How can i make my drums hit harder

Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By Golden_Era Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:37 pm
I am not a known dude no, but yes i've spoken with a bunch of producers that i admire and consider to be the best and to understand where im coming from i only really like hip hop made from like 1990 to about 1998 i think that was a special time and not much new stuff interests me for instance i dont like 9th wonder or Dilla i made what i feel are better beats on my ASR 10 yrs ago. I personally spoke with evidence, necro, dj mondee and alchemist about some ASR tips all of these dudes i believe rock that machine to its fullest and boom bap style.

And not to sound cocky but my ears are trained incredibly well from dj'ing, as well as owning mpcs, asr, etc. And just making hundreds and hundreds of beats.

And forgot Stoupe is the one modern producer who i think is a beast on the beats also uses an incredibly basic set up from what ive been told. Sure engineers tweak stuff while mastering these albums but i dont concern myself with it.

Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By mastasteez Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:03 am
Golden_Era wrote:...i dont like Dilla i made what i feel are better beats on my ASR 10 yrs ago.


:Sigh:

You feeling yourself more than Merv after a 36 hour NRG session at an all boys school!

You're gonna have to post some of these beats after a statement like that.

Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By mastasteez Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:12 am
Golden_Era wrote:and not much new stuff interests me


Also, Dilla has production credits dating back to '94. Smack bang in the middle of your Golden Era. How you gonna pick him as a modern producer. :hmmm:

Oh yeah and 9th Wonder produced The Way We Do It and Speed so you musta made some serious heat.
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Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By Lampdog Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:18 am
Golden_Era wrote:i made what i feel are better beats on my ASR 10 yrs ago.


When I listen and compare my old beats to my new I feel the same way (I bought my asr in 94).
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Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By sirparksalot Fri Jun 07, 2013 8:53 am
Lots of stuff you can do. Most importantly is choosing good sounding drums to begin with.

Learn and listen to what cutting and boosting frequencies will do to the timbre of a drum. Learn about compression techniques. Learn about parallel compression after that. Parallel compression should be used subtly, but it can really add some weight to a drum track. My favorite compressor plugin for drums is the Waves API 2500. One day I am going to own the hardware version for sure.

Also, something that can add some thickness on your snares and kicks would be using a short slap delay.
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Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By Menco Fri Jun 07, 2013 6:37 pm
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.


Whether they used that technique in the 90's or not, layering can still be used to make the drumsounds hit harder. That was the only thing the OP was asking: how to make his drums hit harder. Not if layering was a technique they used in the 90's.
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Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By crossings Fri Jun 07, 2013 7:51 pm
Golden_Era wrote:I am not a known dude no, but yes i've spoken with a bunch of producers that i admire and consider to be the best and to understand where im coming from i only really like hip hop made from like 1990 to about 1998 i think that was a special time and not much new stuff interests me for instance i dont like 9th wonder or Dilla i made what i feel are better beats on my ASR 10 yrs ago. I personally spoke with evidence, necro, dj mondee and alchemist about some ASR tips all of these dudes i believe rock that machine to its fullest and boom bap style.

And not to sound cocky but my ears are trained incredibly well from dj'ing, as well as owning mpcs, asr, etc. And just making hundreds and hundreds of beats.

And forgot Stoupe is the one modern producer who i think is a beast on the beats also uses an incredibly basic set up from what ive been told. Sure engineers tweak stuff while mastering these albums but i dont concern myself with it.


that's all fine & dandy that you like to think you're on par with the pros... but you're still wrong about 90's artists not layering drums. did you even check that q-tip video?? that's fine if you don't wanna layer drums, but don't try to speak for an entire era of hip-hop. seriously GTFOOHWTBS.

Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By Golden_Era Sat Jun 08, 2013 11:36 am
Don't really feel like i have to justify my musical tastes to anyone i simply don't like most of the production of 9th wonder or Dilla. I love Stakes is High obviously i believe a Dilla joint so i give him some props, but i like my beats better that i did on my ASR-10 yrs ago. I also like what i've done on FL Studio more than 9th Wonder. But overall not a huge fan. I would rather listen to beats by Rob Lewis. Who is that you ask? Nine's main producer. Or give me Havoc beats any day over any of that dilla stuff.

To answer the original question i wouldn't advise someone to layer in which most guys just aimlessly throw random drum samples on top of each other and expect magic. I don't think it sounds good most of the time and tweaking 3 or 4 samples inhopes of something sounding good doesnt seem efficient to me. More time than not i've seen it do more harm than good.

If hardware and good drum samples dont give you the beef you want you gotta mess with basic EQ'ing and even some good vst's are out there.



mastasteez wrote:
Golden_Era wrote:and not much new stuff interests me


Also, Dilla has production credits dating back to '94. Smack bang in the middle of your Golden Era. How you gonna pick him as a modern producer. :hmmm:

Oh yeah and 9th Wonder produced The Way We Do It and Speed so you musta made some serious heat.
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Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By Ill-Green Sat Jun 08, 2013 11:47 am
Its a known fact that producers of the '90s layered drums. I've read about it in all the interviews of the Source, Word Up!, Rap Pages, and my favorite, Beatdown during the time. It started with finding distinctive snares because there were only 8 types during the time and shit was getting redundant. So they began layering snares and then mutated them further to the unlimited snare sounds you hear today. Then peeps got even creative and started layering the kicks, hi hats, and then layering different drum patterns to create complex rhythms. I'm talking from the Hip Hop genre because layering drums goes back to the Beatles.

Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By mastasteez Sat Jun 08, 2013 11:56 am
Golden_Era wrote:Don't really feel like i have to justify my musical tastes to anyone i simply don't like most of the production of 9th wonder or Dilla. I love Stakes is High obviously i believe a Dilla joint so i give him some props, but i like my beats better that i did on my ASR-10 yrs ago. I also like what i've done on FL Studio more than 9th Wonder. But overall not a huge fan. I would rather listen to beats by Rob Lewis. Who is that you ask? Nine's main producer. Or give me Havoc beats any day over any of that dilla stuff.

To answer the original question i wouldn't advise someone to layer in which most guys just aimlessly throw random drum samples on top of each other and expect magic. I don't think it sounds good most of the time and tweaking 3 or 4 samples inhopes of something sounding good doesnt seem efficient to me. More time than not i've seen it do more harm than good.

If hardware and good drum samples dont give you the beef you want you gotta mess with basic EQ'ing and even some good vst's are out there.



mastasteez wrote:
Golden_Era wrote:and not much new stuff interests me


Also, Dilla has production credits dating back to '94. Smack bang in the middle of your Golden Era. How you gonna pick him as a modern producer. :hmmm:

Oh yeah and 9th Wonder produced The Way We Do It and Speed so you musta made some serious heat.


You didn't just say 'I don't like Dilla' though did you? No, you said you feel you made better beats than him. I can't believe no one else has given you a gunning for this. Whether you like his shit or not, you can't ignore the steez but you can?
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Re: How can i make my drums hit harder

By sirparksalot Sat Jun 08, 2013 3:27 pm
mastasteez wrote:You didn't just say 'I don't like Dilla' though did you? No, you said you feel you made better beats than him. I can't believe no one else has given you a gunning for this. Whether you like his shit or not, you can't ignore the steez but you can?


Word....and in my opinion 9th isn't even in the same category as Dilla. Dilla and Pete Rock brought a certain musicality to beats. With dudes like 9th Wonder, Havoc, etc, they make ill beats......but you probably can already tell what you'e gonna get from them.

You best be postin some beats up to top 12 years of major placements....let the people decide.
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