The
usage of Drum samples is an at all time high. Producers
like the Neptunes, Just Blaze, Dr Dre continue the art form of
using drum samples in their music. Drum samples are the back bone of Hip Hop
Production. Some producers like Dr. Dre have created the
signature sound by not only sampling music from pass
generations, but by hiring session musicians to replay the hip
hop sample instead of sampling the music directly from the
record. Then adding hard hitting drum samples to the mix via
Samplers like the MPC 3000 and MPC 2000 or MPC 2000XL.
There
are many ways to approach using Drum Samples. If you are a MPC
based producer using many of the various MPC Midi production
centers available (mpc 1000, mpc 2000, mpc 2500 or the older
versions MPC 3000, MPC 60 II), you have all capabilities to go
sample crazy. With the Akai mpc you can sample sounds
directly into the units from various output sources like
turntables and CD players. One Hip Hop producer told me he
likes using samples because the records he samples from had
already been mastered and that added dimension to his overall
production. If you are a good musician you can play over top
of the sample adding new flavors to it. You can also add hip
hop drums to your samples. This is a very effective way of
fattening up your sample based beats. You can also filter out
your sample stripping away the low end so you can replay a
slightly different drum pattern and bass line.
The key to using Drum
samples effectively is switching up your drum patterns in your
beats. Try to experiment with different patterns. don't get
stuck in rut. One mistake new producers make is using
the same drum sample over and over each beat they produce. Try
using different drum sounds in all your beats, mix it up.
You can
now buy samples on line in .WAV format from soundcrafting.com.
All samples on the site are in WAV format. Normally when
sampling sounds with a MPC you’re sampling directly from an
audio source and then converting the audio into a .WAV
formatted sound. You can also buy Hip Hop loops that work as
samples. The thing about sampling is no matter who uses the
sample no two producers are going to use the sample exactly
the same way.
