Drum Samples: Developing Your Own | Lifestyle

by JohnGellei

Anybody with a PC or Macintosh computer can indeed make their own drum samples quite easily. Sometimes to start with, the learning curve can be a bit daunting, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy to edit and crop different sounds to make your own unique samples that you will then be able to use for all of your production efforts.

Common tools for the task include audio editors and wave sound compatible sequencers and plugins. There are free audio editors like Audacity that you can download at a moment's notice. These types of programs are usually a snap to install, so if you haven't used one, don't worry; you'll get it installed within seconds in most cases, even if you're not all that comfortable with computers. Editing in a program like this, although very powerful and accurate, is not as hard as many make it out to be. There are usually some simple operations that need to be performed to trim and crop, nothing more!

You can also develop your drum samples in programs like Propellerheads' Reason and FL Studio. Simply make the changes you want in the programs using the in-built editors, effects units and reverb before exporting just the channel for that one sound and its associated effects. Then crop it up if you set the length to be the whole song, otherwise export just a single bar or beat if the sound occupies that amount.

Sampling is another popular method that has helped DJs, music producers and beat makers find quality drum samples for the last 20 years and even earlier than that. Extracting drum samples from records from the 60s, 70s, 50s and earlier also is good for locating uncompressed drum samples, as these decades did not have the loudness war that is evident in every chart-entering song of the modern.

Now that we've discussed sampling, we should probably look at the other extreme, which is to synthesize your own drum samples. Yep, everything from kicks to conga sounds and hi-hats can be replicated on drum machine hardware quite easily. You can get a very inexpensive drum machine from eBay, but if, like some people, you'd like something from the 80s or 70s, be prepared to pay a lot more money than this. Being able to alter a lot of the parameters, you can certainly get some unique sounds.

Now that you know how to source the different drum samples, you need to be able to manipulate and alter to your liking. There are plenty of effects to change the sound of a sample, including equalization and compression techniques, so you'll need to experiment. You will come across some methods that go well with your workflow, so just keep an open mind and try any and all recommendations until you can make your own judgment.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice.

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