Drums

VHS Drums – Retro Drum Pack from AfroDJMac

AfroDJMac released a drum pack for Ableton Live this week featuring 600 samples of drums recorded to VHS tape and back into the computer. VHS tape is known to have colored audio in a unique way, often adding saturation and the occasional pitch drift. The samples were collected from vintage drum machines, synthesizers, and acoustic kits. The pack features 30 drum racks appropriately named after 80's icons and sound beautifully reminiscent of the era. The drums are also organized into folders by type (kick, snare, cymbal, etc.) and even in selector kits for quick experimentation.

Read More

10 Ableton Live Packs Now Available for Lite Users

10 Ableton Live Packs Now Available for Intro Users For our beginners out there this is huge news. With Ableton Intro, users now have access to thousands of samples, sounds, and effects; all of which can provide inspiration for all types of music making – from searching for synths, to writing a film score, or exploring genre specific styles. These Ableton packs deliver some really high-quality material to work with and were previously only available with Standard and Suite. Below we’ll give a quick overview of each pack. Even if you’ve had access to these packs before but haven’t used them check this out. You might find some inspiration.     1. Urban Cookbook 1 by Goldbaby We love Goldbaby (their drums in particular). Their loops, samples, and racks are sounds we always consider for our tracks. With Urban Cookbook you get 3000+ kits, hits, chords, bass and more production tools …

Read More

AI Experiments – Sonic Exploration through Machine Learning

AI Experiments – Sonic Exploration through Machine Learning   As computer musicians, we get the best of both worlds: we get to geek out in the mathematic, technical world of synths and plug-ins, as well as enjoying the magical, emotional and mysterious world of music. Some of us are more computer-ey (the more left-brain type) and some of us are more music-ey (the right-brain type). But, as producers, we have to tap into both of these sides to get the work done. Over at AI experiments, they’re doing the same thing: combining the best of both worlds by using artificial intelligence and machine learning to organize how we make sense of the world around us—including language, sound, objects, and music. AI experiments is an open source platform where anyone can toggle with tools and technology to explore how machine learning work. Below are three cool experiments that use some crazy …

Read More

Field Recordings – Capture and Incorporate your Sonic Landscape

Field Recordings – Capture and Incorporate your Sonic Landscape   Shh. Take a moment to listen. You, my friend, sit in the nucleus of the infinite drum rack that is the soundtrack of your life. Surrounding you are limitless samples waiting to etch themselves into your tracks. Where to start. For one, if you have a smartphone you likely have a built-in recording app. You can also download an app which have more useful features for musicians. Try the Rode Rec app or Audio Memos for iOS for features like EQ, compression, and “extract markers”. While phones don’t have the best quality, they’re basically always in reach, and sound good enough. Make sure that you name the sound bit as soon as it’s recorded, otherwise you’ll get stuck finding “that one clip” from choices such as “New Recording 99” “New Recording 100” “New Recording 101”… you get the idea. If …

Read More

5 Tips For Getting Huge Drum Sounds

5 Tips For Getting Huge Drum Sounds   Grammy nominated and Spelleman Award winning audio engineer, Matthew Weiss, has blessed us with a few tips on how to get huge drum sounds. He clarifies that he is referring to the “huge” sound that fits with more rock, pop records that are using either acoustic drums or a live drum feel. However, his tips will inform any curious producer or engineer and understanding other styles can only take your skills to the next level. I’ll summarize his five points below.   Embrace The Space – to get character and energy in your drums you need to embrace the space in which you’re recording. Even if it isn’t acoustically perfect, it is working with those inconsistencies and quarks that will MAKE your sound. A controlled space can very easily sound dead and boring. Fake It If You Can’t Make It – if …

Read More

Use Drums as a MIDI Controller | Subaqueous

Use Drums as a MIDI Controller In this video Isaac Cotec, a certified Ableton trainer, explains how to convert live drums into a MIDI controller. The only thing you need is a free VST plugin called KTdrumtrigger, drums and some cheap mics, (Cotec uses a set of piezo mics that you can grab here at Amazon.) Check out the video to get a full explanation. Great for any musician trying to enhance their live performance or to add a human feel to your tracks.   su_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=208zeYXD0W8″ showinfo=”no” rel=”no” modestbranding=”yes”  

Read More
top

© 2023 Beat Lab Academy