Creating a Performance Kit, Pt 3 - Adding Drums

In this part of the Performance Kit series, I show some ideas on how to add drums to your group.

Now that all of the melodic content is finished, it’s time to add some drums. This is a relatively simple process – find the samples you want to use, bring them into Maschine, and then add them to the group.

Although it is viable to import the samples right into your performance kit, I talk about some techniques to help get the exact sound you’re looking for. For example, I layer three different sounds to create a wide, punchy snare. Using pad link, the mixer, and Maschine’s internal effects, I create a tailor-made snare and bring it into the performance kit.

Experiment with effects on your drum samples. I use reverb to make sure all the samples are in a coherent acoustic space. Other common effects are compression, EQ, saturation, and delay.

The process of adding drums can be as simple or complex as you make it. Once you have your samples loaded up, we are almost finished with the kit. In the next and final part of the series, I’ll show some mixing ideas and share some tips on playing the kit live.

Thanks for watching!