Drum Samples: Uncompressed and Beautiful
For true audio connoisseurs, uncompressed audio is an absolute must. Or, at the very least, audio or songs that have only had parts of them compressed, and not to maximize volume but for creative purposes that serve to heighten a song's emotional impact. Compression, at its essence, is a technique that involves certain equipment called compressors, and basically makes sounds that have quiet parts more even in terms of volume.
Compression on drum samples can come into your workflow at two stages. The first is the drum sample selection process. This is where you'll find the samples that were appropriately compressed by the library manufacturer, and hopefully not overly compressed. If you're finding that a lot of your samples are 'banging' and very loud before even coming into your song, you're probably dealing with samples that have had all the life sucked out of them already.
The second point at which compression will play apart is the final mixing process. This is where you would electively apply some compression using software or hardware audio compressors on drum samples or slight applications to soft instruments like the piano. The main creative difference here is that you are not subject to the over-compression used by many sound editors. Your decisions from here are truly coming from you.
Nearly every song that plays on the pop radio stations has a great drum pattern, with all drum samples cutting through the mix. This is very important as a lot of car radios still have speakers that aren't so great at getting all the frequencies across, so a good mix is essential. While over-compression has had a lot of 'stick' in the audiophile community, creative uses are not scarce. You just need to look to dance music and analyze the 'ducking effecting to see how popular some creative compression can become in a genre.
If you've just picked out some drum samples that absolutely love each other and can't afford to even let one of them go, but have noticed gross over-compression on one or more, there may be some things you can do. You can introduce some feeling and life back into these sounds using audio editors. There are many audio editors available today, including free version from Audacity and others, so download one if you don't have one yet. One thing you can do sonically to liven up any sample is to couple it with another sample that is untouched and still retains many of its original characteristics. Another process to go through is trying to crop and apply some filters to add some creative noise back into the sound.
One of the popular compression techniques used in urban and rock music these days is called the New York Compression process. How can you replicate it? Grab a sample, and copy it. Now, one of the copies should be compressed beyond recognition, as sharp as it can be, while the other sample is left alone. Combine the two, and you'll have a great, punchy sample that still retains some characteristics. - 18762
Compression on drum samples can come into your workflow at two stages. The first is the drum sample selection process. This is where you'll find the samples that were appropriately compressed by the library manufacturer, and hopefully not overly compressed. If you're finding that a lot of your samples are 'banging' and very loud before even coming into your song, you're probably dealing with samples that have had all the life sucked out of them already.
The second point at which compression will play apart is the final mixing process. This is where you would electively apply some compression using software or hardware audio compressors on drum samples or slight applications to soft instruments like the piano. The main creative difference here is that you are not subject to the over-compression used by many sound editors. Your decisions from here are truly coming from you.
Nearly every song that plays on the pop radio stations has a great drum pattern, with all drum samples cutting through the mix. This is very important as a lot of car radios still have speakers that aren't so great at getting all the frequencies across, so a good mix is essential. While over-compression has had a lot of 'stick' in the audiophile community, creative uses are not scarce. You just need to look to dance music and analyze the 'ducking effecting to see how popular some creative compression can become in a genre.
If you've just picked out some drum samples that absolutely love each other and can't afford to even let one of them go, but have noticed gross over-compression on one or more, there may be some things you can do. You can introduce some feeling and life back into these sounds using audio editors. There are many audio editors available today, including free version from Audacity and others, so download one if you don't have one yet. One thing you can do sonically to liven up any sample is to couple it with another sample that is untouched and still retains many of its original characteristics. Another process to go through is trying to crop and apply some filters to add some creative noise back into the sound.
One of the popular compression techniques used in urban and rock music these days is called the New York Compression process. How can you replicate it? Grab a sample, and copy it. Now, one of the copies should be compressed beyond recognition, as sharp as it can be, while the other sample is left alone. Combine the two, and you'll have a great, punchy sample that still retains some characteristics. - 18762
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