In the EDM Scene right now, there is no one hotter than ISOxo. He has been killing the scene, and one of his signature sounds is his metallic, stadium shattering snare. Here is a tutorial to creating that sounds and incorporating it in your music.
It's all About the Layers
The ISO snare has a sharp transient, a thick body, and a TONAL layer that brings it all together. To achieve this, you can get 3 different snare that individually have those aspects.
- Transient Layer: Dubstep snares are good for this. Packs recommended on splice with good dubstep snares include (Leotrix, Virual Riot, Eliminate)
- Body Layer: Layer with a clap, and crossfade it in vs the transient layer so it does not phase out the initial transient of the transient layer (you can easily do this on fl or ableton)
-Tonal Layer: This is where the fun happens. You can really get creative here. Things can work for your tonal layer are :short sine wave (yes, a sine wave), a pot sample, any metallic/foley sample with tone. Then add a short reverb to it and mix it in with the other layers :).
Compression and ReSampling
Now you can route all the layers to a bus and apply saturation, compression, and other other technique you see fit to make your snare really POP and sound fat. This is the fun part. I suggest the below plugins for saturation and compression.
Infiltrator 2 - Devious Machines
OTT by Xfer Records - Plugins (VST, AU) | Splice
FabFilter Saturn 2 - Saturation and Distortion Plug-In
Once you get to a state where you are happy with your snare, i suggest bouncing it to a wav form. This way you can save it to your own local folder so you can use it in the future. And more importantly, now you can RESAMPLE the snare, making it longer, shorter, more pitched up or down. The possibilities are endless
Once you're satisfied with the tuning, give your IsoXO snare drum a test run. Play various beats and styles to explore the drum's capabilities. You'll be amazed by the enhanced sound quality and responsiveness that the layered IsoXO snare design offers.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You've successfully built your own IsoXO snare drum. Now, it's time to unleash your creativity and take your SNARES to the next level. Below is an IsoXO inspired sample pack we have created with some hard hitting snares, and a tutorial to help you shape your own IsoXO snare :). Happy Producing!
MOTION - ISOxo, Sable Valley, Inspired Sample Pack – SoVerb Sounds
1 comment
Helpful af, thanks. That tonal layer is everything