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Got the Goldbaby 808 pack the other day in an attempt to start making some Zomby-esque drum sounds. Previously, working with more organic samples from breaks etc, I found I could get a drum track I was fairly satisfied with up and running relatively quickly but I'm having some difficulty achieving this sound.

I've broken it down to bitcrushing, saturation and a fair bit of compression on the drums-bus but am struggling achieve a good balance with the bit crushing/distortion, particularly on the kick drum: It always seems to be sound either too clean in a sort of Boddika/Addison Groove kinda way (which is cool but not the sound I'm aiming for) or just too distorted. Hard to cite a specific song but most of the tracks on On Foot Ahead Of The Other where 808s are clearly used (Pumpkinheads Revenge, Polka Dot) adn the new Panda Bear tune.
Or am I completely off on the 808 tip?






And inb4 smoke shitloads of skunk reply.

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this thread totally inspired some weird shit going on in my DAW. thanks.

Gurnumsbug wrote:Instead of trying to emulate a certain sound, why don't you tweak it and make it your own?
It's always good to have a certain sound you're after but don't limit yourself
Good-Luck!

Totally aware of this but I feel that breaking down the elements of someone you admire's track is one of the most effective and rewarding production "tutorials".

fuck off

Gurnumsbug wrote:Instead of trying to emulate a certain sound, why don't you tweak it and make it your own?
It's always good to have a certain sound you're after but don't limit yourself
Good-Luck!

do we honestly need this shit in EVERY SINGLE thread that asks a simple question?
well at least now donovansharps post has a purpose, i can quote it to reply to you!

donovansharp wrote:fuck off

there you have it.


now as to OP's question: maybe the goldbaby samples are already coloured in a certain way that's not in the same direction you're aiming for, if that makes any sense.
however listening to pumpkinheads revenge i wouldnt even have thought about bitcrushing so you're probably knowing more than me. but personally i'd say the articulation of the initial drumsample is more important than after effects.

hasezwei wrote:

Gurnumsbug wrote:Instead of trying to emulate a certain sound, why don't you tweak it and make it your own?
It's always good to have a certain sound you're after but don't limit yourself
Good-Luck!

do we honestly need this shit in EVERY SINGLE thread that asks a simple question?

yeah it's like when someone says "use your ears" when someone asks a technical questions: damn annoying

Do you use a sampler or do you just drag and drop samples to an audio track? Turning up the resonance in your sampler can help. Then add some top end distorsion and leave the bottom end dry if that makes any sense...

If 808's are too difficult to process, try 606's:
http://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/606_drums/pid65/fr

maybe the 808s are layered with short attacks of dirtier drum samples? those song are definitely not using long-tailed 808s right?

hasezwei wrote: however listening to pumpkinheads revenge i wouldnt even have thought about bitcrushing so you're probably knowing more than me. but personally i'd say the articulation of the initial drumsample is more important than after effects.

Been using bitcrushing with restraint, just using and tweaking some of the "classic boxes"in Decinort presets with some tweaking.

lazermouse wrote:Do you use a sampler or do you just drag and drop samples to an audio track? Turning up the resonance in your sampler can help. Then add some top end distorsion and leave the bottom end dry if that makes any sense...

If 808's are too difficult to process, try 606's:
http://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/606_drums/pid65/fr

I prefer to drag-and-drop,but I'm assuming that just using a filter on the track gives the same effect? Turning up the resonance makes a lot of sense.Do you mean multiband distortion? That would fit with some of the very unconventional filtering/eqing techniques you can hear going on. Downloading the 606 pack now.

Mushroom Buttons wrote:maybe the 808s are layered with short attacks of dirtier drum samples? those song are definitely not using long-tailed 808s right?

Zomby explicitly states in a lot of interviews that he uses 808s and some of the snare sounds are definitely 808s. There are loads of songs were he uses other samples and these are, IMO, more easy to replicate as the character of the sound is already to some extent present in the sample used. Will have a go at this though.

Feeling quite excited to go try some of this now.

@lazermouse

Playing through the 606 now: sounds a lot punchier and much closer (pre-processing) to the sound I'm aiming for.
Thanks for the link.