amen breaks

[major zero]

been getting into amens recently (im sure every producer goes through a phase where they feel like amens have to be a part of their sound) and im trying to get my sound close to skream, someone who has used this break to beautiful effect multiple times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi-4Fd187bs

so far my method has been somewhat simple. i was wondering if u guys could help me elaborate on this:

1: get yer amen break
2. slice to midi
3. chop and rearrange as preferred
4. replace certain drums, such as the main kick or snare, with samples of choice
5. apply noise gate to rid of excess noise
6. apply any other effects if so desired
7. get another amen... apply a bandpass/hipass/whatever and layer it in the background to fill out the remaaining space and give it some groove

how does this sound to you guys, and how would you elaborate on this?

nice one

[gravity]

i dont understand why...

a. you would gate your amen
b. why you would replace any of the samples

the second one kinda defeats the purpose of using an amen. maybe layer some samples under it but dont replace any

gating your amen is fair enough if you want it to sound gated, but you would have more joy using volume envelopes imo.

also its a bit silly layering an amen on top of an amen unless you are doing quite intense processing, like differently pitched copies with intense filter envelopes and the like.

[2mb1o]

how does this sound to you guys

It sounds like ... old drum&bass

[major zero]

i dont understand why...

a. you would gate your amen
b. why you would replace any of the samples

the second one kinda defeats the purpose of using an amen. maybe layer some samples under it but dont replace any

gating your amen is fair enough if you want it to sound gated, but you would have more joy using volume envelopes imo.

also its a bit silly layering an amen on top of an amen unless you are doing quite intense processing, like differently pitched copies with intense filter envelopes and the like.

1. what do you mean by volume envelope? you mean automating the adsr of each individual beat or is there something else that i am missing? surely if that is what you mean then applying a gate is 10x quicker and easier for removing excess noise...

2. there are plenty of songs with amens where individual beats layered or replaced that sound good (not that I can think of any specific examples right now)

[Sinisterbeats]

no need to replace any of the hits really. You shouldnt have to do any gating to get rid of noise, just get better quality samples. The "noise" is part of the character of the break anyway. After that its up to you whether you layer it up or not.

[Genevieve]

When I make d&b, I only use the hats/ghost snares, and use different kicks and snares (one shots) and layer the hats of the Amen over those one shots to make it sound cohesive.

I also gate the Amen when I do it that way, but my d&b is hardstep, anyway. That robotic groove is nice for that. I wouldn't use gates in dubstep, though. Where a fluid groove is everything.

But if what you're doing sounds good to you, that's all that matters, no?

[major zero]

When I make d&b, I only use the hats/ghost snares, and use different kicks and snares (one shots) and layer the hats of the Amen over those one shots to make it sound cohesive.

I also gate the Amen when I do it that way, but my d&b is hardstep, anyway. That robotic groove is nice for that. I wouldn't use gates in dubstep, though. Where a fluid groove is everything.

But if what you're doing sounds good to you, that's all that matters, no?

Your first sentence is kind of what I was getting at yeah. There is another amen layered in the background so you don't lose the sound entirely.


Guess its just a matter of opinion.. damn there was a really good example of an amen tune with some beats replaced/edited that eludes me now, twas my inspiration to try that tecfhnique in the first place.. ill post it if i remember it

[skimpi]

i dont understand why...

a. you would gate your amen
b. why you would replace any of the samples

the second one kinda defeats the purpose of using an amen. maybe layer some samples under it but dont replace any

gating your amen is fair enough if you want it to sound gated, but you would have more joy using volume envelopes imo.

also its a bit silly layering an amen on top of an amen unless you are doing quite intense processing, like differently pitched copies with intense filter envelopes and the like.

i havent used one that much, but when i did i layered like a snare or a clap, with the snare and then a punchy, subbier kick.

I can see what he means by layering the amen though, cos if you slice it to midi and then map out hits, you might have gaps in between them, so layering a hi passed amen, or even just cutting the hats and ghost snares out and hi passing it and then putting it on the arrange can kind of fill in the gaps and add some natural air to the beat.

[gravity]

dunno maybe its just they way i do things but when i use an amen i generally want that distinctive wash of ride cymbals - otherwise i'd use another break. i just think replacing the kick and snare or something and your gonna get gaps in the cymbals which is gonna sound odd. i'd be more inclined to highpass the amen a bit and stick it over the top of a chunky kick and snare.

as for the gating thing, i dunno i just feel gating something like an amen seems a bit odd. if you want that stuttery thing going on, you would have more control and a more reliable result if you just turned down the sustain and release on your amp envelope in your sampler, and adjusted the decay. or even just turn the release right down and draw in shorter notes.

horses for courses though i guess. i haven't used an amen in bloody ages.

[Recessive Trait]

The noise is the character of the break

otherwise it's just drum samples.

[sully_harmitage]

you could sample Renegade - Terrorist
everybody bloody else did.

and gate it if you like. or chop and pitch up to leave gaps. or use a transient designer style plug.

[upstateface]

you could sample Renegade - Terrorist
everybody bloody else did.

and gate it if you like. or chop and pitch up to leave gaps. or use a transient designer style plug.

Good luck with that, seeing as how the amen only comes in when the reese is playing , people sampled the reese not the amen

[sully_harmitage]

Good point.

Somehow there is a clean version in circulation though?

http://www16.zippyshare.com/v/30595724/file.html

You can hear it in shedloads of tunes...

Wonder where it came from now!

[upstateface]

An amen sampled through an akai sampler from a sample cd, just like the one from terrorist

[sully_harmitage]

i read an interview with ray keith saying he tweaked it himself

i know a clean amen does not sound much like that in an S-900/950 at any rate

the same break is in here too:



??

anyway to get off tangent the lesson is that akais are good for breaks, wherever you might get em from.

[upstateface]

Akai+desk+Amen= terrorist amen, it's not really that complex

[Sharmaji]

there was a competition over @ DOA where folks were trying to find/create/process the best,cleanest, edgiest amen.

Pendulum won.

worth checking for, i remember their amen being pretty fantastically on-point.

[sully_harmitage]

forget i said anything haha.

sharmaji is right.

tc did some good ones too.

and fwiw it sounds like skream used a touch of reverb on burning up...

[upstateface]

TC's amens were insanely clean