Drumstep Drums using loops [TUT]
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 1:57 pm
This tutorial is applicable for all programmes: Cubase/ fruity/ reason etc but it's based around fruity.
This is off my memory and rushed, so please comment if you have any edits or spot any mistakes!
Tempo should be 175bpm, First we are going to separate a break into 3 parts: the kick, the snare and the cymbals, so we can tighten it up bit by bit and make space for more synths etc. Then well join it up to create one sound.
So Load an amen style break into a beat slicer. Do this 3 times but each time on a new track.
Send each one to a separate mixer channel, and then take them of the master track so they cant be heard. Route them all to another mixer track, and route that to the master.
Now with the first track, open your sequencer/piano roll and remove all the cymbals and snares.
With the next rack, remove the cymbals and kicks.
With the next track remove the kicks and snares.
So now if you play it back, you’ll have the whole drum loop, but we can edit specific parts.
So, now we want to edit the kick, so in the mixer that the kicks are routed to, cut everything below 60hz so we have room for sub. (well also sidechain it slightly later, and do more to it, but when there is no big synths- I.e the intro, we can leave the bassier parts of the kick in.) Cut as many highs as you can afford to lose without making an audible difference, but be careful because there are some cymbals attached to the kicks and snares from where we split it up.
with the cymbals you can afford to lose at least 100hz and less, but because it's sliced be careful you don't cut off any of the snare.
with the snares workout what frequency your snares hitting on, (180-200hz is ideal I find) and eq anything less.
Pop a transient shaper on the kick, and watch the waveform of the kick using some sort of waveform VST. Tighten up the tail of the kick, and compress it so there's not much of an audible difference, but the peaks (random loud parts you often cant here them, but they exist) are removed (so it won’t fuck up in a club if there’s a limiter) .
Do a similar thing for the snares, just tighten the tail and neaten it up without as many peaks.
And the cymbals.
On the track you routed all the drums to, cut out everything below 60HZ and anything above 20k hz.
Now, fuck around with the pattern.
You want the kick to be on the start of a bar, and the snare in the middle. In between use the cymbals.
Because they've been sliced and your re-ordering them, they sound jumpy and have a nice groove to them.
On the whole thing, slap on a bit of reverb about 3-7% (barely noticeable) and make the room size about 25/100 and the decay quite small. It just widens it but doesn’t make it sound too loose and all over the place.
Tell me if this did/didn’t help
This is off my memory and rushed, so please comment if you have any edits or spot any mistakes!
Tempo should be 175bpm, First we are going to separate a break into 3 parts: the kick, the snare and the cymbals, so we can tighten it up bit by bit and make space for more synths etc. Then well join it up to create one sound.
So Load an amen style break into a beat slicer. Do this 3 times but each time on a new track.
Send each one to a separate mixer channel, and then take them of the master track so they cant be heard. Route them all to another mixer track, and route that to the master.
Now with the first track, open your sequencer/piano roll and remove all the cymbals and snares.
With the next rack, remove the cymbals and kicks.
With the next track remove the kicks and snares.
So now if you play it back, you’ll have the whole drum loop, but we can edit specific parts.
So, now we want to edit the kick, so in the mixer that the kicks are routed to, cut everything below 60hz so we have room for sub. (well also sidechain it slightly later, and do more to it, but when there is no big synths- I.e the intro, we can leave the bassier parts of the kick in.) Cut as many highs as you can afford to lose without making an audible difference, but be careful because there are some cymbals attached to the kicks and snares from where we split it up.
with the cymbals you can afford to lose at least 100hz and less, but because it's sliced be careful you don't cut off any of the snare.
with the snares workout what frequency your snares hitting on, (180-200hz is ideal I find) and eq anything less.
Pop a transient shaper on the kick, and watch the waveform of the kick using some sort of waveform VST. Tighten up the tail of the kick, and compress it so there's not much of an audible difference, but the peaks (random loud parts you often cant here them, but they exist) are removed (so it won’t fuck up in a club if there’s a limiter) .
Do a similar thing for the snares, just tighten the tail and neaten it up without as many peaks.
And the cymbals.
On the track you routed all the drums to, cut out everything below 60HZ and anything above 20k hz.
Now, fuck around with the pattern.
You want the kick to be on the start of a bar, and the snare in the middle. In between use the cymbals.
Because they've been sliced and your re-ordering them, they sound jumpy and have a nice groove to them.
On the whole thing, slap on a bit of reverb about 3-7% (barely noticeable) and make the room size about 25/100 and the decay quite small. It just widens it but doesn’t make it sound too loose and all over the place.
Tell me if this did/didn’t help
