How to Make Your Own Hip Hop Drum Kits

Analog drum synth sounds are synonymous with the "old-skool" sound of 1980s hip-hop

Electronic drum kits work similarly to MIDI keyboards and synthesizers. The kit itself is just an input device. It doesn't generate any sound; it just sends input information to a central module, or "brain" which plays the corresponding sound at the correct volume per the initial strike of the drum pad. Electronic drums allow you to assign any kind of sound to each drum pad, including the analog synth percussion commonly used in hip-hop music.

Things You'll Need

• Drum machine
• Audio recording software
• USB cable

Instructions

1. Launch your recording software and create a new project. Count the number of available pads on your kit. A standard kit consists of a kick, snare, toms and cymbals. The toms come in high, medium and low, and the cymbals consist of a crash, ride and high-hat. The high hat will have open, closed and partial versions.

2. Create a channel in the recording software for each drum pad and enable recording mode on the first one by pressing the red "Arm" button on the channel header. Press "Record" and hit the first sample on the drum machine, recording a single hit to the first track. Stop the recorder.

3. Disable the record mode on the first track and enable it on the second. Start the recorder again and strike the second pad on the drum machine. Stop the recorder once you've recorded a single drum hit. Repeat this with every pad on the drum machine.

4. Solo the first channel on the recorder by pressing the "S" button on the channel header and set the locators on the time line bar at the top of the screen, either side of the drum hit. Try to get as close as possible. Select "Bounce" or "Export" from the "File" menu. Save the file with an appropriate name, like "Kick.aif." Use a file format compatible with your electronic drums.

5. Repeat this soloing, cropping and exporting process with each of the channels in the recording software. When complete, you should have a set of individual sound files, each one corresponding to a pad on your electronic drum kit.

6. Connect the USB cable to the PC and the other end to your drum module. Transfer the set of sound files over to the module and assign each one to the appropriate pad: kick to the kick, snare to the snare and so on.

References

• Made Loud; The Non-Drummer's Guide to Drum Programming; Andrew Reilly; July 2008