Sample Channel Strip Processing

[El TheMightyOne]

What's good fellow Future Producers,

I was checking out some threads and saw that digging, chopping up or flipping samples isn't the biggest issue out there. Well at least for me it isn't, I got that under control but still I get the feeling that I'm missing something when flipping samples. I sample straight from vinyl and sometimes from 320kbps vinyl rip albums.

The songs that I sample from (all of us I think) are already mixed and mastered. so that's something I'm facing too, like the sample sounds like a finished product but my own drums and stuff underneath it doesn't. Also with drum-breaks or other samples to combine with the lead sample, i'm facing the problem that because of different productions of the samples they don't really fit together that well in my own mix. This question is not just for the people who use a DAW and can also be answered by people flipping on the MPC, ASR or whatever sampler you use. Just share your sample processing.


The question is: What do you put on your sample channel strip to make it blend with everything else inside your production.
*Please no replies like: Just listen to what the sample needs* I do not mean that.

I'd like to see if you use compression, what parts do you EQ and why do you EQ them, Reverbs, Delays, other FX you use to make your sample fit right in the mix with your drums and other instruments.
Maybe you could show your channel strip, EQ settings, share diff VST/AU for us to play with.


I'm looking forward to be educated some more, Each One, Teach One.

El, The Mighty One
Btw: I use Logic Pro 9 as my DAW and Battery 4 as sampler.

 

[mark1234]

???Just look for a drumkit that matches the sample man.
usually you have a certain type of drum-sound in mind and than you know if it has to sound gritty or clean.

If it has to sound gritty you look for drumkits which are originally recorded from vinyl but best be processed (EQd/Compressed/Filtered) by professionals.
If its an 80s sample with a lot of reverb u usually look into samples from real Drum-Machines kits like some Alesis drum-machine kits? feel me?
Than add an other extra snare with a long reverb effect on it if you feel like the snare needs some extra reverb on top of the dry snare.

First look for a Snare before you look for any other drum-sound.
The Snare is the most recognizable or characteristic sound in drums. Kicks sound a lot the same. Snare can be very different.

Hope this helps a little...

 

[mark1234]

And I just always use the same Compression and EQ's on my drums.
I have a mixerchannel for my Kick/Snare/Hi-Hat/Percussion.
I also route my Claps through the Snare channel in my mixer.
And route my Shakers and Cymbals through the Hi-Hat Channelstrip since they are used for fairly similar purposes.

When i sample my own drums from vinyl. i turn on the the Filters in my Drum-Channels in my Mixer.
I use in FL Studio the "Free Filter" for that. Cause its a Low-Pass/Band-Pass/High-Pass Filter build in 1 which you can adjust all 3 at once and make 1 good filter for your Kicks. 1 for your Snares. 1 for your Hi-Hat (Shakers/Cymbals). I don't sample other percussive sounds like bongo's and conga's since you can just download these sounds easily in percussion kits. They don't have a characteristic sound like Drums.

 

[BottleRockets]

The mastering and compression on old vinyl is obviously never going to be up to today's standards
so I'll usually chuck a compressor with mastering settings on it then EQ to what I need it to be.
I'll always hi-pass it if it's from vinyl to take out the low freq rumble of the platter
and most of the time I'll take out everything from about 250hz down cause I'm gonna add my own drums and bassline.
I'll usually put a bit of reverb and even delay on it to make it sit better in the mix

If you're sampling from modern day stuff, you're going to need to look at uncompression/expansion to undo some of the heavy mastering and put some dynamics back into the sample.

In terms of drums:
The actual selection of which drum sounds to use is THE MOST IMPORTANT bit.
If it doesn't at least sound close to fitting in terms of EQ, compression, saturation straight up, then you're gonna waste a lot of time wrestling with your drums
I'll usually try about 20 or so different kicks, snares and hats until I find ones which fit.

Hope that helps