Need Suggestions for Making Drum Loops More Punchy

I use Native Instruments' "Battery 3" plugin for drums.
On the bass drum and snare track I insert the Steinberg WaveLab "puncher" effect, which kinda does what the name suggests

A subtle amount of reverb on the snare and hi-hat does the trick for me, too.

And if I'm really crazy ( ) I use a Maximizer on all drum elements, bumping up the threshold.

I don't know about "George Pendercast" drum loops, but like any drum sampler I know it should have velocity and humanize features. Try messing with that as well, if you haven't already.

Also, you do have the various drum elements routed to separate output channels and panned individually, right?

Kind regards

I've recently started using the Waves TransX plugin, mostly on drums. By exaggerating transients, it adds punch and definition to snares, kick and toms. Overdone, it makes them sound "ticky", but when used appropriately it can definitely liven a drum track. I've only used it on live tracks, but I have to imagine it would work just as well on canned loops.

A similar approach would be to use a transient/envelope shaper. You might take a look at Stillwell's Transient Monster, which looks interesting but I haven't actually tried it yet. Another one on my list to test drive is the Schaak Audio Transient Shaper. There's also the old standby Dominion from DigitalFishPhones, which isn't bad for a freebie. 


And of course, there's the Transient Shaper plugin that comes bundled with SONAR; the best you can say about that one is you already have it.

Another trick for livening drums is parallel distortion. My favorite plugin for that is D16's Redopter (although I'd love to have FabFilter's Saturn if it wasn't so expensive) but I've also used Guitar Rig and Voxengo Boogex (a freebie). I usually run just snare and toms to a distortion bus. If your loops can't be split out into individual instruments it'll still work but you'll have to be more conservative with your settings because distortion can make bass drums sound thin and cymbals grainy. But on snares and toms, it works great. Try automating the distortion bus to bring up the distortion on the chorus, and lower it on verses. It's also an interesting effect for handclaps, congas and other percussion.


A less-intense version of distortion is a harmonic exciter. I've used the one in Ozone to good effect on drums. Unlike distortion plugins, exciters can actually help cymbals. I haven't had any luck with the one that comes bundled with SONAR.

Gated reverb is a long-established method for making drums sound fatter. No, I'm not talking about that 80's style gated 'verb that the hair bands used. Ugh. But dial it back, and it subtly fattens hits without calling attention to itself.

Delays are another useful effect, primarily on snares. Keep them subtle and sync them to tempo.

Depending on your style, heavy compression can help a drum track. Usually, it's used to make drums sound thicker, but in your case you probably want to slow the attack to emphasize transients. You're really doing the same thing as a transient shaper, just with less finesse. Try the free LoudMax limiter on drum tracks. It won't liven dull drums, but it will make them more intense.

Give the SONAR-bundled Percussion Strip a try. It has most of the effects you'll need in one convenient plugin. Personally, I've not had a lot of success with it, but maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance.

And of course don't forget EQ. If you have an equalizer that does Mid/Side processing, try boosting the highs on the sides. That will tend to bring out the transients on ride cymbals.

To make your drums more punchier, and I've only skimmed the posts, so I'm guessing you also mean a bit 'beefier', I'd personally suggest the following...


Parallel Compression.

Create a duplicate of your drum channel/bus.

1st Channel - you can leave this one completely dry, or you could apply snap compression, or use a transient shaper to increase the peak/attack (Waves has a cool one, I think sonar has one too?), snap compression; make the peaks cut through the attack.

Duplicate channel - overly limit/compress them, squash them up proper. OR leave your original signal dry, and apply a transient shaper to this channel.

Blend the duplicate with the original. You can REALLY beef up drums this way.


One of my last tracks, the synths were sounding rich n thick, the drums just sounded a bit lacklustre, so I did the above (Snap + Squashed compression) and it really brought my drums forward in the mix with some good weight and punch.


Love.