Prismatik Drums 2

Traditionally, boom bap drums have been one-shots taken from vinyl or drum machines.

Whether it’s the epic drum break Funky Drummer by James Brown performed by Clyde Stubblefield or the Melvin Bliss standard Synthetic Substitution, snares, hats, and kicks have been used in countless classics. There is no doubt in my mind that those signature drum sounds are an essential part of Boom Bap’s sound identity. A Skull Snaps “It’s A New Day” snare brings back memories of happy events, parties, barbecues, and funky freestyle sessions with the homies. My goal with Prismatik Drums was to deliver these same drum one-shots but with a focus on 70s and 60s sound textures. There is tape saturation, hiss, vintage tube heat, vinyl crackles, noise, compression, and vintage gear distortion, as well as much more intricate sonic character. By layering and gluing these different sounds, I created modified versions of these original one-shots. The authentic Boom Bap drums have been given new life using hall reverbs, echo chambers, plates, lush string room tones, bit crushing, filtering, distortion, EQ’ing, compression, space exploration, and more. Take a listen to the demo and decide for yourself. The drums were rebuilt, layered, and processed by Alpha Centori. There are more than 370 one-shots in this drum kit, including kicks, snares, hi-hats, open hats, loops, bongos, tambourines, drum fills, and sound effects. All files are in universal WAV format with a 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16-bit resolution.