Is it really useful to layer drums?

Imagine having a snare that has a really sharp and punchy hit with a lot of crunch in it, but hardly any real body to it. Now imagine you have a snare with a really deep thump to it, now imagine what could happen if you layered these together, or any other drum samples that have different qualities that you want. Now ask yourself the question again.
 
Wallengard said:
Imagine having a snare that has a really sharp and punchy hit with a lot of crunch in it, but hardly any real body to it. Now imagine you have a snare with a really deep thump to it, now imagine what could happen if you layered these together, or any other drum samples that have different qualities that you want. Now ask yourself the question again.
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I see! It makes a lot of sense. I just gotta find sounds that have different qualities. Thanks for the answer.
 
maximedupre said:
I see! It makes a lot of sense. I just gotta find sounds that have different qualities. Thanks for the answer.
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You're most welcome. Layering is really the greatest, it effectively doubles, triples and even quadruples your sound library if you know how to work your equalizers.
 
Wallengard said:
You're most welcome. Layering is really the greatest, it effectively doubles, triples and even quadruples your sound library if you know how to work your equalizers.
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it can definitely be an asset. Especially if you can recognize certain elements from one drum you'd like to be present together in another. For example a heavy kick with not much top end or mid shelf. You could take an existing kick with those features, remove the bottom end, layer and possibly get the sound you're looking for. possibilities are endless, but nothing is a "requirement" when making music.
 
It depends on the sound you are looking for and how HQ the drum samples you are using.... Sound design is a very important part to production because it allows you to differentiate your sound from other producers using the same drum samples. Layering is just one technique used, you can also put a number of different plug-ins on individual drum samples to "beef" them up a little bit. I tend to put an EQ on all of my drums, compression on the snares and claps, and Reverb on Hi-hats. Overall I really think it depends on the sound you are looking for and how the drums already blend with the rest of the instruments in the track.

-SD
Engineer/Producer
 
Masterpiece Beats said:
I usually dont layer my drums, i think you dont really need that if you got good quality samples
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The point of layering samples is not to make the bad ones sound good, but the good ones even better. Chances are your samples are already layered, so I wouldn't be surprised if you don't really feel any need for it.
 
I pretty much always layer my snares and claps, sometimes ill layer kicks but not usually, the reason why i layer though is to make something unique and different every time. One time i can use a certain clap and layer it with one snare, then the next time use the same clap and layer it with a completely other snare, or vice versa, and get two different sounds.
 
maximedupre said:
I'm just wondering if one drum rack was enough to create big fat drums?
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Without commenting on the necessity of layering itself, yes, one drum rack is definitely enough...in terms of how the drum rack works. You can even have a drum rack within another drum rack :)
 
I would never say it's useful as such. It's just good to incorporate two or more particular characteristics of a drum that you like into a singular hit.
 
it will affect the outcome alot. you can imagine if you combine two layer of drums with two different good qualities.. it's like, they complete each other
 
for me when i was using gritty samplers i could use one drum hit for kick snare etc because they added dirt and grit to them, but with ableton and fl studio i always layer my drums to get that punch.
 
In one word, YEP!
You can be really creative when you drop 2 or even 3 snares ontop of eachother (also finetuning the pitch helps so they fit better) then throw a compressor on it! Then you can even change the pitch on that! INSTANT NEW SNARE SAMPLE!

Kicks are a little tougher to layer but I usually layer kicks that are more subbass with regular kicks. They work well together.

Have fun with it and good luck!
 
Without commenting on the necessity of layering itself, yes, one drum rack is definitely enough...in terms of how the drum rack works. You can even have a drum rack within another drum rack
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Drumception
 
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Depends on the sound your wanting to achieve. I do it sometimes if i cant find the sound i want so ill have the low end and high end layered.
 
What works for me is when I find a few samples like Wallengard said and layer them, say a fat, punchy snare with no warmth mixed with a fatter, meatier snare. This is where EQing comes in handy too, but try not to boost volumes just try reducing ranges in one sample where the other sample sounds best, and vice versa. it'll sound cleaner in the mix too.
 
Yeah like some of the guys mentioned before. Layering sometimes has more to do with creativity. I personally prefer starting out with a good sample that fits the track I'm working on. On occasions I find that after choosing a good sample I need it to cut through a busy mix more so I might layer it with a hat or something that has a sharp top end transient to help the kick really power through the mix. But, most of the time it's a matter of processing the sample some to make it blend with the rest of your sounds, or building your sounds around the kick sample also works very well.
 
It can make them sound bigger it depends on what samples you choose. You can achieve the same from proper eqing and compression as well though.
 
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