I like to mix in foley sounds with my drums
What do you mean by mixing it with your drums? Do you layer hard impacts for transients?
no I literally mix sounds in, for example a clap ill layer with sounds of pencils hitting eachother and bags getting squished. Adds great high end and texture. Usually I process the hell out of the sound and run it through grain delays and reverbs. I like adding some vinyl or grainy sounds to the high end of my kick
If anyone is looking for some great examples of foley sounds adding atmospheric texture and being used as percussive elements, check out these songs:
Lapalux - Moments
https://soundcloud.com/brainfeeder/lapalux-moments-featuring-py The subtle use of vinyl crackle in the background, maybe w/ some added delay or minor distortion, adds believable depth and character. The drums sound really organic and full (considering they're mostly stock 808s) because he included little mechanical whirrs and clicks that fill up space, as well as a woodblock-y sound and a really jarring kickass THUD (I'm guessing it's like a water barrel or something) that totally makes the track.
Baths - ♥
https://youtu.be/YaWnEjHC8cM While he's not actually using "foley sounds", Baths combines a lot of different drum sounds--especially noises like the sticks sliding across a drum head, or the sounds accidentally made in between hits--from various acoustic kits, then pans them subtly to create a sort of patchwork-feeling rhythm. It has the found-sound vibe to it and is really effective in giving the track a specific feeling that couldn't have been accomplished by only using polished drum samples.
Flying Lotus - Coronus the Terminator
https://youtu.be/sul_sk397dw In the beginning he uses a field recording of some kind of metal being struck. There's lots of quiet air and vinyl sounds in the background, probably highpassed and with some phasers on them. The coolest part, though, is how many cool little sounds flylo throws in all over the song. There are cymbal vibrations, little scratching noises, scrapes, bells, the list goes on. Really effective atmosphere-building and groove-establishing on his part.
Anyway, yeah. Foley is unbelievably useful for layering with percussion and atmospheric sounds, if not pretty much any element of a track. Hope these examples can be useful references for anyone unsure of how to go about adding found sounds to their music.
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thx so much for the tip! will definitely be grabbing these.
