How do you create your own drums?

I loaded a pete rock drum kit on my newly acquired MPC 500 so far... should I make new drum sounds utilizing effects mode or program mode?

you can layer them, filter, change pitch get busy. Most of my favorite sounds are a result of pushing all types of buttons until i come accross something I like.

you can also create percussion sounds from just about anything you can hit and make a sound ..
or if you have access to wax (vinyl) you can get alot of great sounds .. i forget who said it on this board
but its soo true .."chop small" use your imagination .. the art of sampling is just that an art ..
you gotta get in the lab and create your own formula for the funk can ya dig .?.?

drum samples: there are two schools of though. dig. or tweak. diggers have thousands of drum sounds, from all over. type drum samples into google, and you'll see how easy it is to amass a giant drum collection. tweakers have less samples, and instead spend hours on each sound, compressing, equalizing, effecting... tweaking. you can record your own samples, and while this seams the most "original" or "authentic" it's not really sampling at all, it's recording, which is a different aesthetic all together. that being said, you can plug a 1/4inch mic directly into the mpc500, and record whatever you want. i've also recording guitars (bass & electric) simply by connecting the guitar out directly to the mpc500 mic in.

It's best to learn about general music production before using the MPC. There are a lot of techniques that apply from studio workings of the 70s that you should know.

Fill up the frequency range to get a full sound - lows mids and highs.
To boost an area in your frequency, lower the other areas first and see if that works.
Low pass filter (mode, program, filter:LP) takes away the high ends of a sound based on the F (frequency you choose). the R (resonance) adds boost to wherever the F is.
High pass filter (HP) is the same for highs.
Band pass (BP) isolates an area in the frequency range.

You can layer sounds like others said, but I suggest doing it on different pads. Use timing correct and play both (or 3 or 4...) of the pads together. If you have a kick that has the tone you want but no strike (low volume on the actual beater hitting the kick drum) then combine a kick that has what you're looking for. Then you can adjust attack and decay on your different pads to isolate the part you want.

Add an effect to your drums to get what you're looking for then resample it (mode, record, rec:main) and then remove effects so that you don't waste the 2 effects that are available to you.

closed hi-hats and open hi-hats on different pads on the same mute group will make them sound realistic by stopping one from playing when you hit the other. (Mode, program, mute group). So if you hit an open hihat then a closed, the open will stop as if you closed the hi-hat in real life with the pedal.

But I think diggin on vinyl (or youtube, cds, etc...) is the best way to acquire sounds. Then use these techniques and others on them.

sinister_keys wrote:you can also create percussion sounds from just about anything you can hit and make a sound ..
or if you have access to wax (vinyl) you can get alot of great sounds .. i forget who said it on this board
but its soo true .."chop small" use your imagination .. the art of sampling is just that an art ..
you gotta get in the lab and create your own formula for the funk can ya dig .?.?

Yes.

Chop, Chop, Chop.

If you chop 28 different sounds from the same record, you can change the song completely - BUT since all of the sounds were recorded by the same engineer, with the same mics, through the same preamps, in the same room, etc... they all have the same "air" - very important. Even sample the "air" (the sound on the song when there's no sound) so that when your beat doesn't use any sounds from that record it doesn't sound so awkward.

Plus chopping small allows you to be more creative.

ssnedden:

well said.

poundaproblem wrote:you can layer them, filter, change pitch get busy. Most of my favorite sounds are a result of pushing all types of buttons until i come accross something I like.

same sh!t, different lab.

Finding some rare dope ass sounds is also the key for some nice drums

ssnedden wrote:

sinister_keys wrote:you can also create percussion sounds from just about anything you can hit and make a sound ..
or if you have access to wax (vinyl) you can get alot of great sounds .. i forget who said it on this board
but its soo true .."chop small" use your imagination .. the art of sampling is just that an art ..
you gotta get in the lab and create your own formula for the funk can ya dig .?.?

Yes.

Chop, Chop, Chop.

If you chop 28 different sounds from the same record, you can change the song completely - BUT since all of the sounds were recorded by the same engineer, with the same mics, through the same preamps, in the same room, etc... they all have the same "air" - very important. Even sample the "air" (the sound on the song when there's no sound) so that when your beat doesn't use any sounds from that record it doesn't sound so awkward.

Plus chopping small allows you to be more creative.

when you say sampling air, do you have to find a rest in the actual track or does recording the record spinning at the end of the record work just as well?

eastcoast121 wrote:

ssnedden wrote:

sinister_keys wrote:you can also create percussion sounds from just about anything you can hit and make a sound ..
or if you have access to wax (vinyl) you can get alot of great sounds .. i forget who said it on this board
but its soo true .."chop small" use your imagination .. the art of sampling is just that an art ..
you gotta get in the lab and create your own formula for the funk can ya dig .?.?

Yes.

Chop, Chop, Chop.

If you chop 28 different sounds from the same record, you can change the song completely - BUT since all of the sounds were recorded by the same engineer, with the same mics, through the same preamps, in the same room, etc... they all have the same "air" - very important. Even sample the "air" (the sound on the song when there's no sound) so that when your beat doesn't use any sounds from that record it doesn't sound so awkward.

Plus chopping small allows you to be more creative.

when you say sampling air, do you have to find a rest in the actual track or does recording the record spinning at the end of the record work just as well?

Well, both work - but if you're chopping a drum break to go with some other chops and there's a rest in the drum break (say a quarter note between a kick and a snare) then make that it's own chop. Then assign all of your drum chops to the same mute group as you always would, and if you want to space out your drums a bit, use the air from the recording. Play it like any other pad, to stop your drums but keep the feel.

Sampling pure vinyl pops from the end of a record works to keep the dirtiness present when your samples aren't playing, too.

yea cuz i noticed mainly only when i took instrument chops or little stabs, when theyre not playing it sounds like some type of ambience is missing, it almost sounds empty even when the drums are playing.

eastcoast121 wrote:yea cuz i noticed mainly only when i took instrument chops or little stabs, when theyre not playing it sounds like some type of ambience is missing, it almost sounds empty even when the drums are playing.

It might also be because your turntable signal is too dirty. I just bought new cables to reduce hum and it worked great, and was only $10. Plus if your TT isn't grounded or preamped properly, fix that.

Also, LP filtering your samples just a little bit (90 or so) to take out the "fuzz" means it won't go missing when no samples are playing.

But just sampling the end of a record and filling it in might be enough.

Hope that helps.

ssnedden wrote: Even sample the "air" (the sound on the song when there's no sound) so that when your beat doesn't use any sounds from that record it doesn't sound so awkward.

great idea!

ssnedden wrote:Then assign all of your drum chops to the same mute group as you always would,.

i dont use mute groups i tend to just chop small so it flows. do i need to use them? if so any particular formula to using them???