Hard Hitting Snare

jaem wrote:
and none of them is going direct to disk from the MP, they all are using EQ, compression, etc

We have to dead this whole "sound depending on the machine" thing. People have been making beats using the exact same equipment for probably close to 20 years (maybe an exaggeration, but that isn't important), and I have yet to hear ANY album sound exactly like another. Everything that you do to a sound, how you record it, eq, what medium it's recorded on, at what levels, what other sounds you mix it with, how you mix it, how it gets mastered, the speakers you are using, the room you are working in...there's like a million factors that contribute to how things sound.

If you want something to sound a certain way, you have to figure out how to do it based on the equipment and resources you have available to you. Granted, some machines might be a little better at helping you get a certain sound, but it's not up to the machine...it's in how you use it.

roxstar wrote:To all of you that always think the answer is with additional hardware, if you can't get your drums to smack with a plain MPC2000 with no effects, 8 outs, or any of that other stuff, then this music schyt ain't for you.

I was responding to this statement. The 2000 and greater have crappy a/d/a. It sounds thin and lacks a decent high end.
I still use my 2kxl daily, but you better believe i'm boosting those highs presample on anything except kick drums and bass lines. As for mixing the high end is always the 1st thing i gotta fix.

If you have the xl,sample your snare sounds with your rec gain half way up and leave the track volume at about halfway and ur snares should be hard and loud.

high pass filter and compression--both of which can be accomplished in the mpc...but yes as jaem said...I eq my highs before I sample on everything aside from kick and bass

Snare
Try a small boost around 60-120Hz if the sound is a little too wimpy.
Try boosting around 6kHz for that 'snappy' sound.

Frequency Effect
100-250Hz Fills out the sound
6-8kHz Adds prescence

"and none of them is going direct to disk from the MP, they all are using EQ, compression, etc"

I've never said anything about not using EQ and compression and there isn't a machine ever made that doesn't require some kind of post processing. My point is that the MPC2000 does not sound bad...it may not sound the greatest (even though I have no complaints) but the "sounds thin and lacks a decent high end" argument is only noticeable to people that are REALLY scrutinizing the accuracy of fidelity. This is Hip-Hop music. No one cares about accuracy, just make the beat sound good with whatever tools you have in front of you.

roxstar wrote:"and none of them is going direct to disk from the MP, they all are using EQ, compression, etc"

I've never said anything about not using EQ and compression and there isn't a machine ever made that doesn't require some kind of post processing. My point is that the MPC2000 does not sound bad...it may not sound the greatest (even though I have no complaints) but the "sounds thin and lacks a decent high end" argument is only noticeable to people that are REALLY scrutinizing the accuracy of fidelity. This is Hip-Hop music. No one cares about accuracy, just make the beat sound good with whatever tools you have in front of you.

true that alot of cats are geting a little to much into the details about improving their snare, i keep getin this vibe that people think that this is really important when trying to become a hip hop beat maker/producer. if your trying to be a engineer fine thats all you do work on improving the quality of sound, what im saying is that if i were you id worry more about sound combination and melodies,transactions from vurz to break to cours kus thats what rappers are looking for to rap on.. quality comes after production not before... HIP HOP is my life

or you can layer it with a hi filtered(or low, i cant remember) clap, or another snare, that sometimes does the job

roxstar wrote: No one cares about accuracy, just make the beat sound good with whatever tools you have in front of you.

hahaha...

u honestly believe that BS?

"hahaha...

u honestly believe that BS?"

Sure do, and unless you can show me a mass public disappointment reaction to a beat because it was made on an MPC2000 (since you claim it lacks high end) then your point will be proven correct. You make it seem like the MPC2000 is just a crap machine. Any drum machine can make wack beats, in fact, most new school music heard today sucks real bad, and that's with MPC's/MV8800's and computers with 24bit analog/digital conversion and Pro-tools with plugins. If your beats suck, then don't use the "audio quality" excuse. I've never heard your beats, so I can't be the judge of that. There are a few "cult status" samplers that I will say you simply can't entirely make a decent beat on tho. The Casio SK1/RZ1, the Akai S612, and the Ensoniq Mirage. There is no drum machine made past 1987 that isn't capable of creating a decent song and sound good enough to sell.

All this BS about the MPC2000 being a crap sounding machine ahaha.

J-zone and Pete Rock both use the MPC2000, remember that.

I find using transient shapers work much better than compression for those snap crackle pop snares. Layering is also essential in getting the desired sound as well as eq.

http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=18

Hi

Anybody know how to do sound like that?

http://www.zshare.net/audio/603900319325683a/

What i must do to make sound like that? My sampled snare is short and poor. This snare is hard long and good. How to get approximate sound.

roxstar wrote:"EQ and COMPRESSION??? come on u guys are wayy too general"

Thank-you! I don't even answer these questions anymore when I see these replies. To all of you that always think the answer is with additional hardware, if you can't get your drums to smack with a plain MPC2000 with no effects, 8 outs, or any of that other stuff, then this music schyt ain't for you. Watch a Kev Brown video, and notice all he does is sample and create. It's not hard when you know how. Keep practicing, and you will know also.

and whats not int he video is the part where he tracks the beat out in a studio and has it mixed/mastered...

Dirty J wrote:eg. if I take the full snare level and drop it from 100 to 80 then I'll adjust the remaining layers by the same difference

yo... just wondering about this. i do this all the time.. for example if I have 4 layers on one pad, I reduce each by say 20... but then i realised isn't it the ratio that makes the difference, not the absolute value? to get what im saying...

say you had on one sample a volume of 100, and stacked it with a sample with volume 80. Say it starts clipping so you wanna reduce both levels by the same amount so that the snare sounds exactly the same - just quieter. wouldn't reducing both by 20 change the relative volume of the snare sounds?

80/100 = 0.8

then reducing each sample by 20....
60/80 = 0.75

so its not gonna be the same sound if you just reduce both samples by 20. you would have to reduce by the %. so say you wanted the sample of 100 to be reduced to 80, then the other sample would need to be reduced to 64, not 60... since

64/80 = 0.8 which is the same as
80/100 = 0.8

feel me? ive been doing this for ages, but it only struck me now.....

this is most important when youve got a stack of samples e.g.
volumes of say 100, 82, 64, 52 on a single pad. reducing each by a certain amount (say 10) will change the ratio of the levels to each sound... hella nerdy i know..

i may be wrong though