How to Get Snappy Snare and Kick Drum Samples

Why would you want to generate snappy kick andvisual and aural cues that match the settings with the
snare drum samples? Well, as we all know, there's aimpact on the sound.
serious loudness war going on, and what better wayCompression is probably the most useful quick fix to
to drown out the competition that have the rhythmturn drab into 'fab' when it comes to snappy samples.
track in your songs simply cut through any speaker setRaising the volume everything below a low threshold
or car radio and be instantly recognizable and catchy?with a fast release will bring interesting results to start
With the importance placed upon drum samples andwith, but this is certainly no hard and fast rule, and in
their arrangement and sound, budding music producersfact will sound downright ridiculous with certain
pay no attention to this topic at their peril!samples. It's such an adapted art form, you've really
Making your drums snap and pop isn't as hard asgot to have your go at it, and write down some of the
some others may lead you to believe. It's simply asettings.
matter of using compression that is well-adjusted toWhen writing down the compression settings you are
the type of samples you've chosen, and also ischanging, note how they affect the sound according to
accented via other samples that you may choose toyour ear. Try not to use sonic and producer jargon, but
boost the effectiveness of the snare and kicks. EQdescribe it in perfect English. This will reinforce the
can also be used to emphasize the frequencies ineffects in your mind. After having noted the effects of
which the instruments really keep their punchy bits. Thiseach pan and fader, combine them two at a time and
can be found out via a spectrum analyzer quite easily.write down the cumulative effect of each set. Make
A wave editor can also help to gauge the volume-timesure to mix them all up for maximum comparative
dynamic.description!
There are a lot of default sound patches in many ofFinally, choose the right drum samples to start with.
the compressor and EQ (short for equalization) unitsThis will always help you achieve the desired sound
that help you get started when trying to optimize youryou are hearing in your head (and have probably
drum samples for maximum snap that will addheard even before having started to make this beat)
definition to your rhythm track. Using these sampleand get it down into your sequencer program. To
patches can be extremely intuitive for newcomers, asexplain it simply, less tweaking equals more time for
seeing the differences in the visual editor will triggerthe music!