Drum Loops & Breaks: What They Are And Where To Find The Best (Free & Paid)

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• What are drum loops and breaks
• How to sample drums
• 3 ways to use drum breaks
• How to program drums
• FAQ about drum samples
• Drum machines, hardware & VST plugins
• Tracklib's drum library
• Final thoughts

Looping

This is the most well-known use of the drum break. The producer simply takes a few bars from a drum break or isolated percussion track and loops them to form the beat. In many cases, the producer will adjust the tempo of the beat to attain a different feel. This process is most commonly associated with early hip-hop and was initially popular due to its use at block parties.

Chopping

Chopping is the process of cutting up a drum sample, mapping it to a drum machine or MIDI keyboard, and rearranging it. For example, a producer might love the sound of the drums on an old funk record but the overall drum pattern doesn’t fit a hip-hop style. In order to get around this barrier, the producer will isolate the individual elements of the drumbeat and play them to their liking. Now the producer has the authentic sound, timbre, and tone of the original drum recording but can use those sounds in a totally unique way.

Though this has often been achieved using drum sequencers, nowadays there are plenty of plugins (stock and third-party) that can do the trick. For example, along with the included sampler plugins of most DAWs, there are also free, third-party plugins like Momentum that are enormously useful.

Deconstruction

Though this is not a technical term, it’s worth remembering that with modern technology, producers are almost limitless in their abilities to mold sounds and samples. In other words, don’t be afraid to manipulate drum samples into altogether unrecognizable sounds. This technique, in which one uses effects and editing techniques to twist the sound, can also help avoid any copyright claims. That being said, for both legal and ethical reasons, we’d still recommend that you clear the sample.

Despite the connotation of tech jargon, drum programming simply refers to the producer’s arrangement of a drum pattern. In other words, once the individual drum elements have been mapped to a MIDI interface (this could be a standard MIDI keyboard or a drum machine), the producer must now decide how these sounds are organized (i.e. the placement of the kick, the quantization of the snare, the strength of the hi-hat).

Sometimes this process can be instinctive with the producer “playing” the drum machine and seeing what works. Alternatively, it can be a more clinical effort in which the producer places each note with their mouse on their DAW’s piano roll.

In addition, the programming will differ between genres. Old-school boom-bap beats tend to be simpler with an aggressive, unpolished sound. The beats of J Dilla or Madlib are characterized by a looser feel, in part due to an intentional lack of quantization. Modern trap beats, on the other hand, are more rigid, defined by skittering, synthetic-sounding drums.

How to Improve Your Drum Sound?

Improving your drum sound can be a detailed, multifaceted process. One might want to “fatten” the snare by increasing the low-end, or by applying some light compression. If your sound is a bit lifeless, one can always add some reverb or a small delay for a bit more depth. Finally, don’t be afraid to change the pitch and tempo of the drums.

All in all, using a variety of plugins (compressors, reverbs, filters, echos, EQs, etc.) and editing techniques, it’s worth experimenting with your drum sound until it feels right to you. However, keep in mind that there is no tried and true way to achieve the “best” drum sound.

How to Isolate Drums From A Song?

At this point, one might wonder what to do if you love the drums on a track but there is no break in which the drums are isolated. There are several ways to go about this.

Firstly, one can use software like LALAL.AI or DeMIX Pro to digitally isolate the drum track. Though this can be effective, occasionally the final audio download will be imperfect and slightly warped.

Alternatively, you could simply recreate the drum beat yourself using an actual drum set or a virtual instrument. Though this method risks losing the specific drum sound from the original recording, it allows the producer to imitate the drum pattern whilst avoiding any potential copyright issues.

Finally, one could attempt to track down the original stems or multitracks of the recording. Check out some of our multitracks below:

Is it Legal to Sample Drums?

This is a tricky issue with several key caveats. Firstly, providing you have paid for the download of the track, sampling is only illegal if you are making a profit from the use of that sample or sharing it in any public forums. In other words, if you are sampling drums in your beats and not sharing them anywhere, there is no need to worry about copyright or clearance. However, if you are planning on making a profit through the beats (i.e. selling them, earning streaming revenue, or using them for commercial activities), it’s always advisable to seek out the owner of the copyright and ask permission to use. However, if you don’t want the hassle of clearing your samples, you can always browse through Tracklib’s library of songs and sounds that are easy to clear through the platform.

Where to Find Drum Samples?

As for the question of where to find drum samples, there is a fairly straightforward answer. There are sampleable drums in any song with a drum beat. Whether you’ve found a great break on a rare, dusty record or you’ve heard an amazing, vintage drum sound on YouTube, there are endless undiscovered gems for producers to work with. That being said, rather than the time-consuming task of listening through records until you find something you like, one might prefer to have these samples stored in one place, organized in a vast library of high-quality, licensed tracks.