Drum Samples Volume and Velocity

The easiest mixing stage to apply when sequencing and organizing drum samples is the volume dynamic. Many producers like to do this on the fly, immediately have done the drum channels or after the beat is made entirely. Because it is such an easy process, most big-time producers factor this in as early as possible to get it out of the way and make a path for other samples and instruments to occupy certain sonic space.

If you want to adjust volume of any track in your favorite host, you really don’t need to go far. For instance on the Redrum device in Propellerheads’ Reason, there are volume dials and meters on the left side, on every single bus track and also in the main mixer. So you can change the volume of drum samples in quite a few places and you really don’t need to go searching around for a lot of stuff. It has never really been easier, and you certainly don’t need hardware to mix things in today’s programs.

One of the essential mixing rules that all music producers and beat makers should take to heart is that you should never lower the volume of a song so much that it can’t be heard. There’s a big difference between a drum samples sound that is low but complements or pushes another sound up, and another sound that is so low that it cannot be heard through everything else. Mixing engineers will tell you the same, so start focusing on making each sound valuable to a mix. If the song could do without that sound, then ditch it. A song is as good as its weakest part, so each track complementing the song as a whole is vital.

You can expect lowering something six decibels will halve its volume, and increasing by the same amount actually doubles the volume of an instrument or drum sample. When mixing hi-hats, it is a good thing to make it slightly lower than you think as you’re mixing, because humans have a tendency to easily distinguish frequencies that are around the range of the hi-hat.

Velocity is different from volume as it pertains to drum samples, because it’s based on a note by note dynamic. One note could have a different velocity from the next, meaning they will be heard in different volumes and at times with completely different sounds if your drum samples were multi-sampled.

You should always take care when lowering volume, and never make decisions recklessly. Pay attention with every creative decision. One tip offered by a lot of professional mixers is that sounds should be lowered and never increased in volume. This will ensure that no clipping occurs and that sounds are the best volume they could possibly be. With drum samples, try to mix it in as a group, separate from the mix, before mixing it together.

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