Keeping The "Air " When Chopping Up Drum Breaks

Just a quick question. Lewis Parker in interviews always gets asked about his drums. (which are the sickest drums out there in my opinion) He always talks about keeping the natural air in the drums. I'm just amazed how he's drums sound like breaks. Can anyone shed any light on this "keeping the air' technique?
Thanks

not trimming them tightly.

instead of ending the sample right where there is no more drum sound, you'd keep some of the stuff that comes after as well.

could be silence, noise, reverb, or even other sounds.

Also, sampling silence from the same record you sampled the drum break.

the air is just as important as the drums themselves... or else it often sounds kind of bad. I guess it depends on the audio clip... but the typical drum break needs the air too.

with air minus without air = pure air

http://www.divshare.com/download/24620002-544



peace

that's where the ghost notes hide

tapedeck wrote:not trimming them tightly.

instead of ending the sample right where there is no more drum sound, you'd keep some of the stuff that comes after as well.

could be silence, noise, reverb, or even other sounds.

Actually, this is the last thing you want to do. Any processing afterwards will process the dead space too and you'd be amazed at how that damn noise floor can rise.

There are a number of ways they keep the 'presence' of the drums and one of the most common methods is to use a well made and coloured pre or comp or even EQ but in bypass mode. Basically, you are after the signal path atrefacts and not any of the gain staging.

Apart from that a HP filtered reverb or, more commonly, delaay is used. I have covered these techniques in my books and my personal favourite is using delays without the delay (hard to explain without going into the whole proces).

EQ is also great for adding air to any sound like the Eiosys Aior EQ. HarBal also has the 'air' facility and UAD/SSL made a fortune out of the 'air reverb' solely for this reason.

We also create the air texture by using the slow release of a compressor and then gating the tail.

There are many ways to do this but you don't want a destructive process, so keep the sample topped and tailed perfectly and then apply the processing.

Zukan wrote:

tapedeck wrote:not trimming them tightly.

instead of ending the sample right where there is no more drum sound, you'd keep some of the stuff that comes after as well.

could be silence, noise, reverb, or even other sounds.

Actually, this is the last thing you want to do.

that's the first thing I want to do... for the same reason you mentioned. But it isn't for everyone.... and for every song.

Zukan wrote:

tapedeck wrote:not trimming them tightly.

instead of ending the sample right where there is no more drum sound, you'd keep some of the stuff that comes after as well.

could be silence, noise, reverb, or even other sounds.

Actually, this is the last thing you want to do. Any processing afterwards will process the dead space too and you'd be amazed at how that damn noise floor can rise.

yea i appreciate what you are saying, but i think it defeats the entire purpose of what the op is talking about.

the point is to keep extra 'stuff' in there for character, noise floor be damned. you want to process / keep the dead space - thats the whole point.

we're talking about a technique developed in bedrooms where an mpc might be the only piece of gear, and dudes were just experimenting trying to make beats in the moment. not a studio scenario where you have access to pre's, multitracks, time, trying to polish it off for the radio, etc etc.

you do make a good point though, if you want to control every aspect of it, then keep it as scientific as possible.
however if you want it looser, more raw, leave some of the dirt in there for character.

yeah! sometimes I cut pieces from the "air" and create a rhythm on top of the beat..

Thanks for all the info and brilliant tips everyone. Great stuff! Zukan you make some fantastic points and tips. You obviously have great knowledge but Tapedeck hit the nail on the head.

It's all about maintaining the character, dirt and loose feel. Just keeping it raw!! I just find when I chop my breaks I lose all that magic of the break, all the character gets lost. Thanks again for all the feedback gonna try all the tips given by you guys.

P.s Peterpiper thanks for the download link man.

Peace.

i always thought LP got his drums sounding like that cos of his trusty SP...im pretty sure the 1200 is and has been the centre of his production since C.O.N.

A lot of heads that use the SP carry the same weight with their drums, obviously techniques like those shared here will help to emulate that sound and your sources are always important to end product

yeah, don't gate shit too heavily / chop your drums with no tails, then just play with the enveloping, get each drum hit to kind of crossfade into the next one, sounds sexy.

Another "technique" you should try is to chop even longer pieces. Not only a kick with its air but take the Kick and the following hat as ONE sample or a hat followed by a quiet played snare.
I once recreated a beat DJ Shadow made out of a break listen




and watch. This is how he chopped and rearranged the original break.




see the brown snare part? this is an example of what I ment.

peace

shank carvin wrote:i always thought LP got his drums sounding like that cos of his trusty SP...im pretty sure the 1200 is and has been the centre of his production since C.O.N.

A lot of heads that use the SP carry the same weight with their drums, obviously techniques like those shared here will help to emulate that sound and your sources are always important to end product

he did an episode for that youtube series (forgot the name) where they get blind folded and gotta pick a couple of records.. and make a beat with those randomly chosen records. Anyhow he wound up using the asr, and I think he used a daw and maschine if I remember correctly.