How can i make my drums hit harder

The 90s producers i dig dont layer drums and i know because i have many of the exact same drum breaks. As far as the tribe called quest stuff none of their production has layered drums at least not their early stuff.

crossings wrote:that's because you don't have to layer drums when you're already sampling layered drums off of hip-hop albums.

Golden_Era wrote:The 90s producers i dig dont layer drums and i know because i have many of the exact same drum breaks. As far as the tribe called quest stuff none of their production has layered drums at least not their early stuff.

I don't know what 90s producers did but I think people feel that they NEED to layer drums every time they make a track. You don't. You also don't NEED to apply compression either. I personally feel that if you start out with the right drums in the first place, and you like the sound of them, you shouldn't NEED to layer them. I've layered drums before but that was due to the fact that the drum samples that I was using at that moment were lacking. I could have just found a drum that sounded the way I wanted it to sound and not layered it.

EQ is important. ADSR is important. And of course, post processing like compression/limiting/sidechaining/etc. helps but get the best sounds in the mix FIRST, use the other techniques to make the BEST sounds, sound better.

The ONLY cookie cutter rule to getting your drums to hit hard, is to START out with hard hitting drums.

And I'm not anti-layering. It's actually a great tool but you have to know why you are layering and it's never because "you are supposed to" or "someone told me to". When you layer, you are creating a new sound so you have to know what sound you currently have, what sound you want, what sound you need, and how to put them all together. Or, you can search for the sound you want off the bat.

MaZe wrote:

Golden_Era wrote:The 90s producers i dig dont layer drums and i know because i have many of the exact same drum breaks. As far as the tribe called quest stuff none of their production has layered drums at least not their early stuff.

I don't know what 90s producers did but I think people feel that they NEED to layer drums every time they make a track. You don't. You also don't NEED to apply compression either. I personally feel that if you start out with the right drums in the first place, and you like the sound of them, you shouldn't NEED to layer them. I've layered drums before but that was due to the fact that the drum samples that I was using at that moment were lacking. I could have just found a drum that sounded the way I wanted it to sound and not layered it.

EQ is important. ADSR is important. And of course, post processing like compression/limiting/sidechaining/etc. helps but get the best sounds in the mix FIRST, use the other techniques to make the BEST sounds, sound better.

The ONLY cookie cutter rule to getting your drums to hit hard, is to START out with hard hitting drums.

And I'm not anti-layering. It's actually a great tool but you have to know why you are layering and it's never because "you are supposed to" or "someone told me to". When you layer, you are creating a new sound so you have to know what sound you currently have, what sound you want, what sound you need, and how to put them all together. Or, you can search for the sound you want off the bat.

Word!

47:40

http://vimeo.com/67440689

Q-Tip layered.

Man, even James Brown used to layer drums, thats how old is the technique. Before his albums were published, James used to listen to his albums over and over. And when he felt the drums weren't hitting hard enough on a certain track, he would get whatever in the studio and layer it over the recorded drums. Its documented that he had a couple of cardboard boxes because to him it sounded fit over some weak kicks.

Ill-Green wrote:Man, even James Brown used to layer drums, thats how old is the technique. Before his albums were published, James used to listen to his albums over and over. And when he felt the drums weren't hitting hard enough on a certain track, he would get whatever in the studio and layer it over the recorded drums. Its documented that he had a couple of cardboard boxes because to him it sounded fit over some weak kicks.

+1

and this http://www.slapmeister.com/slapclap.html helps a lot too, but use it wisely

This wasn't a 90's era technique because these guys used hardware that gave them the sound they needed or they simply used sub-par drums. Many of these guys made classics based on the overall composition or sample but often times the drums didnt sound amazing. Many of RZA's drums to pick on him werent incredible but his sampling and arrangements were.

And some of you guys are so hung up on sampling drums from other producers like these other producers tweaked them so much and that's almost completely false. Good drums don't require much tweaking. Most q-tip and ATCQ stuff had very little tweaking. Some Primo had none at all..damn im dropping too many secrets here lol.

Not to mention these guys stole the drums off someone else lol.

Golden_Era wrote:This wasn't a 90's era technique because these guys used hardware that gave them the sound they needed or they simply used sub-par drums. Many of these guys made classics based on the overall composition or sample but often times the drums didnt sound amazing. Many of RZA's drums to pick on him werent incredible but his sampling and arrangements were.

And some of you guys are so hung up on sampling drums from other producers like these other producers tweaked them so much and that's almost completely false. Good drums don't require much tweaking. Most q-tip and ATCQ stuff had very little tweaking. Some Primo had none at all..damn im dropping too many secrets here lol.

Not to mention these guys stole the drums off someone else lol.

how do you know these things? I'm not calling you out on it, I'm curious as to how you have such in-depth knowledge of "golden-era" producers. Even as much as knowing how their drums were done. I've read a couple other of your posts you've put up on the forum here, and I was curious what your deal is? Your credentials? Were you a prominent part of the 90's hip hop game and thats why you have such detailed accounts?

Again, not calling you out but, calling yourself golden era and coming on the forums talking about how 90's producers used to do their drums isn't very convincing without some cred behind those statements... you know?

Golden_Era wrote:damn im dropping too many secrets here lol.

You're not.

Lampdog wrote:What's wrong with him, he's a lil sloppy and slow speeched. He can't stop
flicking his wrist.

I watched about 20 minutes of this earlier. They probably had a smoke beforehand, which would explain the long and bumbling questions and answers. The guy asking the questions was terrible.

n4l wrote:47:40

http://vimeo.com/67440689

Q-Tip layered.

And like I said, in not so many words, it's all about frequencies.

Golden_Era wrote:This wasn't a 90's era technique because these guys used hardware that gave them the sound they needed or they simply used sub-par drums. Many of these guys made classics based on the overall composition or sample but often times the drums didnt sound amazing. Many of RZA's drums to pick on him werent incredible but his sampling and arrangements were.

And some of you guys are so hung up on sampling drums from other producers like these other producers tweaked them so much and that's almost completely false. Good drums don't require much tweaking. Most q-tip and ATCQ stuff had very little tweaking. Some Primo had none at all..damn im dropping too many secrets here lol.

Not to mention these guys stole the drums off someone else lol.

**YAWN**

You say what you want because thats what you entitled to. But don't think most of us are a bunch of 19 year old noobs whom never saw a walkman before. I've been there to the golden era, in fact I was there during the ceramic era and I know you aint Hip Hop. I'm gonna leave it at that because it seems that you've been dissed your whole time you been here. I would've thought you been chastised by now, but you continue play the master role without a degree. For that, I will make a mockery of you on my next album.