How to Make a Future Type Beat (+ Free Loops)

What BPM and key is a Future type beat?

Most beats run 124 to 150 BPM and 140 is the most common value. The albums themselves spread from around 105 to 170.

The key is minor, most often B minor, F minor or C minor. The dark tension comes from semitones inside the chord.

How to make a Future type beat in 6 steps

The loops in step 1 stream right here and the mp3 is free. Then work through the six steps.

1. 1Pick a sample▾

   Dark piano or strings in minor, 124 to 150 BPM. Take one of the loops right below, one that already moves before any drums.

   • ▶
     Monkeyball
     140 BPM · Bmin
     DarkHardSimple
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Maiskolben
     140 BPM · Bmin
     DarkHardSimple
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Nasty
     140 BPM · Cmin
     DarkHardVirtual
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Magazin
     130 BPM
     DarkHardSimple
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     BIG RIMS
     143 BPM · Gmin
     ChoirDarkPiano
     @ndacompany
     ↓
2. 2Lay the 808▾

   It is the foundation. On the root of the loop key, eight bars kept plain. Set it to cut itself and switch on clip, then it pushes with that distorted weight.
3. 3Hi-hats on top▾

   Start with a two-step pattern and take single hats back out again. The open hat goes into that gap, that is where the bounce comes from.
4. 4Clap and kick▾

   A hard snare on 2 and 4, plus a second quieter one as a counter, panned to one side and moved at a single spot. The kick stays quiet under the 808.
5. 5Try the pitch▾

   Only once the drums sit. Move the whole melody group one or two semitones up or down, then render it, reverse the file and keep it quietly underneath.
6. 6Arrange▾

   Keep it simple, less is more. 16 bars hook, then a verse with one layer gone, then a bridge with a different choir. Hook early, that keeps it catchy and easier to place.

Which sounds do you actually need?

The 808 is the same one in five of six tutorials: Spins. Set it to cut itself so the notes cannot overlap, switch on clip and boost in the channel, then drive the level. That distorted push is the sound, not a long effect chain.

On 2 and 4 there is a snare, not a soft clap. A Beef snare sits closest to the records, a Rari snare is the Southside signature. Put one or two counter snares next to it, one panned to the side and quieter, moved off by a single step, so the loop does not stay rigid.

Hi-hats are a two step and deliberately not complex. Take single hats out again and put the open hat exactly in the gap you made. Set the hold envelope all the way up so the open hat cuts off where you want it.

The kick sits quietly under the 808, not next to it. The low end belongs to the 808 alone, so cut the lows off every melody track first.

For the melody: a dark, dry piano, strings in two layers (one bowed, one tremolo, panned apart), a choir underneath and bells to open the piano up. One producer counts twelve to thirteen sounds for the whole beat, and that is the point.

Arrangement in bars

16 bars as the hook, then the same thing as a verse with one track taken out completely and a simpler 808 pattern.

A bridge with a real change: another choir, a string ensemble, stretched chords. Coming back into the hook let the drums arrive one bar late, that is the move described as Metro-typical.

The current variant is a beat switch. The first half runs half time, in the second half you automate half time off so everything feels twice as fast, and the drums change with it: other hats with more gaps, a clap, a second distorted 808, a snare on top. A pitched down synth bass covers the seam.

Pitch the sample up and down

The position of the loop is not fixed. One or two semitones change the whole mood.

Up the piano gets thinner and colder, down it gets heavier and darker.

The key moves with it, so pull the 808 to the new root afterwards. A copy pitched up an octave adds texture.

Common mistakes

Too much stacked up. Twelve or thirteen sounds carry a whole beat, every further layer after that only takes room.

Too melodic. Without a semitone rub the loop sounds nice instead of dark, so put one tension note between the chords.

Only other type beats as a reference. Those are built to rap on, the records sound different. Listen to the album first.

In FL Studio and in Logic

Five of the six tutorials run in FL Studio, one does the whole beat with stock plugins and no effects at all. Nothing in the steps above depends on the DAW: you need a sampler for the 808, an EQ and a reverb.

FL Studio: the 808 goes in a sampler channel with cut itself on, clip and boost in the channel effects. Draw the hats and the rolls with the paintbrush tool instead of selecting and slicing. Put half time as an effect on the melody bus, then you can automate it off for the beat switch.

Logic: Quick Sampler for the 808, set to mono so the notes cannot overlap, and pull the hold up in the amp envelope. Step Sequencer for the hats, and one bus for all melody tracks with a Channel EQ cutting the lows plus a reverb. That covers every step above.

Using the loops from NDA Company

Every loop here is played by hand, no AI, and free as an mp3.