How to Make a Rylo Rodriguez Type Beat (+ Free Loops)

What BPM and key is a Rylo Rodriguez type beat?

Most loops run 125 to 147 BPM, with the bulk around 140. The hats bounce at that tempo, but the sampled, soulful melody keeps the feel warm and unhurried.

The key is mostly minor. Take the key straight from your loop and put the 808 and the melody on the same root, because a flipped sample often sits in an odd key and the bass has to follow it.

If you flip a record yourself, look up the song BPM first, then time stretch the sample to your project tempo before you drop any drums. That way the hats and the 808 lock to the loop instead of fighting it.

Rylo Rodriguez 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▾

   Grab a piano and choir loop in minor, 125 to 147 BPM, one with a warm, sampled, soulful character before any drums. Pick it from the list right below.

   • ▶
     Daytime
     130 BPM · F#min
     AmbientEthnicGuitar
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Buzz
     140 BPM · Cmin
     BrassDarkOrchestral
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Catholic
     140 BPM · F#min
     ChoirDarkHard
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Polite
     121 BPM · C#min
     AmbientStringsVintage
     @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 so the notes cannot overlap and give it some saturation. Go a touch busier than a plain trap figure, Rylo's 808s move more than you expect.
3. 3Hi-hats on top▾

   Start with a two-step and take single hats back out to open up a bounce. Follow the bounce of the melody for where the rolls and pauses go. The open hat drops into the gap, with fast rolls only before a change, and a crash can mark the spot where the hook kicks in.
4. 4Clap and kick▾

   A hard clap or snare on two and four, plus a quieter second layer panned to one side. The kick stays soft under the 808 and shares the bottom with it.
5. 5Try the pitch▾

   Once the drums sit, move the whole melody group one or two semitones. A pitched soul sample often finds its character a couple of semitones off the original. Pull the 808 to the new root afterwards.
6. 6Arrange▾

   Keep it simple, less is more. 16 bars as the hook, a verse with one layer gone, then a bridge with a fresh sound. Build in one section where the drums change, swap the snare for a snap or run a low pass or high pass over the whole drum bus for a bar, then bring them back. Pull the 808 out for a chill section, and fade the end on an automation clip. Hook early so the beat stays catchy and easy to place, and leave real space, Rylo likes to drop in his own intro, like a jail call or an extra sample, so do not fill every bar.

The sample flip at the heart of it

Rolling Stone called Rylo the Prince of Samples because he builds songs out of old R&B and soul, from singers like Tamia and Leon Bridges, and on S.K.A.T.E. he even slowed down Jaheim's Put That Woman First into a new beat.

When you flip a record, a clean trick is a low chop and a high chop of the same phrase: keep the low octave looping and pitch a copy up an octave for the top, so even a simple one bar sample gets movement. Most DAWs can also pull the parts out for you, in FL Studio right click the sample and extract stems, so you can grab just the vocal, the keys or a drum break off the original.

You do not have to clear a record to get the sound. A hand played piano and choir loop that already feels like a flipped soul sample gives you the same warm, nostalgic core without the legal headache.

Piano and choir, soulful not clean

The melody leans on piano and choir, with a guitar as a third option. The point is warmth and a human, slightly imperfect feel, not a crisp modern tone.

Write the chords loose first, then polish. Sketch the progression in pencil, get the idea down, and fix the velocities and timing after. A 70s soul progression with a couple of passing chords is the lane, and you do not have to start on the root, landing the first chord a few steps off the key note gives it that unresolved soul tension.

A producer trick that saves you later: once the chords feel right, copy them to a second track and strip the top notes off, so you have a full version and a stripped version to swap between when you arrange. For the top line, transpose a copy of each chord up an octave and then hunt for single notes in the scale that sit on top.

Keep it dry and let it breathe. One piano, a choir pad for air, and space between the phrases so the mumbled, melodic vocal has room to sit.

Producers reach for warm, sampled sounding keys here. A library like Keyscape (the LA Custom C7 stage piano is a go-to) with a little Valhalla Vintage Verb gives that soul tone, and an LA2A style compressor on the piano cleans it up without squashing it. Layer a soft pad or a Rhodes under the same MIDI, pull the low notes out of that second layer so it does not clash with the bass, then EQ and widen it mid/side so it blends rather than competes. An electric piano with a fast tremolo pan (the Scarbee Mark One into a Pan Man preset) adds that left to right shimmer, and a vintage bell like Keyscape's Celeste gives a last bit of sparkle.

For the low mids, a Rickenbacker-style bass (the Scarbee Kontakt one works) doubling the root notes, with the notes overlapped so it slides between them.

Getting the sampled, nostalgic tone

Treat the loop like a record. Roll off the top above roughly 10 kHz, drop the sample rate a touch, and add a little tape or vinyl texture so it reads as a flip rather than a fresh recording.

A short, warm reverb and a gentle pitch glide at the start of a phrase sell the soul character. Pitching the whole rendered loop up a few semitones also gives it that soulful, Kanye-into-Rylo kind of color. Do not overdo it, the sound should feel old, not broken.

If you put a soulful vocal chop on top, treat it like the record: a touch of Valhalla reverb, a width or radio-vox preset for texture and a tape or filter to roll off the extremes so it sits in the loop instead of on top of it. Pan a doubled chop hard left and right so the top end reads wide instead of muddy.

Common mistakes

Making it too clean. A perfectly polished piano kills the sampled, soulful feel. A little texture and imperfection is the whole point of this lane.

Chasing quantity over quality. Rushing ten loops in a day gets you ten throwaways. One sample you actually took time on beats a folder of fast ones.

Filling every bar. These beats breathe, and the artist needs room to sing and add his own elements, so leave gaps instead of stacking layers.

Leaving the lows in every track. High pass the piano, choir and guitar so the 808 owns the bottom on its own, otherwise the warm low end turns to mud.

Only using other type beats as a reference. Those are built to rap on, the real songs flip actual soul records, so listen to the originals and chase that warmth.

In FL Studio and in Logic

Nothing in the steps above depends on the DAW. You need a sampler for the 808, an EQ and a reverb, plus some tape or vinyl saturation for the sampled tone.

FL Studio: the 808 goes in a sampler channel with cut itself on and some saturation in the channel. Draw the hats and rolls with the paintbrush, put a vinyl plugin on the melody bus, and right click a sample to extract stems when you flip a record.

Logic: Quick Sampler for the 808, set to mono, and pull the hold up in the amp envelope. Step Sequencer for the hats, one bus for all melody tracks with a Channel EQ cutting the lows, a reverb and a tape saturation.

Using the loops from NDA Company

Every loop here is played by hand, no AI, and free as an mp3. Grab a Rylo Rodriguez loop above, drop it in, build the 808 and drums under it, and you are most of the way to a finished beat.