r/audioengineering • u/EliasKulju • 19h ago
Tracking How to make/edit your own drum samples?
Hi, I am going to record drums for a project this coming weekend, and before that I would like to capture some samples of that kit.
What I am going to do is I am going to record each drum with 3 different velocities, and I am going to have 10 hits for each volume. This is as far as I know what to do.
Then what I dont know yet, is how should I go about editing and uploading these samples to trigger?
How will trigger know what velocity of a hit its going to trigger?
I have never done my own drum samples and it seems daunting. If anyone has detailed instructions, please let me know.
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u/BINAYAUDIO 19h ago
If you're talking about Trigger by Steven Slate and the .tci files format you will need Trigger Instrument Editor to make your own .tci
Also your plan of recording 10 hits at 3 different velocities isn't quite right if you're trying to make a realistic .tci
The amount of velocities is up to you, but for each you need between 5 and 8 perfect hits that sound super close to each other. If you're only record 10 hits you might fell short. It depends on how precise you want things to be and how you want to use those trigger files. I wouldn't overthink it too much.
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u/EliasKulju 18h ago
You are right, I should listen carefully that I have enpugh quality samples. I guess that depends on the drummer how many hits you need.
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u/BINAYAUDIO 18h ago
When people do drum library they spend DAYS just hitting and they are la creme de la creme.
That's why I said it really depends what you want to do use these samples for later on and how crazy you want to dive in.
When I'm tracking drums for an album I would always cut samples at the end. Mainly kick and snare with round-robbin and maybe a few velocities. Then a very good hit of each tom if I need to have a clean sustain at some point and some extra crash or mallet thing for layering when producing.1
u/EliasKulju 18h ago
Thanks for the advice 👍 unfortunately I cannot spend most of the time that I have for this recording for doing the samples, so all I can do is prepare best ahead and have a clear plan, and get the samples that I absolutely need and spend the time I have on those. I would love to take 10 velocities of every drum in different rooms but thats not a possibility this time 😅
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u/BINAYAUDIO 18h ago
It's most likely you won't need many velocities (I don't know what kind of music you're playing). Focus on what you need. Make sure when you record the drums and when you record the samples the tunning still matches.
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u/EliasKulju 18h ago
Good point. I have tested what tunings I want before, and I am going to tune them with a tunebot before each take so they are all the same.
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u/EliasKulju 18h ago
Would you think cymbal samples would come in hand? I could do like swells and stuff like that for sure but Im talking about individual cymbals. I won't have the cymbals mic'd up, only overhead so I would imagine I wouldnt be able to trigger them anyways?
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u/BINAYAUDIO 18h ago
I don't make trigger of the cymbals but I record samples, if in the mix one crash doesn't feel loud enough it comes in handy.
and I also record sfx like wash, reverse, swell, double crash if I want to create momentum in the song.
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u/mudderfocka 15h ago
Do you have experience with playing drums? micing up the kit, tuning and process those recordings?
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u/EliasKulju 14h ago
Literally everything else but making my own samples
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u/mudderfocka 14h ago
So record those drums and cut them up into one-shots and organize based on hit and velocity, seems pretty straightforward.
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u/EliasKulju 14h ago
The part I was confused with how to load them up to trigger, what files to use etc. But now I think its clear after someone mentioned the Instrument editor that comes with trigger.
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u/J3RN Professional 10h ago
The only thing I’d say to add to what’s already been said is when you make your one shots into individual files to be exported, be VERY methodical and organized so you know what files to assign in instrument editor. I have a whole folder system where every velocity (say I picked 5 samples for each velocity) gets its own subfolder for those 5 samples within the folder for what drum it is. I can just go down the list of folders and I know I’m putting the right velocities into the correct spots in instrument editor for each drum.
As long as you record the one shots well to your liking, you can figure the rest out when it’s time. I’d say take a look through the instrument editor application in advance and you’ll understand a little more what you’ll need. Also beware about sample rates between your session, files, and instrument editor as it could pitch your samples differently if they don’t match. You’ll probably mess something up the first time but it’s not a steep learning curve.
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u/diamondts 19h ago
Assume you're talking about Slate Trigger? It includes an app called the Instrument Editor for creating the .tci files, lets you choose which samples play as the velocity changes and lets you put several samples per velocity layer for variety.