11 replies to this topic

[Snotbox]

... this is my first post, seemed like a good place to ask a question that's bugging me production wise...

anybody got good tips for getting that slightly out-of-sync feel for layered claps or snares? I'm not talking majorly unquantised, but just a little bit of texture like a room full of people clapping in time, each hit landing a few miliseconds out of time with the next. I've tried layering oh-so-slightly off beat, using a slap delay with high feedback, all sorts of things, can't seem to get it sounding quuuite the way i want it

the obvious answer is to record several people clapping at once, and i might resort to this. trouble is, my mics and recording gear are on the other side of the country and im working with a PC running ableton and thats it

?

[ASONE]

You could try experimenting with layering different claps together. That often gives a lot more body to the sound. Depending on what claps you use together, your ADSR envelope settings for each sound, and tuning, you can end up with something pretty nice out of samples that weren't quite hitting right by themselves.

[CertafiedBluntHead]

dig for a clap that sounds more like the clap your lookin for, you want that crowd response clap try and find a sample that has a crowd wilin' out with claps on the beat, some live records probably would be your best bet, and don't think your just gonna find it in the beginning or end of a song, you might have a clap come in in the middle of a piece and have music it over it the whole time except for one clap at the end of one bar, and thats the one you want, a little reverb will probably help in making it sound like a room full of people as well, but just a little

[b.banks]

maybe try layering quantized claps and setting each layer to a slightly different swing? just a thought.

[buttaslick]

when you dig and claps and snares leave a half count of space then work your delay it will really set well into the vibe

[Champ Neptune]

ok, basically take every one of these tips provided and add a "slight" echo...and i mean "slight" put the echo counter up to like "1" because too much echo and reverb together will liquify your claps. It will give the effect of fading claps....also look for sites that have free sound effects. If you dig deep enough you might find some pretty nice HQ effects. I personally would get a few claps and multiply the sound, cuz not everyone's hand makes the same noise. Indifference and variety. Hope this helps.

[buttaslick]

because too much echo and reverb together will liquify your claps. It will give the effect of fading claps.... champ that is one of my trade hush hush tips when my clap sound more like someone crawling with wet hands that`s what i do but that has to be tweaked and really only sounds good in dubstep and west coast tracks that lazy delay feel oh yeah also if you want dirty sounds and i`ve build my rep on gritty sounds get five old break loops or wait till the beat battle has a sample with a break beat in it chop them up layer them with a off set delay about .8 or a little iess then go to town

[grimly i]

Good knowledge here, the way I do it:
Sequence first clap, on beat (usually quantized)
Record second clap, unquantized.
I then use the MPC's step edit to move the second clap to within a few MS of the first. I usually LP filter the second clap just a bit. There's prolly equivalent functions for both in your DAW or beatbox of choice.

[Tone of the Cosmos]

I'm not familiar with ableton so much but if you have a trim function for your individual sounds you can set different claps at different start times and just experiment with it. less is usually more. also because tuning affects timing the pitching of your hits can be a variable as well. I have also found real chunky claps on playbacks of people giving speeches because there is usually a good amount of applause and no music.

[Alzado]

Tone of the Cosmos, on Feb 25 2010, 01:00 PM, said:

I have also found real chunky claps on playbacks of people giving speeches because there is usually a good amount of applause and no music.

this is money. take an audience applause bit and crop out a couple minute bits, four or five of these will be great for variety. if you isolate a small enough bit of the crowd clapping, it will sound like one mega phat clap. that's what you want. then compress, distort, etc. to taste.

[Scalez]

here's one trick i've used successfully for claps. it's not appropriate for every track, so...

set up a mic.
loop your beat while recording
clap on the 2's and 4's.
while clapping, move around the room every few bars, farther from and closer to the mic.
make a few of your claps intentionally early, and more than a few intentionally late, but mostly right on time.
make some of your claps cupped for a POP sound, and others flat for a CRACK sound.
make some of your claps weaker than others (like fingers-on-fingers claps)
experiment and whatnot. maybe a beat calls for more early claps than late. the idea is to get a fair representation of what a room full of clapping fools would sound like

then go back and layer them over each other, panning some left, some right, some center... get the whole spectrum. maybe add reverb.

[Scalez]

Tone of the Cosmos, on Feb 25 2010, 12:00 PM, said:

I have also found real chunky claps on playbacks of people giving speeches because there is usually a good amount of applause and no music.

i've used claps from live music records. these are hit or miss tho. here's an example of that (with a short delay for added thickness)