getting the most out of drum breaks

can any1 provide some tips on getting the most out of a standard drum break?
Crews like Black Sheep, People Under The Stairs, Ugly Duckling (for example) get their drums sounding BIG and tight - how are they achieving this? I could see the benefit of parallel compression to an extent, and some additional layering maybe...but the sound of their breaks compared to the same breaks I have sound bangin'! This is probably been talked about to death, but its been buggin me out lately trying to pull similar sounds.

astral_Signal wrote:can any1 provide some tips on getting the most out of a standard drum break?
Crews like Black Sheep, People Under The Stairs, Ugly Duckling (for example) get their drums sounding BIG and tight - how are they achieving this? I could see the benefit of parallel compression to an extent, and some additional layering maybe...but the sound of their breaks compared to the same breaks I have sound bangin'! This is probably been talked about to death, but its been buggin me out lately trying to pull similar sounds.

You're going to drive yourself crazy comparing your drums/sonics to the drums/sonics produced/mixed/mastered in multi-million dollar studios, with multi-million dollar equipment, on the best boards money can buy, manned by some of the best engineers in the world.

crazy, perhaps

but with some bad ass drums

i suggest learning 'mixing in general' instead of focusing on this small subject (i'm not knowledgeable on it btw)
learn the techniques, learn how and when to use them, when and how not to use them

this way, you'll probably recognize what those crews did

Bangin drums come from amplifying certain frequencies. The choice is yours on which ones, just drift off with the EQ and invent new stuff as you go. Just be sure to be mindful of your gains to prevent clipping and you'll create that magical dust too.

Sometimes when I sample drum breaks, I chop up them all up into individual sounds with long wiggily tails into each pad. And just bang out a new pattern.

As far as P.U.T.S. specifically, those two guys use an SP1200 extensively.

Metatron72 wrote:As far as P.U.T.S. specifically, those two guys use an SP1200 extensively.

thes one has been known to use the mpc 60/3000 as well...

crossings wrote:

Metatron72 wrote:As far as P.U.T.S. specifically, those two guys use an SP1200 extensively.

thes one has been known to use the mpc 60/3000 as well...

Fair point. So OP, 3 grand is the easiest way.

But seriously nothing wrong with finding other ways to try for that crispy sound once you know what you're striving to emulate.

MaZe wrote:

astral_Signal wrote:can any1 provide some tips on getting the most out of a standard drum break?
Crews like Black Sheep, People Under The Stairs, Ugly Duckling (for example) get their drums sounding BIG and tight - how are they achieving this? I could see the benefit of parallel compression to an extent, and some additional layering maybe...but the sound of their breaks compared to the same breaks I have sound bangin'! This is probably been talked about to death, but its been buggin me out lately trying to pull similar sounds.

You're going to drive yourself crazy comparing your drums/sonics to the drums/sonics produced/mixed/mastered in multi-million dollar studios, with multi-million dollar equipment, on the best boards money can buy, manned by some of the best engineers in the world.

i suggest you take look at the back of their records it's not just shout outs to
their pals. what your entering into is totally another science and here is one of the best scientist ever

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/herb-powers

AntonPD wrote:crazy, perhaps

but with some bad ass drums

i suggest learning 'mixing in general' instead of focusing on this small subject (i'm not knowledgeable on it btw)
learn the techniques, learn how and when to use them, when and how not to use them

this way, you'll probably recognize what those crews did

Big difference between mine and your bad ass drums, and drums that have been put through and EQ'd on an SSL and then sent to a mastering guru. My drums smack in the whip coming out of my 4000, into a mackie, into a Focusrite interface, and mixed down in Logic. Still, I won't even dare to compare them or even hold them against anything done commercially.