air????

i know what air is but what is the best way to add it? like to add to a snare or bass drum that is too chopped? and then how does it blend in?
thanx...

There's loads of ways to add 'air' to your beats it's just a matter of what works for you, here's a few i still use, but this is after years of making beats, there's loads of ways out there, do some research and use your imagination!!

If you've got access to a mic and speaker, place the speaker in a room you like the sound of (hall, or tiled bathroom) and put your beat through it and record it. Experiment with mic positioning!! It also helps of you understand a little bit about how a room works. Every room has, what are know as standing waves, I don't want to go into detail but basically they are waves forms that exist in every room, and they will effect the sound in the room differently at different frequencies, creating nodes(a boost at a certain frequency) and anti-nodes (cancellation or dips at a certain frequencies) but you can use these to your advantage ie. more bass, less bass, etc..

I could write all day about this so, experiment with mic position, corners of most rooms will give more low end. For a stereo reverb effect use two mics (be weary of phase cancellation between the two mics).

Try some imaginative placement like putting the mic in a metal box, the other side of a guitar(tuning the guitar to the track you are working on).
Just mess around.
When you've got your reverb sample add a little bit of it back to the original beat, you'll get some sweet results and it'll get rid of that choppy sound too.

Another few techniques are turning the rec level up on the MPC and record the noise, add this to the beat.

Sample some 'air' from where ever you sampled the beats or from some where else and add it in between your individual beats.

Use an artifical delay and reverb, although I assume you don't have any by the nature of your question. So.. Copy the beat and turn it down so you can only just hear it, play it one 1/16th or 1/8th or whatever (depends on your taste) mbye do this twice or three times, each one getting lower in volume.

There's tonnes of ways to add spice to your beats, maybe these tips will get you started but try different things find your own sound. There are no rules and that's the beauty of making beats that's what it's all about. Anyone can quantise a really nice kik and snare and yes it will sound good but is that really why we started making beats? It's about adding personality to beats, put your what you stand for in every beat you make and you will hear the difference (so will every one else).

One rule I live by is that no matter how much hastle an idea is to implement or how crazy it may seem, TRY IT!!!!

Peace and happy beat making

but how do you add the air? using step edit? do you then resample it ort am i on the wrong path altogether?

sample the air, then cut and paste it to the end of the snare sample cut it some, then envelope it.
I think this technique is overrated.

i know that was a pretty elementary question but thanks everyone for your input, i appreciate it.

no well your question inspired some good ideas from DoS!

i often route a signal out an AUX into a practice amp in another room, then record that and sample it. im very much into pushing myself to get out of the chair so to speak, and do unique manual stuff at the moment.

nice one dos