What samples do you like to use for bass drum layering?

 

lately ive been using the hell out DrumComputer by Sugar Bytes, i love this thing. it works with samples and now that i understand the engines, theres like a millions ways you can design any drum sample and the sound quality is great

the only reason i would ever layer any drums was to try and make a specific sound. with this its like any drum sample can be used to make a new sound, without having to pick from multiple files and sculpt them together. its the shit for drums, worth the money imo - Samples From Mars are the only drums samples i like though, theyre exceptional quality sound wise

 

I barely use kick drum layering. When I do so I tend to use random samples ... with the right use of sample length, attack, release and sample placement you can make almost everything work.

From time to time I like to use SnareBuzz by Wavesfactory... it is a bloody simple plugin which kind of simulates the wires of a snare drum buzzing in a rehearsal room triggered by lower freq such as a kick drum. It works well as a layer when my kicks sound too muddy in context. Perhaps I'm a bit lazy when it comes to kick layering I guess. Maybe I'll get some inspiration out of here

 

I don't have one because it is too broad a topic (for content farming purposes). It depends on the genre and the task.

 

you mean a pack of attack,thump,tock,click,tail samples ?

 

which genre ?

wtf... but

 

at any day i would prefer the all the samples from mars over the old Wave Alchemy kontakt stuff ...also size wise .
would love to hear what people like about triaz .didnt get warm with the workflow.
and how mars compares to https://samples.kb6.de/downloads.php

 

I don't know, I just pick something quickly and work it to fit if a bass drum needs more oomph. That said, I do like NI's Drum Lab as it has a nicely tuned library for layering. But this is highly dependent on source material, am I working with synthetic sound or sprucing up rough recordings?

My favourite all around trick is to layer white noise which is gated and triggered by the bass drum, then filtered (a resonant lowpass tuned to the track works a charm) so it just adds some menacing presence to the sound.

 

Ultimate Vintage Drum Machines Sample Pack
https://archive.org/details/ultimate-vintage-drum-machines-sample-pack

Rhythm Lab | Wav Samples, Loops, Breaks, Synth Presets --> https://rhythm-lab.com
On the right side of the website you can click on FREE and fill out the search form.

Reverb Drum Machines Complete Collection WAV [FREE] --> Sister site
Over 50 drum machines, the complete Reverb Drum Machines collection.
https://reverb.com/de/item/15980096-reverb-drum-machines-the-complete-collection

 

I do the almost opposite version of this with kick drums I want to add more bass to. I set up Logic’s Test Oscillator plugin to generate a sine wave at the frequency I want for the sub, then run it through a Noise Gate keyed by the kick. When the kick hits, it opens the gate and you get a perfectly tuned sub that follows the original groove.

The nice part about this trick is that it keeps the original timing of a drummer or drum machine — swing, push/pull, and all. You’re not nudging samples around trying to line things up with a rigid grid, and you don’t have to quantize anything.

There are a ton of reasons to layer a sound onto another, and those reasons influence which tool or sample you reach for. Maybe you have a nice kick that lacks transient snap, so you layer a click. Kick 3 is a favorite of mine because it’s built on that same “3 parts of a kick drum” workflow, and it also helps with phase alignment. Chop Suey (by Sinee) is another great kick sampler tool for the 3-part kick approach. For more detailed phase alignment, something like Voxengo PHA-979 (or similar) is way more precise than just flipping polarity with a gain/utility plugin.

It’s a broad subject, and depending on the genre, having a single “favorite” sample isn’t always the best approach — you can box yourself into a cookie-cutter sound. On the mix side, you can also clear space for your kick using something like Tone Projects Basslane Pro, which helps control low-end width and mono compatibility. You can have a more solid kick when you make more space for one. After all this is where you focus on EQing, and some compression to glue it together. In Logic, you can do this by creating a Summing Track Stack.