Producer and DJ Kenny Beats has opened up about his go-to studio gear and the importance of “a little bit of clipping” in creating his signature drum sounds.
Appearing on a recent episode of the Tape Notes Podcast along with IDLES’ Mark Bowen, Beats dives into his creative process and the secret to getting snares that are “bright” yet have “so much weight”.
“I’m always fighting against people in hip hop who are clipping their drums, whether they know it or not sometimes,” the producer says. “Now, obviously, people are doing it on purpose. But the way FL [Studio] sounded for years, it has a certain ceiling to it. So drums in FL have this kind of clipped thing to it.”
“It became a really big sound in hip hop because of Metro Boomin and other huge producers. And for me, even when I go to a kit recorded with 10 mics or whatever, a bit of clipping or a bit of stock Ableton saturation and things like that, give it a different… snappiness and the punch that you feel like you don’t get sometimes from when you listen to a close mic on a drum kit and you’re like, this sounds nothing like a sick trap snare or whatever.”
He continues: “A little bit of clipping for me really is the thing where I think people hear drums that I do that are live instruments or live recorded drums, and they go ‘wow this really hits’ like on a rap song – it’s clipping.”
Beats adds that he really likes Venn Audio’s V-Clip plugin and that “I’m an Ableton guy so I really like the Ableton stock saturator and just engage soft clip.”
“Put that on your drums right now and tell me it doesn’t make a difference — it’s unreal.”
Elsewhere, the producer also shares his love for using vintage Altec EQs in his music, saying: “My drums are punching way better in this one song than anywhere else and it was this EQ”.
