grooving mnml...

[murf_mongtrax]

As Torque said

It's ALL about the drums.

Good programming and arrangements can make alot of difference to a basic sounding rhythm track,
listen to early Plastikman / Daniel Bell stuff as pointers!

But a good rule is to seperate your frequencies
Try to write your basslines on the off notes - i.e. not on top of your kick drums!
Fill the spaces where the drums don't reach...

MURF

[[ññP]]

i agree with those that stand against "qantizing music"...it's really the WRONG WAY.
In my opinion, music must have a meaning...and when someone starts producing music by copying sounds and structures, just because they soun like mnml, its a pitty...
First, you must find a concept (wich you can find accidentally of course), but then, you must stick to that concept if you want to produce a serious pice of music, and if you change the concept (because you can...) you should revise all that you have allready done.
So, if you want to do something "groovy", then first find an excuse to do it. Afterwards...just stick to it. If the problem then, is that your skills don't allow you to put your ideas into the music...then start trying all those tips you have received here, but never forgetting the concept.
And never ever use any idea that you are not 100% happy with.

...well, that's just my oppinion, and i hope someone will have a different one, so that we can discuss further

[xxmmxx]

one easy way of getting groove to happen is to play with the 'shuffle' section of your drum machine or sequencer. even if you just have a standard beat happening, start sliding the shuffle and you'll hear the difference. then its a matter of adding extra elements but making shure they allign with your shuffled beat in a musical, groovy way. also, when programming beats, don't always stick things smack bang in the middle of where your quantised sequencer tells you to put things. start experimenting with different time signatures, and especially different quantise settings, and even try out moving certain samples in your loop by unquantised freehand, just a couple of miliseconds here and there and they also add groove!!!! once you come up with something groovy, try to do anotherone and this time make it groovier, sooner or later you'll get the hang of it. analise your fave tracks and find out what makes them groovy.

[tone-def]

Dance as your making your drums and percussion.

A lot of things that have been said here work but they are not rules and they don't work all the time.

some tracks sound awesome with tight quantized drums some tracks sound awesome with shuffly drums.

In my opinion one of the best things about electronic music is you can make rhythms the human hand can't. but that kind of thing is better for chin stroking than dancing.

[s.k.]

if your sound is wack, even the killer-est groove won't work. on the other hand, if it sounds good, making it into a killer groove is piece of cake

[steevio]

all these rules and methods, man just experiment.
you can get a perfectly good groove going without a kick or bass, you can get a groove going with two snaps of the fingers.

[unsaturated]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchopation

[steevio]

sorry guys i was feeling a bit upity