prefered method of beat making??

It's been a long time since I put together a drum and bass track butin the jungle days
I used to roll with chopped breaks exclusively. Then the "tech step" style appeared and I started using single hit kick and snares/hats and maybe run a roll in between from a drum break.

cheers

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2 methods. I usually have something else laid out already when I start making drums, like a sampled line, bass sounds, arp or whatever.

I might throw in a kick and start experimenting on the pattern, then start adding different single hits. Once I have the pattern down I start to add layers and depth to the sound, usually with breaks mixed in. I might mix in even 3 breaks but have them relatively quiet so that together they form a cohesive sound.

Or then I slice up a break and create the pattern to get the basic sound, and layer it with single hits (and possibly parts of other breaks) to fatten it up.

I'm starting to get really good results, but having beats that slice through the mix is still my main problem.
 
I just open Luity, construct a [very] basic beat in the sequencer with the default instruments, then I browse my samples for ass kicking one shots [recently 2 kicks and 2 or 3 snares].
Once the beat is sounding rough and tough [like weather] I fill a new pattern to the rim with hats, modify velocity, fill a new one with rides, fuck around with the velocity on that - making sure the peaks don't overlap on the different instruments.
EQ everything, layer a few funky samples on top [off the Beat X-change thread, fuck yeah respect!!] and then go to town adding different percussive elements, you know, wooden clunks and clicks, weird one shots and ethnic shit like that and make a few patterns with those that go smoothly with the main "beat".

And that's it, really!

Oh yeah, add a few patterns with extra snares and shit which are pitch shifted and all kinds of fucked up.
 
this thread is from 2008, when I started to experiment...
and since then I always start all my drums from scratch. Very few times that I've layered breaks.
 
Ive wired Kong into redrum. Can control the samples much more through Kong (and use its onboard effects unit).

But yea.. 2 kicks 3 snares, few hi hat combos. Rout each individual sample to its own mix channel, copy the pattern to track.. export then import as Audio. Then probably a few HP'd breaks to go over the top
 
I use some kicks and snares, layer and eq them till i have the kick and snare sound i aimed on. Then i take some high-passed breaks some high hats an percussions and voila, i got my break :).
 
I prefer to make a beat out of single layered hits. This will be the main kick and snare and maybe a hihat to set a drive.
Then I'll insert some more percussion elements, this can be chopped up loops or single hits, depends on what I'm going for.
Now the drums will be pretty solid already, but to glue the several hits together and to fill the gaps between this hits I'll start adding little chops and edits from breaks.
Some will be almost inaudible, but the just give that slight background noise to fill it out. This could also be achieved with a cymbal or ride pattern on a very low volume.

Last days I'm trying out more unusual stuff, instead of using plain percussion loops and cuts for the fills, I'm using all kinds of foley sound and sound effects, all cut up and rearranged to create an interesting loop.
This is EQ'ed to taste, maybe compressed and bitcrushed. Got some interesting results so far! :D
 
for the record, single hits constructed with layers and then eq'd and effected blah blah.

what i don't know is how to get a kick and snare to fucking hit with the force of a thousand suns the way people like noisia get it to.

listen to displaced for example and you will know the definition of "fat beat". how hell do you get that?
 
@groovestick. One thing ive found that helps with kicks and snares is putting it in Mono, so its all sitting in the centre of the mix. Ive found it really gives it that punch (as long as you eqing is done correctly). Also try putting your kick snare loop through a tape distortion. That will bring out the fatness.
 
ruksi said:
@groovestick. One thing ive found that helps with kicks and snares is putting it in Mono, so its all sitting in the centre of the mix. Ive found it really gives it that punch (as long as you eqing is done correctly). Also try putting your kick snare loop through a tape distortion. That will bring out the fatness.
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good tips man.

i can't tell if i can't get my kicks and snares huge because of what i'm actually doing to them or because everything else in the song is too loud/overpowering. i think it has a lot to do with that too. i've overdriven and maxed out my snares as hard as possible but still keeping them clear and done my best to keep them from going into the red with a limiter but i'm still struggling.
 
i reckon mix down as low as possible. i mix my kicks snare and sub down to say -40db and then the other sounds around 5-10db below that. (then push ur master output to about -6db) that way you have plenty of room for the drums to punch in their own frequancy. and the total mix should all sit together nicely but still retain the punch.
 
ruksi said:
i reckon mix down as low as possible. i mix my kicks snare and sub down to say -40db .
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That's mighty low. There's no need to go that low, especially if you push the master up after that. But if that works for you then go for it.

The loudness of your mix doesn't really have much to do with the frequencies the drums punch in, however.

Usually having drums and bass peak at -15 would be enough, then matching everything else to that would be a sure way to avoid clipping.
 
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