Canal St. - ASAP Rocky (REMAKE and FREE FLP)

Hi guys, I wanted to share a REMAKE of Canal St by ASAP Rocky with y'all!

I remade the beat FROM SCRATCH (no samples), take a listen:

what this article contains

• 3 FREE FLPs (scroll to the bottom)
• FLP 1: My Remake with all the plugins I used
• FLP 2: A Remake containing STEMS and MIDI, so everyone can open this FLP, even if they only have stock plugins
• FLP 3: you can use this as a starting point for your own remake (this is FLP 2 but with the mixer cleared)
• detailed analysis of the build up and arrangement
• Main Takeaways from the remake (what I learned)

analysis: arrangement and buildup

Canal St has a SUPER unique structure!

You could try to make a beat with this structure too.

NOTE: all the transitions are bold

• 8 bars: intro
• 16 bars: verse
• slow drums, 808 pattern NO. 1
• playback effect as a transition element
• 8 bars: bridge
• piano with a little stutter at the end
• 24 bars: pre-chorus
• low-pass-filter ON throughout the whole pre-chorus
• chimes as a transition element
• full melody
• 8 bars: pre chorus 1
• main drums: non-saturated kick, no 808, no hi-hats
• 8 bars: pre chorus 2
• main drums: saturated kick, 808 pattern NO. 2, no hi-hats
• hush sound effect (in the song Rocky says UH)
• 8 bars: pre chorus 3
• full main drums: saturated kick, 808 pattern NO. 3 (!), hi-hats
• gross beat stutter, transition drums
• 16 bars: CHORUS
• low-pass-filter OFF
• full melody, but different bells: regular bells + waaa + cymbal
• full piano pattern with rundown
• vinyl stop transition
• 8 bars: verse
• 16 bars: pre chorus 3
• BUT with the full piano
• transition drums
• 16 bars: CHORUS
• 16 bars: outro
• bass, full piano

Main Takeaways (what I learned)

1. They layered an 808 over a bass!
• you would usually never do that, but it sounds good
2. The bass is out of key half the time!
• the piano rundown is also out of key on 1 note
• TAKEAWAY: Trust your ears, if it sounds good off key, leave it
3. The kick is fattened a lot (unless it came like that)
• I should use some more saturation in my own beats
4. The pre-chorus is crazy long (24 bars)
• you could do something similar! (Take the image from above as reference)
5. The drums in the verses follow the main melody really closely (almost on every beat)
• might seem like a bland thing to do, but it works, especially as the beginning of a buildup, it also makes the melody more memorable, as the beat accentuates it
6. There are several call-and-response type patterns
1. reverse cymbal with reverse bells
• the cymbal is kinda like a breathing in and the bells are kinda like a "phew" or breathing out
2. waaa, cymbal with regular bells (in the chorus)
• first the reverse pattern kinda sucks you into the pre chorus (kinda like risers do but over and over again)
• then the regular cymbal and regular bells are kinda like a release in the chorus
• TAKEAWAY: they always used a sound effect (cymbal / waaa) as a call and a melody (VST) as a response, which is an interesting technique
7. They refined a good base idea to the fullest
• it's just: simple piano, bass, vocal, reverse bells / regular bells, 2 drum patterns
• but all the little transition elements, the filter and the arrangement make the beat super interesting to listen to
• you could try a similar approach: layer simple patterns (Pierre Bourne does this a lot too) and then add a bunch of little FX in the arrangement to make it interesting

How to make your own remake (based on my FLP)

1. Open the '3 - YOUR REMAKE VERSION' FLP
• it contains all the necessary sounds, MIDIs and the full arrangement
2. Make your own remake
• just make new patterns and then lay down the MIDI in the channels I already made
• make a new arrangement and lay your patterns down (you can use my arrangement as a guide)
3. NOTES:
• you will have to add your own mixer effects, as i completely cleared the mixer
• you will have to replace the channels for the VSTs (e.g. for the piano) with your own VSTs, as they will first be empty and only contain the MIDI 
4. IMPORTANT:
• To access the different arrangements I'm talking about, go to the top of the playlist tab. There you can switch between them.

FLPs

• 1 -  My Remake
• contains EVERYTHING
• BUT: you can only open this, if you have all the plugins used
• plugins I used:
• Dirt
• Raum
• Guitar Rig 6
• RC 20 Retro Color
• Fresh Air
• Piano: Noire
• Bass: Rickenbacker Bass
• Voice: Glaze
• Bells: Massive X
• 2 - Stems Version
• for people who don't have all the plugins
• contains:
• all the drums and FX sounds
• full arrangement with STEMS
• full arrangement with MIDI (i replaced all of the VSTs with empty Samplers, but the MIDI is still there)
• all the mixer tracks with third-party-plugins MISSING
• 3 - Your Remake Version
• this is the same as 2 - Stems Version but with a CLEARED MIXER
• you can use this FLP as a starting point to remake the song yourself

DOWNLOAD FLPS: FLPs-Download (be sure to SHARE the article if you found it helpul!)

Let me know in the comments of the article ↓↓↓, if you have any suggestions on improving the remake!