These days, selecting drum samples for use in electronic music production should be as easy as pie. So why is it so hard and frustrating? There are literally hundreds and even thousands of free drum sounds for anybody to download right onto their computers and then even take onto hardware samplers and such. One of the main complaints often voiced concerns the time needed to sort through these samples; a lot are not organized correctly, and even the ones that are organized are misnamed and mismatched a lot of the time. This all leads to many hours of needing to audition sample after sample to get a good batch together.
For Rap and Hip Hop: The range of urban music is now so diverse that most well-used sounds could pass in a hip hop song. But how do you spice up samples that were clearly not made for this genre? One way is to add some vinyl ‘air’ sounds to the sound wave. This will give this particular sound a sampled feel, like it came straight off a hot 70s record or something similar. Great for those types of rap tracks. If you’re making something and trying to be as new school as possible, consider simply mixing one drum with another. If your chosen drum sample is low on bass, get some lower frequencies in there.
RnB and Soul: These styles are very different from the urban genres we’ve discussed. To start with, the obsession with bass-laden kick drums and snappy snares is not as evident when listening to these genres. You can go far by just using some well-shaped drum samples that are not over the top. Variance is the keyword here, with everything being coherent at the same time. There is not as much sound selection freedom here, however.
For Dance music: Dance is quite complicated, as simple as it might seem. The drum patterns are very predictable, with the kick hitting on every beat in the vast majority of dance songs. For dance, you can safely add some character and tone or pitch to your kick drum and be met with a receptive ear, whereas in hip-hop the kick drum is usually monotonous. There are some other differences concerning frequencies that you can find out by Googling the production techniques discussed.
Using the techniques is only part of the process, however. You need to read up on the other rhythmic aspects of the genres you want to produce for. Syncopation, timing and bar count and tempo play a big role in distinguishing the styles from each other, so learn about the standards in your chosen genre.
Some closing words on drum samples: try to organize them neatly. If you can develop your own folder of go-to samples for different genres (or styles within a genre), you will save hours of searching as you make beats. Start making descriptive folders and become familiar with the way you organize.
If you’ve ever proclaimed, “I want to make my own beats,” then you should get started as soon as possible. For information on how to make your own beats, look at forums and other online communities.
