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9. For real presence, make your snares sound wider. Doubler, ensemble or chorus plug-ins can all be used here, but if you have none of these, try doubling the snare part on separate tracks. Keep all the settings the same, but pitch one track a few cents away from the other, then pan the tracks left and right. Remember to check the sound in mono, and adjust the panning and balance if necessary.

10. Although tracks can have lots going on, the snares must always cut through. This means they have to be loud and you need to get the sound right. The most obvious switch between eight-bar sections is often the snare, and the bigger the change the better. One popular sound is a very boxy one. Detune your sample by a few semitones, and you'll find that this helps degrade the sound too. Use a bit crusher to further mash it up.

11. Don't be afraid to process your snare sound quite heavily. Use a compressor to reduce the transient and a fast release to bring up the decay. EQ up the boxy frequencies (200Hz to 400Hz) and filter off the top frequencies if they get in the way. Push the high-mid frequencies for a bit more cut, then gate the whole chain to achieve the distinctive clipped sound.

12. Often either the downbeat or quarter-notes 1 and 3 are accented with an additional resonant tom sound. Starting with either a resonant tom or kick sample, find the pitch you want the sound to play, then edit the sample front until there's just a hint of pitchbend in there.

13. Amend the end of the sample in the same way. If necessary, you can filter off some of the sub frequencies to avoid any clashing with the bass and kick. With the main snare sounds sorted, think about additional sounds to add movement. These can be claps, blocks or just smaller snare sounds. Program short rolls in 64ths with rising velocities and place on the last 16th of every other bar. Try other positions too. Balance them under the main snare and they'll help to move the track along.

14. Musically, many reggaeton tracks sound quite Latino. With the sub-bass adding weight to the track, you'll need to mark the harmonic content with something more audible. Double up the bass part with other sounds, like marcato strings, synth strings or even a bright trance-type lead sound.

15. You'll find the odd sweep and rise, but by far the most common effects in reggaeton are gunshots and explosions. However, on their own these can sound surprisingly dull. For an effective machine gun effect, find a synth-generated snare patch and wind up the noise content. Trim the envelope to make the sound short and sharp. Program a short burst of 32nd-notes, then add plenty of long, dark reverb. Finally, automate some panning for that bullet spraying effect.

16. Reggaeton thrives on drops. The best almost everything for an eighth-note. One of the most effective drops is at the top of the bar: take everything out except bass, then bring it all back in on the first snare hit.

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