Processing drum-breaks (pre-layering)

Most tracks I produce will include a break loop as my primary drums, then layering will follow to beef them up. Can you guys plz recommend any tips or techniques to get the most out of these raw un-layered breaks (pre mix-down, strictly within the MPC). Some techniques I normally apply is allocating each drum hit to its own track (Kick, Snare, Hat, etc) so I can apply some minor form of equalisation/filtering, adjust levels, pan. I haven't really dived into the FX section on the MPC yet bcoz most likely this will be left to the mix-down stage.

And by the way, how necessary is drum layering? I mean back in the day some of Hip Hop's finest were just looping breaks. I think things can get out of hand when people are layering like 3 kick's together just to achieve a certain sound. The raw snap of breaks straight from vinyl cannot be compared to drum libraries...

So yeah, any tips or techniques would be appreciated! Cheers n shit!

just loop it on one track

use filters

compression

eq

that'll beef it

add one hits from wherever under it if you wanna layer

for example:

drum break filtered high at 20 so the lows aren't as prominent

then add distorted sub kicks on another track at the kick points

add a clap on another track by the snare points

adjust volumes

layered drum break right there

If I'm sampling in a drum loop I'll often run it through a guitar amp modeller on the way into my MPC if I want to give it some of 'that'.

..but whatever you think the break needs, find a way to do that to it. Simple tings.

I always save the drums i sample as natural as possible(no Eq or effects) because you can always add it later.
In my opinion, layering drums is the most important thing to have good drums, before eq or compression. I improved my drum sounds recently mostly with layering, you just have to find the sounds that go together well

you can take the same loop, filter certain sounds out of the loop, then layer. so you could possibly wind up layering the same loop over 3-4+ times

Layer the break kick with an 808 or other deep kick and adjust the attack of the deep kick. With snares you can hi-pass it and layer it with the original and then add in another drum for more snap.

cut frequencies below 50 or so, turn the the rest of the bass down a tad, usually turn the highs down a tad, and add a touch of reverb for color.. but thats just me! i then layer other snares/kicks if need be

an example of this method: