How to Make a Travis Scott Type Beat (+ Free Loops)

What BPM and key is a Travis Scott type beat?

Most loops run 129 to 141 BPM, with the bulk around 140. The drums often read in half time, so it feels slower and heavier than the number.

The key is mostly minor and dark. Take the key from your loop and put the 808 and the melody on the same root.

How to make a Travis Scott 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▾

   A dark, atmospheric guitar or choir in minor, 129 to 141 BPM. Grab a loop from the list below, one that already feels cinematic before any drums.

   • ▶
     Maiskolben
     140 BPM · Bmin
     DarkHardSimple
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Nasty
     140 BPM · Cmin
     DarkHardVirtual
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Malan
     138 BPM · Gmin
     AmbientEpianoHappy
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Quick
     140 BPM · Cmin
     AmbientChoirEpiano
     @ndacompany
     ↓
   • ▶
     Kxst
     140 BPM · Amin
     AmbientHappySynth
     @ndacompany
     ↓
2. 2Lay the 808▾

   Distorted and round. Set it to cut itself, then clip and saturate it, a plugin like Decapitator drives it without getting muddy.
3. 3Hi-hats on top▾

   Trap triplet rolls, but leave gaps, and throw a ping-pong delay on the open hat for width. The space is what makes it feel huge, so do not fill every sixteenth.
4. 4Add the atmosphere▾

   Throw the loop into a long reverb, drop in a reverse swell or a pad from a plugin like Scatch, and automate it so the beat breathes between the drums.
5. 5Leave room for ad-libs▾

   Travis layers vocals and ad-libs in the gaps, so mute a bar of melody here and there and drop a vocal one-shot from a pack like Exhale to make space.
6. 6Arrange with a switch▾

   Hook early, then flip the beat halfway, a new chord, a key change or a different drum feel, building into it with a rising delay, so the track turns into a second song.

The atmosphere, the Mike Dean psychedelic layer

The signature is space. A long reverb on the melody, a low synth drone under it and reverse swells going into each section turn a plain loop into a Travis world, and a granular effect like Portal adds movement on top.

Mike Dean is famous for the synth and organ washes that sit under the beat. Hold one dark pad through the whole track at low volume for that glue.

Keep the melody dry and loud, the atmosphere wet and quiet, and high-pass the melody group so the distorted 808 owns the low end. The contrast is what reads as psychedelic trap.

Two quick tricks fill out the world: render the keys reversed, cut at each chord change, for a backwards swell into a section, and pitch a bell up an octave and double-time it, since Travis beats are full of bells.

The beat switch

Travis songs rarely stay one beat. Halfway through, the drums drop, a new chord or key comes in and the second half feels like a different track.

Build the switch around a transition: a reverse crash, a filtered riser or a bar of just vocals and reverb before the new section hits.

A reliable way to sell it is a tempo-synced delay on the last melody before the flip. Push the feedback up and automate the wet level, bring it up into the turnaround, then cut it dead so the tension releases into the new section. Starting the intro on a completely different, lighter melody also keeps the drop from being expected.

You do not need two full beats. A key change, a new 808 pattern or a stripped drum feel is enough to sell the flip.

Pitch the sample up and down

The position of the loop is not fixed. A few semitones change the whole mood.

Up the guitar gets brighter and thinner, down it gets heavier and darker, which suits the psychedelic lane.

The key moves with it, so pull the 808 to the new root afterwards.

Common mistakes

A dry beat. Travis lives on reverb and atmosphere, so a clean loop with no wash sounds flat next to the real thing.

Busy drums with no gaps. The space between the hats and the 808 is where the mood sits, so leave room.

One flat section for the whole song. Add a beat switch or at least a key change, the flip is part of the style.

Using the loops from NDA Company

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