Hi
Thanks for your email and the links you sent me for David Holme’s tracks – I am sorry for not responding earlier.
You may have already solved this by now, but if not, here are a few quick thoughts based on first impressions:
I reckon Clyde Stubblefield is your man of choice to emulate, James Brown’s original Funky Drummer – his technique certainly!
http://www.sonomawireworks.com/drumcore/downloads/
http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2010/06/24/free-sample-shootout-2-acoustic-drums-full-kits/
He often has a foot hi hat or a tambourine or shaker going with the hi hat (as well as other percussion)
He seems to have spread the drums wide out in the mix – wider than usual, certainly not straight down the middle
The Wide mix may be achievable possibly using a technique similar to automatic double tracking
I watched a YouTube video recently how to set this up in Reason for vocals – I think it would work for drums too.
Split the signal with an audio splitter and pan it hard left and right to get a stereo effect
Reason 7 is here! James Wiltshire (Freemasons) demonstrates parallel processing
– I’d play around with the MClass Stereo Imager from the mastering effects to see if that affects the width to any great extent.
Fatness
The fatness in the mix: David’s drum sound trebly, a bit dirty/fuzzy so I would amp up the Tape (tape effect added, e.g. Scream 4’s “70s lo-fi”) and/or the Rack extension Audiomatic’s tape setting – going for that thicker, slightly fuzzy sound.
Here’s one of my first attempts at getting the Clyde sound or as I have called it “The Dave Sound” using some Groovemonkee Funk midis which I think came with Cakewalk X1.
I used a fair bit of tape saturation, a lot of EQ boost in the high end, Wide stereo and some compression.
I admit, It’s Work In Progress: I haven’t nailed it yet, but I have started to head in the direction of a toppy, gritty and wide stereo sound. I think the snare needs the most work! I think a mixture of saturation and over compression will do it. Here’s a few gadgets I used. I particularly like the old Cakewalk FX2 Tape Sim plugin.
Maybe I’ll switch to Kong – maybe I’ll buy some more loops! I have just scratched the surface. The quest continues!
Additions:
Further research has uncovered the following:
Sampling CDs – Clyde Stubblefield, the Funky Drummer, remastered
This Premier kit from Drumdrops sounds pretty funky to me:
The Loop Loft do a comprehensive range of Funk midi files and loops – for example:
Click Here for some great freebies at The Loop Loft!
Disclosure: If you decide to purchase from The Loop Loft using one of this site’s (affiliate) links, I will receive a commission payment at no extra cost to you. I am a very happy customer of The Loop Loft and own a selection of their midi and audio loop products – I can confidently recommend these products to you as being both of the highest quality and also great value for money.
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Five Funky Drummers!
Check out five of the greatest funk drummers of all time here (external link):
http://www.acertaingroove.com/the-5-greatest-funk-drummers-of-all-time-in-my-opinion/
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