If there’s one thing I hate about drum loops it’s that they’re generally processed to hell and back. Compressed, limited, pretty much hitting red… In short, had their life squeezed out of them. I realize this is not always the case, and I also realize that it’s to make life easier for beginners who wants a “high quality” sound right away. For me it sucks. On a recent project I found a drum loop that I loved and wanted to use. Unfortunately it was one of the above mentioned. In the end the song turned out really dynamic. Here’s how I dealt with it.

Volume automation

The first thing to try is volume automation. Simply automate the volume on some hits or some passages. It doesn’t have to be a lot, just a few dBs up or down is enough. I have also made habit for doing it in fills when building up for a new section or whatever. Simply start low and go up… No higher. I said HIGHER! There you go, almost in the red. Just make sure your master fader can take it.

Adding hits

Layering hits for drums is a favorite for some engineers. I can’t say I’m a fan of it but on occasion I do it. Shouldn’t that snare almost crack like your neck on a sunday morning? Damn right it should! Add another hit underneath it. It works well for dynamics, a little variation and maintaining a sonic interest.

Plug-ins

We all know of compressors, limiters and other things that kill dynamics. Isn’t there something that does instead create dynamics? While most people might think that the expander is the opposite of a compressor (and you can try to play around with it if you want), Flux knows better. In fact, Flux has invented a de-compressor! What the hell is the difference between a de-compressor and an expander you might ask yourself. Let these pictures from the Flux Solera+ manual show you.

Compressor:

Expander:

Decompressor:

Flux de-compressor is available in Solera+ and DCompressor.

Other instruments

For me and the particular song I mentioned in the beginning of this post, none of the above was what made the most difference in dynamics however. So you want to know the ultimate secret? Play the other instruments really dynamic. I had the guitar amp set to slight distortion which would only really show up when I started hitting the strings hard. Furthermore I played the guitar with my fingers, and just picking one string at a time kept the distortion at bay. Picking two of them hard however made it roar. Really dynamic. I also made a point out of singing dynamically.

Another favorite of mine when working with loops is to include at least one element of real percussion. A maracas, egg, conga, tambourine or whatever, played right through the song livens up any stale loop-based session.

Now just make sure your mastering engineer don’t squash it into pieces.