beatfire1
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>In this tutorial we will show you some simple ways to layer drum samples in Reason 5 and create thicker sounding drum and percussion sections.
Step 1. Create a Mixer & Kong Device
The first thing you will need to do in reason is to add a mixer 14:2 (right click > create > Mixer 14:2) device to control the volume of your drum device, in this tutorial we are using the Kong Drum Designer. Now create a Kong device and route it through the mixer (right click on mixer > create > Kong Drum Designer).
Make sure you click on the grey box inside the reason rack when making a new mixer.
Step 2. Create Kick Drum Layers
To assign a drum sound to the first pad make sure the bottom left pad is highlighted (left click on the pad to select it) and then click on the ‘show drum and fx’ button. A new menu will drop down allowing you to chose from a range of samplers/devices. Under the drum module heading there is a small arrow button pointing down, click on it and chose ‘synth bass drum’ – this will open a kick drum sound editor. There are a number of knobs that will appear, we are going to firstly create a low sub kick noise using the following parameters
Kick Transient Noise
The sound your after should be a subtle sub bass similar to an 808 with no clicking attack.
Now that you have finished making the transient tone, click on pad number 2 in Kong and we’ll add another kick layer. Click on the drum module down arrow and chose NN-Nano Sampler. A mini NNXT sampler will appear, next to the sampler name will be two arrows, a folder and waveform icon, click on the folder icon. Now you can browse your reason sample library and chose a kick sample that has a ‘clicky’ sound eg. very short sound with limited low frequencies. In this tutorial I have used the ‘Bd_basics.wav’ sample which can be found in the default sound library “Reason Factory Sound Bank/Redrum Drum Kits/xclusive drums-sorted/01_BassDrums/”
The complimentary sample should have a higher end 'tick' to help define the attack of the kick.
Step 3. Balance Sample Levels
Next you will need to balance the levels between the two kick layers using the volume level knob, it requires a good in, some patience and lots of tweaking so don't be afraid to make modifications to your sub layer. Once you’ve found a nice tone between the two samples your ready to create a sequence (the timing your drums will hit).
Step 4. Sequence Kick Drum Layers
Firstly you will want to expand the sequencer area so your screen is so cramped. Click on Window > Detach Sequencer Window. You will now have a full screen display of the track sequencer.
Next we will draw the length of time we want to sequence the Kong device for by clicking the pencil tool and dragging a long box on the Kong sequencer track. Now click the selection tool (next to the pencil black arrow ‘W’ key) and then double click on your drawn Kong sequencer box. You will now see the sample names on the left hand side of the zoomed in sequencer window.
Use the pencil tool to draw in the length of your sequence.
Use the pencil tool to draw in the ‘hits’ on the lines for Drum 1 and Drum 2. Make sure that each time you draw in a hit you do it for both layers at the exact same position to avoid off time hits. You can use the different snap settings to help you stick to the grid or turn it off to place your hits in an unrestricted manner.
Make sure both layers are triggered at the exact same time.
You can copy my kick drum pattern for a basic hip-hop kick rhythm (I set my snap setting to 1/8).
Now you know the basics of loading and sequencing a kick sound you will be able to experiment by replacing samples or tweaking the kick synthesiser. You can also use this technique with snare drum sounds.
Step 1. Create a Mixer & Kong Device
The first thing you will need to do in reason is to add a mixer 14:2 (right click > create > Mixer 14:2) device to control the volume of your drum device, in this tutorial we are using the Kong Drum Designer. Now create a Kong device and route it through the mixer (right click on mixer > create > Kong Drum Designer).
Make sure you click on the grey box inside the reason rack when making a new mixer.
Step 2. Create Kick Drum Layers
To assign a drum sound to the first pad make sure the bottom left pad is highlighted (left click on the pad to select it) and then click on the ‘show drum and fx’ button. A new menu will drop down allowing you to chose from a range of samplers/devices. Under the drum module heading there is a small arrow button pointing down, click on it and chose ‘synth bass drum’ – this will open a kick drum sound editor. There are a number of knobs that will appear, we are going to firstly create a low sub kick noise using the following parameters
Kick Transient Noise
- Pitch: -24
- Bend Amount: 0
- Bend Time: 0
- Tone: 67
- Noise Mix: 0
- Click Freq: 0
- Click Reso: 0
- Click Level: 0
- Attack Time: 68
- Decay: 65
The sound your after should be a subtle sub bass similar to an 808 with no clicking attack.
Now that you have finished making the transient tone, click on pad number 2 in Kong and we’ll add another kick layer. Click on the drum module down arrow and chose NN-Nano Sampler. A mini NNXT sampler will appear, next to the sampler name will be two arrows, a folder and waveform icon, click on the folder icon. Now you can browse your reason sample library and chose a kick sample that has a ‘clicky’ sound eg. very short sound with limited low frequencies. In this tutorial I have used the ‘Bd_basics.wav’ sample which can be found in the default sound library “Reason Factory Sound Bank/Redrum Drum Kits/xclusive drums-sorted/01_BassDrums/”
The complimentary sample should have a higher end 'tick' to help define the attack of the kick.
Step 3. Balance Sample Levels
Next you will need to balance the levels between the two kick layers using the volume level knob, it requires a good in, some patience and lots of tweaking so don't be afraid to make modifications to your sub layer. Once you’ve found a nice tone between the two samples your ready to create a sequence (the timing your drums will hit).
Step 4. Sequence Kick Drum Layers
Firstly you will want to expand the sequencer area so your screen is so cramped. Click on Window > Detach Sequencer Window. You will now have a full screen display of the track sequencer.
Next we will draw the length of time we want to sequence the Kong device for by clicking the pencil tool and dragging a long box on the Kong sequencer track. Now click the selection tool (next to the pencil black arrow ‘W’ key) and then double click on your drawn Kong sequencer box. You will now see the sample names on the left hand side of the zoomed in sequencer window.
Use the pencil tool to draw in the length of your sequence.
Use the pencil tool to draw in the ‘hits’ on the lines for Drum 1 and Drum 2. Make sure that each time you draw in a hit you do it for both layers at the exact same position to avoid off time hits. You can use the different snap settings to help you stick to the grid or turn it off to place your hits in an unrestricted manner.
Make sure both layers are triggered at the exact same time.
You can copy my kick drum pattern for a basic hip-hop kick rhythm (I set my snap setting to 1/8).
Now you know the basics of loading and sequencing a kick sound you will be able to experiment by replacing samples or tweaking the kick synthesiser. You can also use this technique with snare drum sounds.
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