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The last time I tried using drum samples was several years ago before the technology was as fluid and consistent as it is today. I know that there is nary a mix made theses days without some sample used; even amazing drummers in amazing rooms (Portnoy, Mangini) have samples added to their recorded drum sounds.
I have always been an advocate of using the original drum sounds, but I have also always been the recording engineer for the drums and could get most of what I wanted during tracking. Now I am handed pre recorded drum tracks 95% of the time. Still, I prefer to use the original tracks. I am not anti-sample but have really had no recent experience using them and the last time I did triggering was still in its infancy.
MixCon 2017 a couple of weeks ago really opened my eyes to some very cool and inventive ways to use the consistency of samples for enhancing drums. In particular, the master class by Rich Chycki (Rush, Dream Theater) was very enlightening. He uses a really cool trick that is an innovative solution to a specific issue.
Problem: when you EQ and compress a kick drum to add beater, you also add some nasty artefacts and noise.
Solution: Chycki converts the kick drum to MIDI (whilst keeping the original kick) and adds what he calls a 'tick'. It's a high frequency percussion sound almost like a metronome click but with no body at all. He then blends it into the kick until he gets just the hint of it. Presto, kick attack DONE, and two minutes of work instead of 30.
So as I prepped a song for mixing this week, I gave it a shot: using LPX's Drum Copy Or Replace I had a MIDI track in a matter of seconds. I played it against the original kick to check the phase and then put a high pass filter on the sample very high, at aound 600Hz, retaining just the tick. I solo'd the kick track and then blended in the tick. And blow me down, it worked a treat!
That tip alone was worth the time it took to attend MixCon.
As I try out other tips from MixCon I will post them if anyone has any interest.
I have always been an advocate of using the original drum sounds, but I have also always been the recording engineer for the drums and could get most of what I wanted during tracking. Now I am handed pre recorded drum tracks 95% of the time. Still, I prefer to use the original tracks. I am not anti-sample but have really had no recent experience using them and the last time I did triggering was still in its infancy.
MixCon 2017 a couple of weeks ago really opened my eyes to some very cool and inventive ways to use the consistency of samples for enhancing drums. In particular, the master class by Rich Chycki (Rush, Dream Theater) was very enlightening. He uses a really cool trick that is an innovative solution to a specific issue.
Problem: when you EQ and compress a kick drum to add beater, you also add some nasty artefacts and noise.
Solution: Chycki converts the kick drum to MIDI (whilst keeping the original kick) and adds what he calls a 'tick'. It's a high frequency percussion sound almost like a metronome click but with no body at all. He then blends it into the kick until he gets just the hint of it. Presto, kick attack DONE, and two minutes of work instead of 30.
So as I prepped a song for mixing this week, I gave it a shot: using LPX's Drum Copy Or Replace I had a MIDI track in a matter of seconds. I played it against the original kick to check the phase and then put a high pass filter on the sample very high, at aound 600Hz, retaining just the tick. I solo'd the kick track and then blended in the tick. And blow me down, it worked a treat!
That tip alone was worth the time it took to attend MixCon.
As I try out other tips from MixCon I will post them if anyone has any interest.
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