Beefing up an 808 sample

Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
 Reply Share on Facebook

Beefing up an 808 sample

By fleaster Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:30 pm
Hi all,
At current I've grabbed the 808 sample from the original MPC factory set, and I'm wanting to use it as a bass track... but for some reason (dunnoo if it's my monitor speakers), it sounds really hollow and toneless... anyone got any tips on how I can beef up the sound...? :)

Thanks!
User avatar

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By cozy Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:33 pm
make it a mono sample

turn it up

boost the lower freqs through eq

add distortion

use a better sample

i dont know how the sample sounds or what you are going for, but these things come to mind

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By 4dahaterz Sat Jun 14, 2008 8:58 pm
cozy wrote:make it a mono sample

turn it up

boost the lower freqs through eq

add distortion

use a better sample

i dont know how the sample sounds or what you are going for, but these things come to mind


Yea, its a lot of ways you can beef it up.... all depends on what you are trying to go for with it
User avatar

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By getcunted Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:51 pm
fleaster wrote:Hi all,
At current I've grabbed the 808 sample from the original MPC factory set, and I'm wanting to use it as a bass track... but for some reason (dunnoo if it's my monitor speakers), it sounds really hollow and toneless... anyone got any tips on how I can beef up the sound...? :)

Thanks!


:arrow: Technically a sine wave has no harmonics.

Most engineers will add some distortion to a sine wave b line as the bass will not be heard on a large percentage of speakers.

Add a little distortion. If possible avoid boosting the the low frequencies, especially in the case of a sine wave. Most time it's always there but lack are harmonics will be encouraging your ear to boost the signal. If you then take it to a club or a car you will most likely going to find to much bottom end and it starts to sounds muddy.

If you need a good sub, not made with a 808, i would advise using a saw wave & a Low pass filter, this should give you a could sub with enough harmonics for it to be heard.

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By fleaster Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:15 am
eh guys thx for the tips... yeah it probably wasnt the best sample to start off with - it sounded fine when i was making the beat, just when i brought it to a mate's house to mix (on decent monitor speakers), i only noticed how bad it was then... :(

...well for the moment i decided to take a Bass Guitar Subtractor sound from Reason and work with that to give it the same boomy feel...
User avatar

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By Lampdog Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:19 am
getcunted wrote:If you need a good sub, not made with a 808, i would advise using a saw wave & a Low pass filter, this should give you a could sub with enough harmonics for it to be heard.


I create mine in Sound Forge all the time, I'm always experimenting in Sound Forge and/or Drumsynth.

http://www.sonicspot.com/drumsynth/drumsynth.html

Your right though. That's exactly what I do most of the time...

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By lazyE Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:54 pm
roxstar wrote:"At current I've grabbed the 808 sample from the original MPC factory set
... anyone got any tips on how I can beef up the sound...?"

Start with a better source. Don't try to polish a turd. :)


i agree go diggin for a better sample,
everyone uses the 808 to death and there are many poor samples of it about.

try layering it with somethin else too i suppose

i like to sample a real bass guitar note then compress it to the max and add a slight distortion this sounds very similar to a deep 808 when assigned to pad,
shit! here`s me givin my secrets away!!!

lol
later bro

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By lazyE Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:57 pm
fleaster wrote:eh guys thx for the tips... yeah it probably wasnt the best sample to start off with - it sounded fine when i was making the beat, just when i brought it to a mate's house to mix (on decent monitor speakers), i only noticed how bad it was then... :(

...well for the moment i decided to take a Bass Guitar Subtractor sound from Reason and work with that to give it the same boomy feel...


yeah ive done this many times...

i used to do a lot of my production thru headphones.bad mistake!

only when i came to the mix down i realised how much guts it lacked!
i always run mine thru standard stereo set up now as thats how people are gonna be listening to it.

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By 1987 Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:25 pm
signal processing...

get a pair of nice Tube DI's.
User avatar

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By NearTao Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:24 pm
roxstar wrote:Start with a better source. Don't try to polish a turd. :)


While excellent advice... sometimes it is worth it to throw effects/pedals at a source and see what comes out. This is often a fun place to get creative. In general though, this behavior tends to not leave you with a recognizable 808 sound (or whatever you are using) but instead something different.

To the OP, I'd like to mention that you also need to remember, you really shouldn't be trying to balance your mix on poor speakers or headphones (if you are). It is something you could do, but will almost always lead to poor results and will sound like trash on a proper mixing sound system.

I would highly suggest trying to avoid more than gentle volume/eq tweaks to your sounds while using less than optimal speakers. Don't be afraid to start your mix from square one with regards to volume levels and eq. I have found in the past that a bass line was overpowering the mix when I play it on good speakers because I was over compensating in the headphones. Plus it is easy to do strange things when you've listened to your song too much and start to get ear fatigue.

So my advice I suppose is this... don't be afraid to continue using your sounds even when they sound like junk on a proper system. Often it is just a matter of adjusting the levels/eq to get out what you were hearing before. It may not be easy, but it can be worth the hard work to get a proper mix. Especially since subtle eq tweaks can often go a long way to cleaning up a mix.
User avatar

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By EducatedHands Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:52 pm
if you don't have a sub woofer in the mix i don't think you'll hear it anyway. aside from the little "click" at the start of it.

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By fleaster Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:12 pm
hey guys thanks for the tips again... yeah i'm using a pair of Rokit RP5s at the moment - got no sub tho, so ive found it difficult to judge whether im overcompensating or undercomensating for the bass... (altho i try to run commercial songs thru it by way of comparison)

...originally when i did the track it sounded fine straight from the mpc - just the right amt of bass - subtle but not overpowering... however, as i said, when it came to mix down, i brought it to a mate's place (who happens to be a sound engineer, altho he doesn't do hip hop normally) and played it on his $7000 Genelec monitors, it sounded really pissweak :p

lazyE wrote:i always run mine thru standard stereo set up now as thats how people are gonna be listening to it.


...sooo wat do u mean by this - u just use regular home speakers as opposed to studio monitors...?
(thx for the tips on compressing bass gtr sound etc as well - yeah, i thought of doing this as well :))

Weell i think my learning from this saga is better sample prep... back to the drawing board then :p

P.S. Lampdog, thx for the drumsynth thing mate... very kewl program :)

Re: Beefing up an 808 sample

By adrian Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:18 pm
Take that 808 sample you used and layer a kick drum on top of it. Filter some the highs off the kick drum and add a decay to it. Then add a bit of distortion.
 Reply
Return to Production Techniques