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Drum Samples and Loops - The Essentials

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Drum Samples, Drum Loops - What's the Difference?

Drum samples and loops are used in much of the recorded (and live) music we listen to today.

Recently, HomeMusicRecording.com was priviledged to be able to interview Dave Valler, a professional song writer working in the British pop scene.

Dave has years of experience in professional music production. More recently has been developing a new online service to bring top quality pop/urban drum samples, built up over his years of studio work, to the music creation public.

Here Dave shares his insights in the fundamentals of how to use drum samples, drum loops and where they fit in contemporary music production.

Drum Samples and Loops - What's the Difference?

I asked Dave to explain the difference between drum samples and drum loops...

Hi Ken, yes a 'drum loop' is a piece of audio that normally runs for between 1 and 4 bars, it's made up of several different drum sounds all working together to create the impression you have just recorded a drummer playing a pre-defined rhythm.

(A lot of these are more electronic type sounds now, so they don't normally sound much like a 'real' drum kit. But you get the idea. They may not have to have all the elements of a drum kit, just a looping rhythm of some sort).

'Drum samples' are the individual elements that are used to create a rhythm from scratch, they are usually loaded into a 'sampler' and triggered via playing notes on the keyboard and in that way you can choose each element of your drum parts individually.

For example I have a whole sampler patch full of Kick drums or snares that are mapped across the keyboard, so you're almost creating your own loops from individual elements.

(Watch the video below to see a good example of what I mean.)

Drum loops are often made in professional studios and each one has had some time spent on it already so you can just bring them into the track at a certain tempo and they will provide a drum backing for the song. But you don't have the flexibility to split up the parts.

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Featured Web Site: AudioDrumSamples.com

Free British Pop/Urban/RnB Drum Samples

Dave: AudioDrumSamples offers drum samples at the moment, which people can load straight into their samplers.

We have about 348 samples on offer overall. The reason people want our drum samples is the high quality of the production.

Our sounds are good and professional sounding - sometimes hard to get if you are an up and coming producer.

Click here to download: AudioDrumSamples

Up and Coming Drum Sample sites

These sites offer something different from the typical "Top 10" sites for drum samples and loops.
CustomDrumTracks
The home of custom acoustic and programmed drum and percussion tracks. All tracks and examples on this site were performed by Phil Smith in the studio where your tracks will be recorded.
Free British Pop/Urban Drum Samples from ADS
It's always great to get something for free, so here you go!

Our samples are already divided up into useful sets of kits that will make your programming easier and more manageable. For Logic users we have also made these kits into sampler instruments for use with the EXS24.

Reader Feedback

  • endlessprofits Feb 27, 2011 @ 1:23 pm | delete
    Very descriptive post on drum samples, I will share with friends!
  • ilovesynths Aug 12, 2008 @ 7:26 am | delete
    www.ilovesynths.com is always looking for custom beats and loops, why not contribute. We also have soundbank library for synth lovers.
    Keep well,
    PB
  • Richtee Nov 10, 2007 @ 10:41 pm | delete
    You have a great lens here Please keep upthe good woork
  • kenjohnstone Sep 15, 2007 @ 10:41 pm | delete
    Hi Nat,
    Thanks for the invite - sorry I've been away for a while!
    I've just added my lens to music-lyrics.

    (Haven't really found my way round Squidoo fully yet, so don't know what a "blurb" is supposed to be...)

    Cheers,
    Ken
  • natjonson Aug 3, 2007 @ 4:29 am | delete
    Hi Ken
    Your lens would be a great addition to the Music Lyrics Group: http://www.squidoo.com/groups/music-lyrics
    Please click here to add your lens to the group:
    http://www.squidoo.com/group/pick_lens/music-lyrics
    Have a great day! Nat
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