Drums/Drumsamples

F

Fckthwrld

New Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Hello there,

over the last days i tried to make some DnB Drumskits... I bought Ableton Live 9 Suite, and i have the feeling that the samples in the included sample packs (drumwise...) are pretty useless to me (if someone thinks different, please tell me :P).

I now have the problem that i dont know where to take samples from. Of course i could buy some DNB Sample Packs, but id rather like to layer/edit my own drums/drumkits. I cant find much stuff for that purpose on the internet... Id like to know what drum samples are good to layer/edit, where to get them and how i archive good drumsounds. I appreciate every help i can get, post your own experiences or further reading stuff. I'd be very thankfull.

Edit: How much is synthesizing drums a thing in liquid/not neuro stuff a thing?

Greetings

Fckthwrld
 
Last edited:
All drumsamples are good samples to layer/edit.

Lately (I'm not talking about my first noobie producing days) I never use a drum sample that hasn't been edited, layered, cut,...

I'm not sure what you are looking for. "a drumsample good too layer". So one that hasn't been edited at all? Then you better start making your own samples I guess.


On the synthsizing part: no idea
 
Thanks for the reply, Crizis. Do you edit, cut and layer the drumsamples by yourself? If so, where do you usually get your samples from, or do you record them on your own?

Im not sure if i can/should layer every drumsample i come across. Many of them sound edited already (i.e. Vengeance), so i wonder if its worth it layering them to some other drums. Im not looking for the one and only way to get the best drums, but more of some workflows of other people to get me started.

In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30JHTv8Wero for example - at ca. 4:10 there are 4 layered snares and he says he "made" one sample - and if i feel uninspired i shall "make" samples. Im not exactly sure if i know what he means. The Samples of him sound pretty "thin" by themself, and most Samplepack have very "fat" sounding samples.
 
Well, I get samplepacks (loopmasters, primeloops, those 2 mostly) and I use those breaks and drum one shots to make my drums.

Mostly I use a break from the pack, then add snares from other packs (or the same, who cares, as long if it sounds good), maybe change the kick, or layer the kick, add hats if needed... All from those packs.
Don't worry about 'should I layer this?'. If it sounds good, it sounds good.
About the vengeance packs: yes, those are a bit overprocessed to add another massive fxchain, but again, if it sounds good, no one cares.


About the video, I think he does what I do. He grabs different things from packs to make his own drum sample/sound
for example: in one of my latest projects I've used a rim shot from somewhere, doubled it, pitched one, added a snare from a pack, added another snare and adjusted the tail. (it think it was something like that)
 
Layering drums well is probably one of the hardest things to do technically. You really want to layer 'thin' sounds into 'fat' ones, layering fat samples isn't so important cause they sound good already. (you could do it if you want to, I know some people like to do that)
 
I like the following... I have a program in my sampler wxth 20-30 kicks, and some random clunks, bonks, klangs and stuff, me hitting things with other things, I don't think too hard about it.
Then I find a kick that I like, usually something heavy with a bit of thud in it. I then send one note to my chosen kick to trigger it, and another note to my random kicks program simultaneously, so I hear both at the same time. Now, I assign a knob to the transpose function for that second note, and transpose it up and down by different amounts, and so get a new sample layered over my chosen one for each knob position/transpose amount). So I just sit there turning the knob listening to different combinations of samples. When I find something that gels or shows promise, I'll adjust the start points in the samples, or the volume of one, or the eq to remove overlapping areas, or whatever. The details of how you do all this aren't important, I just wanted to highlight how turning a knob is a really easy way to find happy accidents and combinations you might not have thought of if you are auditioning samples individually and manually stitching them together to create a layer. I find it works especially well for snare and hats, less so with kicks but give it a try.
 
Last edited:
Heres a list of sample packs that will help:

Bladerunner dread dnb: Very good drum beats, some good bass too

June Miller dark complex drum & bass: solid drum hits and beats. Some excellent bass' to go with it to

Cause 5 concern - drum and bass unleashed (2014) some nice drum loops and hits, with a couple nice top loops

K-Tee drum and bass - got nice varied hits and loops of lots of different style of drums

Sample Magic SM31 drum n bass: this pack is to sick, the breaks are very good to cut up and stuff, the drum loops also, some okay hits aswell

Prime loops Drum n Bass Drum loops and the temple of breaks: some interesting drums in these packs, ive have cut out hits and tops that are quite good

Nu-Tone drum and bass - drums are slick, great hits and includes shuffles too. A very good all round sample pack

The Mediks Drum & Bass Surgery - If you like more of a mainstream sound then this is the pack. Very clean sample pack in general

Industrial Strength Records; Neuro Funk Breaks (Only loops but great beats, very easily usable and to re arrange), Liquid Electro Deep Minimal (not very processed but great for layering)

Well thats a lot of the packs I use for drums. Also get your self some hip hop sample packs. I could name one I use but i think i only used 2 hits out of it.
 
Fckthwrld said:
Hello there,

over the last days i tried to make some DnB Drumskits... I bought Ableton Live 9 Suite, and i have the feeling that the samples in the included sample packs (drumwise...) are pretty useless to me (if someone thinks different, please tell me :P).

I now have the problem that i dont know where to take samples from. Of course i could buy some DNB Sample Packs, but id rather like to layer/edit my own drums/drumkits. I cant find much stuff for that purpose on the internet... Id like to know what drum samples are good to layer/edit, where to get them and how i archive good drumsounds. I appreciate every help i can get, post your own experiences or further reading stuff. I'd be very thankfull.

Edit: How much is synthesizing drums a thing in liquid/not neuro stuff a thing?

Greetings

Fckthwrld
Click to expand...

Starting your laying with already fat drums is great, i go through my drums and work my way up through each part of the kick/snare from bottom to top listening to the samples then eqing to leave the part i want in each. A lot of producers seem wierd about using samples but i dont get it, if you find a kick/snare that fits your tune don't go out of your way to change it just because you feel like you should due to some producer pride, just use it. The worst mistake i made when i started was over producing and adding effects because i just thought i should, when it really it sounded better without the stupid long chain of effects.
 
Can anyone recommend a sample pack with some good, clean, high quality acoustic rimshots and cross sticks? Also, those loud hits where the drummer connects with both the head and the snare rim and it makes a badass klang.. would be awesome, thanks :)
 
Back
Top Bottom