an instrument, and that is what makes his beats feel authentically his. You can do the same by recording simple mumbled melodies into your phone, bouncing them in, and treating them with autotune, reverb and delay until they become texture rather than lyrics. Your voice is the one sound no one else has.
If you do not want to sing, build the same effect with layers. Stack a choir, pitch a vocal sample up to double speed, add a harmony underneath, and chop it all into your own vocal phrase. Reverse a vocal chop so it breathes into the gaps between your chords. Even a small vocal layer, buried low and washed out, lifts a loop from a generic R&B idea into something a singer can immediately imagine themselves on.
Once your chords, pads and texture sit together, the hardest part of sharing the sound is already done. Instead of hunting for samples that never quite fit, grab free hand-played loops in this exact moody alt-R&B lane, drop them straight into your session, and build your beat around a progression that was actually performed rather than drawn in.
Every loop on NDA is hand-played and free to download, so you can audition ideas fast and keep the ones that spark something. Create a free account to save your favorite loops and come back to them whenever inspiration hits, so your next Brent Faiyaz type beat starts with a real idea instead of a blank arrangement.
Pick a loop and drag it into your DAW. 808 under it, clap on top, your first Brent Faiyaz beat is running.
All Brent Faiyaz loopsTempo, key and mood of the Brent Faiyaz loops, straight from our catalog.
| Loop | BPM | Key | Vibe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triumph | 100 | Emin | Sad |
| Inverno | 101 | Amin | Ambient |
| Faiyaz | 120 | Cmin | Ambient, Vintage |
| Colourful | 110 | D#min | Ambient |
| Eyes | 111 | C#min | Ambient, Vintage |
| On Pause | 116 | Ambient, Virtual | |
| Reaching Goals | 94 | Ambient, Vintage | |
| Soft | 92 | Fmin | Ambient, Vintage, Smooth |
Usually 80 to 120 BPM, often around 90 to 110. Tempo is flexible with his music, and a half-time feel makes the groove sound slower and heavier than the raw number.
Minor. F minor and F sharp minor are common, and the trick is using only two or three chords so the mood comes from the sounds and the space rather than busy changes.
Organic, live sounding drums heavily inspired by Timbaland. Keep the kick sparse, add a shaker or perc with movement, and split the pattern so one section flows and the next is choppier.
Pitch melodic elements up and down a few semitones, run them through a bit crusher or twelve-bit style downsampler, then shape with an auto filter, a phaser, reverb and a layer of vinyl crackle.
No. You can mumble melodies into your phone and treat them as texture, or stack a choir, pitched vocal samples and reversed chops to use the voice as an instrument without writing lyrics.
You can download free hand-played loops on NDA in this moody alt-R&B lane and build your beat around them. A free account lets you save your favorites and return to them anytime.
They are not royalty-free. Free in your own beats; a 50/50 publishing split with NDA Company applies to every commercial release. License Terms
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