Channel mixer or Turntable mixer for drums!?

basically i can't get my drums to knock like i want. i can give them some boom but its not enough at times. i have tried all the basic inside the mpc itself and no luck.when i track out to the computer to mix i can get them to knock, but i would like my drums to knock when its on the mpc for a few reasons. i sample drums off drum breaks for the most part and i know i have the option of either a turntable mixer or a channel mixer. right now i have a numark ttusb going straight into my mpc and then my mpc goes straight into my audio interface.

heres my thoughts

1. turntable mixer: i can eq with it and in the future i plan to get a nicer turntable so i will need one of these anyways. i'll kill 2 birds with 1 stone this way.

2. Channel mixer: it has eq and sometimes FX, but this is after the mpc and before the computer which to me is almost pointless. i can get an analog mixer that gives my sounds a nice touch, but the eq and FX are really whats more important. at the same time though, i feel that i can do that in the computer. plus like i said before, its after the mpc and i am trying to get my drums to sound good while in the mpc.

if anybody has tips on making drums knock in the mpc 2000xl and whether i should get a Turntable mixer or channel mixer it would be greatly appreciate. Thanks in advanced

Lampdog wrote:SIMULT, play with attack values, resonance.

that all though? lol i do that now and i feel somethings misisng

A turntable mixer will help, using the EQ. Also try a good cartridge for your turntable. Most cartridges that come standard with most turntables suffer from problems where the low-end isn't tight enough.

distortedtekno wrote:A turntable mixer will help, using the EQ. Also try a good cartridge for your turntable. Most cartridges that come standard with most turntables suffer from problems where the low-end isn't tight enough.

i use a shure m447 so i have a decent cartridge lol

If you can get them to knock in the computer, why not just sample them from the computer after you've tweaked them. Make your own kit with those. I mean.... sampling from breaks is pretty much the same. You're sampling processed drums. But to answer your question, I'd go with the channel mixer. It may serve more of a purpose in the future.

HEATthebeatmaker wrote:

distortedtekno wrote:A turntable mixer will help, using the EQ. Also try a good cartridge for your turntable. Most cartridges that come standard with most turntables suffer from problems where the low-end isn't tight enough.

i use a shure m447 so i have a decent cartridge lol

Yeah, you're good with the M-447. Go for the DJ mixer and you'll get enough boost out of the EQ.

distortedtekno wrote:

HEATthebeatmaker wrote:

distortedtekno wrote:A turntable mixer will help, using the EQ. Also try a good cartridge for your turntable. Most cartridges that come standard with most turntables suffer from problems where the low-end isn't tight enough.

i use a shure m447 so i have a decent cartridge lol

Yeah, you're good with the M-447. Go for the DJ mixer and you'll get enough boost out of the EQ.

have any recommendations?

Em.p.cee.j wrote:If you can get them to knock in the computer, why not just sample them from the computer after you've tweaked them. Make your own kit with those. I mean.... sampling from breaks is pretty much the same. You're sampling processed drums. But to answer your question, I'd go with the channel mixer. It may serve more of a purpose in the future.

I agree with this guy. you need the best sound possible BEFORE recording into the MPC. with that said, if you are going turntable into MPC with no mixer in between, your signal is already weak. you need a dj mixer with a phono channel from what I understand.
but the turntable you have has USB out. So why not track your samples directly into the computer, tweak them, then sample them into your MPC for sequencing?

The way I've been doing is the opposite of that you are trying to do:
When I sample drum break from vinyl, I try to clean that record as much as possible. Also make sure that your phono stylus is clean and not worn out.

I don't use EQ or effect when sampling from vinyls. Most of the time, I get good result with sampling from record straight from phono-amp. (Personally, I'd recommend to use decent a phono-amp instead of cheap DJ mixer. I also don't recommend using portable record player for sampling.)
Remember, sound on vinyls are already compressed, and applying EQ in them usually don't give a good result.

But sometimes I'd pre-EQ when I sample one shot sample, say just snares or kicks. I'd sample a few times with different settings, and I'd use the sample with best result.

Also, your sample-choppping skill also affects how punchy (or dull) your drums would sound on your production.

I'm not saying that my way is correct way, but I think it is a good method to start.

JVC wrote:The way I've been doing is the opposite of that you are trying to do:
When I sample drum break from vinyl, I try to clean that record as much as possible. Also make sure that your phono stylus is clean and not worn out.

I don't use EQ or effect when sampling from vinyls. Most of the time, I get good result with sampling from record straight from phono-amp. (Personally, I'd recommend to use decent a phono-amp instead of cheap DJ mixer. I also don't recommend using portable record player for sampling.)
Remember, sound on vinyls are already compressed, and applying EQ in them usually don't give a good result.

But sometimes I'd pre-EQ when I sample one shot sample, say just snares or kicks. I'd sample a few times with different settings, and I'd use the sample with best result.

Also, your sample-choppping skill also affects how punchy (or dull) your drums would sound on your production.

I'm not saying that my way is correct way, but I think it is a good method to start.

That's true about getting a good sample first. I do that a lot. Just sometimes I want that extra punch. I have records with only drums that I don't think are compressed. Well they may be compressed but some are raw sounding. Not from a song but made for people to use for instructional drumming. I was also thinking of getting a vestax pmc 05 IV or some thing. Would you reccomend some dj mixers I should look at?

Ron-Jay wrote:

Em.p.cee.j wrote:If you can get them to knock in the computer, why not just sample them from the computer after you've tweaked them. Make your own kit with those. I mean.... sampling from breaks is pretty much the same. You're sampling processed drums. But to answer your question, I'd go with the channel mixer. It may serve more of a purpose in the future.

I agree with this guy. you need the best sound possible BEFORE recording into the MPC. with that said, if you are going turntable into MPC with no mixer in between, your signal is already weak. you need a dj mixer with a phono channel from what I understand.
but the turntable you have has USB out. So why not track your samples directly into the computer, tweak them, then sample them into your MPC for sequencing?

my turntable has a phono pre amp built in (may not be the best,but it has one). the reason i don't do the usb thing is because the sound/texture will definitely change more than i want it to. from the converters on the interface to the mixing of the drums in software and etc. plus if i were to do that i'd rather just make the beat on the computer. i'm trying to figure out way to do it all through hardware other than the mixing.

i see. well the first and only dj mixer i own is a technics SH-DJ1200 and it works great. hope that gives you a good beginning reference point.

Ron-Jay wrote:i see. well the first and only dj mixer i own is a technics SH-DJ1200 and it works great. hope that gives you a good beginning reference point.

alright thanks for the suggestion.