ableton drum beats

[55stevieboy2010]

hey all

very new to production and im currently using the demo version of ableton. My question is...when im making my drum beats im obviously using the standard beats provided by ableton, why do they sound a little flat?? will i need to buy some more professionally sounding drum sounds from a website or something when i buy the full version of ableton or am i doing something wrong myself??

[Danimal]

drum samples provided by ableton are very flat. same with reason. I went ahead and downloaded different sample packs from websites for free, or you could even spend a bit of money on a download. Here's some good, free, sample packs I started with.

http://www.boyinaband.com/resources/sample-packs/

[55stevieboy2010]

brilliant mate cheers for those, just downloaded some kicks, snares and just some general dubstep samples, another question..after i dl them how do i get them to show up in ableton so i can use them?

[55stevieboy2010]

scrub the last question ive figured that out, next prob is normally when i use abletons own drum samples i double click on the sample after putting it in the main box and it comes up with a loada boxes where i can place each beat exactly where i want it to play, however when i do this with the ones i downloaded and double click it comes up with just like a waveform od the sound. how do i choose where i want this sound to play?

[jaimelee]

Start using Drum rack.
Trust me it's the best way to go in all drum making for Ableton.

[55stevieboy2010]

i am using it mate, my problem is why do the drums sound so flat?? what can you do to the sounds to make them cleaner and sharper

[jaimelee]

All a matter of Compression, EQ, Frequencies and Layering. ( If you like too.)
The handy thing with Drum rack is you can add effects to each individual sound and then more to the group of them as a collective.

Try melding a lower 808 with a high end kick or even a hat for more fullness at top end.

[DZA]

Start using Drum rack.
Trust me it's the best way to go in all drum making for Ableton.

[55stevieboy2010]

DZA im guessing you think differently?? if so help me out mate

[Danimal]

Thats all I can give you bud. I use Reason for my drum sequencing. Ableton is my number one except for drums. Though I am interested in hearing how guys use it so well.

[DZA]

DZA im guessing you think differently?? if so help me out mate

I dont like using midi for doing drums so i just drag and drop the audio hits into the arrangement and built them up from there

[jaimelee]

Wait a second..

Drag and drop audio bits ( samples)
What you think I am doing then?

I get suitable samples or make some then arrange them in a pattern and have the rack be a place where I can add effects etc instead of using seperate channels for each part of the drum. ( To each individual sample or all as a group in drum rack)

Saving space no?
The midi is only just telling the audio when to play, not controlling how the noise sounds unless I want it too.

Last time I wanted to seperate every drum piece was minimal techno or in Logic.

[DZA]

pshhh space is overrated

[jaimelee]

So is trolling, don't you have a bridge to be hiding under?
If you don't like midi, go record live drum samples instead, splice and what not.
Or else don't dispute over a method that clearly works well.

This mean I get to lopp your head off as a trophy now?

[contakt321]

I actually do the same thing as DZA, he isn't trolling, he is simply offering an alternative.

To answer the original poster's question:
Ableton's supplied drums are un-effected (whereas most sample-packs drums are heavily EQed, compressed, reverbed, etc). If you want to achieve the same results, EQ, compress, and reverb the built in sounds, or DL some sample packs.

I think Ableton's general philosophy is to provide everything in the most simple fashion so you can build upon it however you like.

[DZA]

So is trolling, don't you have a bridge to be hiding under?
If you don't like midi, go record live drum samples instead, splice and what not.
Or else don't dispute over a method that clearly works well.

This mean I get to lopp your head off as a trophy now?

yeah cus i am trolling
now why would i go to all the time and effort to record drums when theyres people out there who do that and make them into packs?
I can dispute what i please when someone says its the best way of doing it when its clearly not the best way for everyone

I actually do the same thing as DZA, he isn't trolling, he is simply offering an alternative.

contakt knows about my drums

[Mad_EP]

I hand-place all my individual drum hits too. Old habit I guess. The only time I have used midi to place the drums is if I 'play' them live via a controller.

To each their own. As for the drum sounds included with Live, I hate them. I don't think I have ever used them. Over a decade of sampling and buying the Goldbaby packs.

[55stevieboy2010]

cheers everyone for yer feedback its helping alot. ill check out them goldbaby packs, however ive been messing around with reverb and actually managed to get my snare soundin something like good.

next question, how do you add bass and a sub???

[Danimal]

well start by making new tracks for those. Search the forum for making basses and subs in ableton. There are so many threads with these questions. I recommend searching in youtube "Ableton Sub" or "Ableton Bass". Its really that easy. Thats where I began making my own instruments. These youtube tutorials will help you build these instruments in various ways, then you can begin to tweak them to your own liking until you develop your own sound. Use youtube tutorials whenever you have the patience. It pays big in hands on experience.

[melodium747]

In ableton I like to make a new drum rack and start with the kicks / snares, then duplicate that rack and deactivate the the kicks / snares and add the high hats or whatever else but use the deactivated notes as a reference and just copy this process to work on different elements of the drums. Its hard to explain but it seems like a good process at least for me because you can bring in or take out different elements of the drums whenever you want and have a better control over everything. Might just be me though.