Drum Envy!!!
Big_Stacks
"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
Hey Guys,I rode in to work this morning listening to Mobb Deep's "The Infamous". I was struck by how hard and crispy the drums are on this LP. As producers, I know we seek out the crunchiest, hard-hittin' drums we can. What other hip-hop (or other programming-based produced) LPs cause you to have "drum envy"?Peace,Big Stacks from Kakalak
Comments
Dope productions and rhymes with the bangin drums. When I heard this, I got the drum envy, quick.
Fantatik 1 by Dilla- 1st hip hop beats I heard that wasn't super quantized. Changed a lot of dudes drum style with this record.
Freeway "Fallback" Joe Buddens "Pump it Up" by Just Blaze- Took the old school shuffle style and made it sound super clean and big.
Speaking of which, I guess it's official that Gang Starr has called it quits.
r.i.p.
Dress
last time i really experienced this was while listening to the meters and incredible bongo bands apache. oh man those percussion patterns are hard as fuck. cant really think of any hiphop that gave me drum envy tho. most producers patterns are pretty awful, people need to study drums more!
I figured this was the case. Primo has been doing lots of solo DJ gigs and GURU has been touring w/o Primo and doing lots of Gangstarr material in his sets. The last time I saw Gangstarr here in Seattle, Primo was MAD cool. Primo was smoking blunts with everyone, talking about records, etc. Meanwhile, GURU was on an epic drunken binge that was so out of control it ended up all over the net the next day. I said what up to Guru and he gave me the ice grill. I run into him in the hallway 15 minutes later and dude starts huggin' me like we're long lost relatives. Dude was TRIPPIN. Primo seemed pretty annoyed with GURU's antics. If they have split up, it comes as no suprise. Guru and Bizzy Bone should start a group together and be on some next level crazy shit.
I have no idea what those tracks are exept for Amerie (thats Meters drums btw!), havent listend to the radio for a few years and I dont have mtv or whatever. I'm pretty out of the loop I guess when it comes to pop and commercial music. And I really dont want to mention any stuff here, I could go on about how bad peoples drums are for days you know - but what good does it do? Lets focus on the good things!
Dj Day got some skills in the drum department!
But it was good while it lasted. I never viewed Guru that way, but... that's how it is sometimes.
True!!!! I just happened to be listening to "The Infamous" this morning, that's all. Actually, Havoc was next-level on the drum programming back then. He's gotten very keyboardy in the past few years though.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Yeah agreed, probably shouldnt have said it! But the drums were the main reason I lost interest a few years back. Not sure if "One thing" is a re-arrangement or not, but those drums are indeed great! I should download those others you mentioned. Similiar style?
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Tribe yet. Their drums were always naaaaaaastay in my opinion.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Word. The Whatnauts drums on "Oh my god" are some of my favorites!
Speaking of drum sounds, check out those loud, metallic sounding joints on "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker & the Aces. I've whored the shit out of them over the years.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
A lot of Pete Rock's snares on Soul Survivor and Pete Strumentals and how dude flipped a lot of classis drums on the INI album into some freshness
Always Jay-Dilla
and even though the beats are kinda "meh" I always dug Evidence, Joey Chavez and Kutmaster Kurts drums. Always banging and always just sounding perfect in the mix.
and this cat outta Japan called Dj Mitszu. I've talked about this dude a few times on here but I like how his shit sounds overall. Full, warm, and even (AY YO!)
I had the luck to "study" drums while practicing the SP using separate tracks from LG...It was back in 1997-98. Dude had the same crispy-layered drums that everybody wish to have...he was layering so many snares and kicks that the numbers would surprise you...Back then, LG used to lay down tracks off of the SP outputs. No pre-amps, no EQ, no nothing...Shit was raw.
A dude named K-Def (sup man, you know we gonna meet soon...) also influenced me. Listening the Real Live LP makes you realize how good he was. He had that punnnnnnnnnch that we all look for. His Whatnauts was amazing. Every drums he recycled sounded as good as Diamond. Talking about Diamond, i'm still trying to figure out how he did the drums on "check one two"...For a minute, i tought he isolated the left channel of the Kooper drums, but i tried that with the remastered version, and the drums still don't bang like Diamond. Not trying to copy dude, it's too late. But this song, along with "sally got a one track mind", influenced me a lot. Diamond, HOLLERATION!!!
For the Mobb drums, you right...But i also have an input on that. I worked with Tony Smalios (using his services for two lp) and he had the opportunity to make me hear his "soundbank"...A bunch of DATs that he claims to be the maker. He also told me how he was "responsible" for the mobb sound on the first LP. Quote :
"Hav drumkits was always shitty. Most of the time, i had to trigger my own drums in it and over-compress the result to make the drums sound like that...I used my DAT banks to replace kicks, snares and hi-hats...I also showed them how to always filter loops to keep the bass of it, so after all, you mix down loops with different EQs (a tribe technique too...). So basically, im kinda responsible for this mobb sound people are talking about".
Needless to say, dude was kinda braggin'...Anyway, i'm still wondering...Because he knew about Benny, about UBB's, about breaks...Did he really showed it to Hav or no??? It's the kind of question i don't really care about, but if anyone knows Tony or Hav, any input is appreciated anyway.
PS : i know Tony worked over at D&D early in his career. Finesse worked with him too, so i believe Finesse taught him (coz there's no way this dude learned it on hiw own!!lol). Sorry for that gossip talk...
agreed! alot of these british cats got their engineering game down. if you havent checked Harmonic33's album "Extrordinary People", i reccomend that, really sick drums straight through.
The World Famous...Beatnuts. The crazy Hispanics always had those crispy drums, too. Damn, the way they mixed "Ode to Billy Joe" on "World Famous" (from their first EP) was just bonecrushin'. Same with "Spinning Wheel" (from "Psycho Dwarf"); my samples of it never sounded like that.
Buckwild???? That cat had some nice, hard-hittin' beats too. Too many dope ones to name (like "Why", "Put it On", "Tic-Toc (Remix)", "Rock On (Remix)", "On Stage", "VA in the House", "Stress", "Masta I.C.", "Let it Slide", "Time's Up", "Far from Yours", "Chosen Ones", etc.).
Ced-Gee??? Legendary hard drum master from the BX. That bangin' Ultramag sound changed how I made beats!!!! Much respect!!!!
Maaaaaaaaajor cosign on J-Dilla. Revolutionized drum programming. And his beats always knocked. Is it me, or is "Bullshit" from Pharcyde a slept-on classic track of his? I like how he freaked that Cannonball Adderley.
Pete Rock with the beat, you don't stop!!! The programming in "T.R.O.Y." is enough evidence by itself. But, Pete's beats ALWAYS smacked lovely. I've never made "Don't Change Your Love" or "Long Red" sound as good as Pete. And man, those "Jussumen (Remix)" drums were off the chain!!!!
Show (B-I-Z)??? Can anybody say, "Still Diggin'"? Damn, they began the "Runaway Slave" LP hard as hell. That album was one hard-ass beat after another. Classic material!!!
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
timbaland
neptunes
bye
I was just listenin to 'Have Fun' off Tha LP and was thinkin bout how I liked the sound. Its distorted, but it definitely thunps.
Timbaland
Just Blaze
Neptunes
-e
Word word word. His album using the Troubleman[/b] alias has also got some seriously sick drum programming.
Yo Fellas,
I'm not surprised no one has mentioned Oakland yet. Put my tape in your deck and do some damages.
Peace,
Big Pope from the City of Dope