Snappy Snare and Kick Drum Samples

If you’re new to music production and beat making, you may be wondering about all the fuss regarding snare and kick drum samples being ‘snappy.’ Why would we place so much emphasis on this sound characteristic of drums when the arrangement and other aspects of a song seem to be much more important? Well, the fact is that it’s a hugely important topic of debate. There is such an importance placed on the snappiness of your drum track that it’s paramount to suicide to ignore the techniques to make things cut through a mix.

Making your own drum samples ‘snap’ is not very hard with a little practice. You can even use free tools, these days. Just search “free sound editor” on Google to see a list of results; Audacity is a great one! Using compression and equalization are great to begin with. If your work-flow already includes these, good on you – you have a head start now, so use it wisely. Besides using these effects, you can edit sound waves manually, and in this case you would be looking to alter the sound spikes, accentuating the initial attack manually for your drums.

Whether you are using software or hardware solutions to edit and change your drum samples, there are some features you should be aware of. The main feature is the likely inclusion of factory-shipped effect patches. It will be sound editors that have compiled the library of effects settings, so start to use them critically. Listen to the sound before and after applying the effect to gauge the impact, and then relate it to the settings on the device or software. Hopefully you will be able to base creative decisions based on your learning here.

Compressing your drum samples to add snap is a very common road taken by mixers and music producers alike. Sometimes it can be a bit hard working out what the knobs and dials actually do, so writing down – in your own words – what the changes do to the drum samples, will help you out a lot when making critical decisions later on. Try out different software and hardware compressors, as they also sound a little bit different and you will have trouble with some, while others will be easy to work for you.

When you’re making notes on the settings you change, try to describe them in plain English – by that, I mean all the effects and the way they change the sound. If you can well and truly comprehend the way that a sound is effected by the different switches and level meters, you will be well-equipped to make real decisions in a studio environment. Keep a sheet that includes the different settings, supposed effects (according to the manual) and perceived effects (the stuff you hear).

Finally, choose the right drum samples to start with. This will always help you achieve the desired sound you are hearing in your head (and have probably heard even before having started to make this beat) and get it down into your sequencer program. To explain it simply, less tweaking equals more time for the music!

If you’re after some great-sounding hip hop drum samples or simply want to know how to make beats, just remember that you shouldn’t settle for second best!