How To Enhance Your Drum Sound Design With Found Sounds And Foley

Using waveform editing to cut percussive sounds out of ambient and other samples is a great way to create unique drum sounds, Adam Pollard shows you how it's done.  

Software and hardware lets us design almost any kind of sound we can imagine, but it's not just synths that can be used this way - drums can be created completely from scratch as well. In this video from the course Dance Music Sound Design 104: Drums, Adam Pollard shows you how to add an extra level of interest to your drum design by adding foley and sound effects both as the beats themselves and as additions to existing drum sounds.

Dance Music Sound Design 104: Drums

He starts by explaining what Foley is - essentially, snippets of sampled sound recorded from a source and in this context, almost any sound can be used to enhance your drums. By zooming in on the waeform of a foley sampe he selects, Adam is able to isolate a percussive effect from a much longer sound, and chop it out. He then uses a volume envelope and an EQ plug-in to tune the shape of the sound and quickly, it is unrecognisable from its original form. Running through other samples, he shows you how to use wave editing to isolate and identify other tones and textures that can be used either as drum hits, or atmospherics to enhance existing drum parts. Check out the full course using the links below for a complete guide to designing your own custom drum sounds.

Watch the course Dance Music Sound Design 104: Drums in the Ask.Audio Academy | macProVideo | Ask.Video

Hollin Jones was classically trained as a piano player but found the lure of blues and jazz too much to resist. Graduating from bands to composition then production, he relishes the chance to play anything with keys. A sometime lecturer in videographics, music production and photography post production, Hollin has been a freelance w... Read More

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