Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Layering and Improving Drum Sounds

Our article for today is about layering drum parts or sounds in a DAW or a home recording studio. Layering drum sounds has become fairly common these days and we will have a look at some of the various techniques  and ideas for improving your drum and percussion tracks through layering.
Audio Mixer Photo

So what is layering? Layering is simple enough concept the idea being is where you add different sounds or different pitches of the same sound to create a certain effect such as greater fullness, increased volume, differing timbre or greater arrack or sharpness to the sound you are layering. Most drum parts are an excellent candidate for layering as they tend to be non pitched tones. In effect,  just about any other non pitched tone can be added for layering your drum or percussion sample..

Snare drum parts are a good place to start. The snare usually carries the back beat to your music in just about  any style of popular music you can think of.  Regardless if you are going for an 808 style snare or a"fat" snare sound layering can make your snares stand out from the rest of the crowd. The obvious start is to simply take an existing snare and raise or lower the pitch in a second layer part. Another choice is to add a metal sound to the snare to add sharpness and help the snare part cut through. A tambourine tuned up a bit can work, as well as a high pitched bell or any metal percussion sample can be added. 
More options for layering snare parts can include hand claps or finger snap samples can both work well. Experiment with different pitched tuning and volume levels for the best effect.

Bass drum is our next choice for layering. Because of the low frequency nature of bass drum parts it is common for the the bass drum part to get lost in the mix particular as more tracks are build up over the drum part so layering can help in getting your bass drum part to stand out. Some of the same ideas used in our snare layering can be applied here as well.  I have found that for most cases a second bass drum  sample tuned up a bit in pitch can be effective technique in creating a punchy bass drum part.

 To create a sub bass sound  using a very low  frequency resonant synth part layered  to the bass will work. Another alternative which I prefer is to use a high tom or better yet those old electronic laser toms samples you use to get back on 80s tracks will work really well, pitched way down and mixed lower in the track to create a deep sub sonic bass drum part. Boom.
  
Drummer Image by Skeeze on Pixelbay
Cymbals don't usually need to be layered. Hi hats sometimes have the problem of not being able to cut through, just like bass drums mentioned before and can get lost in the mix.  Raising the pitch of your hats can help them be heard in most cases,  rather than trying to punch up the volume on that track. You can use the same trick on ride cymbals as well if needed.

Layering tom toms is much less common than with snares and bass drums. If need be you can use different pitched toms to create emphasis or add more resonance to your toms.

Effects can be another method for enhancing your drum sound. Drums really don't seem to work all that well with most time delay effects such as chorus  or flagging effects. Typically, the most useful effects are filters or band equalization. Adding lots of low end frequency push can add more resonance to bass drum to the point of distortion.  Snare drums that failed to cut through can stand for some mid range boost. With a little experimentation you can quickly find out what works best for you .

Reverb effects do work well  on drums more so than short delayed effects such as chorus or flangers. Room or hall effects can be added to snares in particular on the entire drum track if desired. Usually, it's preferable to use dry drum sounds and add reverb effects later in the mixing process.


In conclusion, it is important to keep an open mind and a creative outlook on building your next drum track. Don't be afraid to experiment to get your drum samples ahead of the rest of the pack.
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