 How does everyone put drums together? |
Sephiroth 
Master Producer
Registration Date: 11-04-2006
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I'm starting to think that im using too many layers when creating drums and its cluttering the mix, listening to pro dnb tracks, the drums sound lively without sounding too much.
i usually go about creating drums by slicing and re-arranging maybe 4 or 5 different breaks that provide different parts, i.e. a high end break, a mid break etc and then maybe add a couple of layers of my own programmed percussion with 2/3 different snares to beef up the snare sound and a kick sound too.
but after eq'ing, levels, pan etc it still sounds too cluttered and messy, how do pro's go about creating drum beats that sound very lively with a lot of movement without cluttering the mix and how does everyone here go about creating drums?
feedback much appreciated!!
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10-01-2008 20:13 |
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Surya
The Robot
Registration Date: 04-11-2002
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Mostly I layer about 4 or 5 samples to create my main snare, use 1 or 2 hats or rides, ghosts are usually 3 or 4 layers.
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"In dnb you should make people jump not swim"
- Pieter Frenssen 2004
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10-01-2008 21:45 |
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Sephiroth
Master Producer
Registration Date: 11-04-2006
Posts: 741
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thanks for the help guys!
yeh i tend to do a lot of eq'ing to remove unwanted frequencies and pissing about with envelopes to tighten up breaks. i also use the camel phat plug-in to add a bit of distortion and filtering to accentuate high and lows, i think compression might be where im lacking to give the drums as a whole a boost and make them gel together, can't ever seem to get compression to make the drums sound tight and together. how do people approach compression? or does anyone know where i can find a good article on putting together and mixing drums?
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Sephiroth Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/sephiroth_rees
Sephiroth Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sephirothdnb
C-Sonix Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/c-sonix
C-Sonix Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/csonix
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10-01-2008 22:26 |
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BattleDrone
2161... the future.
Registration Date: 30-12-2005
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| quote: |
Originally posted by sephiroth
thanks for the help guys!
yeh i tend to do a lot of eq'ing to remove unwanted frequencies and pissing about with envelopes to tighten up breaks. i also use the camel phat plug-in to add a bit of distortion and filtering to accentuate high and lows |
Camelphat can introduce a lot of clutter and mess when not used properly or too much.
What works for me: start of with a kick-snare pattern which already has what it takes to get your head nodding. For this I usually take the kick and snare from a good break and layer up 1 or 2 snares and/or kicks.
Then I add self programmed hihats and maybe rides. I add a couple of ghost kicks (1 of the layered snares, pitched up a bit, cut off the low end, lowered the high end). This should sound good already, then I use a highpassed version of a break (same break as kick and snare originated from or other, depends really) and use only the ghost/hihat/bongo/... bits to make the "action" for the break. move around with the different bits untill it fits the stuff that's already playing. When the break is rolling fine I tend to throw Izothope Ozone on top (setting Drum Threatment, swith off stereo adjustment). To get that punchy feel to it. Finally I use an EQ to correct any unwanted peaks in the spectrum of the break.
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11-01-2008 09:39 |
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Seven Gun
dotbee 4eva
Registration Date: 16-01-2007
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this should help....
http://www.specialist-sound.com/videos/l.../layering1.html
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
a beat layering tutorial from an older thread
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Originally posted by Seven Gun
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Originally posted by BattleDrone
- The full sound track gets turned on a couple of times when you are not expecting it and it is very loud compared to the voice over, so it scared the shit out of me 
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Be prepared 
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me too
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11-01-2008 11:34 |
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collective
TeamSleaze.com
Registration Date: 28-11-2006
Posts: 235
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camel phat sucks for compressing beats dont use it at all for beats just for twisting sounds the best compressor i got is the fabfilter pro c that gives a good sound to the beats man use that one
on layering beats i use a pre made break fattent it up then start to layer in the percussion as the back beat makes the break lively and run more try adding a amen to it and highpass the shit out of it just to give the movement in there.
its all about levels man you dont need shit loads of layers just the right sort of ones, to many cooks spoil the broth if you know what i mean
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11-01-2008 13:52 |
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Sephiroth
Master Producer
Registration Date: 11-04-2006
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thanks for help everyone!
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Sephiroth Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/sephiroth_rees
Sephiroth Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sephirothdnb
C-Sonix Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/c-sonix
C-Sonix Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/csonix
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11-01-2008 18:35 |
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Halph-Price
Zombie Algorithm
Registration Date: 22-12-2004
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my formula is 4 different breaks usually with ghost snares in them, some classic ones like the amen an actually dnb break, and 2 otehr usually one that has a nice snare and another that has nice hats, and layer them all up hit by hit, mixing them up using a very basic drum loop, and then get all thelevels fine, make sure theres nothing offtimed and no clips or pops. then layer on a few snares,, cut the 100hz out of drum loops and layer in a nice sharp kick,.
have a set-up for drum mastering, sharp compression with amazing snappy attack, which is only good for mastering because it has 350ms latency, but it's as good as a real tube compressor, by voxengo Crunchessor.
use the cool mastering eq in FL, tube emulator, and then overdrive to bring everything up and loud, and then mastering on it all to make it uniform.
it works great. check the sample page to see the breaks. it took a very very long time and full of experimenting to figure it out perfect.
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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Halph-Price: 14-01-2008 17:50.
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14-01-2008 17:49 |
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Tomos
Infidel
Registration Date: 15-04-2007
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| quote: |
Originally posted by Halph-Price
my formula is 4 different breaks usually with ghost snares in them, some classic ones like the amen an actually dnb break, and 2 otehr usually one that has a nice snare and another that has nice hats, and layer them all up hit by hit, mixing them up using a very basic drum loop, and then get all thelevels fine, make sure theres nothing offtimed and no clips or pops. then layer on a few snares,, cut the 100hz out of drum loops and layer in a nice sharp kick,.
have a set-up for drum mastering, sharp compression with amazing snappy attack, which is only good for mastering because it has 350ms latency, but it's as good as a real tube compressor, by voxengo Crunchessor.
use the cool mastering eq in FL, tube emulator, and then overdrive to bring everything up and loud, and then mastering on it all to make it uniform.
it works great. check the sample page to see the breaks. it took a very very long time and full of experimenting to figure it out perfect. |
Nice answer! That's really useful. Gonna put some of that into practice.
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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Tomos: 14-01-2008 18:02.
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14-01-2008 18:02 |
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Halph-Price
Zombie Algorithm
Registration Date: 22-12-2004
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the reason for doing the same pattern for the drum loops is that i can replace them easily with eachother just by replacing the sample in slicer. 
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15-01-2008 06:54 |
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CULTURE BOY
v v v iv a record missing
Registration Date: 12-01-2007
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if ya beats are sounding too cluttered then take a few breaks out. you dont have to use loads of breaks to make them sound " PRO". good quality samples and eqing should see you right. i think
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15-01-2008 20:53 |
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BattleDrone
2161... the future.
Registration Date: 30-12-2005
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| quote: |
Originally posted by Halph-Price
the reason for doing the same pattern for the drum loops is that i can replace them easily with eachother just by replacing the sample in slicer.
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What slicer do you use then? Not the standard FL one I guess?
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Check my soundcloud (exclusive tracks on there)
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15-01-2008 20:59 |
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Halph-Price
Zombie Algorithm
Registration Date: 22-12-2004
Posts: 6,160
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the standard one, you can reslice them and get them good, also use adobe auditiont o do small edits like taking the start of the break and putting it at the end, i always use the wrap around render.
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15-01-2008 21:09 |
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monkey666
Newbie
Registration Date: 13-01-2008
Posts: 4
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| quote: |
Originally posted by BattleDrone
| quote: |
Originally posted by Halph-Price
the reason for doing the same pattern for the drum loops is that i can replace them easily with eachother just by replacing the sample in slicer.
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What slicer do you use then? Not the standard FL one I guess? |
You can try Recycle to slice up tracks, its very good, p.s Optimus Prime FTW ! 
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17-01-2008 18:07 |
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i then go about layering kicks (usually only 1 or 2) and snares (again 1 or 2 possibly)