We're going back to basics here, and going in depth on one of the very foundations of any track; the drums. If you're going to get anywhere with electronic music, you need to start with a solid drum track. But how to get a great sound? Let's tackle this perennial issue...
This is a pretty deep one, and we could, quite frankly, be here all year chewing the fat over what makes a good beat. Indeed, just this morning your author was marvelling over a drum break on a new pop track, listening to the youtube on repeat and trying to pull apart the individual sounds. So since there's so much detail to take in, we're going to break it down over two weeks; ingredients this week, method next.
We can start by considering the basics of the sound; the aspects which everyone needs to consider, regardless of genre. There are two main areas to look at: the 'meat' of the sound, by which we mean the body of the hit, engineered and perhaps compressed for maximum impact, and the 'character' of the sound, which gives it the sonic interest. Which could be a scratchy old funk loop on a hip-hop track, or it could be some glitchy 8-bit blips on a minimal track. Either way, you need both sides to really make a good loop; weighty drums with no character will sound bland, while characterful drums with no weight behind them will lack energy. So let's go from the ground up, then, and start with the kick drum. I'll be breaking each sound into its constituent parts, and we can usually consider a kick as having three of them. You've no doubt heard about 'layering' up your drum sounds, and this is a sensible way to go, if you're having trouble finding the perfect sample!
In a kick there's the sub-bass, of course, which occupies those frequencies below 100Hz, but then there's an important element just above that, around 120-160Hz which I'll term the 'knock' of the sound. It's this part of the kick drum that gives it impact, and punch. If you want to hear these sounds in action, it's lucky that Roland have made our job a lot easier; fire up a simple 808 kick to hear that lovely sub, whilst the classic 909 kick sound is full of 140Hz punch. It's the default techno style kick that cuts through a mix with ease.
Of course, you don't always need both of these sounds in your kick - both 808 and 909 kicks sound great on their own - but you need to be aware of how they affect the overall sound. If you're writing a track with loads of space then you can have a big subby kick and not too much 'knock'; for instance a dirty-south style hip hopper, or a sparse minimal techno arrangement. If, on the other hand, you're writing a busy, hyped dubstep track with a big sub-bass line, loads of mid-range and a lot of detail, then you'll want to crank up the 140Hz area to help the sound jump out of the mix, whilst perhaps toning down the lower end, so that it
doesn't clash with your sub-line.
At the top end of the kick - fortunately there isn't too much going on in the mid-range arena - is where we find 'presence' and 'character'. This is the area to bring out if you want to make your sound more audible in the mix, and it's what (in recording terms) would be the 'tak' noise of the kick drum pedal hitting the nylon skin of the drum head. These days, it could easily be some glitch sounds you've layered on top, an embedded hihat sound, or part of the scratchy funk loop you're using.
With snare drums, we can again break them down into three broad areas. Working upwards, there's the low-mids component, which hits at around 200Hz. You don't want much below this, to avoid clashing with the kick, but this is what gives the sound its weight. Want to go for that 'stadium' sound so beloved of the likes of Pendulum or Sub Focus? Here's the key. A big weighty 200Hz smack. Want a more dexterous, agile drum pattern? Then keep this area under control. A big heavy snare may have power, but it limits the options for fluid, intricate drum programming.
Character in a snare drum tends to come in the mid-range area; roughly from 800Hz to 2K, and this is likely where the main element of that funk loop or disco clap sample will fall. Above this we have 'presence' once more, and it's where the ear is caught by those higher frequencies and transients. Again, this is traditionally stick-on-drum territory, although now it could just as easily also be a clap, rimshot, or one of those buzzy, 1980's drum machine snares. Roll some of this frequency area off for a gritty, lo-fi sound, if you so desire.
Last, we have the hi-hats, shakers, and tambourines. Once again, we can consider a 'function' and 'character' part to these. Layering a hi-hat over the top of a kick or snare can bring it forward in the mix, and hats can add sparkle to a drum pattern. Typically a hihat will have a lot of presence in the 3-5K region, and this is roughly what you'd be using to program that shuffle and swing that will sit atop your beat, giving it some funk. But beyond that, it's not unknown to hi-pass another layer of hats up at 10K, just to give a touch of almost inaudible sparkle right at
the top end (although an exciter might do the same job). Then for character you can have a much lower hat, with lots more energy around 1K - but as with weightier snares, this doesn't lend itself so well to intricate programming. Better to let it sit on the off-beat where it has space to breathe.
So - these are the basics, the constituent parts, the aspects you need to keep in mind as you juggle the various parts to your drum beat. Join us next week as we start to assemble them into a world-beating rhythm track!
