Combining Drum Samples to Create Unique Sounds.

[Ganglion-Blackguard]

I hear a lot of talk about combining multiple drum samples to create a unique sample. I understand that the process involves cutting off each sample at specific points with EQs, but what would I use to accomplish this? Are there any programs well suited to this process?

How do you folks go about this? I've done some searches, but did not come up with anything specific. I produce in Ableton Live 8, and own a copy of SoundForge, though admittedly I haven't delved much into it. Ideally I'd like to take two or more wav sound samples, filter and process them, and export as a new wav.

[+3]

I use Logic but the process is the same anywhere:

a Make 2 audio tracks.

b Drop a kick in each track

c Lowpass / Highpass one or the other till it sounds how you want

d Bounce / Save it.

Sorted.

[nowaysj]

You don't have to layer drum samples to get powerful big drums.

If you are as new as you seem to be, I'd recommend just learning ableton some more. Once you do, you will see how easy it is to layer drum samples in there.

Also, you don't have to eq them or envelope them. Maybe for kicks, but whatever.

Moral of the story. Start learning ableton. All will become apparent.

[marinsk]

I sent a friend a sort of test sample of a song I'm doing now, and one of the things he said was that the drums were too "standard". Mainly, he said he heard the snare in some songs before, and he even knew which drum machines/workstations it came from. He said to try layering different samples, then EQing out parts from each sound so that they'd sort of fit together into one new, unique sound.

[deadly_habit]

that and envelope em too guys

[nowaysj]

I sent a friend a sort of test sample of a song I'm doing now, and one of the things he said was that the drums were too "standard". Mainly, he said he heard the snare in some songs before, and he even knew which drum machines/workstations it came from. He said to try layering different samples, then EQing out parts from each sound so that they'd sort of fit together into one new, unique sound.

Really layer sounds is going to take some more advanced skills / ears. Just keep going with making the tracks. What snare did you use?

[Ganglion-Blackguard]

Thanks for the quick replies. It seems pretty obvious to me now. I've done it before by simply using two or more samples in a Drum Rack triggered at the same time, but I really like the simplicity of working with a single audio file. I haven't done much with pure audio in Ableton, and I guess it never really dawned on me to do it that way. Thanks.

[FSTZ]

I have been throwing my snares through a band pass filter lately

gets a nice woody effect with low res (Q) and a metallic sound with high Q

[deadly_habit]

heh i've gone back to abusing my akai for some dirt even on my layered shit lately

[FSTZ]

^^those akai samplers are kings of dirt!

you have the s1000?

[deadly_habit]

^^those akai samplers are kings of dirt!

you have the s1000?

s2000
need to get a 5000 or 6000 and sell this one

[meer]

Velocity-mapped multisample layers are much cooler than using the same 10000 snares over top of one another through an entire track.

[kaiori breathe]

The simplest function for layering is when you have two samples that independently are lacking something the other provides. So you sort of combine them to get the best out of them.

For instance, you might have two snare sounds. One is sitting nicely in the mid and low sections but has no high end. The other is a sample with a very weak mid/low sound but a strong high end to it. So you'd line the two up over each other, do a little eqing just to get it perfect, and export the final sound as a wav.

I do this in Fruity Loops. Open up two samplers. Put one sound in each. Send each sound to a different Chanel. Add an EQ to each channel. Then EQ as appropriate to get the part of each that I want. Then put a final EQ on the master and add some finishing touches. I like using Fruity Loops because of the 'Parametric EQ 2' which is just great in my opinion.

When I'm done I'll usually add a tiny amount of reverb in reason (because I prefer the RV7000 to what's on offer in fruity loops - not that there's anything wrong with FL's reverb, I just prefer Reasons because I feel I have more control over it), like, so little that it's barely noticeable, just to help the sounds meld together a little better.

You can go through this process in any Daw really. That's just my personal taste. I haven't used ableton but I'm sure you'd have no difficulty going through this process on it.

There are other things you can do. You can experiment. Putting toms (with low and high end cut so the mid section is prominent) in snares with a weak mid section can give them a nice bouncy sound. If you do it right.

I was watching mistabishi ages ago on youtube, and he was showing an example he did where he put the sound of a basket ball being hit off the ground in a snare - sounded quite nice - worked on the same principle as using the tom in a snare. I think he also used a football being kicked (a sound he sampled from a documentary) in a kick. Also came out quite nice.

You can also use that 120hz part of a kick in snare sounds to give them some thud.

Hi-hats and white noise can be used to fill in a sound that has weak high end sometimes.

And those clap/finger click samples you always hear in hip hop and r&b are great for giving your snares some snap if they're lacking.

There's no reason why you can't use whatever you want really (as long as your not doing something utterly stupid like trying to use the sound of some guy milking a cow in a kick) there's a lot of plausible combinations to try.

Just remember you don't always have to layer. It's certainly a good idea to try and give it a go and experiment if anything just to learn though.

Also you can use layering in more than just drums. I make a lot of my pad sounds layering lots of different sounds into each other.

Anyway, I'm babbling on, hope some of that is helpful.