Layering Drum Samples: Does it Work?

When layering drum samples together to make new sounds, one must consider all the technical aspects and also pay attention to the artful aspect that underlines all musical decisions in a beat making project. The evolution of drum samples, from sampled styles in the 70s and 80s to synthesized sounds from the 80s until now plays a huge role, and the more familiar you are with your history the better and more valid your decisions can be. These days, hybrid sounds dominate the sample scene, but each side has its strong points.

Sometimes when layering drum samples together, you may start to hear a clipping or distortion noise. This is normal, but you need to fix it up. The reason why it happens so much is that when frequencies are shared by both samples, they will grow in volume disproportionally to frequencies had by only one of the music samples. Try lowering the volume of both samples by 50%.

The start of any drum sample is called the attack. This is the initial phase and is responsible for the sound coming through and shining despite many other sound layers that may be pushing the drum track down naturally.

Coming up next is the middle of the sound, the meaty part of it. A lot of people call this the sustain. The sound lives and breathes here, and this phase is important beyond all else if the attack was not very pronounced. If there is no attack and no sustain, there is really no sound. The listener will simply not hear it through everything else!

The last part of the sound of drum samples is the end. This finishing line is reached after the sustain plays out, and it is not all that important. The most important things about it are probably the negatives, and this includes clipping and a sudden drop-off in volume. You could simply fade the sound out, but others elect to use a reverb tail for a different, more natural fade. The clipping concerns the sudden stop of a sound, and you must prevent this. To fix a clipped noise, use the inbuilt filters of your favorite audio program.

The actual process of layering drum samples is not that hard once you get the hang of it. But there are tons of misconceptions out there. One is that you can simply find two samples and stick ‘em together. This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense sonically, does it now? No. Others say that you just need to find a kick that has a great attack and one with a great sustain and start mashing them together without any more thinking. Again, wrong. You should take the attack of the sample with the great attack, and combine it with the sustain of the other sample!

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