Thomas Clayton
Whether it’s a short and punch 808 kick drum in house music or a long-tailed and booming 808 bass line in trap and hip-hop, the iconic and floor-shaking sound of an 808 synth is the secret sauce to making a dance floor go crazy.
But there’s the problem…
If you’re only conventionally using 808s, you’ll never stand out from the sea of other producers and artists doing the same thing.
But lucky for you, we are here and have curated a dope list of excellent tutorials that will teach you how to break the mold and start using 808s in ways nobody ever would have expected.
Looking For More High-Level Production Tips? We Got You…
Turing An 808 Into A Fierce Growl
A hallmark of getting ‘less from more’ in your productions is finding a way for a single element to serve more than one purpose. Better yet, have one sound morph into something completely different as the track evolves.
This tutorial shows Point Blank Online how to turn a conventional 808 sample into an aggressive growl sound.
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What You’ll Learn In ‘How To Turn An 808 Into A Mid-Range DnB Growl Bass’
- How to build and use simple effects chains of Ableton’s stock distortion plugins to create complex coloration (regardless of the source sound you’re affecting.
- How the poor-quality coloration of Ableton’s Drum Buss compressor can be used to your advantage to create interesting textures in your 808s
- How to attenuate the detailed artifacts in a sample to prove that you actually can ‘polish a turd’ (…despite every other blog telling you that it’s impossible)
Need Saturation, But Can’t Afford Plugins? Check These Out.
A Few Tips On Getting The Most Out Of Your 808s
Choosing the proper sample for the job is 90% of the battle, which is why most producers spend most of their time scrolling through their sample libraries.
The problem for newer producers is that they don’t even know what makes for a good sample in the first place! But this video helps you do just that (along with a few other awesome tricks).
What You’ll Learn In ‘3 SIMPLE Tricks That Will CHANGE How You Use Your 808’
- The most significant qualities to be looking for when selecting your 808 samples
- Recognize how much more professional a track can sound when you swap out a bad 808 and replace it with a high-quality sample.
- Learn why the tails and decays of your 808s are just as crucial as the knocking-like transient of a hard-hitting 808.
Using 808s In Context To Achieve A Powerful Mix
This video elaborates on the previous one in this list. Because even though you have a dope-sounding 808 sample, that doesn’t always mean it’s the right one for the rest of the track.
Throughout these 20 rapid-fire tips, the homie Gunoww drops profound knowledge about how to select, mix, and play 808s so they sound at home on the track.
What You’ll Learn In ‘How to Mix your 808s – FL Studio 20 Quick Tips
- Why saturation is the best-kept secret of having your 808s blend into the mix.
- How listening to 808s in isolation is a recipe for disaster and how you should always listen to how it’s hitting in the context of the whole mix.
- How playing with panning is a hidden section to add insane flair to your 808 slides.
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