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The kick in his more techno'y stuff is crazy, mad transparent and still thumps like a motherfucker.

I've come nowhere near close to blawans drums, but I think the general gist of his early tracks like fram and iddy is by using pitch envelopes on toms and congas etc. Get different transposed versions of the same sample and make a sort of 'rhythmic melody' with them. The main problem is getting the transposition and decay settings on the amp envelopes of your samples right to maintain the tightness of the samples. Otherwise they start sounding mushy when they are transposed.

Untold uploaded a sample pack on this subforum ages ago that had a kick similar to some of blawans newer techno style stuff and a percussion hit that would be good for the tom sounds he uses in fram/iddy etc using the method i just described. The link to it is probably still up on here somewhere if you do a search

The percussion on shader is immense, i don't know what he's doing there at all lol.

For kicks (Reason 4) I usually get the fullest sample I can find (most body to it) then slap on an EQ and a dash of reverb.
Oversimplified of course, but it's a really easy and efficient approach.

Sarah808 wrote:The kick in his more techno'y stuff is crazy, mad transparent and still thumps like a motherfucker.

yeh its insane, thought i new a bit about production then i heard one of his tunes and the kicks, synth stabs etc are just next level!

i reckon the best advice is build up your own sample library from old tunes and films, drum machines (goldbaby is the place for this) whatever, then process the fuck out of them and youll end up with something weird and cool as fuck that sounds pretty unique because you didnt just download a sample cd of some other producers cast off samples then try and emulate another producer

make your own shit, just remember the principles of hitting the right frequencies and keeping your mix crisp

still if blawan explains what the fuck he's doing i would love to see it!

c03 wrote:

Sarah808 wrote:The kick in his more techno'y stuff is crazy, mad transparent and still thumps like a motherfucker.

yeh its insane, thought i new a bit about production then i heard one of his tunes and the kicks, synth stabs etc are just next level!

i reckon the best advice is build up your own sample library from old tunes and films, drum machines (goldbaby is the place for this) whatever, then process the fuck out of them and youll end up with something weird and cool as fuck that sounds pretty unique because you didnt just download a sample cd of some other producers cast off samples then try and emulate another producer

make your own shit, just remember the principles of hitting the right frequencies and keeping your mix crisp

still if blawan explains what the fuck he's doing i would love to see it!

I dunno, apart from real subtle processing oneshots seem to loose their original quality and sheen if you do to much to them.
They just hit so hard, I call witchcraft.

imho a good way to approach this is by layering your percussion elements. even the kick!
if you have 3 different kicks going on - every kick having it's own frequency range (by EQing accuratly).

another possible way is by pararell compressing your percussional elements!

take care of the volume! a good, fat kick isn't necessary louder than a kick with less ''omph''... in fact a lot of people tend to have their kic too loud in the whole mixup. better try pararell compressing the kick and eeping volume down.

just my thoughts.

vulvavibration wrote:imho a good way to approach this is by layering your percussion elements. even the kick!
if you have 3 different kicks going on - every kick having it's own frequency range (by EQing accuratly).

another possible way is by pararell compressing your percussional elements!

take care of the volume! a good, fat kick isn't necessary louder than a kick with less ''omph''... in fact a lot of people tend to have their kic too loud in the whole mixup. better try pararell compressing the kick and eeping volume down.

just my thoughts.

i think you've definately got the right idea with the processing - compression, layering, EQ etc. From the little he has said about his production methods on the net, he sounds like he must do a lot of processing on his drums. He said that his favourite vst is Izotope Ozone in an interview and he mentioned using mid-side EQing on his drums on twitter - doesn't help much though lol He seems quite guarded about his production methods, understandably.

I think he should make a sample pack like Untold. In fact has anyone checked the Untold Loopmasters sample pack for any Blawan esque stuff? Since they're both on Hessle I thought it might have some sounds that would be helpful for that style.

The original link to that free Untold DSF sample pack is dead now, but I could reupload it if anyones interested? It has a good wooden drum sound (reminds me of the samples from Ramadanman's Blimey too) and a kick sound that sounds quite similar to the ones Blawan uses in his recent techno stuff. It won't make you sound magically like Blawan though

couldn't it be possible, that blawan just uses a good analog drum machine? (NO - it doesn't have to be an 808 and NO, the 808 isn't necessary the best drum machine, every drum machine has it's own 'sound)

from my experience, this can make a shiiiitload of a difference!

vulvavibration wrote:couldn't it be possible, that blawan just uses a good analog drum machine? (NO - it doesn't have to be an 808 and NO, the 808 isn't necessary the best drum machine, every drum machine has it's own 'sound)

from my experience, this can make a shiiiitload of a difference!

Let me tell you some'n, it ain't what you got.. it's what you do with what you have.

No hate, just couldn't let that one slide Couldn't find any info on his gear but you might be on to something.

vulvavibration wrote:couldn't it be possible, that blawan just uses a good analog drum machine? (NO - it doesn't have to be an 808 and NO, the 808 isn't necessary the best drum machine, every drum machine has it's own 'sound)

from my experience, this can make a shiiiitload of a difference!

his samples sound kind of organic though, i mean obviously layering goes on, but the way some of his kicks sound boxey, they sound kind of like real samples that have been processed. some alos have a kind of hip hop feel to them, but being layered with some bass too.

I think with his percussion too, you could try layering them so that transposing when transposing, you still have something to keep them tight. also i was thinking the other day, and someone has mentioned they think he uses the warping function in ableton, he could be transposing samples, but then warping the transients so that the stil stay intact and punch through.

And yes please re-up that sample pack skwiggo, that would be great!

vulvavibration wrote:NO, the 808 isn't necessary the best drum machine

Now go wash your mouth out with soap and pray for forgiveness.

He has picked drums that go well together and then processed them together or in groups. Some nice rhythm going too!

Try grouping a few drums together and then running them thru a BP filter with some tight reverb to bring them together.

What is most important is what you start with tho. Get decent drums to start with and use ur ears to pick hits that go together. It may help to get a quick beat down and then while its playing check some other hits out to see if they go.

blawan warps his drums im pretty sure

ive been obsessed with his work for a couple of months last year and knowing he uses ableton i started realizing i could warp drum hits and create very intense drum tracks that way.. that sounded dirty crisp and hollow like his...

that + rollidge + jackin beats + acid basslines + foley recordings

Ldizzy wrote:blawan warps his drums im pretty sure

ive been obsessed with his work for a couple of months last year and knowing he uses ableton i started realizing i could warp drum hits and create very intense drum tracks that way.. that sounded dirty crisp and hollow like his...

that + rollidge + jackin beats + acid basslines + foley recordings

what makes you think they are warped? I used Ableton ages ago but I thought the warping was like time stretching?

Whats this bit?

that + rollidge + jackin beats + acid basslines + foley recordings

Ldizzy wrote:blawan warps his drums im pretty sure

ive been obsessed with his work for a couple of months last year and knowing he uses ableton i started realizing i could warp drum hits and create very intense drum tracks that way.. that sounded dirty crisp and hollow like his...

that + rollidge + jackin beats + acid basslines + foley recordings

Never thought about using warping before actually...sounds like a good idea i'll try that tonite thanks

And thanks DZA for reuploading that sample pack

skimpi wrote: I think with his percussion too, you could try layering them so that transposing when transposing, you still have something to keep them tight. also i was thinking the other day, and someone has mentioned they think he uses the warping function in ableton, he could be transposing samples, but then warping the transients so that the stil stay intact and punch through.

And yes please re-up that sample pack skwiggo, that would be great!

What does this mean?

you could try layering them so that transposing when transposing,

DZA wrote:http://www.sendspace.com/file/zw18t9

ah! the untold pack.

I had this one before my HDD crash, cheers!

Still missing my fav drum pack tho if anyone knows where it is? was called "1000 drums" I think?

Feel free to post/link some more decent drums please. Next person who posts vengeance will get shot:)

serox wrote:
what makes you think they are warped? I used Ableton ages ago but I thought the warping was like time stretching?

The fact that when i warp single drum hits in ableton i obtain really dirty sounds with lots of complex envelope changes... something quite unique.. try it ull see my point... and yes it is time stretching... u can timestretch single audio hits as well... try it!

+ blawan says he uses ableton and focuses a lot on percussion... its not a proof but it does make it a possible answer...

Whats this bit?

that + rollidge + jackin beats + acid basslines + foley recordings

Hum my personal take on a blawan recipe ...

That=Warped drums
Rollidge = the term some people use when describing garage drums.. the garage-ish type of goorve pockets that feels like the drum is "rolling" (think el b)
Jackin beats = there is a jackin quality to blawan beats i find, reminiscent of the old school house joints (he plays a lot of old school house beats live)
Acid Basslines = seems to be an aesthetic he adopted earlier last year... a lot of tb303 inspired basslines in his tracks...
Foley recordings = he uses a lot of ambiant noises and stuff kinda like mt kimbie or j.blake... a lot of weird sounds unlikely to be used in a tune...

clearer? im sorry i often sound like i talk nonsense

DZA wrote:http://www.sendspace.com/file/zw18t9

Awesome, thanks!