hard hitin drums

i just wanted to know how to make my drums hit hard, sound thicker, and more crispy sounding. i got tons of cd roms and zips full of drums, altoghether i got like 5000 sounds. none of the drums sound like anything that will rattle a trunk, even the 808's, they sound dry and lame.leave some tips or tell me where i can get some programs that already has some nice drums.

sample them from vinyl. thats where i get all of mine. old soul/funk records have the illest drums. it takes time but its all worth it

for sake of explaination purposes lets use a kick:
take a crispy but thin kick sound and give it a fast attack so its really sharp. next find a kick w/ a sound you like as the mid range of the kick w/ good sustain and layer (in the program screen)that right over the top. maybe take a taste off the attack. next find another kick to use for the trunk shakin quotient. filter it down crank up the resonance maybe a dash of reverb for extra pounding love. layer the bassy kick w/ the two others. Take your sounds and tweak em to your taste. with a little luck that should give you a really thick kick drum sound. not an exact formula just an example...
add shakers to snares, sine wave to kicks, whatever you can come up with. layer a liitle filtered horn stab to the begining of those piano chops to give them more presence.
Maybe you should put the sample cds away and get out the vinyl, one good funk lp will give you enough drum sounds to find some you like. sample a few take your sound library and add afew from there.
I am not a carrer sound engineer so my advice isn't really pro. there are many ways to get better drums. this is just one to use that doesn't require additional gear.
Maybe your monitors are weak? maybe they don't playback bass well enough?
best bet: load up one of your existing programs and layer some sounds to get those results you want. Or go to the record store and look for any vinyl w/ a drum kit or percussion inst. on the cover.
peace!

you can also experiment with layering by using the Simultaneous Mode located under Shift / Program

Pick the Drum where the sample is located 1-4

Change Mode from Normal to Simult

This will allow you to trigger two sounds at once

Double on 808 bass with different tones to make somethin sweet.

Sampled drum hits from vinyl + compression + the low end theory = hard hitting drums.

Trond E wrote:Sampled drum hits from vinyl + compression + the low end theory = hard hitting drums.

he he he he he heh(the evil genius)

I have this same problem on Drum Kicks mainly (my snares sound fine usually)...I sample from vinyl but, one of two things happens:

1. My kicks are left sounding thick (meaning they have a fast attack that hits hard) but with no bass.

2. They have bass if I EQ but then they have no kick to them... they sound drowned out.

I've tried EQ and compression and either my drums end up sounding too dirty (I like dirt and grime in my drums, but at one point it becomes too much and ends up ruining the drum track) or my drums sound clean but with no presence...

I've even tried layering 808s behind my clean drums that need some bass, but it never sounds right, they always sound like two seperate kicks... Never like one complete kick...

Any tips for sampling drums from vinyl...

i think you need to go back and readdress your technique as those things work for me....

greg

play with your mixer volumes homie.

tune one kick down for extra rattle then filter it down too.

make sure you sample LOUD as POSSIBLE w/o clipping.

i find it hard to get close to clipping cause my mixer aint all that.

make sure the signal from your record player is amped.

your methods are pretty standard to get the drums rockin a bit more and it works for me really well.

thanks for the tips, im going to try those methods. i was wondering if there is some where i can find already amped up drums. i ll but them from a forum member or tell me where to find them.... peace and love

a lot of the samples mpc-tutor.com got are ran through the Compressor & EQ'd.

cop them for a few bucks, and expermint with getting your samples to sound similar (or even better)

the type equipment used when mpc-tutor was making those samples will be of a different quality or sound but you should be able to still make some hot shitz once you figure things out.

add some sine waves under 80hz and the bass will just thump like crazy!!!!!

Sometimes when I sample kicks I let it clip a little, gives it that extra grime...

The issue is, why can't you get the drums to sound as big as the drums on big, commercial releases. In my opinion, with budget gear, this is not really possible. I've struggled with the same thing. The fact is, there are so many things that happen to the sounds between sampling them and getting them to the cd. First, they go through A/D conversion to your mpc. Fair enough, even the pros work like this. But out of the mpc, big producers will run sounds through high end compressors, mic pre's, juicy eq's, etc, and then out to probably an SSL console. Wonder how the first WU album's drums sound so gritty and still bang? That's raw, low bit rate samples run through an SSL (or something similar). The theory that because you take samples from great sounding records will make your tracks sound just as good as the original record does not hold up. Hell, everyone has access to great sounds on records, but when you listen to the music people post on this website, does it sound like a big record? No. (not trying to take away from anyone's work, just reality).

But this doesn't mean you can't make banging drums. All the techniques posted here are good. Also, for the drum layering thing...I've found that this is the best way to improve your drums. A lot of times I wish I could make a single snare sound better, but by adding another snare or clap you can get something good. Second, you give yourself a better chance if you have a good signal going in to the mpc. This means a good cartridge, needle, and I would even say that a few hundred dollars spent on a good phono preamp will help a lot. Get the drums as big as possible going in, this will help offset the fact that you don't have big time gear do this going out of the mpc. And - I never used to think cables made a difference - but if you have any connection over ten feet, and you have real crappy radio shack cables, and you replace them with good monster cables or something, you will definitely notice the difference. All these things cost money but will give you the most bang for the buck.

Jonatakiff i totally disagree.

Here is why.

I got a patna in the industry that goes by the name Tre 8 (former No Limit Artist).

He has a home studio similar to the one I have and he only uses software & hardware most of us own (I would tell you exactly what he got but that wouldn't be cool snitchin out on the web, he ah industry *****. That's up to him to tell what he got in an interview)

Anyway, his beatz often get much acclaim for their "thumping sounds" (check a recent issue of Murder Dog Magizine)

You may not like his style of southern music but he has perfected his craft when it comes to the hard hittin drums & snares.

A lot of the beatz that people were jocking when he drop was created in this very home studio.

Till this day. They still are.

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