Drum Samples with Swing Settings
Beat makers of all ages and all expertise levels sometimes overlook two of music production’s biggest ’sleeping giants’ - swing and time-sensitive density. Let’s go through some of the things related to the former, as many newbies and veterans still don’t pay enough attention to the swing that applies to drum samples. By the end of this, you should have a better understanding of the topic!
The first question we often hear is: why should I care about adding swing to my drum samples and other tracks? This question actually appears on so many forums and blogs, it’s not funny anymore. It is a very serious topic if you want to be a great beat maker and music producer, so let’s start at the beginning. The human ear loves musical variance. It is simply science. We pay more attention to things that we see and hear that are not normal, things that have not happened before. Imagine if your favorite artist started and finished their concerts by simply playing their latest album in the same track order, with the same exact notes and more. It wouldn’t be very pleasing to your ear!
When tapping out samples on hardware, the swing will act as some sloppy quantization. Not that sloppy, though, just enough to get you into the groove template. It’s great for those not yet very accurate with tapping.
By now you may be wondering what exactly swing is, and some examples of it. Swing is, in beat making, a quantization setting that is not 100% accurate. The level of off-time adds to the realism and humanization of a drum line or other instrument, so while the ear knows what’s coming, it’s not sure of the exact timing and this adds suspense that goes up and down with the music as the musical bars go on through the song’s time. A fifty percent swing is even with the grid snap, while fifty-one percent allows for 1% variance.
Swing templates are especially useful when using electronic instrument parts that are fully quantized. Using these synthesizer sounds and drums, everything being quantized, will lead to staleness. So in this case, many top producers will leave one quantized and swing the other, or swing certain instruments. Swinging the drums in this case will produce some nice ear candy as the drum parts interact with the electronic instrument sounds.
Using swing settings for drum samples is an acquired skill, and starting with percentages between 51% and 65% is a good start for most budding producers or those already established who had not delved into the rhythmic aspect of swing. There are various styles of templates that have come directly from groove machines like the MPC 2000 and so, and these can be useful to replicate the swing that legendary hip hop producers have used for countless classics.
If you want the best drum samples available, check out My Drum Samples here: http://www.mydrumsamples.com/