making PC beats

[fiz]

yo. ive been lurking for a bit here, reading up and you all seem really helpful so i thought id post some questions i have. first off, my setup is fruityloops 3.56 and cool edit pro 2 as far as software and instruments ive got mics, turntables, and assorted other ish running through a mixer and then into my soundcard. im looking for tips as far as making hip hop drum sounds and bass sounds. right now what ive been doing is finding samples online and tweaking them in CEP, then importing them into FL where i sequence them, then ultimately import them back to CEP. what im looking for is tips on good places for samples (the phatt planet soundfont link is busted), tips on getting the drums to sound tight, punchy, and bassy (especially the kick) and also advice on bass sounds (do y'all use sub bass always? do you use the FL piano roll?) any input will be very appreciated and ill answer any questions you have about my setup cause ill be around, checking the boards and whatnot. thanks in advance.

-fiz

 

[Fade]

Well it's kinda hard to give quick advice on all your questions, but I'll give it a try:

Finding samples:
http://www.samplenet.co.uk/ - Good place but they've been down for a while re-organizing things. I usually just do a search in Google for like "music samples".

Drum tips:
The best thing I can say is to expirement with the different filters in Cool Edit. If you also have some FX plugins, that will help too. If you're looking for a bassy kick, start off by sampling one, then you can tweak it the way you need, to fit your bass sound.

To get them punchy, playing around with a compressor plugin will do the trick. There's no "magical" setting because every sampled kick is somewhat different.

Bass:
I've been using sub-bass sounds for the longest time, but if I do come across a nice sample, I'll use that. I just did a short tutorial on using the PC keyboard to play a sample through Fruity Loops, you can check that in the Articles section. Since you have turntables, maybe you can get a hold of some old vinyl with lots of open bass. This is what diggin's all about! There's so many options.

As anyone will tell you, there's no secret settings for anything, a lot of it is just experimenting.

Do you have any plugins set up in Cool Edit? Cakewalk's Audio FX 1, 2, 3 are very dope plugins.

If you need anyone more help, just post away.

 

[J-UK]

I have the same setup so I will give you some tips of mine. For drums, what I like to do is record some clicks, claps, door slams, and other things and then add them on to my snares and they sound ten times better. For kicks, add some fruity bass boost, its not the best thing in the world but I find it does the job. Also for kicks, just add a bass note where the kick is and I find it gives it a bit of bounce. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[fiz]

thanks guys...i appreciate the input. i find the kick drum to be the hardest to get to sound right...basically ive got everything else to the point where im satisfied...except the bass...by the way, i was trying to use the piano loop in FL to make bass notes longer or shorter but it wasn't working - do you use that to make you basslines?

-fiz