Pattern 02

The Amen break

The Amen break is four bars of drums from "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons, recorded in 1969 and played by Gregory Coleman. It starts 1 minute 26 seconds into the record and lasts about seven seconds, at about 136 BPM.

Fig. 1

The Amen break, bars one and two: the steps each voice plays, of sixteen, at 136 BPM.
Kick	1, 3, 11, 12 Beat one, its off-beat, and a pair on the off-beat of three.
Snare	5, 8, 10, 13, 16 Beats two and four, with three more around them.
Ride	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 The ride cymbal, every eighth note. Set on HAT.
Tempo	136 BPM

Bars one and two, which are the same. PLAY sounds all four bars in Beep Boop's own sounds.

Fig. 2

The Amen break, bar three: the steps each voice plays, of sixteen, at 136 BPM.
Kick	1, 3, 11 One kick on the off-beat of three, not two.
Snare	5, 8, 10, 15 The last snare comes late, on step 15.
Ride	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 As before.
Tempo	136 BPM

Bar three. Open bar three in Beep Boop.

Fig. 3

The Amen break, bar four: the steps each voice plays, of sixteen, at 136 BPM.
Kick	3, 4, 11 Nothing on beat one. A pair on its off-beat.
Snare	2, 5, 8, 10, 15 One before the kicks, and the late one on step 15.
Ride	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 15 The ride leaves step 11 to the cymbal.
Cymbal	11 One cymbal, on the off-beat of three. Set on OPEN.
Tempo	136 BPM

Bar four. Open bar four in Beep Boop.

What changes, bar by bar

Bars one and two are the same bar played twice. In bar three the snare that sat on beat four moves an eighth note late, to step 15, and the pair of kicks becomes one. Bar four leaves beat one empty, plays its kicks on steps 3 and 4, and strikes a cymbal on step 11.

That late snare and that empty first beat are why the break does not sound like a loop of one bar.

What is left out

Coleman plays some of the snares quietly, as ghost notes. Beep Boop's drums have one loudness a step, so every snare here is full. And he does not play on a grid: hardly a hit sits exactly on its step.

These figures are the break's map, in Beep Boop's own sounds. They are not the recording.

Tempo

About 136 BPM on the record. One analysis puts it nearer 140. Drum and bass, which calls the Amen its most-used break, runs at 165 to 185 BPM.

The record

Neither Coleman nor the band's leader, Richard Spencer, was paid royalties for the break's use. Coleman died in 2006. In 2015 a fundraiser started by two British DJs sent Spencer about £24,000.

On Beep Boop

Turn the voice dial to KICK. Press step keys 1, 3, 11 and 12.
Turn the dial to SNARE. Press step keys 5, 8, 10, 13 and 16.
Turn the dial to HAT. Press every odd key, 1 to 15.
Press PLAY, and turn TEMPO until the window reads 136.

That is bars one and two. Or take the bar as it stands: on an iPhone or iPad with Beep Boop, touch the link under the receipt. From a computer, point the phone's camera at the code.

Fig. 4. Bars one and two as Beep Boop prints them. Open this beat in Beep Boop

Sources

The four bars, hit by hit: The famous "Amen Break" drum groove, Elephant Drums, checked against Ethan Hein, Building the Amen break, who builds it up in the same places and says its timing cannot be written down. Hein hears the bar four cymbal as an open hi-hat; the others call it a crash.
Where it starts, its length, its tempo and the royalties: Amen break, Wikipedia. The tempo of about 140: AudioLabs Erlangen.
The fundraiser: Mixmag, 2015. Wikipedia gives its total as more than £18,000.
Drum and bass tempo: Drum and bass, Wikipedia.