Hi I'm new! + Drum Samples

[Nigelforsythe]

Hi everyone,

My name's Nigel, I'm from British Columbia Canada and I just joined the forum after reading through it and finding such valuable information.

I'm still very new to tracking and mixing but I've been supsrising myself at how much I'm able do and how good (to me atleast) it's been sounding.

I have a question about drum samples......

I'm just wondering for those of you who use samples when either programming, enhancing, or replacing drum tracks, what are your favourite sample sets? I'm looking for a more aggresive kit that sounds good within the hard rock, metal, alternative, punk, etc. genres. I'm just looking for a good starting point right now and then I can eq to personal taste.

So everyone, what are your favourite acoustic drum kit sample libraries and why?

Thanks so much!!! Great to be here and I'm looking forward to talking music with many of you.

[Calvin]

Welcome Nigel! Stick around - I'm sure you'll learn a lot here and have some fun as well.

As far as your question is concerned, I'll let others give you guidance. I merely use BFD to rough out drum parts. That's as far as I've taken the drum sampling/replacement/enhancement thing.

Calvin

[otek]

I'm just wondering for those of you who use samples when either programming, enhancing, or replacing drum tracks, what are your favourite sample sets? I'm looking for a more aggresive kit that sounds good within the hard rock, metal, alternative, punk, etc. genres. I'm just looking for a good starting point right now and then I can eq to personal taste.

Two big things that come to mind are:

1) when I replace drums, by far the most natural sounding to me is when you use samples from the same kit that's recorded. This way, you can make the samples fairly "transparent", in other words it's really hard to tell that any sample replacement has been done.

Other than that, I don't think for me there's any one kit that does it all. Which brings me to:

2) "A good starting point" needs to be carefully selected. EQ is what you do once you found the "right" sound. You can't EQ a snare and think it's gonna sound like a different snare. If you start out with an 8" Yamaha wood snare sample, it's gonna keep sounding like an 8" wood snare no matter what you do to it. EQ is for balancing and enhancing the frequency spectrum, you can't change the character of the sound with it.

So, always get the right snare for the song first. If you go with the method of sampling the same kit for replacement, you have the luxury of picking that snare even before you hit record.

With a little bit of luck, and a decent drummer, you may not have to sample replace anything at all.

[Nigelforsythe]

I don't have the luxury of enough gear to record a real kit or else i would definately choose this method. Until I save enough money for drum mics and a bigger interface the programming route is how it's gonna have to be.

I suppose that if I was recording someone so kind as to offer me money I could rent time at a studio with a setup big enough to track the drums and then finish the rest at my house on my setup.... It's a possibility atleast.

Thanks for the replys so far!

[Senap]

I don't have the luxury of enough gear to record a real kit or else i would definately choose this method. Until I save enough money for drum mics and a bigger interface the programming route is how it's gonna have to be.

I suppose that if I was recording someone so kind as to offer me money I could rent time at a studio with a setup big enough to track the drums and then finish the rest at my house on my setup.... It's a possibility atleast.

Thanks for the replys so far!

If programming is your only choice right now, Drumkit From Hell Superior is just lovely.

http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp

[Scratchy Potts]

Drumkit From Hell Superior :Thumbsup: Custome & Vintage :Coolio:

[otek]

I don't have the luxury of enough gear to record a real kit or else i would definately choose this method.

(I was almost certain I had already replied to this thread.... oh well. Maybe PacMan ate my post.)

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Since you wrote:

I'm just wondering for those of you who use samples when.... replacing drum tracks...

...I thought you meant replacing also.

Be that as it may, DFHS is a great kit. My definite choice for programming "real"-sounding drums.


otek

[Senap]

There's a new product on the market. Addictive Drums. Just saw it yesterday.

www.xlnaudio.com

The samples on their site impressed me quite a bit. Haven't tried it in "real life" though.

It's gotta be good. Just like Toontrack they're swedes.

Hurdy burdy... :very happy:

[Senap]

(I was almost certain I had already replied to this thread.... oh well. Maybe PacMan ate my post.)
otek

It's up there. Maybe you put yourself on ignore. :Wink:

[otek]

It's up there. Maybe you put yourself on ignore. :Wink:

:lol:

Yeah, I mean in reply to my first post. :Wink:

[Nigelforsythe]

Thanks everyone for responding. I'm planning on winning a millionaire for life lottery we have in Canada right now. Haha wishful thinking. But it would be nice to be able to afford to quit work and put more time into this new found passion of mine.


Addictive drums sounds awesome actually.

Unfortunately I haven't yet made the update to pro tools 7 and my version is not supported....

Drumkit From Hell Superior also sounds wicked.

Another unfortunate thing is I'm on an Ibook and there's no way in hell that the sound library would even think of fitting on here. haha

Either way I need to make upgrades to my system if I want to actually call myself a recording dude. The only thing I can somewhat successfully do is track acoustic music at the moment. In time I guess.....



Everyone cross their fingers for me for this lottery thing. (I like to share)

[otek]

The only thing I can somewhat successfully do is track acoustic music at the moment...

Hmmm.

I'm not so sure I would rule out recording acoustic drums just yet.

What kind of soundcard do you have, with how may inputs? How many mics and what kind?

I have recorded drums successfully with as little as one mic, and using two or three mics, you can have a damn decent drum sound going. There are several very competent engineers on this forum who advocate using 3-6 mics for a whole kit, regardless of how much equipment they've got on hand, and regardless of the project profile and budget.



Were only making plans for nigel
We only want whats best for him
Were only making plans for nigel
Nigel just needs this helping hand
And if young nigel says hes happy
He must be happy


:lol:

:Wink:

otek


PS. Toontrack's E-Z drummer is only about one CD-ROM in size, and well worth checking out for a budget alternative. It's loop-based, and the sounds are based on DFHS.

[CaliTone]

steveslatedrums.com make some awesome drum samples that you can use with sound replacer or drumagog, or manual replace. BFD is freakin' awesome, especially with all the expansion packs. DFH Superior is great as well.

[Nigelforsythe]

I actually checked out steven slates samples and they sound great to me! I'll have to pick one of these sets up once I can save a bit of money.

And Otek, I'm using an mbox 2. All that I've got for mics is a 57 and a rode nt-1. So I'm fairly limited. I'm recording a band in a while. I think what we're going to do is run 4 mics to a mixer and then send 2 channels from the mixer into my mbox. I guess 2 overheads will go to one channel and kick and snare will be together. If there was a decent audio store around here we could just rent an interface big enough to do the 2 drum tracks seperately. Unfortunately no such place exists...

[Brendo]

NT1 high over the drummers right shoulder. 57 on snare, or in kick - whichever needs most reinforcing.

both straight up the center.

Or just send a stereo mix of kick snare and two overheads, to PT.

[otek]

Or just send a stereo mix of kick snare and two overheads, to PT.

Bingo.