How does Beat Butcha get his drum aesthetic??

Discussion in 'how to make "that" sound' started by Bump, Jun 16, 2024.

  1. Bump

    Bump Kapellmeister

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    ive posted example videos at the specific times for the sound im trying to achieve..his drums always sound do fat and his low end elements are so heavy on his tracks but the kick always pokes through so nicely. Im guessing his drums are always turned up loudest in the mix.

    He gets his drums to sound like actual vintage breaks...I've never seen Butcha on a drum kit..or even finger drumming for that matter. Wondering if he enlists someone to play breaks and then he chops them? Or maybe just really nice vinyl break chopping/slicing.

    outboard gear needed for that sound? Think maybe a pedal chain?

    how much stereo elements/processing?





    <<< This one im guessing is bitcrush and very low sample rate but that kick still pokes through

     
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  3. BlackHawk

    BlackHawk Producer

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    I will be very cautious ... but that all sounds like someone mixed it who has not the slightest clue and has a medical ear problem. The snippets sound horrible. All plugins on the drums, not close miking but putting the mic capsule directly on the drum head, crank the bass up, compress, crank more bass up, limit the sh*t out of it, a bit more bass and clip. The drums alone have a crest factor of 3 or 4, I bet. And the automation is shitty at best.

    OK, now you know how to make that "sound" ... do not let me know how it went. Please.

    BTW: Who played the drums? That butcher dude? Well, I am sure there are drum teachers in his area. At least to get a newbie lesson or two ...
     
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  4. BlackHawk

    BlackHawk Producer

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  5. Bump

    Bump Kapellmeister

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    I get it...it's boom bap hip hop...you either love that sound or you hate it. Nobody will ever confuse these drums with a meticulously mic'd kit and open dynamics.

    The super squashed and slammed against 0 sound is part of that aesthetic. I am not sure who played those drums...or what portion, if any, are performances captured by Butcha himself...or just sliced/chopped breaks and then performed on pads or what not.
     
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  6. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    I'm not going to track down this guy's gear list, but if I had to guess it would be this. A "shopping list" for me with making this sound in mind, would start with an AKAI S900-1000, and an MPC-60, or other model up to about the mpc-2000. Old vinyl. But of course, there are modern DAW based methods you could go, but they would actually be a lot more work.
     
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  7. Audioguydaz

    Audioguydaz Kapellmeister

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    There's a million ways to get that sound. Analyse what you are hearing and decide what tools will get you into that region.
     
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  8. Auen Fred

    Auen Fred Member

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    s3200,mpc60 ,mpc3000,

    the 1000-1100 imho just for snares and hats
    but the workflow:crazy:

    i think this guy is very long in the game , bet he has long hw chains but would be capable similar to do just ITB
    when you want such guys recipes you should get in their circles ,fat cat yt pool,
    ElArco Beats,GRISELDA TYPE BEATS.....yt
    bet you can manage to get in groups like the jungle guys aroung such guys like fanu and such...or you just ask here and there in yt comments

    but trial and error way is worth it def.

    :mad::drummer:

     
  9. Lad Impala

    Lad Impala Platinum Record

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    the most obvious thing in his chain to me is a tape machine. either hardware or plugin.
    maybe he uses something like the RC20 to give that dusty records feeling
    also like you said yourself heavy on the low end, so he probably boosts that with an eq too.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2024
  10. Auen Fred

    Auen Fred Member

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    you mihgt look into sketch cassete ,smackos lemuria ,plugins that knock,roughrider and such sort of stuff
     
  11. Auen Fred

    Auen Fred Member

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    try waves ssl e channel for low end
     
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  12. Bump

    Bump Kapellmeister

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    Found this... from 4 years ago...but

    "Favourite production set-up:
    My current production set-up/process is based around Ableton & Audition, using various VSTs, Keyboards (Fantom/Juno-60/Mc-202/MicroKorg etc), a Guitar (Les Paul), Bass (60s Style Precision), MPC 2500 & Maschine. I used to primarily use Audition/Cool Edit as my sequencer but just recently started building a new studio and moved to Ableton, it’s quick to put down ideas. I like to drink rum and jam my shit out… So yeah my favourite production set-up is probably a bottle of RUM and a room full of instruments hahaha…"
     
  13. saccamano

    saccamano Rock Star

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    I'm pretty confident in saying that the "beat butcha" didn't actually play anything here. All this stuff is simply drum samples taken from the 9 billion regurgitated sample libs that show up each day and then chopped, gritted, compressed, distorted, mashed, stretched, degraded, pulverized, multched, stabbed, and murdered and strung together with as many plugins as it takes to achieve the properties needed to adhere to the boom-bap genre.
     
  14. eXACT_Beats_

    eXACT_Beats_ Audiosexual

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    These are breaks, maybe chopped longer and one-shot out to pads, or maybe one-bar/half-bar loops sequenced, dunno, but you can hear that they're breaks in some of the samples, especially the snares, which are still sitting naturally off-center. I know some guys slam ripped drums to reel tape, which squashes the hell out of them but makes them sound warm and flat like some of these hits sound.
    A couple techniques to get closer to that thick sound is layering and pitching the samples, which seems to be a forgotten art at this point, and filtering, the latter which you can clearly hear being used hear. He may apply this, or just tell his actual mix engineer what he's going for, but either way, some of it is perceived "lowness," as the mid-highs or highs are scooped or dropped. Add to that limiting, saturation of some sort, and clipping—and that last one leads into the next part...
    I've never heard of him claiming an MPC/ASR/SP/etc., or seen one laying around, he's always on a PC, but he does have hardware laying around, some of which kinda look to be limiters, which are pretty standard even in a mad sparse beatmaking setup (it's not uncommon to see a Zener and maybe a 500 series Neve or Lindell EQ into a small mixboard.) And, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had a sexy-ass convertor tucked away somewhere, like some LavryGold type deal, that'd be my first choice for clipping something cleanly into oblivion.

    I'd lay down some drums and experiment with saturation, limiting, clipping, and filters or Baxandall style high/low shelves, in different orders, start finding formulas you like, but make sure it's over a melody; it's not always about how you want the drums to sound, it's how they need to sound to fit into/over the rest of the track. Experimenting is the main thing, find something you like the sound of, it doesn't have to be his exact sound, and then further tailor it to fit what else you have going on melodically.
    Make it your own and have fun doing it.


    This really seem like a helpful place to start stomping around with the whole he-didn't-play-anything diatribe? Go pester some kid drawing up MIDI for the next Summer G House Hit, go tell him he needs to learn theory or some such shit.
    Incidentally, your confidence is misplaced. I'll place $12.08 on these being vinyl-ripped drums, not some sample pack jetsom.

    Name a genre that doesn't adhere to the guidelines that make it that genre.
    Alternately, you can admit you've got a genre bias and need to stay in your lane.
    Your choice.
     
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  15. saccamano

    saccamano Rock Star

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    And where do you think your "sample pack jetsom" comes from? Outer space? get real.

    :rofl:
    ...and, drum wise at least, he didn't play a damn thing.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2024
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  16. shinyzen

    shinyzen Platinum Record

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    seconding sketch cassette. this is the easiest way to get to this sound. slam that compressor and saturation part of it. Stands miles above rc20 for this sort of sound. Its also very affordable. The dev's are awesome, making very unique tools. Their new reverb is fucking epic.
     
  17. eXACT_Beats_

    eXACT_Beats_ Audiosexual

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    Sample packs contain loops (which aren't breaks,) or breaks that were recorded by a studio drummer who got paid for the session, so unless your talking very specific packs, like Boom Bap Labs or the like, they're not vinyl-ripped breaks.

    Not only am I going to skip arguing whether finger drumming counts as playing, I'm also not gonna dive into the "so, unless you play drums yourself, on a drum kit, it doesn't count?" or "what about the genres that mechanically sequence synthetic drums" or any of the hundred avenues that would bring to light how ridiculous your performative arts argument is. I'm stepping around these because the actual issue is you purposely jumping into a thread that doesn't have shit to do with you, seemingly just to derail a legit question by the OP. So, again, stay in your lane, because in my experience, the next stage is usually where people get sloppy, and out of ignorance or hubris, cross lines. Remember, this isn't Pop or Rock or the like; this is a genre of music, but it's just one part of a much larger culture.
     
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  18. Backtired

    Backtired Audiosexual

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    I don't understand this type of messages. We're not on kvr or gearslutz; users here are more mature. What's the point of it?
     
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  19. Auen Fred

    Auen Fred Member

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    speaking from beat butcha i guess you right its not tales from the trap codeine hood packs eh eh
    no one ever said it is , whats next , telling us 80ies pop is not real cause they used all those static drum machines
     
  20. Auen Fred

    Auen Fred Member

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    written down...:wink:
     
  21. justwannadownload

    justwannadownload Audiosexual

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    Liberal use of tape saturation and clipping, and a slight off-beat. Also they poke through because everything else is so quiet, not due to some mixing trickery.
     
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