Drums – A Masterclass For Electronic Dance Music Producers

While a nice melody or vocal might draw listeners into a track, it’s the drums that people literally feel in their bones and it’s the drums that keep them on the dancefloor.

We’ve all heard tracks where the kicks are muddy and the hi-hats sound dull and robotic, maybe you should even be forgiven for applying gain with a heavy hand to your own claps and snares. It may be easy to hear and critique what’s gone wrong in a final mix on big speakers, but during production in a home studio? That’s a whole different thing.

This masterclass is designed to help you avoid common production mistakes and get the right skills to make your next track break through. Develop a professional ear for auditioning drum sounds and samples and learn all the techniques to mix beats for maximum impact.

MODULE 1: KICKS

In Module 1 Echo Sound Works takes you through one of the central elements of any good dance track – the kick. From choosing the right sound to tuning and layering, this section is designed to help you get nice, big, clean sounding kicks that fit your track perfectly.

6 Videos make up this module – First, you will learn how to approach drums in the context of making a track. Next up how to get select the right kick samples, ESW breaks down the elements of a good kick so you know what to look for (and what not to look for). In the third and fourth videos, discover practical ways to tune your kicks effectively and all about kick layering. Finally, we cover pro tips and tricks for mixing kick drums employing tools such as mono vs. stereo, EQ, and compression.

MODULE 2: SNARES

In Module two we look at snares – the second part of a partnership that gets people onto the dance floor. Learn to identify a quality snare sample, how to layer snares and get a bunch of mixing tips for working with your sounds in context.

Over the course of 4 videos learn how to put your sonic stamp on a track with a great snare. You will look at various elements of a good snare including layered vs. unlayered, open vs. closed and of course context. You’ll learn how to layer your snares to create new sounds and get quick tips for adding melodic elements and knocking together a tidy predelay snare. When it comes to mixing your snares, we discuss everything from gain staging, cleaning up the mix to make room for your snare – again look at context, processing EQ and enveloper, compression and some other nifty fx.

MODULE 3: CLAPS

Module 3 includes 5 videos that cover all the ins and outs of working with claps in your dance track. Starting with how to approach claps and what type of claps work when, to selecting the perfect clap with plenty of audio examples so you can hear how different samples affect the overall sound of the track.
You’ll learn how to layer claps to make fuller sounds. In a video on mixing mainroom claps, get a walkthrough on creating maximum impact from your builds through to the drop with loads of workable options you can apply to your claps whatever genre you’re working in. Finally we look at adding stereo enhancements in your mix, this is a great way to separate sounds to achieve a nice polished result.

MODULE 4: HI-HATS

In the final module we look at how to program an expressive, playable hi-hat rhythm. From adding dynamic range to create a natural sounding groove, to clever use of reverb, working with eq to get hi-hats to stand out of the mix, adding stereo enhancements to add a sense of performance to the sound, and finally placement – an easy way to completely change up a groove.