By jontakiff
Mon Feb 02, 2004 9:32 pm
Okay, this is for people who are in the situation where you have your mpc, a mixer, maybe a keyboard or module or two and are frustrated with the sound, and maybe have a couple bucks to spend. I used to think if I sampled good sounding drums off records, I'd get the same sound as the record, but I found out it doesn't work like that. When you sample sounds and then re-record them, there is a lot lost in the process. First you're converting the sounds into the mpc, so you lose quality there, then re-recording again - more quality loss. Not to mention if you're sampling off a record player with a crappy cartridge and crappy preamp. And also, you lose a lot of the subtle effects (mostly reverbs) that make the drums sit so well together. I'd advise anyone looking to up the level of their productions to look at picking up one or two nice pieces of outboard gear (preamps, compressors, eq's, reverb, etc.) rather than run out to buy a bunch of keyboards, modules, etc. Not that having a motif isn't cool - it's just that, realize that every motif sound you hear on the radio has been run through a nice preamp, or compressor, efx, eq, etc. Plus, the motif will be old news in 18 months. (is anyone sweating buying a korg trinity?) A nice piece of outboard gear won't go out of style.
Some will say they can get that big league sound with an mpc and mackie or digi 002 or whatever. I don't buy it. I hear some good stuff on these boards, and I'm not saying you NEED outboard gear, or that you can't be creative without it (you can be creative with two boomboxes) but when you hear something on the radio where the snare sounds like a lethal weapon and the kick drum sounds like Zeus is throwing thunderbolts from Mt. Olympus understand you're not going to get that sound just cause you have the same module the sound came from.
If you can't afford this stuff, do yourself a favor and take some of your best beats and maybe rent out 4 hours at a high level studio. Watch what they use and how it affects the sound. Make sure you're working with someone who knows how to mix your type of music. okay, enough ranting for now.
Some will say they can get that big league sound with an mpc and mackie or digi 002 or whatever. I don't buy it. I hear some good stuff on these boards, and I'm not saying you NEED outboard gear, or that you can't be creative without it (you can be creative with two boomboxes) but when you hear something on the radio where the snare sounds like a lethal weapon and the kick drum sounds like Zeus is throwing thunderbolts from Mt. Olympus understand you're not going to get that sound just cause you have the same module the sound came from.
If you can't afford this stuff, do yourself a favor and take some of your best beats and maybe rent out 4 hours at a high level studio. Watch what they use and how it affects the sound. Make sure you're working with someone who knows how to mix your type of music. okay, enough ranting for now.
