In this short video tutorial, I teach you a specific layering technique to add a really cool “suction” sound to your Hip Hop drum tracks.  This “pre-delay” layering effect works great for your snare and clap samples as well as other percussion sounds.

 Overview

I recently released a comprehensive video that explains my  Top 5 Secrets for Bangin’ Hip Hop Drum Tracks. The #2 tip on that list was “Layering” your drum samples. For those of you who have been making beats for any length of time, you are probably already familiar with the concept of layering multiple drum samples to create a brand new sound.

The particular technique  I explain in this video is  a very specific layering trick that works best for your snares and claps. You probably wouldn’t want to apply this to your kick drums, but feel free to experiment!

 

So what is this layering technique?

For this tutorial, I use a snare and clap from the TCustomz Productionz Drum Sample Pack Vol. 4 to demonstrate. The idea with this layering technique is to pre-delay the clap sound to play slightly before the snare.  In this example, I am pre-delaying the clap -20ms before the snare hits. This creates a very cool “suction” effect and depending on the samples you are using, can add an extra “snap” to your snare.

I then take the process one step further and slightly decrease the velocity of the clap. The allows the clap to make a subtle presence in the mix without taking away from the impact of the snare.

 

In Summary

Start to experiment and apply some of these type of effects to your drums – pre-delay, post-delay, layering multiple samples, parallel compression, etc. They can really take your Hip Hop drums to the next level!

 

P.S.

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