How to Chop Breaks like the Crane - Source Direct

This vid kind of came out of nowhere after one of my students asked me about recreating the breaks from this classic track.🥷
Really happy with the result and think I got really close to the original! Enjoy :)
Thanks to everyone for sticking with me so far & especially to my Patreon subscribers! I love making these videos and I'm desperate to do this full time so I really appreciate it.✌️& ❤️
⭐️ Jungle Sample Pack - www.groovingbiz.co.uk/90drumfunk
⭐️ Patreon - / groovining
- - - Plugins - - -
⭐️ SIE-Q - www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
⭐️ RX950 - www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
⭐️ Townhouse Bus Compressor - www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
⭐️ FabFilter Pro-Q 3 - www.pluginboutique.com/produc...
- - - Chapters - - -
Intro: (00:00)
Truncate The Break: (00:21)
Mono The Break: (00:44)
Warp The Break: (01:15)
Slicing & Sampler Settings: (01:41)
Crane Dropping at Rupture 2013: (02:25)
Programming The First 4 Bars: (02:50)
Programming The Second 4 Bars: (04:20)
Full Drum Pattern Demo: (05:36)
Emulating the Signal Path: (05:54)
Channel Strip EQ: (06:10)
Pro Q for Resonance Boost: (07:25)
RX950: (08:24)
Townhouse Buss Compressor: (09:28)
Outro: (10:14)
My Version vs Source Direct: (10:36)

[@PersephoneSkye_]

Source Direct is one of my biggest inspirations and The Crane is a MONSTER tune!

[@groovining]

I agree Source Direct were so talented at 19 jeez! Legends 😊✌️

[@joelcarloaymat]

Superb as always

[@groovining]

Cheers brother! :) ✌

[@QWLMusic]

Pure gravy! Great video, G!

[@groovining]

Cheers Troy, thought i would sneak another Source Direct one in! :)

[@deeeksidesound2368]

Wicked! Thank you for sharing these methods, these are really helpful.

[@groovining]

Pleasure mate! Cheers for the comments - glad you found this one useful :) ✌

[@droidattack3092]

Love seeing all the Source Direct tutorials, great work Sir

[@groovining]

Cheers droid attack! This one a little extra one I've slipped in. Such a great tune so was worth giving the break a crack :)✌

[@richrobertsuk]

@groovining your's sounds better in my opinion, the pop on the snare sounds great!

[@ferguson8462]

Great video dude! Keeping me inspired! Jim and Phil were musical geniuses, especially at their young age.

[@groovining]

Thanks mate, Source Direct inspired the shit out of me to make an 8 part series on them so i'm happy to pass some of that on to you :) They were so young but so talented, just a couple of teenagers soming loads of green 🍁💨 making stone cold bangers! 🔥

[@crashdnb]

DOPE AND VERY HELPFULL VIDEO AGAIN!!👍

[@groovining]

Thanks mate. Was happy with this one :) It's was quite a intresting processing chain, espeically the EQ was more extreme than people probably usually go for! ✌

[@baraghy3627]

quality through the ffucking roof m8 biggg up!

[@groovining]

Cheers Brother! Been trying to level up my animations & editing to create more hype Jungle content! :) ✌

[@bryanl1524]

Great Videos! The left and right signal swap is one of my first steps for any stereo recorded acoustic sample... Most of the time it's choosing between snap/pop and ambience/room when deciding on the left or rightl. Even if the summed stereo sample sounds good I'll still check left and right just to see if one or the other fits a little better in the track.

[@groovining]

Yea for sure! With the plugins BX control you can sum the entire signal and then pan left and right to take for instance 80/20 of each side. Its really handy! :) ✌️

[@ferguson8462]

I have the same Mackie 8bus 32.8 mixer they had - the 'upper' mid control has a bandwidth octave parameter knob. This definitely can help give more control in those upper frequencies and give some unique results.

[@groovining]

Ah interesting! I couldn't find any cool quality pictures of the 32.8 so I had to go off a 1604. That could be how there getting the snare to whack so hard. Similar to how I used the pro-Q. Maybe the Snare on its own channel :) ✌️

[@bigjerkface78]

Fire vid bro as usual… try dynamic eq for those resonances. I find it gives a better punch and provides a cleaner break. Keep up the excellent work!

[@groovining]

Thanks mate! Yes this is a great tip. It would definitely sound a bit cleaner and more musical with a dynamic EQ as the boosts would mainly happen when the snare hits and not so much on the other hits. :)

[@Artersa]

Big up on showcasing the processing. I forget to my process my drums when I get so focused on arranging and making cool little patterns 😝

[@groovining]

Cheers bro! Haha i'm often the same. One thing I try and do is process the amen in a separate project before I even start. Just a bit of EQ, situation. Maybe some layering. I think it helps to focus when your not getting excited about all the other elements :)

[@paro80]

thank you so much!

[@groovining]

Cheers mate - glad you enjoyed :)

[@Cybercowboy_69]

great video. maybe the timbre difference in their break is also coming from them selecting a brighter version of the amen in the first place. loving the new visual style btw. cheers

[@groovining]

Thanks so much mate - appreciate that. Been putting a lot of work in the editing/animations recently. Haha yes I see you edited this and your correct that the break is actually mainly a different timbre and not pitched up. It sounds a bit brighter and more metallic maybe which makes you think its pitched but I tested it a heap. It could have maybe 15 cents or something just notching it up a little but its definitely not sped up like the old school style breaks at 3st 50cents or whatever it is :)

[@wietzejohanneskrikke1910]

The Source Direct sample is clearly pitched up.

[@groovining]

Yes! my sample is -7 from theirs. I was mainly focussing on the break for the tutorial and just put that sample in to give a better reference but It would have been better to get that bang on also. I think a few people are hearing that the Amen sounds at a different pitch when its actually the sample like you said. :)✌

[@farben_]

This track in particular has a ton of effects and filtering on the breaks, my favorite part is that section where they triggered the same sample doubled, except one of them was moved forward or backwards to give that flanged effect, sounds simple but it was programmed very intricately.

[@groovining]

Yea there's lots of cool little tricks and techniques happening in there! Can definitely hear flanging and delay throws ✌️🥷

[@mechabubba]

nice

[@autistikicecream]

Thank you for an awesome video! ✨✨✨ I was trying to figure out the effects chain for my breaks lately and this tutorial + your advice on discord is a huge help! Also I got rx950 right after watching your video and this plugin is amazing! especially the brilliance control! I wonder why they hid it under the hood...

[@groovining]

Cheers mate - glad you enjoyed the vid & are finding the discord useful ❤:) RX950 is a great plugin! yea for sure I often just ping the Bandwidth control all the way to the top to add a bit of brilliance and test how the sample sounds a bit brighter :)

[@autistikicecream]

@@groovining nice! for now I tried to low-pass a sample first and then add some brilliance, that way it remains bright, but it gives a special, very pleasing character to the high end!

[@groovining]

This is a cool idea. You can get the old-school sound by removing the bright digital tops with the Filter but then add a bit back in after :)

[@viktorvigh4513]

Wow ❤

[@groovining]

Glad you enjoyed this one bro! ❤️

[@viktorvigh4513]

​@@groovining Great episode as always! What they did back in the day is still visionary and futuristic now. Not only the drum programming but the sound design, those tense arrangements and the atmosphere is outstanding in the SD tracks. And there is a wide variety in their tunes. Jim described how he made the Black Rose bass - I couldn't recreate it and I've tried for about a week lol.

[@groovining]

Thanks dude, Ah interesiting - have you got a link to the article where he is talking about it? Might inspire me for a new vid!

[@MrOuija-rr8kq]

New Dreamcast sounds just dropped 2:38

[@groovining]

Haha it does actually sound pretty similar too :)

[@use0fweapons]

Seen a fair amount of videos about chopping the amen, first video I've seen that mentions the differences in the left and right channels!

[@groovining]

Yes! always check the channels. There is almost always 1 that is superior that the other. You can always sum them both also :) ✌️

[@use0fweapons]

@@groovining that's probably what happened when I took the amen over to my MPC, sounded fine but I have a feeling trying the solo channels will have a sick result. Thank you for mentioning it in this video! Look forward to watching more of your channel

[@groovining]

All good mate. Happy to help! Keep well :) ✌@@use0fweapons

[@GruffBillyGoat]

If you mainly using those three hits (kick, snare, crash) and letting them roll, what's all the other slices for?

[@groovining]

That is true. But its good practise to do all the hits, save the break away. I often use lots of the other slices to give me nice variations in the hits of the Amen. Just for this example I didn't actually need any others but I though I might :)✌

[@Kontekst]

it never occured to me that you don't have to put a slice everywhere - and instead use the slices as "starting points" in the sample that keep playing for how long you want. is there a way to make FL Slicer do this in FL Studio?

[@groovining]

This option will be avaliable in every decent sampler. To keep the sample playing for how long you hold the note down its often called 'gate mode' or turn off 'one-shot mode'. The next one is to let the slice play through each other. In Ableton is called 'thru' mode. In Logic its 'play to the end'. I don't use fl slicer as such but i'm sure its possible :)

[@AlexYard-wm2yg]

sick video though

[@groovining]

Cheers bro! glad you enjoyed. Source Direct are Legends 😊✌️

[@thegroove2000]

MAN YOUR A RENOISE G

[@groovining]

I've been practising 🥷 :)

[@peterwayne8532]

Good how old is the dnb?? Sounds good but the times changes today other soundwaves move the world

[@groovining]

Started in 1992 ish - I agree the sound has evolved a lot since those days but to many it's got worst - more modern & clinical, robotic, skreetchy, and aggressive. I think a lot can be learned from looking back at how it was done then. For myself, this is the golden ear of Jungle & DnB and it's never been done better. 😊✌️ kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3rQhKh-i9CefM0

[@radiofloyd2359]

Sounds to me like the source direct drums are pitched. Excellent tutorial regardless, though! It's quite difficult to match the tones of older jungle drums, I've found.

[@groovining]

Thanks mate. I did test the Amen quite a fair bit and its mainly just a different tone in the Amen which was hard to properly capture. More metallic and a little brighter but it could also have +15 or so in the fine tune. Your right though, it is very difficult to get things bang on when you try to recreate someone's work like this. I think they almost certainly started with a different source amen but I'm happy with my result :) ✌

[@jonicasino]

Best part of 30 years n I'm still trying to recreate SD breaks ha! As usual great video...keep them coming. 👍 👍 Any chance in the future you could do a video on how PFM did his amens like on his remix of Free La Funk, its only a suggestion. 👍👍

[@groovining]

Thanks Jonicasino! Yea they've managed to get a great tone and energy in their Amens. You can clearly hear how far away it is from the original amen sound. PFM - Free La Fun is a tune, great suggestion! I'm slightly moving away from these breakdowns for a month or two as I have a backlog of video's im desperate to make but I'll stick it on my list for the future! Cheers :) ✌️

[@user-xt8km1dh4q]

Production level of these vids is impressive. 🦾

[@groovining]

Thanks dude, appreciate thtat! I put a lot of work into all the editing/animations so hopefully it pays off! :) ✌️

[@kang1527]

Your break is pitched perhaps a semitone lower than the Source Direct original. Not necessarily a bad thing, as it makes for a good 'call and response' effect.

[@groovining]

Yea its interesting, a few people said this so I went and checked. It could easily be 10/20 cents or so different but its only a small amount. A lot of the tonal differences are actually in the processing of the break which are making it sound that way. ✌️😊

[@mas3974]

which sampler/sequerncer is this?

[@groovining]

Renoise :)

[@mas3974]

@@groovining Thought it was. Thanks. Can you re wire it with Logic to work together?

[@groovining]

Yea - Rewire still works with Logic in Rosetta mode.

[@focusdecorating3637]

They never used an S950, so I am not convinced by that plugin you,ve used for this (although I can see why you used it to lower bandwidth). Also, your smashing all the initial transients with a fast attack on the compressor, a slower attack will let those initial transients pass through. On a compressor the attack option is the opposite of other plugins, where a fast attack will work like you are wanting here on them. I think compression on an break that has multiple different hits on it (kick, snare, hat, shuffle) is hugely problematic and complex myself, as the ideal compression settings for one instrument within that break will not be ideal for the other instruments. Plus the compressor will work in different ways for different sounds, for example the kick has much lower frequencies than a snare, so the compressor will be triggered harder by the kick than a snare. Its massively complex when you sit back and think about it. Any idea of what the hardware compressor is btw ? I cant imagine it would have been an expensive one myself. I think its a Behringer Compressor/Gate Mdx1400, I have a Behringer MDX1200 myself (AKA Blackface). I could well be wrong about their compressor though, thats just a guess. But certainly looks like an old Behringer of some sort. Anyway, sorry to sound like a smart arse as these videos are good, I dont see anyone else attempting them, myself included ! Never knew that about the left side being brighter on an Amen, cheers. Im working on a tune atm where I have summed both L+R in Renoise into mono, and I think im going to have to change the samples now to just the Left sided one.

[@groovining]

Hey there, no for sure I think you've raised some great points. The reason I used the S950 is due to them using a Akai s3000 and an Emu EIV as their main samplers. I read in a computer music magazine article that they would quite often resample between the two as they preferred the midi timing on the Akai. I could have used Decimort 2 or Tal DAC but I'm not actually using much of the saturation on the RX950. It's probably coloring the sound a little just going through the plugin but the main purpose of that was to remove some of that high sheen. Its also a great plugin so I enjoy sharing it. The compressor they used was a Behringer Composer - you can see in the Kit list I took from the FM article at 6:02. I tested both with letting the transient through with a slow attack and using a fast attack to clam down on the whole signal and much preferred the result of a fast attack. I'm only doing about -4db of Gr so I'm not slamming the transients too hard. As I had already added a lot of extra transient punch through the SIE EQ brightness + the PRO-Q resonance boost & more brightness, It sounded better controlling the entire signal and just giving it a bit of glue and energy. I also thought it more closely matched Source Directs version when I was referencing between the two. Your certainly correct tho that if you want to add more punch then you would use a slow attack on the compressor. This is usually the best place to start with compressing breaks :) Keep well dude!✌

[@focusdecorating3637]

Thank you for your quick response. The S950 and S3000XL are completely different algorithms on the Analogue to Digital convertors you know. Plus the the s950 is 12-bit and S3000XL16-bit anyway. I can hear the initial transient being smashed though on your A/B with theirs. It defo is making it less impactful and punchy IMO. You do realise your compressor threshold setting is on +4db right ? @@groovining

[@focusdecorating3637]

By the way just changed the sample on Renoise to Left side only and sounds wayyy better, cheers :))) @@groovining

[@groovining]

Now worries! That mono trick is great - learnt that from Paradox :)@@focusdecorating3637

[@focusdecorating3637]

Always wondered how I couldnt quite get it to sound like that, cheers !!! @@groovining

[@cordlesswire]

2:29 MC GRINDAH IN DA HAUS. best mc on the planet. btw, every time i chop a break (i use fl studio, noob i know), i always have to trim the shit out of drum sounds because there always something in the tail. whats the secret? better drum slicer? i watch these, and other, tutorials, and people always have the cleanest shizz coming out of their slicers, but not me. whats the trick? better samples?

[@groovining]

Uhm its hard for me to understand exactly what your saying here. If you follow this technique as closely as you can in FL you will get super clean chops. I do the same technique in all my DAWs from Logic X - Maschine - Digitakt Tal-Drum is great if you looking for a good drum program but FL will definitely have what you need to get this technique down!

[@cordlesswire]

@@groovining yeah, i get the principle and the concept of it. but i always have to cut down the, lets say, snare sound from a loop. either im getting sheeeit loops, which always have either crackle or hum in between sounds and sometimes over the individual sounds, or im too stupid. i think im not, tho. lol. point being, i have a loop from some b oldschool hiphop sample cd. i know how to cut it, set markers etc. BUT. to ge clean sounding individual sounds i have to almost always cut the tails off which leaves me with really tight, meaning short sounding individual samples. catch my drift? i always have to trim down the tail of , e.g. a snare because otherwise it sounds sheeeit. reading what ive written, it could just be i have, or select, sheeeit sample loops. lol. anyways, will check your tutorials on drum sampling again. maybe i missed something. thanks. btw, dont forget that BSE tut. hahahaha. cheers.

[@groovining]

Yea some samples will definitly have a lot of crackle etc in them but I'm rarely having the gate the ends of each hit to get them to fit. You want them to run into each other so that there isn't any digital silence inbetween the hits. I think that often sound even worse than artifacts in the drum hits.

[@cordlesswire]

@@groovining yeah, exactly. i have kick, hihat, snare, fill kick, snare hihat. in that order in a loop. i have to trim, heavily, e.g. first snare because if i dont and i leave its tail (which is in the loop sample) which goes all the way to when fill kick starts, it sounds like sheeit, meaning theres an abrupt cutoff. so i have to cut the snare where fill kick starts, then trim the tail so that the end of the snare tail is fading nicely. catch my drift? i watch you using the ole amen break and f me, ‘scuse my french, all snares, kick, hihats, fill snares and whatnots sound great, like natural sounding tails which, as you said, fill the space nicely. so, out of gajillion loops i have (sample cds of dubious origin, if you har-har-matey catch my drift), maybe 100 of them are clean enough to cut nicely. and its frustrating. as i said ill rewatch the tuts, maybe i missed something.

[@AlexYard-wm2yg]

when I saw the price of the townhouse compressor 🥲

[@groovining]

£29.99? :)

[@randomsaw]

nice