KVR Audio

440hz · Post by **440hz** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:21 pm

how the hell do you make these snare drums used in breakcore and D nB?

Ive tried running my oberheim DX,s snare drum through the gate box reverb on my machinedrum and then pitch shifting it on my sampler(and of course I have a compressor in the mix).This is how I thought these drums were made.But I just cant seem to get it right.I dont know maybe I need better gear..or a laptop.

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:43 pm

Basically the right samples + layering and heavy compression.

If your sequencer can host VST's, download the freebies camelphatfree and Tls Saturated Driver. Layer multiple snares triggered at the same time and send them through one or both of these plugs and distort/compress away. Pitching down some of the snares can add some heaviness too.

Cheers. welcome to KvR

440hz · Post by **440hz** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:14 pm

I am using ALL hardware

[ xerocreep ] · Post by **[ xerocreep ]** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:24 pm

If you are going for the End User , Venetian Snares, Bong Ra variety of breakcore, the Amen break will go a long way for you. If you are using all hardware, it sounds like you're going to need a sampler.

The hot pants break has a nice snappy snare as well.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:38 pm

440hz wrote:I am using ALL hardware

Hm, may I ask why you're looking for an answer at KVR then? I mean, it's largely software based over here.
And then, are you even using a hardware sequencer?

440hz · Post by **440hz** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:08 am

I have an EMU esi4000 sampler.It sounds ok but it doesnt have seperate outs.I will probably get an MPC 2500 or a laptop soon./I should have figured this to be a software site...I just didnt have much luck at future producers. com ..maybe ill post there again

440hz · Post by **440hz** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:10 am

Also I am into making all my owns sounds/loops/samples...guess ill just keep chipping away at it

Reverse Engineer · Post by **Reverse Engineer** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:11 am

coudln't you build your snares using an audio editor on your comp then send them back to your sampler?

440hz · Post by **440hz** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:15 am

Yeah...that sounds like a good idea.can you recommend any good programs? I am using wavelab so maybe I could download some plug ins?

uvacom · Post by **uvacom** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:31 am

I think you'd probably get some good help over at dogsonacid.com, this is sort of what they do.

Anyway, the sound you're going for is usually achieved by chopping up breaks and processing from there. The genre is prtty much built on a foundation of stolen breaks. If you want to do your own, you'll still have an easier time of it if you program a good funky sounding acoustic break, simulate cymbals bleeding into the snare mic, compress the whole thing, EQ it to simulate sitting in the groove of old played out vinyl for 25 years, and then chop it up again.

That's sort of a pain in the ass though, and you have to realize if you want to work within such a narrow genre, by definition your work is going to be deriviative. That being the case, why go to all of the effort to try to cop a sound? Just eliminate the middleman and use a sampled break.

endmusik · Post by **endmusik** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:39 am

It is all about samples, though with the suite of drummachines you've got at hand you could very easily craft what your looking for.

Out of the box, the MD's snares aren't going to be there for you, but layering snares from the DX pitched up with the MD, alongside a nice short noise burst, with some proper filtering and perhaps bitcrushing or other form of distortion and tight gating, you should be able to find something that'll work well.

Of course, the nice thing about vsnares/et al is they always switch things up, using any and everything to act as percussion. Don't rely strictly on snare drums as snare drums - I did a bank of percussion samples for Computer Music mag all done with a Piezo and various sources (acoustic guitar, sheet metal, cat) that I've used in some breaks the last month......

Madness · Post by **Madness** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:40 am

440hz wrote:I have an EMU esi4000 sampler.It sounds ok but it doesnt have seperate outs.I will probably get an MPC 2500 or a laptop soon./I should have figured this to be a software site...I just didnt have much luck at future producers. com ..maybe ill post there again

Very Nice Sampler, does it have effects!!

Chop up some breaks and hit'em with some effects and filterin'!!

FaX · Post by **FaX** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:47 am

440hz wrote:I am using ALL hardware

Try this as a technique.
Use it as a loose guide only and experiment please.

1.EQ (parametric) - cut top end from 500 hz and above to taste.
Boost the frequencies in the 200-250hz range.
This will give you snare the much needed woody downward "thunk emphasis"

2.Feed into a compressor with very high compression ration 4:1 minimum and higher.

3.Eq (parametric) post compressor with a slight low end rolloff at 300 hz and under and Eq at the 2-2.5khz frequency range for extra snap and thwack (boost signal too taste and use a tight Q setting on the frequency bands selected). Roll off any freq's above 6 khz to taste.

Experiment with adding lo-fi / bit reduction and/or vinylsim / wow'n'flutter simulation pree eq into comp / post eq into comp into eq or in any series in between to taste.

Be as extreme as you wish on the Comp Ratio or trie them re-compressing the entire chain at say 20:1 for mega crunchy and gritty snares.

You can get alot of very good vinyl sampled break beat snare variations working in this manner I might add.
Those above settings are not a rule of thumb and should be experimented with to taste.

Have fun

Reverse Engineer · Post by **Reverse Engineer** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 3:50 am

440hz wrote:Yeah...that sounds like a good idea.can you recommend any good programs? I am using wavelab so maybe I could download some plug ins?

For heavyyyy distortion i'd recommend this. It's free, it's heavy as f*ck and flexible. There are loads of others, but who needs em when you have the daddy.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 8:37 am

440hz, seriously, even if you may still prefer your hardware (for a lot of very good reasons, too), I don't think that these days a computer can be beaten in terms of drum/beat creation and manipulation. In fact, almost anything samplebased is done on computers these days. For quite some good reasons.
There's beat choppers/slicers, plugins to really enhance your samples, great onscreen pattern editing and, last but not least, incredibly cheap ways to get additional storage space.
Whether you still want (or need) to load the results into any hardware sampler is another issue, and you may have your reasons for it - but the creational process for anything samplebased has certainly never been easier than on a computer.

Whether you want to sequence on a computer as well (personally, I couldn't go back to any hardware sequencing anymore) is an entirely different matter and surely up to ones taste, but you should at least give it a try. Doing drumbeats and manipulating samples on a computer is just fun. And you don't even need much horsepower for it, considering that the rest of your soundsources is coming from hardware thingies.