help with Netsky/Grafix punchy liquid funk snare

Hello all

I would really appreciate some help in trying to piece together the snare that some liquid funk producers like Netsky, Grafix, and a couple more use in some of their tracks...

Here are a couple of the tracks utilizing the snare I'm referring to:

Netsky - Escape http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raY0FX06ctQ

Grafix - Body Talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj5K3yF6DgI


It just has that sort of real punchiness to it that (for all the time I've spent on it ) get even close to recreating... All I can tell is that its peaking exactly at 200 Hz and drops off at everything below that steeply...

If anyone can help piece together either what specific sample snare this is or how this snare is created (yes I've seen the Chase & Status and the other Computer Magazine tutorials on drum layering ), I would greatly greatly greatly appreciate it!

Cheers!

analog drum goodness, i have a jomox xbase 09, and although i rarely use it, when i sync it up with a snare layer, it punches really hard. Yet when i listen to the jomox on its own (solo ing the layer that creates the "punch"), I think, wow. How can that sound, fill that void?

I'd look for some C64 8 bit samples as the snare from that ol' machine comes really close to this. You should layer the attack of the 8 bit snare on top of a normal punchy snare to get this. Ofcourse talk is cheap, it's a question of trial and error.

quote:

Originally posted by BattleDrone I'd look for some C64 8 bit samples as the snare from that ol' machine comes really close to this. You should layer the attack of the 8 bit snare on top of a normal punchy snare to get this. Ofcourse talk is cheap, it's a question of trial and error.

Cheers... I'll see if I can find some samples and try and mess around with them.

Do you perhaps happen to have a sample of the finished product?

it's really just a matter of finding the right sample, eq the right frequencies and add some wise compression. once you get the recepy you'll get to create any snare sound you want.

Hmmm good advice. I will start experimenting more.

I use garage band for now but upgrading to Logic this week. Does anyone else use garage band at the moment who can help me with this or should i wait until i get Logic and ask questions?

Just follow your ears man, i'm using fruity and every track om makin im improving and hearing more details. I think it's just knowing your software and training your ears. It's not that a more popular program, can do more than simple software. I use for example the most basic synths for making bassounds. Just keep makin tracks, and every track you lay down, will improve your hearing.

Greetz
TT

Kind of figured out what I was looking for...

Basically you have a combination of 3 snares (obviously you could use different variations to achieve a different sound):

1 should hit right at 200 Hz, so no EQ needed. Just a little compression should be enough.
2 should hit right at 200 Hz too, but you want to EQ it to take most of the high end and all of the low end and emphasize it around 205-210. No compression.
3 should be a lower snare, hitting at 185 Hz... take the low ends off, but emphasize the higher ends until about 15-20 KHz.

As you play it, it will actually won't sound very punchy at all... this is where a bit of mastering comes in. Izotope Ozone 4 (commercial mastering plugin) is pretty good for this sort of thing. If you wanted to go the harder way, you could create something similar by using a limiter, a compression plugin, an EQ plugin, some reverb, a multiband dynamics setup, and possibly a plugin which focuses on stereo effects.

Use your limiter to lower the threshold until you reach a (it will sound quite faint) punchy snare sound...

Create an EQ that focuses on emphasizing the mids, and another that slightly emphasizes the highs (very very little of course). This will improve the overall sound of the snares and high hats.

Personally at this point I used a harmonic exciting plugin to help improve the sounding of the snare and kick... works pretty well, and it further develops that punchiness.

Use multiband dynamics to improve the higher ends of the snare and hats...

Lastly, use stereo imaging to expand the mix as necessary, although I would suggest using very very little.


Here's a before/after:


http://soundcloud.com/d-fred-brown/sets/...o-improve-sound



I hope some people find this helpful.

Could be added to the tutorials!

quote:

Originally posted by BattleDrone Could be added to the tutorials!

nice one! I could do a more graphic one with pics and stuff if needed...