Prodigy's cymbal work

Ok, so here's the deal...

crash cymbals are typically used only once in a while during a song. If you put one on every pattern:

It sounds wrong no matter which crash you pick and how it is EQ'd.

So how do The Prodigy do it?

Maybe its the lack of humanization that makes it sound average i.e I'm using the same crash sample over and over with no variation in EQ i don't know. Any help from you guys on this matter would be greatly appreciated. :smiling:

Especially from any of you that have had plenty of experience making heavy electronic music.

Thanks for your time.

the edit button disappeared for some reason but here is an example: http://www.speedyshare.com/976455331.html

it may sound crappy on its own, but if you put it underneath other drums (eg. bassdrum and snare like in the prodigy track), and apply compression it'll sound better. the crashes in the prodigy track sound pretty uniform.

edit: fuck, the drums in omen are freakin' great.

yeah lots of things, variate the cymbal a bit, different samples, pitches and velocites etc.

compressing the whole kit together will stick the elements together, as the cymbals will be reacting to what the kick etc is doing. A bit of distortion could help too..

Uniform sample sounding dynamic due to master compression/limiting.

thanks for the help guys. thanks so much.

I have a question though.

I've got the kick hats and snare sounding exactly how i want them.....

....if I was to compress the cymbals along with the rest of the drums in a manner that the cymbals are affected, how would I stop it from affecting the kick, snare etc....?

wouldn't it have to be heavy compression to put dints in the cymbals?

The kit that i am using in this track is a really well known one. I have uploaded u drum pattern here:

http://www.speedyshare.com/894766331.html

....to help you guys to recommend a compression setting.

thanks again.

i never use crash cymbals coz they always sound bollox.

i use crash cymbals when the pattern has already maxed out all the other drum noises

also:

  meneedit said:

lol

To me it just sounds side chained against the bass and snare

  acid1 said:

To me it just sounds side chained against the bass and snare

i've tried sidechaining them to the kick and snare but it still doesnt sound right.

Could somebody please download the beat sample ive uploaded and recommend how i'd go about doing it through compression.

please could somebody help me out with the compression method.......

Here are some other ideas.

Chop up a break that has cymbals and layer it underneath.

Adjust the decay and pitch of crash cymbals to give it variety.

Also let other drum hits - like a snare or hi hat - cut of the end of a crash to give it a closed hi-hat type sound.

Run crashes through a hi-pass filter.

production tips aside, i reckon a track would have to be quite, er, full of energy, to get away with repeated crashes. like prodigy.

have you got a suitable track made for it or just that beat?

  tauboo said:

production tips aside, i reckon a track would have to be quite, er, full of energy, to get away with repeated crashes. like prodigy.

 

have you got a suitable track made for it or just that beat?

http://www.speedyshare.com/823976987.html

its as heavy as i could make it. i'm still quite new to making heavier tracks.

  scones to die for said:

Here are some other ideas.

 

Chop up a break that has cymbals and layer it underneath.

 

Adjust the decay and pitch of crash cymbals to give it variety.

 

Also let other drum hits - like a snare or hi hat - cut of the end of a crash to give it a closed hi-hat type sound.

 

Run crashes through a hi-pass filter.

thank you, i've already done the high-pass thing only i use EQ to remove the mid-low freqs. I never use a high pass..... am i better off doing that?

I don't think much of the FL Studio HP.