New DVD Movies

In this modern musical era, there is a lot of emphasis placed on the way snare and kick drum samples sound; specifically, whether they can cut through a mix of several different, heavy instrument tracks like strings and electric pianos. They way your samples sound in a tough mix is referred to as snap in a lot of circles. If you can get your main drum track to snap, your mix will be a lot easier to handle later, but you need to take care in your journey, as too much sound manipulation and be degrading.

Making your drums snap and pop isn’t as hard as some others may lead you to believe. It’s simply a matter of using compression that is well-adjusted to the type of samples you’ve chosen, and also is accented via other samples that you may choose to boost the effectiveness of the snare and kicks. EQ can also be used to emphasize the frequencies in which the instruments really keep their punchy bits. This can be found out via a spectrum analyzer quite easily. A wave editor can also help to gauge the volume-time dynamic.

Both software and hardware effects usually have factory patches that display the capabilities of the effects unit. This is very useful for the budding audio engineer and drum samples editor; feed the device some standard samples – but first analyze the samples and really listen to them – then start applying some of the default effects, not the parameter levels and starting doing A/B tests on the sound; that is, before and after the effect. If you can start to internalize the changes and link the sound alteration to the settings, you will be well off!

Compression is probably the most useful quick fix to turn drab into ‘fab’ when it comes to snappy samples. Raising the volume everything below a low threshold with a fast release will bring interesting results to start with, but this is certainly no hard and fast rule, and in fact will sound downright ridiculous with certain samples. It’s such an adapted art form, you’ve really got to have your go at it, and write down some of the settings.

When writing down the compression settings you are changing, note how they affect the sound according to your ear. Try not to use sonic and producer jargon, but describe it in perfect English. This will reinforce the effects in your mind. After having noted the effects of each pan and fader, combine them two at a time and write down the cumulative effect of each set. Make sure to mix them all up for maximum comparative description!

Finally, choose the right drum samples to start with. This will always help you achieve the desired sound you are hearing in your head (and have probably heard even before having started to make this beat) and get it down into your sequencer program. To explain it simply, less tweaking equals more time for the music!

Did you know that learning to sing can be difficult? Visit us for information on violin lessons and more!