

That doesn’t mean it has to be a custom or signature series sample. There are literally thousands of samples to choose from. The Roland TR-808 drum machine is one of the most sampled instruments of all time. Choose the Right Sampleīefore you apply any signal processing, the most important part of mixing great-sounding 808s is starting with the right sample. That’s why we put together this simple step-by-step guide to mixing 808s that bang. Or they can sound boomy and muddy, making it difficult to hear the vocals.Ī great-sounding 808 is what separates the amateurs from the GOATs in hip hop. When mixed properly, 808s can make your song feel big and powerful.īut when mixed poorly, 808s can sound weak and thin, making your track sound lame. They pack a powerful punch with tons of low-end and plenty of sustain.

(We’ll cover that feature more in-depth in a future article.The 808 kick drum sample is one of the most fundamental elements of modern hip hop. Lastly, Graph Mode offers the ability to input MIDI notes in real time or on the Graph. This allows you to accomplish much wide pitch-shifts (beyond +/- 12 semitones as Auto Mode is limited to), without having “chipmunk” or “monster” sounding vocals at the high and low ends, respectively. Additionally, Graph Mode features advanced formant correction tools (including Antares’ throat-modeling technology). Note that Graph Mode has a separate control for retuning, so you’ll need to set that control to “0” again to get the most pronounced effect. It might not be exactly what you want on the first attempt, but it’s definitely a pronounced effect showing what you have to work with. In the second repetition in the audio clip above, you can hear that the notes are a bit all over the place, and we’ve also done a bit of time stretching (another Graph Mode feature).

The best way to get to know Graph Mode is to experiment-it’s a great feature for setting things a bit wild.
