Chopping Drumbreaks/ EQ'ing

ive been in the dilemma of getting my drumbreaks to sound how i want them too. i usually chop my drumbreaks in individual hits, or in 1/8th note chops.

the problem i have however, is that in drumbreaks most kicks have a hihat on them , after all, it's a real drummer playing a break. i know with EQ, i can mask the hat off the kick, but the kick still has a hat on it. since i have my quantize off on my mpc, whenever i lay the hi hat down over the kick and snare sequence i recorded before, the hi hat im trying to record conflicts with the hat on the kick timing wise. i want to determine where im playing my hi hat but it seems like since the kick has a hat, i have to get it right on the kick or it just sounds off. even if i have the quantize on, placing the quantized hi hat right on top of the kick with the hi hat makes it sound like there are two hi hats being played, sounds like shit.

IE) the 1/16th note pickup kick before beat 1,2,3,4; the "BA" in ba-boom crack. since the kick has a hat on it, the "BA" has a hat on it that i don't want. what i want is a steady stream of 1/8th note hihats but the hihat in the kick makes it not possible.

i've played around with the LPF, but when i get to the point where im cutting out the hihat freq, the kick sounds dead.


in summary, the hi hat on kicks in drumbreaks are messing with my groove and the sonic result. i want my single shots on my mpc to be individual, a clean kick drum, snare, and hi hat. maybe i just have to mic and record my own drums? i know people do it from records and breaks, dilla is a classic example of a mpc programmer whose kicks often sound like a proper live kit.


good looks mpcfam

Use a different kick from a different break?

Low pass the one with the problem hat, and layer another kick on top?

scoobylol wrote:Use a different kick from a different break?

Low pass the one with the problem hat, and layer another kick on top?

most kicks on breaks have something with the hats going on top of them.

tunnelno5 wrote:

scoobylol wrote:Use a different kick from a different break?

Low pass the one with the problem hat, and layer another kick on top?

most kicks on breaks have something with the hats going on top of them.

Mate come on... there's a wealth of easy to access sources for nearly any sound you can imagine via the internet. You're telling me you can't find a single kick to fit your purpose?

If it's not working try a different break, or try a different part of the same break you're currently using. Or try chopping the existing kick in a slightly different way.

u need moar breaks

i personally use a chopped break on 99% of my tracks , i dont encounter the problem ure referring to very often , a lot of the time i try to use the hat for that drum break and i wont lay it over the kick or the snare as its already present , but there are lots of breaks out there that dont have hats on them almost every fill at the beginning of tons of soul tracks has a kick without hihat , disco records also often have a bar somewhere with a naked kick , other than that get creative with ure filtering, use an envelope on the filter let a little hi through at the beginning filter the decaying part , on a real kick drum the hi it usually is only right on the attack anway when the hammer smacks the skin , when ure micing a drum kit getting a good amount of hi smack to the kick is often the hardest part, other than that i dont really kno what to suggest mayb u should use single hit kits it might b the sound ure goin for . good luck.

dr4track wrote:i personally use a chopped break on 99% of my tracks , i dont encounter the problem ure referring to very often , a lot of the time i try to use the hat for that drum break and i wont lay it over the kick or the snare as its already present , but there are lots of breaks out there that dont have hats on them almost every fill at the beginning of tons of soul tracks has a kick without hihat , disco records also often have a bar somewhere with a naked kick , other than that get creative with ure filtering, use an envelope on the filter let a little hi through at the beginning filter the decaying part , on a real kick drum the hi it usually is only right on the attack anway when the hammer smacks the skin , when ure micing a drum kit getting a good amount of hi smack to the kick is often the hardest part, other than that i dont really kno what to suggest mayb u should use single hit kits it might b the sound ure goin for . good luck.

naked kicks is what I want. if you listen dilla, his drum hits ie kicks are usually always naked.when a drummer hits his kick, the kick itself is naked. I have used the method of leaving out the hihat on where the kick with hihat are present, but that's not what I'm looking or. Even if I did leave it out, the ba on baboom which falls on the sixteenth note pickup would have a hat on it disrupting the eigth note hats I want to lay down. know dilla prob got his drums from records and not drumkit packages. i guess I have to look for more open naked hits.

Melvin bliss break, the kicks always have a hat on them. so the kicks are not naked. I guess you can't make a kick with a hat from a break naked.

I'm not trying to want dilla drums, but he does have naked hits which allow him to find own groove and not have the quantize restrict groove. open drums, or eq hat off of kick. I don't know

Dilla dug extensively for his drums. You have to find the best drums and refine them. You won't find the drums on break records, you just have to search. There is no shame in reusing drums if they sound proper.

in a lot of breaks that ive chopped the ba ure referring to often dosent have a hihat on it, and to b honest in my pinion since the ba is not the focal point to the rythm of the rythm of the drums its actual definition is not that important . i would suggest for u to b careful when trying to imitate the sound of another producer especially if u dont kno him personally or his work methods. im not sayin by any means that i knew dilla but his sound had changed over the course of his carrer im also sure that he spent a lot of time designing his sounds ie with filtring, layering, envelopes, live recordings , the reason i suggested the kit was cuz if u dont have the ear , the patience or the time to do ure own sound designing , with the kit some of it is already done for u, then again mayb u just dont have the right records, if u want total control of the groove after chopping the break u have to get creative and try stuff out, i mean the break rythm wise was not made to b played the way that ure trying to . anyways ill try to look through my stuff and give u the names of a couple of titles to look for for the naked kicks.oh and by the way when i was talking abou mic'n a drum kit, the hi on the kick i was refering to was not a hihat but the hi frequency slap on the skin of a drum.

You also have to remember Dilla played drums and had a full studio with a treated drum room. He didnt neccesarily have to dig for drum samples.

dr4track wrote:in a lot of breaks that ive chopped the ba ure referring to often dosent have a hihat on it, and to b honest in my pinion since the ba is not the focal point to the rythm of the rythm of the drums its actual definition is not that important . i would suggest for u to b careful when trying to imitate the sound of another producer especially if u dont kno him personally or his work methods. im not sayin by any means that i knew dilla but his sound had changed over the course of his carrer im also sure that he spent a lot of time designing his sounds ie with filtring, layering, envelopes, live recordings , the reason i suggested the kit was cuz if u dont have the ear , the patience or the time to do ure own sound designing , with the kit some of it is already done for u, then again mayb u just dont have the right records, if u want total control of the groove after chopping the break u have to get creative and try stuff out, i mean the break rythm wise was not made to b played the way that ure trying to . anyways ill try to look through my stuff and give u the names of a couple of titles to look for for the naked kicks.oh and by the way when i was talking abou mic'n a drum kit, the hi on the kick i was refering to was not a hihat but the hi frequency slap on the skin of a drum.

yeah i got the hi of the kick meant frequency.

i just always thought naked drums were EQ'd singleshotchopped drumbreaks, but i guess that is not the case. a naked kick is just what i have to find. yeah if you could direct me toward any records with open drums, let me know. good looks mang!

p.s: never am i trying to jock dilla, i was just using his drums as an example.

If you want "naked" hits.. then learn to use mute groups. Also. Mute groups make nice breaks by laying open/closed hats and playing with 2 seperate paterns each on a different note placement .. like 150bpm closed @1/16 then a 150bpm open @ 1/8 then a 1/4 here or there.. using note repeat. I wont give you the exact formula but thats the most basic without telling you exactly..

just learn what your doing period,if your having trouble with something this simple chance's are you'll be posting on a lot of forums. it's not our job to dig and tell you what record to use cause I found a " NAKED KICK" get serious.

Was having similar problems as the original poster a while back. Then someone open the door to the wonderful world of "filter envelopes" and "ADSR settings". (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) Ahhh here is a great post with great tips in regards to your dilema http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=127610&hilit=adsr Merry Xmas bro!!

Its the nuances in the chopped drums that make them sound unique. Your gonna have to learn how to use them as is, or learn how to tweek them for your own style.