sampled drums

[brism]

Hello fellow experts:

I am a simpleton when it comes to recording music. I recently bought an MPC-2000 and a tape recorder. Now, I notice when I sample sounds(hi-hat, snare, kick) to construct a drum set they tend not to sound right. The problem is what the drums don't do. After taping a song on tape, I notice on close examination of the drums that they don't surround my ears..so to say. It's like when the snare hits, it doesn't come from the center and surround my ears. It just stays in the center, which produces a sound that just doesn't mix, or encompass with my music. See, I only have this problem with my drums because the sounds I use for music aren't produced by me, they come from sample cds. But, my drums are made by yours truly. I sample the drum sounds from a non-professional type drum cd. In summary, I want to sample these drum sounds and make them sound professional...(a drum sound that surrounds the ear) Please tell me how to do this, so I can bang on my MPC and continue the process of making unsoundly music that I happen to like.
Thanks

 

[Shailat]

I understand that you are using a Cd to build your kit. Does this sample have
Room ambience ?.
Remember - a real kit has the snare picked up by several mics at the same time like overheads and even more, as well as room ambience.

You can try to record your sample via a mic by playing it through an amp.

You can also add reverb (or two) on the snare.
Try a plate or a bright hall or a small room. Make sure the reverb is set on a short decay time (under 1/2 a sec.). This will add early reflections to your snare.
Remember - the snare you hear from a kit has room anbience and the reflections
don't all hit you from the center of the stereo image.

From here you can try to add a bigger reverb or try with a single reverb only, to acheive the sound you want.

This is the basics. If you want a more complicated sound you can change the parameters in the reverb unit as well as play with the reverb return to move
the snare or it's reflections around the room.

 

[Prism]

...My evil twin?

Hmmm...

brism

...Prism.

?

Could there be a connection?

Isaiah