When You do your drums...

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When You do your drums...

By SoundBarrio Sun Dec 14, 2014 1:39 pm
Hi,
First post here. I want to get into making beats but I couldn't really afford a great computer setup so I've gone for the MPC 1000 just to see if I get on with it first. Got a turntable > DJ mixer > 1k setup and I've been playing with some drum loops. What kind of workflow do you do with drums. I have been using the loop as is with some kicks and snares, layered on the top, adding percussion etc. I've also tried chopping up to single hits and double hits and then recording a new beat and layering under them. I was a bit screwed with the click track gotta admit until I realised you could put your own sound couldn't seem to get on with that click at all. Do most people start with a loop off vinyl...or do you just go straight into your kicks/snares folders and pick a kick/snare..or do you have specific kits from drum machines etc? I'm into experimenting with it but just curious as to how other people round here approach making a drum track. Do you build up drums 2 or 4 bars at a time on different tracks? I don't know maybe some of you don't even start with drums. :smoker:
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Re: When You do your drums...

By Doc00Cosel Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:42 pm
Idk. It all depends. Sometimes I'll start with drums if I wanna make a different style of music other than hip hop. Idk why. It's a formula that's always worked. In terms of hip hop, I find a sample, chop it up and then lay drums behind it. I get most of my drums from the e mu mp 7. Other than that I'll use a custom kit that I've compiled over the years. I just let 8 bars loop on my mpc and add as it plays. It's all a matter of what you are comfortable with though. I always like to get the sample first beforehand because I find it easier to adjust the drums. Pitch, filters, etc. Imo what you start with dictates the overall feel of the music you are creating.

Re: When You do your drums...

By SoundBarrio Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:15 pm
Thanks for those tips. That Rhythm Roulette is really good. Another question....when u chop drums do you usually chop down to single hits because I had a good loop that sounded whack when chopped right down to singles but when I chopped to say kick followed by a hat it was better but then didn't really flow then when I played it in for some reason
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Re: When You do your drums...

By mr_debauch Tue Dec 16, 2014 3:02 pm
SoundBarrio wrote:Thanks for those tips. That Rhythm Roulette is really good. Another question....when u chop drums do you usually chop down to single hits because I had a good loop that sounded whack when chopped right down to singles but when I chopped to say kick followed by a hat it was better but then didn't really flow then when I played it in for some reason


well if you chop to single hits... it lets you change the tempo easier...

I suggest when you chop, put the start point to each drum sound.. don't put the end point right after making the sample really short because you will be cutting out the air. I like cutting blank bits of air to pop in between drum hits so you don't get the gaps... or you can help fill them in a bit.

Also you can rearrange the loop when you cut the drums out.
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Re: When You do your drums...

By Menco Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:06 pm
With chops and loops you can keep the groove of the original break (till a certain extend with chops).

With one shots you have full control over the rhythm of the drums. It also gives more flexibility for layering and processing.

What method I use really depends on the type of beat I'm working on.

Most of my drum sounds are from vinyl. Usually I find drums that will match my sample. Back in the day I would look for matching drums, lay down my drums first and then play my samples over the drums.

Nowadays I usually make a 2, 4, 8 sometimes 16 bar loop first with the sample (depends on the beat and sample). Then I look for/ create (by layering and filtering) matching drums and play to the groove of my loop. Take some good time tweaking and building the rhythm and groove of the drums. But sometimes I still use the other method. Depends on my mood.

There are several methods of doing things. Just try them out and see what fits you.

Re: When You do your drums...

By pituchez Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:30 pm
i usually add mine at the end..but sometimes i might set them up first. if you do that you have to make the sample fit your drums. if you do everything else first then setting the drums up is a bit easier in my 0pinion

Re: When You do your drums...

By devin.rs Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:13 am
I put together a kit with all my favorite drums and sounds that loads on startup, a scratchpad that allows me to get rocking right away and sounds good.

Then as I go on I may change the kick/snare/etc but I try to save too many tweaks until the end I want to keep the creativity flowing while I have it.
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Re: When You do your drums...

By mithaeon Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:03 am
devin.rs wrote:I put together a kit with all my favorite drums and sounds that loads on startup, a scratchpad that allows me to get rocking right away and sounds good.


This is a great tip right here. Having something like this that lets you get right in to playing the pads rather than having to mess about loading the same sounds each time greatly speeds up workflow.

Even better if you have a sample or certain atmosphere in mind, just switch out sounds until you achieve the vibe you want.
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Re: When You do your drums...

By Lampdog Sun Dec 21, 2014 2:27 pm
devin.rs wrote:I put together a kit with all my favorite drums and sounds that loads on startup, a scratchpad that allows me to get rocking right away and sounds good.

And with that, also make a blank pgm template in your preferred note/chromatic order that gets autoloaded too.

Re: When You do your drums...

By BoyOfVirtue Mon Jan 12, 2015 8:01 pm
Lampdog wrote:
devin.rs wrote:I put together a kit with all my favorite drums and sounds that loads on startup, a scratchpad that allows me to get rocking right away and sounds good.

And with that, also make a blank pgm template in your preferred note/chromatic order that gets autoloaded too.


What does this mean? "chromatic order"...are you referring to pitchbending? Or is this a MIDI thing?

OP, as for your question, I try not to use loops as it is usually more trouble than it's worth....you lose a lot of flexibility with tempo and if you sample it from music, it can be tough to loop it just right. Try and chop the beat up into individual hits, you'll probably end up with 16-24 hits/chops per measure. Map that into a program and find the best sounding kicks, snares, hats, etc. Even if you only get one or two good snares from your loop, you can use pitch, filters, attack/decay settings to end up with enough different sounds.

As for programming it, I start with the snares. Put quantize on, and lay the snares down on the backbeats (beats 2 & 4). From there, I'll usually take quantize off for a looser groove and lay the kicks down.
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Re: When You do your drums...

By Cases Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:51 pm
BoyOfVirtue wrote:
Lampdog wrote:
devin.rs wrote:I put together a kit with all my favorite drums and sounds that loads on startup, a scratchpad that allows me to get rocking right away and sounds good.

And with that, also make a blank pgm template in your preferred note/chromatic order that gets autoloaded too.


What does this mean? "chromatic order"...are you referring to pitchbending? Or is this a MIDI thing?

OP, as for your question, I try not to use loops as it is usually more trouble than it's worth....you lose a lot of flexibility with tempo and if you sample it from music, it can be tough to loop it just right. Try and chop the beat up into individual hits, you'll probably end up with 16-24 hits/chops per measure. Map that into a program and find the best sounding kicks, snares, hats, etc. Even if you only get one or two good snares from your loop, you can use pitch, filters, attack/decay settings to end up with enough different sounds.

As for programming it, I start with the snares. Put quantize on, and lay the snares down on the backbeats (beats 2 & 4). From there, I'll usually take quantize off for a looser groove and lay the kicks down.


This. From top to bottom.
Chromatic order means chromatic order. Lol. Google chromatic scale
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Re: When You do your drums...

By Doc00Cosel Fri Mar 06, 2015 1:18 am
Lampdog wrote:
devin.rs wrote:I put together a kit with all my favorite drums and sounds that loads on startup, a scratchpad that allows me to get rocking right away and sounds good.

And with that, also make a blank pgm template in your preferred note/chromatic order that gets autoloaded too.



Word to the bizzard nizzer.!
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Re: When You do your drums...

By peeping tom Fri Mar 06, 2015 3:02 am
record break , chop it up, leave start and end points loose, program then trim to tighten.

then if its lacking in something, maybe i dont like the hat, its back to the crates or the drum machine to get a stock sound to layer it with.

Re: When You do your drums...

By BoyOfVirtue Sun Mar 08, 2015 3:37 pm
Cases wrote:This. From top to bottom.
Chromatic order means chromatic order. Lol. Google chromatic scale


I'm familiar with the concept of a chromatic scale/chromatic order, I just didn't understand what that would mean in the context of an autoloading blank program template.
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