mpc 2000xl and swing on my beats?

So i have spent the last few days trying to add swing to my beats but I am failing miserably. Maybe it's a matter of time and patience and continuous practice. I have watched Jfilts tutorials on swing and read plenty of questions asked on this blog. I have gotten very positive criticism to my first 10 beats but it has been stated a few times now that, "once I get my swing to my beats, they will be dope ass ****!" I understand what they mean because to me my drums seq sounds flat and boring. can you guys share your best practice in order to achieve better swing and just a natural sounding drum seq?

well... here is what i think that beat needs for the drum programming.. the idea is good...

some variation. If you really like that additional kick and snare in the second half of the drum pattern, maybe lowering the velocity of those two notes might make it sound more natural... that actually can give the illusion of a bit of swing (or bounce) if done right... you can either go into step edit which uses the little buttons above the transport keys to navigate back and forth.. and lower the velocity of those notes to something lower than 127.. or you could turn on 16 levels velocity and record those two notes at something like pad 8 or 10..

swing, well in order to use the actual swing function you need to know what that actually does... it shifts notes around. Depending on what setting you enter, it will move it. I personally don't use the swing function because instead of moving the note, i just trim the drum samples badly (not using one shot samples.. sampling directly from a break or something... or sampling in a one shot and leaving space in front of the note)

mr_debauch wrote:can give the illusion of a bit of swing (or bounce) if done right...

I have tried many different things with swing but they always sound off with my samples layered. I will continue to experiment and try all kinds of stuff. It's about having fun and enjoying the process.

maybe try layering with simulti

I always set a mute group for the ghost kicks and then filter down the ghost kick to make it sound more natural.

I never **** with the swing function.

Drum in your own drums with no quantization.
Use ghost kicks.
Use knockin' drums.
Loose attack time on your chops.
Most of all.... Practice. It won't happen over night.

Hey MrDismal,

when you say what exactly do you mean? It is becoming terribly depressing and challenging when I start layering my drum sequence. I have hard hitting drums but they sound freaking flat!!!

Jay, try turning the attack up on the actual chopped samples you're using - not the drums. Think of the attack like a fast 'fade in' on whatever you're doing. So it'll take a | and turn it to a / figuratively speaking.

As for drums, the only time you'd (in my opinion) ever need to put any attack on the drum transient is if it is being used as a layer or to soften the impact of the drum hits. Other than that, I suggest you brush up on basic concepts and vernacular mentioned here so that you don't feel stupid when trying to understand what you're reading.

Jay Cord wrote:Hey MrDismal,

when you say

Off topic:
Loose attack time on your chops.

what exactly do you mean? It is becoming terribly depressing and challenging when I start layering my drum sequence. I have hard hitting drums but they sound freaking flat!!!

some people like to leave a little 'air' at the beginning of the their drums, as in, they don't cut the sample to start right at the hit, but leave a little space before to make the hit 'late'.
personally, i can't stand this method. you can always artificially add the 'late' timing via the mpc sequencer 'late' shift-timing function. having it built into the samples though makes them sound sloppy when you play it back.
maybe that's not what was suggested, but i have heard it before all over the internet and i just don't get it.

having said all that, try applying different shift-timings to different tracks or different notes - i find this really makes the drums groove more.

turn ya timing correct off mane and use ur spirit rhythm

as for the beat you posted, my advice would be this: your hi-hats are way to stiff of a 4/4 count. the hi-hats on the 2/4 and 4/4 beat should be like a half second LATE, consequently, this will make the snare sound like its hitting a little early, and loosen up the overall groove

Slow attack on your sample chops not drums.
I never add air to my drums I like them sharp.
Read up on internet articles, there's countless info about ADSR (Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release). I use these techniques in all my production and it's something you should learn.

Adding air to your drums is pointless when you can just shift the timing. It seems that anyone that is a fan of adding air simply doesn't know they could truncate and shift.

leave the air and shift

I have a studio secret to reveal. I basically sample all my drum breaks in front of a fan. That is how I get air in my drums.