| Getting Snappy Hip Hop Drum Samples |
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If you're new to music production and beat making, you may be wondering about all the fuss regarding snare and kick drum samples being 'snappy.' Why would we place so much emphasis on this sound characteristic of drums when the arrangement and other aspects of a song seem to be much more important? Well, the fact is that it's a hugely important topic of debate. There is such an importance placed on the snappiness of your drum track that it's paramount to suicide to ignore the techniques to make things cut through a mix.
If you're new to music production and beat making, you may be wondering about all the fuss regarding snare and kick drum samples being 'snappy.' Why would we place so much emphasis on this sound characteristic of drums when the arrangement and other aspects of a song seem to be much more important? Well, the fact is that it's a hugely important topic of debate. There is such an importance placed on the snappiness of your drum track that it's paramount to suicide to ignore the techniques to make things cut through a mix. Making your drums snap and pop isn't as hard as some others may lead you to believe. It's simply a matter of using compression that is well-adjusted to the type of samples you've chosen, and also is accented via other samples that you may choose to boost the effectiveness of the snare and kicks. EQ can also be used to emphasize the frequencies in which the instruments really keep their punchy bits. This can be found out via a spectrum analyzer quite easily. A wave editor can also help to gauge the volume-time dynamic. Whether you are using software or hardware solutions to edit and change your drum samples, there are some features you should be aware of. The main feature is the likely inclusion of factory-shipped effect patches. It will be sound editors that have compiled the library of effects settings, so start to use them critically. Listen to the sound before and after applying the effect to gauge the impact, and then relate it to the settings on the device or software. Hopefully you will be able to base creative decisions based on your learning here. Compressing your drum samples to add snap is a very common road taken by mixers and music producers alike. Sometimes it can be a bit hard working out what the knobs and dials actually do, so writing down - in your own words - what the changes do to the drum samples, will help you out a lot when making critical decisions later on. Try out different software and hardware compressors, as they also sound a little bit different and you will have trouble with some, while others will be easy to work for you. So, by now you probably understand that really writing stuff down can give you a huge advantage. When describing the effects that a compressor has on drum samples, you want to make several observations, including the sound sample that you were working on (describe its sound), the supposed effect of a particular parameter (as the manual suggests) and also the actual, perceived sound (how you hear it). Describe it in plain English for maximum comprehension later on when comparing different experiments. Finally, choose the right drum samples to start with. This will always help you achieve the desired sound you are hearing in your head (and have probably heard even before having started to make this beat) and get it down into your sequencer program. To explain it simply, less tweaking equals more time for the music! DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice. Do you want to know how to make beats? Start with some good hip hop drum samples, then look for a basic tutorial on the topic and get started! |