Breaks or Sample Hits to make drums?

muzzadj

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All i ever see on this forum about people making drums is they use breaks from sample packs when i prefer to use single hits and layer them up to make my own drum beats. Am i doing this wrong or what? Well i know there is no 'wrong' in production but you know what i mean! (i hope!)
 
do what ever you want mate.
if u can make the drums u want with single hits then go for it.
i like to do both to be honest
 
I build the main beat from single hits.
Breaks do offer a certain ambience, especially with the cymbals, that can be hard to reproduce with hits.
I know it doesn't really mean shit, but I still feel like I'm 'cheating' if I rely to much on somebody elses sampled break for a beat.
 
I mostly build up my drum loops from single hits, layering them up to get the sound that I want. When I do use breaks, I put them through a hi pass filter so Im juat getting the hi percussion from the break, put them to the back of the mix so they are simply there to fill out the loop.
 
i use both, if i want to make a big smashy beat then first off ill reach for some powerful single hits. if i dun really know what im gonna make then i usually start with a break and just play around with it. this often ends up being layered with other single hits. i dont think i have ever made drums exclusively from single hits or breaks
 
Make my own kicks and snares, use hi hats from sample Cds and chop up/use breaks to fill frequency ranges or make the beat roll better. Its all about trial and error though.
 
Make my own kicks and snares, use hi hats from sample Cds and chop up/use breaks to fill frequency ranges or make the beat roll better. Its all about trial and error though.
When you say 'make', do you mean synthesis, building your own from samples, or recording real instruments?
 
its the same, the single hits you use can have come from breaks, unless youre talking about drummachine hits. but i guess you mean using full breaks in which case a really awesome technique you can use to merge the two is in that 'make smack my bitch up in ableton video' the way he cuts out the bassline from the reggae sample can be applied to drums too
 
I try a bit of everything,
Love experimenting with sound,
Trying different methods to satisfy my success =]
I try not to use old breaks though
 
depends on what im making, but for d&b i generally use breaks and chop them up, and layer with single hits and other chopped breaks

the problem i find with only using single hits is that they never really seem to gel together too well. when youre recording a drum kit, the drums are all recorded in the same room, and although there may be different mics on different drums, there will always be some bleeding to other mics, they are also recorded to the same tape, possibly through the same processors in some cases ... this all adds up to all the sounds having a certian character they share. now when you grab a load of random samples from here, there and everywhere, as good as they may sound individually, they have nothing in common, which is where layering in an old break can help
 
the problem i find with only using single hits is that they never really seem to gel together too well.

Loads of people say this, but a lot of breaks that you use from sample packs etc have still been made from single hits (unless theyre recorded live/sampled from a different tune).

Levels are what a lot of people get stuck on, if youve got one hi hat sound on one track playing 16ths, then its going to sound like one sound in the same place all the time. The reason live drums sound "live" is partly down to tiny imperfections and variations in each hit, so trying to achieve this with using a few slightly different hits here and there, level automation etc is a good way for it to sound more "natural". And obviously with live drums you'll have the sound of the room they were recorded in (could be good or bad depending on the room). Obviously noone whats rock band sounding drums, but a lot of the techniques with getting it sounding full still apply.
 
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i consider using other people's loops cheating.

Midi only for me, just gotta practice, and use the right sends/FX.

(btw i'm using reason 4)

Then I suppose all Architects in the world who use presets are cheating.

Drs. who learn how to use other Drs. Procedures for Surgery are also cheating.


I could go on and on.... :clown:
 
im sure you could but your analogy is flawed. surgery only has to be correct, nobody ever said 'hey it would be nice if my surgery was artistically exciting and original' haha i made myself chuckle writing this
 
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