How do Max and Wolf Cousins tune their drums?

[MrPop]

Hello!

I read in another thread (the one with baby hit me one more time stems) that the drums are tuned to the exact key and I really wanna know how they do that..   This is something I've thought about a lot so I would really appreciate it if someone could tell me how to do it.   What I've heard they're just importing audio into pro tools instead of using a midi sampler so is it a plug in or do they just use the right freq. in a EQ?

Drums are my biggest problem because of my non existent knowledge,  I'm great with melodies but always had a problem with getting the drums sound perfect.

I heard Dr.Luke say he just import audio (kicks, snares etc) to pro tools and use the pitch plugin to get everything in key... But did not really understand if he meant synth samples or samples overall.  Does this work?

I mean with a midi sampler like battery you can tune the sample in the plugin but if I'm importing sounds directly into pro tools (import - audio) from a  vengeance pack, how do I do it?


Thanks in advance.  Best Regards

[AlexanderLaBrea]

Lots of different ways to do it. The sub of the kick is most important to tune if you're aiming for that MXM perfection (not everybody does this). But either:

-find already tuned samples
-tune the samples with your daw's or 3rd party plugins (pitch shifter, soundshifter etc. Izotope has a program called RX which is awesome for that kind of thing. Pitch the sample up 12 semis to easier find the pitch.
-cut the sub out of the kick and replace with either a kick plugin or use a synth (0 attack, delay set to match the song, little release if you want, no sustain) then blend in.

[MrPop]

Lots of different ways to do it. The sub of the kick is most important to tune if you're aiming for that MXM perfection (not everybody does this). But either:

-find already tuned samples
-tune the samples with your daw's or 3rd party plugins (pitch shifter, soundshifter etc. Izotope has a program called RX which is awesome for that kind of thing. Pitch the sample up 12 semis to easier find the pitch.
-cut the sub out of the kick and replace with either a kick plugin or use a synth (0 attack, delay set to match the song, little release if you want, no sustain) then blend in.

Thank you for your answer.    I use the vengeance packs and I honestly wanna know the secrets to make everything sound like perfection!

I watched Dr Lukes ASCAP masterclass where he said that they use different drum kits but he mentioned that vengeance is one of them..


Can you PLEASE tell me more,    if I import a snare (import - audio) into pro tools from a vengeance pack what should I do now? Should I go by ear or is it a way to do it?   I would really appreciate if you could give me a little bit more about the process... 

[AlexanderLaBrea]

Sure! Yes i'd say by ear is the best way (the important thing is that it sounds right, not that it fits the root note - fifths can work as well and so forth). but basically, use a pitch shifter (i don't know what it's called in Pro Tools) of any kind and pitch the sound however much is needed. Remember though that pitching decreases the quality of the sound so try not to pitch kicks and the like too much. Id go for the sub frequency replacement instead in that case (little foot is a great plugin for this)

[J_A24]

Layering is all about sample selection, eqing, pitching and volume. There's no definitive way to it, but the most important thing is to know when it sounds right.

I always start with a kick that's well balanced in the low end and roll off some high end to around 600hz-800hz. And then I layer another one for the attack and shelve off around 4k-10k. All the while blending them with the volume and pitch if needed, you want it to sound balanced and uniform, avoid phasing. Then I compress both of them together to glue them up. Sometimes I layer another one for the high end in the attack, but most kicks nowadays are all about bottom end and sounding full. It depends on the track you're going for.

It's also good to save your best samples so that you don't have to always start everything from scratch.

[SongsByGROVER]

No idea how they technically do it (and i don't think they do it ALL the time), but there's a load of ways and they all work... I noticed it in that Britney song and have been doing so quite frequently since then, whenever the mix needs it.

i tend to just boost specific freqs with EQ (narrow Q and like a 5db boost) rather than tune the sample, (unless it's really obviously out of key, but that's only apparent with long samples)... Note that this does generally change the character of the sample, but usually for the better.

I find the key of the song, then look up the frequencies of the root in the bottom octave (usually somewhere between 30-75hz ish) for the kick, and all the octaves and fifths up to 300hz. (And sometimes other notes if it's toms and stuff). I usually boost the root then some of the overtones (ie harmony notes) in the kick and snare, just to whatever sounds good and full/powerful/punchy/etc

If it's a short snappy sample then often you can't hear if it's in tune or not... You can use a plugin like FabFilter ProQ2 to see what frequency the body of the sample is at, then make your boosts sensibly from there according to whatever makes most sense. And if the sample is totally in the wrong range, use a different sample. (Plus that particular EQ has a piano guide on the bottom, so you dont have to look up the freqs! Quite expensive but def worth it if you want a good go-to EQ plugin.)

You CAN pitch shift in PT with no quality loss if you really need to, like if your using long 808 kicks or whatever... set the track's elastic audio mode to varispeed, then use the Elastic Properties pop up menu (in the CLIP top menu) to pitch the sample as needed. This method will speed up or slow down the sample, which gets the effect of a pitch shift without messing with the actual waveform


Also I'd only recommend layering samples once you really know what youre doing. It's easy to mess up and end up with a really bad flabby unfocussed kick sound... ideally you spend ages nudging each layer against the others by a millisecond at a time to get the optimal phase coherence (and hence the most punchiness). But I always say beginners should follow Avicii's advice... "i usually pick a kick sample that sounds good, and then don't do anything else to it"!!

Though if you NEED to layer coz you cant find a decent sample for some reason, start with one that has good sub and that's in tune, then high pass all the others at 150-250hz or even higher, so at least your low end will stay tight. Also for PT there's a great free plugin called Thump by Metric Halo that lets you add frequency specific sine waves to the low end of your kick, which is good for adding tight tuned sub to a crappy kick sample (for when you're mixing other people stuff and you have to stick with their crappy samples. But if you're producing, just change it for a better sample while you can!). Also the PT built in drum synth 'Boom' is capable of good kicks, though it takes some tweaking...

Ok that's enough rambling about kicks from me! haha