| Pick Your Next Drum Samples - Tips |
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Top music producers often tell magazines and websites that picking out drum samples is just about an art form these days. This is at least partly true. Think about it, the top 40 (and even beyond) pop and hip hop tracks are dominated by producers who know how to choose drums that take their tracks to another level.
Top music producers often tell magazines and websites that picking out drum samples is just about an art form these days. This is at least partly true. Think about it, the top 40 (and even beyond) pop and hip hop tracks are dominated by producers who know how to choose drums that take their tracks to another level. Most professional hip hop producers agree that any song is only as good as the weakest ingredient. While this goes for anything in music and literature, it stands to back up our statements here. Good drum samples can make any song better, while a bad selection or bad sequencing can drag the best song down into the doom of mid-chart locations. Even styles like Jazz require creative and excellent drums to back up the harmonies. The first tip concerns coherence. In electronic production of music, there is kind of an anything-goes mentality among even some of the more respected beat makers. You would do well, though, to find some ways to set your drum samples with common glue, something that binds them together beyond the sequencer they were placed in. Achieving this binding feeling will instill a group-dynamic into the track as a whole! When speaking about hip hop drum samples, coherence can be achieved any number of ways. The two tips I would give is to use a reverb effect (however subtle) on all drum tracks. This will give the impression that the samples were recorded or played in the same environment. You can also trial some common compression, and this would work well on the kick and snare drums, and less so on samples like the hi-hats and cymbals. The second tip: Style. What do I mean by this? I'm not talking about using only drum samples that sound alike for your use, no. What I mean is using common techniques like compression and especially filters, and then going further and creating space for each drum sample. You will soon develop your own way to create this style for whatever drums you choose to apply it to. Consider the dynamics and the interaction before making decisions about the samples as they apply to the song. When it comes down to picking your next few drum samples, consider the aforementioned tips. Also, I highly advise you to expand your sound selection. Staying within the same hundred samples will soon show in your music. You're going to start developing the same sort of beats and music. It goes well beyond the samples, so do your creative mind a favor and expand beyond your current situation. DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice. Want to find out a lot more about drum samples? Then visit the web's number one hip hop drum sounds website for your fix. |