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Here are some percussion tricks I've learned over several years the hard way. These all contribute to my style and sound and might or might not work for others so keep that in mind and don't try to complain or argue.  It's up to you if you want to try or follow these. Also I'm only talking about the usual trance beat at around 135-140bpm here.
Here is a short example to show you what kind of beat I'm talking about. This was made yeasterday using some of the tricks I'm goin to write about. (Not sure if the clip is the right one or works...can't check here at work)
Click
So here are some tips..
- Don't allow hihats/claps/snares/etc to have a clear resonant frequency. Listen carefully to the samples, pitch them up and down, and if there is a distinct tone resonating, don't use it. It will only mess with the melodic elements on the tune. You want your hihats/claps/snares to have frequency spectrum close to noise. Some shakers work great as the offbeat hihat and they usually have a pleasant frequency spectrum.
- Never have multiple sharp attacks at once. If your bassdrum has a nice snap to it, have a smooth and/or slow attack on the clap. Same thing with the hihats, have the closed one sharp and short, and the open hihat more like a 'whoosh'. You can also use fast limiter/compressor on the sounds individually to get rid of annoying attacks.
- You want your open hihat and clap to work together. Listen to them isolated. They should sound somewhat similar, interacting with each other. I like to have them about the same length too. Treat them as a pair.
- Never use too short samples with their ends cut off. There are sadly LOTS of these on most sample cd's. If you absolutely must use one, make a nice loop at the end using crossfade so it's not too obvious.
- Leave LOTS OF SPACE on the mix! I usually have highpass on the hihats with ridiculously high frequency. They sound silly on their own but great on the full tune. The clap can work even on as high frequencies as the hihats, or a bit lower.
- Don't use bass drums with long dirty decay on the higher frequencies. A nice smooth reverb tail-like decay on the initial snap/click can work sometimes but generally you want just the initial 'snap' and then 'BOOoom'. The lower frequencies should fade off smoothly, without any additional 'ooOOMPH's at the end. Though those bass drums can be used if the 'ooOOMPH' falls exactly on the offbeat, but usually it doesn't. Listen to the bassdrum soloed, it shouldn't create any sense of a rhythm alone other than the 1/4 beat.
- Have something on every 1/16 note! Better yet if that something is different on each note. Use shakers, closed hihats (at least two or three alternating) or other percussion to fill the beat. Layering these additional elements can bring fullness to the sound but one at a time is often enough, don't get too crazy with layering.
- I don't like ready made loops anymore. I used to use them but they are a bitch to work with. A simple shaker or percussion loop might be ok, but you still have to make sure the timing is right and the velocities and frequencies on the loop fit your beat.
- Don't use reverb on your basic claps and hihats, at least before your track has all the elements in place. Use as little effects as possible and make the beat sound good with the individual sounds volume envelopes.
- On the other hand, a nice smooth reverb on a drum sound that happens once on every measure at most sounds great, especially at the beginning of the tune when there are not many elements playing. Use some clap/click for this and place the sound carefully to create interest on the beat.
- Crash can use some reverb/ping-pong delay too. Use sidechain compressor controlled by the bassdrum (and maybe a slow filter sweeping up and down too) on the crash's reverb for the classic trance effect.
- Don't allow the drums to play too long. Have the claps and open hihat cut off at least before the next bassdrum hits. The clap can be cut on the next open hihat too if they're similar enough.
- The bassdrum is the king! Don't let anything mess with its territory. Cut off the low frequencies on all the other drums.
- Don't make the variations on the beat (percussion/hihats/etc) too long or too short either. Drum beat that repeats every measure or even twice/measure is good. You can then add some variations for example on every fourth measure to keep it interesting.
Here are some that I could think of right now. If anyone finds these useful I might write more about drum sounds later. 
Last edited by Mikk on Apr-20-2007 at 09:49
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I was so looking forward to looking out the mansion window at all the little people who never figured it out suffering...darn..Oh well...
