Drums - Mono or Stereo, and why?

Hey guys,

I was wondering about how people think when it comes to sampling drums.
I've read a lot of times that you should sample your drums in mono. Until now i have always sampled them in stereo and recently thought i'd give mono a try.

What i've noticed is...

- When i sample in mono and switch between the left and right input, with some drumbreaks the left channel sounds better, with some the right one. So how do you go about this, do you pick the one you think sounds better (stronger, harder, more on point), or do you take the one you think sounds nicer (regardless of how strong they hit)? Or do you sample both channels and eventually layer them later?

- Mono vs. Stereo... After i sampled quite a few hits (about 30 hits each of kicks, snares, hats, etc), i started making a beat with some sample, and when i wanted to make the drums, i wasn't really satisfied with anything... they all didn't sound quite well in the mix... tried layering some kicks and snares, etc... but the result wasn't to my liking. Maybe it just wasn't a good day, but somehow i started wondering if i maybe prefer my drums sampled in stereo?

So what is your opinion on this subject matter?

I'm looking for any kind of input, tips, experiences, "golden rules", etc.

Thanks in advance, peace!

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Not trying to blow you off, there is really some great info in the above threads.

Golden rule: it always depends on the source + your perception.
Personal rule: hits in mono.

*hangs head in shame*

I thought this has probably been covered before, and admit i was just to lazy to do a search... i'll put in some more effort next time!

Thanks for the links, much appreciated!

Most of the times I sample drums in stereo and then separate channels in the MPC, like that you can find which channel sounds the best to you. Or when it sounds good, you can keep it in stereo!

jibber wrote:*hangs head in shame*

nogginj wrote:Not trying to blow you off

Burt Bacharach wrote:So take it easy on yourself

Happy to help.

Took my time and went through the links. I'll keep sampling in stereo and seperate channels when i feel the need to do so.

I thought it was something like a golden rule to sample drums in mono, but it seems i was wrong on that one maybe.

I guess at the end of the day it comes down to what's always the case... listen, use my ears, go for what sounds best to me!

Thanks again!

Sampling in mono is a good way to save memory when you have a sampler with 2mb or less to play with, but these days it's not an issue any more, not when you typically have tons of memory and a snare takes up practically nothing, even in stereo.

Just be aware that some stereo drum samples will most likely be panned more to one side, especially a hat or cymbal, plus many snares and kicks can have special stereo dynamics applied, affecting one channel differently to the other. We do this sometimes on some samples in our drum packs to create wider sounding drums or other special effects.

I track my Kicks and Bass Drops in mono. Why: I used to run my Kicks and Booms out the same stereo pair, but found instances where the Kicks and Drops (Booms) needed different volumes/eq/fx/etc. Also, I read somewhere a long time ago that bass was omni-directional, and that you wanted to mix down mono bass out of consideration for people's playback devices.

I guess it all depends on the sample,

I was recently sampling some Willie Hutch off the Foxy Brown OST, and I was listening to it in the head-phones and noticed different variations on left and right channels, I took the samples into my mpc, re-sampled each sample into mono and got a clean horn sample for one channel and a bass/board sample for the other.

Definitely made me appreciate mono sampling.

Ronin wrote:I guess it all depends on the sample,

I was recently sampling some Willie Hutch off the Foxy Brown OST, and I was listening to it in the head-phones and noticed different variations on left and right channels, I took the samples into my mpc, re-sampled each sample into mono and got a clean horn sample for one channel and a bass/board sample for the other.

Definitely made me appreciate mono sampling.

Yup I do that all the time. If there are significant differences between the left and right sides of for example a drum sample, you can sample it, split it, and then you got a main snare and an alternate for a more realistic drum pattern. Or you could layer them, pan one slightly left, and the other slightly right (basically reduce the stereo width). Matter of fact that's how I made the snare in the second beat in my signature.

One time I took a loop that in my mind was layered, split it in to two mono samples, and it turned out that the left channel was an acoustic bass and the right was a piano, but they were playing the same bassline.

mp3 wrote:

Ronin wrote:I guess it all depends on the sample,

I was recently sampling some Willie Hutch off the Foxy Brown OST, and I was listening to it in the head-phones and noticed different variations on left and right channels, I took the samples into my mpc, re-sampled each sample into mono and got a clean horn sample for one channel and a bass/board sample for the other.

Definitely made me appreciate mono sampling.

Yup I do that all the time. If there are significant differences between the left and right sides of for example a drum sample, you can sample it, split it, and then you got a main snare and an alternate for a more realistic drum pattern. Or you could layer them, pan one slightly left, and the other slightly right (basically reduce the stereo width). Matter of fact that's how I made the snare in the second beat in my signature.

One time I took a loop that in my mind was layered, split it in to two mono samples, and it turned out that the left channel was an acoustic bass and the right was a piano, but they were playing the same bassline.

thats whats up!
Mono def has it's advantages at times, Once I learned how to utilize that technique I was saying to myself "OH! that's how he did that sample" because I would research what sample was used from which record, listen to it and say where the hell did he get that sample from because I hear it but it's not open. but now I get it lmao.

The power is in mono....

It doesn't matter which one you do.

IN mono, if you get a better result then stereo, take the track duplicate and pan the copied channel to the right.

Then render and it will even better than what your source.

88 keys does that. But it's tedious as FCK.

That's why you hear his snare sometimes and they sound like they are in surround sound.

MONO if you want to start off in the center and pan them later in your stereo mix

STEREO is fine sometimes if the drums/drum samples are already panned and they already sound good leave it, but if u want it centered in the mix mono is fine

have you ever seen stereo drum set ?