How to Make Drill Beats: BPM, Sliding 808s and Hi-Hats

How to Make Drill Beats: BPM, Slides and Hi-Hats

To make a drill beat, set your DAW to about 140-146 BPM, program a skippy triplet-feel hi-hat pattern on a 16th grid, put snares in a half-time spot (beat 3 of one bar, beat 4 of the next), keep kicks sparse, and write a simple 808 line that slides between notes. Dark minor chords or a sample sit on top. Keep it uncluttered.

Drill started as a Chicago rap style in the early 2010s, with sonic roots in trap (Wikipedia overview); Chief Keef's "I Don't Like" was its first mainstream hit in 2012 (BBC Culture). The style most producers mean today, with sliding 808s and the rolling hi-hat step, was shaped in South London from around 2014 and later carried to Brooklyn (DJ Mag). This guide walks through that sound, with patterns checked against tutorials from Native Instruments and Attack Magazine, and slide behavior checked against the FL Studio manual (November 11, 2026).

Key Takeaways

• Tempo lives around 140-146 BPM, felt in half time. Producer MKThePlug told DJ Mag beats "were around 140-144 BPM" before his crew pushed to 146-149 for more bounce.
• The hi-hats define the genre. Start from a tresillo-style 16th pattern (hits on the 1st, 4th and 7th 16ths), then add rolls, triplets and velocity changes.
• Snares are half-time and staggered: beat 3 in the first bar, beat 4 in the second.
• Kicks stay simple. As Attack Magazine puts it, drill "keeps kicks quite simple. It's all about the knock."
• The 808 slide is the signature. In FL Studio, slide notes must overlap the note they bend; in other DAWs use mono/glide or pitch automation.
• Dark, sparse melodies (minor keys, strings, piano, chopped vocals) leave room for the rapper.

What BPM are drill beats?

Most drill beats sit between 140 and 146 BPM, which feels like 70-73 BPM because the snares are in half time.

Tempo has moved over time, so treat these as reference points rather than rules:

If you want something moodier and heavier, sit lower (around 140). If you want bounce, push toward 146 and above. Set it before you write anything, because hi-hat rolls and 808 slide lengths are tempo-sensitive.

How do you program drill hi-hats?

Start with a tresillo pattern on a 16th grid, vary the velocities, then add rolls, triplets and gaps.

The BBC describes drill's "skippy, syncopated hi-hat patterns" as the thing that separates it from trap's more rigid groove (BBC Culture). Producer Bkay calls it the "hi-hat step", that "1-2-2" (DJ Mag). Attack Magazine notes the step borrows from grime and garage hats (Attack).

A dependable starting point, based on the Native Instruments walkthrough:

1. Make a two-bar loop with the grid on 1/16.
2. Place hats on the 1st, 4th and 7th 16th notes of the first beat pair. That is the tresillo (3+3+2) feel.
3. Lower the second hat's velocity (NI uses about 87 against 100) so the pattern breathes.
4. Repeat the figure across the bar, then add a quiet hat on the last 16th and remove it the second time around.
5. Add rolls: a quick burst of 1/32 notes or 1/16 triplets before a snare or at the end of the phrase.
6. Add pitch and pan moves on a few hits. Attack's tutorials pitch, pan and layer hat one-shots, and turn up velocity-to-volume so rolls bounce.
7. Layer a quieter second hat or a shaker panned slightly to one side for width.

Less is more. A pattern that changes every bar sounds random. Keep the core step for 4 to 8 bars and add flourishes at phrase ends.

Where do the snares and kicks go in a drill beat?

Put the snare on beat 3 of bar one and beat 4 of bar two, and keep kicks sparse and punchy.

That staggered snare is what gives drill its lurching, half-time feel. NI's pattern places one snare on the third beat of the first bar and one on the fourth beat of the second bar. For kicks, NI uses the 1st and 8th eighth notes in bar one and the 1st, 4th, 7th and 15th sixteenths in bar two, with the last kick of each bar slightly quieter (NI).

Attack's Dutchavelli-style beat adds a triangle, tom and open hi-hat as small "magic makers" that lift the loop (Attack). Setting the open hat to gate mode lets note length control how long it rings, which keeps it tight (Attack).

How do you make sliding 808s for drill?

Write a simple root-note 808 line, then make some notes glide into the next pitch with slide notes, glide/portamento, or pitch automation.

Bkay calls the slide "not a necessity, but most people like it" (DJ Mag). How you make it depends on your DAW:

A few rules that keep slides musical:

1. Stay on the root most of the time. NI's example holds C#2 for a bar and G#1 for the next, then adds two short high notes that glide.
2. Slide at phrase ends, going into a new bar or under a hi-hat roll, so the movement feels intentional.
3. Keep the 808 in key. Tune the one-shot to your track's key first; Attack retunes its 808 sample before writing the line.
4. Tighten the envelope. Attack shortens decay and release so the 808 doesn't smear into the next note, which also makes mixing easier.
5. Watch the slide note's velocity. In FL Studio, note properties move toward the slide note's values during the slide, so a low-velocity slide can make the 808 fade (FL manual).

What melodies and samples work for drill?

Use dark, sparse minor-key parts: a short piano or string figure, a pad, or a chopped vocal, and leave space for vocals.

DJ Mag describes early UK drill beats by Carns Hill and 67 as unexpected samples over "pitch-black atmospherics." The same piece describes how producers widened the palette with grime, garage, Afroswing and R&B samples, while Brooklyn drill leaned on orchestral strings.

Practical moves:

• Pick a minor key and a two-chord loop. NI's dark example builds around a time-stretched sample warped to the project tempo (NI).
• Write one memorable motif of 3-6 notes on piano, bells, or strings.
• Chop a vocal or melodic sample into a loop and run it through the beat like a chorus (Bkay's approach in FL Studio's Fruity Slicer, per DJ Mag).
• Keep it in the mids and highs so it doesn't fight the 808.
• Clear what you sample. If you didn't make it or license it, get permission or use royalty-free packs before you release. See how to copyright your music for what you can and can't protect.

If your taste runs darker and more cinematic, the layering ideas in How to Make Trailer Music and the atmosphere chapter in How to Make Dark Phonk carry over well.

How should you mix a drill beat?

Make the kick and 808 work together, keep the hats bright but not harsh, and leave a gap in the mids for the vocal.

• Sidechain or volume-duck the 808 under the kick (NI compresses the 808 and sidechains it to the kick)
• Short, tuned 808 that you can hear on a phone (add gentle saturation for harmonics)
• Hats audible without being piercing; tame harsh frequencies rather than turning them down
• Melody high-passed so it doesn't muddy the low end
• Drums and 808 mostly dry; reverb on melodic parts and the odd percussion tail
• Headroom on the beat bus before mastering, since a rapper's vocal still has to fit
• Reference against a drill track you like, at matched loudness

For the final polish, compare options in Does AI Mastering Work?.

What tools do you need to make drill beats?

Any DAW with a sampler, a piano roll and an 808 sound is enough. FL Studio is popular because its slide notes make 808 glides easy.

Drill beat checklist

1. Set BPM (140-146) and pick a minor key
2. Program the hi-hat step with velocity changes
3. Add snares on beat 3 / beat 4 in a two-bar loop
4. Add 2-4 punchy kicks per bar
5. Add percussion fills (toms, rims, triangle, open hat)
6. Write a root-note 808 and add 1-3 slides per loop
7. Add a dark melody or cleared sample
8. Arrange intro, verse and hook sections with drops and hat rolls
9. Mix kick vs 808, check on a phone
10. Agree splits with any collaborators before release (how to split royalties)
11. Run through the release checklist

FAQ

What BPM is drill?

Usually 140-146 BPM, felt in half time. Early UK drill by Carns Hill and 67 sat at 134, and some producers go up to around 149 for extra bounce (DJ Mag).

What's the difference between drill and trap?

Drill grew out of trap. The BBC notes trap's snare usually lands on the third beat of every bar, while drill moves to skippy, syncopated hi-hats, and drill snares are typically staggered across a two-bar pattern.

What's the difference between UK drill and Chicago drill?

UK drill took Chicago drill as a starting point and blended in road rap, grime and garage influences, with producers like Carns Hill moving it toward its own sound (DJ Mag, Wikipedia). Sliding 808s and the hi-hat step are hallmarks of the UK version.

Can you make drill 808 slides outside FL Studio?

Yes. Use a mono instrument with glide and overlap notes, or draw pitch automation. Ableton users can use Note Expression.

Why does my 808 slide sound wrong in FL Studio?

Slide notes only affect native FL instruments, must overlap the note they bend, and must use the same note color group (FL manual).

Related guides

• How to Make Dark Phonk: Cowbells, 808s and Atmosphere
• How to Make Trailer Music: The 3-Act Build
• Does AI Mastering Work?
• How to Split Royalties With Collaborators
• Free Music Release Checklist