By Iceberg-Slim
Wed Apr 07, 2004 1:14 am
10. Distortion - Throw some distortion on the bass drum and snare. This always gives the drums a lot of punch and gives them a raw/lofi sound. I'd have to say that distortion is a drum programmer's best friend. Experiment with different guitar pedals or different multieffects processors to find your own secret weapon.
9. . Filter - A low pass Filter can help make your bass drum really thump. You can get some great sub-bass sounds or just make it a subtle thump. If you layer a filtered bass drum with a clean bass drum they combined sound would be huge. That brings us to number 8…
8. . Layer your drum sounds - If the drums sounds you are using isn't exactly what you had in mind, then find something that will compliment it well and layer it up. Get a bass drum with a clicky attack, for example, and layer it with a long thumping bass drum. Another good example that is used often is layering a snare drum with a handclap from the 808.
7.. EQ - EQ can be a great weapon to get drum sounds that don't clutter up the track. You can boost the lower frequencies of a bass drum and cut the higher frequencies to make a bass drum that is less heard but definitely felt. On the other hand, you can boost the higher frequencies on a snare drum to give them a really bright sound that you hear on a lot of records. Be careful though! Too much EQ can drastically alter the sound. The key is to use it effectively and sparingly to get the sound you want.
6. . Live Percussion - Sometimes adding live tambourines or claves (or any other percussion instrument you like) over a recorded drum loop will help give it some new life. Shakers also work really well to make a beat sound good.
5. . Compression - Compressing your drum loop can really make your drums gel together and sound really full. Compression individual sounds can really give drums a huge punch and allow you to raise the volume without them clipping. We'll take a closer look at compression in an upcoming article.
4. . Record Some Background Ambience - In a lot of hip hop songs you can hear some laughing or talking in the background or sometimes some little noises. Basically get a minidisk recorder or tape recorder and just let it run and record conversations, sound effects, anything you want. Listen back and find cool little sounds that would sound good in a drum loop. Find a spot for the sound and then record it into the loop. You might think this method is weird, but try it and you'll see that these little sound effects can be just as important as the drum sounds themselves.
3. . Experiment with Ethnic Sounds - A lot of new songs such as the new Missy Elliot joint use Indian percussion like taablas. A few years ago all we heard was 808 drum sounds but now there is a lot more experimentation and new beats coming to the forefront. So experiment with sounds you wouldn't usually use and find something new that nobody else has done before.
2. . Be careful with the reverb - Notice how you hardly hear reverb on drums on hip hop records? That's because if you use reverb right, you're not supposed to hear it. Granted reverb isn't always necessary, but when you use it, make sure it's subtle (unless you are going for a certain effect). Remember that the key to using reverb well is making sure you can't hear it! Less is more!
1. . Lower the Bit-Rate on Your Drums - I think this is one of the most overlooked tricks to make your drums sounds amazing. On many samplers (such as the Roland Sp808) there are effects that allow you to lower the bit-rate of a sample. This definitely makes your drums have a gritty quality and is used on many of the commercially released hip hop songs. It's also the reason why sampling drum machines like the E-mu Sp1200 and the MPC-60 are still popular - because they sample at a lower bit-rate than most other samplers do. Most musicians would consider 24 bit sound better than 16. But as far as hip hop engineers go, we try to go as low as we can! 12 bit drums are PHAT!
9. . Filter - A low pass Filter can help make your bass drum really thump. You can get some great sub-bass sounds or just make it a subtle thump. If you layer a filtered bass drum with a clean bass drum they combined sound would be huge. That brings us to number 8…
8. . Layer your drum sounds - If the drums sounds you are using isn't exactly what you had in mind, then find something that will compliment it well and layer it up. Get a bass drum with a clicky attack, for example, and layer it with a long thumping bass drum. Another good example that is used often is layering a snare drum with a handclap from the 808.
7.. EQ - EQ can be a great weapon to get drum sounds that don't clutter up the track. You can boost the lower frequencies of a bass drum and cut the higher frequencies to make a bass drum that is less heard but definitely felt. On the other hand, you can boost the higher frequencies on a snare drum to give them a really bright sound that you hear on a lot of records. Be careful though! Too much EQ can drastically alter the sound. The key is to use it effectively and sparingly to get the sound you want.
6. . Live Percussion - Sometimes adding live tambourines or claves (or any other percussion instrument you like) over a recorded drum loop will help give it some new life. Shakers also work really well to make a beat sound good.
5. . Compression - Compressing your drum loop can really make your drums gel together and sound really full. Compression individual sounds can really give drums a huge punch and allow you to raise the volume without them clipping. We'll take a closer look at compression in an upcoming article.
4. . Record Some Background Ambience - In a lot of hip hop songs you can hear some laughing or talking in the background or sometimes some little noises. Basically get a minidisk recorder or tape recorder and just let it run and record conversations, sound effects, anything you want. Listen back and find cool little sounds that would sound good in a drum loop. Find a spot for the sound and then record it into the loop. You might think this method is weird, but try it and you'll see that these little sound effects can be just as important as the drum sounds themselves.
3. . Experiment with Ethnic Sounds - A lot of new songs such as the new Missy Elliot joint use Indian percussion like taablas. A few years ago all we heard was 808 drum sounds but now there is a lot more experimentation and new beats coming to the forefront. So experiment with sounds you wouldn't usually use and find something new that nobody else has done before.
2. . Be careful with the reverb - Notice how you hardly hear reverb on drums on hip hop records? That's because if you use reverb right, you're not supposed to hear it. Granted reverb isn't always necessary, but when you use it, make sure it's subtle (unless you are going for a certain effect). Remember that the key to using reverb well is making sure you can't hear it! Less is more!
1. . Lower the Bit-Rate on Your Drums - I think this is one of the most overlooked tricks to make your drums sounds amazing. On many samplers (such as the Roland Sp808) there are effects that allow you to lower the bit-rate of a sample. This definitely makes your drums have a gritty quality and is used on many of the commercially released hip hop songs. It's also the reason why sampling drum machines like the E-mu Sp1200 and the MPC-60 are still popular - because they sample at a lower bit-rate than most other samplers do. Most musicians would consider 24 bit sound better than 16. But as far as hip hop engineers go, we try to go as low as we can! 12 bit drums are PHAT!
