Page 1 of 2

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2001 6:24 am
by Looter
How do i program old-sckool dancehall drum riddims into my drum machine? I like the sound of the early drum machines used in 80s dancehall (old barrington levy, dennis brown, gregory issacs, etc). at least i think its from a drum synth..

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2001 8:44 am
by DC
Yes it's an old Kawai drum machine i think it's called the kawai 5R orso

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2001 3:02 am
by Looter
Is there one drum machine that's THE dancehall drum machine, like the way the 808 is for rap?

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2001 9:47 am
by dubcreator
Yep that's the one... but it's all in the typical. <BR>snare/rim that is used for dancehall.

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2001 8:09 pm
by interruptor
I think the machine DC is referring to is the KAWAI R-50. <BR>I didn't find any other Kawai drum with a name closer to <BR>"5R". You can find a picture and samples on this <BR><A HREF=" http://naoki.hirotaka.co.jp/R_box/R50/R50.htm">page</A>. <BR>I listened to these samples but have to say that none <BR>of them reminded me of the typical "ping pong" like <BR>rim shot that was heard on many songs in the late eighties <BR>and early nineties &#40;especially on Steely & Cleevie / <BR>Jammy's productions&#41;. After searching through my records for <BR>a few hours I managed to rip a good example of what I mean <BR>from the instrumental version of Frankie Paul's <BR>"I want to rock": <BR><A HREF="http://www.interruptor.ch/audio/wannarokk_snr.wav"> click here &#40;WAV-file 16bit, 44kHz&#41;</A> and have fun with the sample :-&#41; <BR> <BR>Does anybody know which drum machine Steely & Clevie were <BR>using at that time? <BR> <BR>peace <BR>The Interruptor

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2001 9:28 pm
by Pete Walsall
Does anyone know what drum machine the Bush Chemists use?

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2002 7:21 am
by Massai
I don't know about the kawai R50 being THE drum machine for 80s danchall! I do know that Steely n Cleavie use to use a Yamama RX5, Roland R8, and a Oberhiem DMX. The DMX can be substituted by any of the first generation digital drum built by the U.S man dem. The all more or less used the same designed electronics, and were either 8 or 12 bit. If anyone needs more info jus let me know. <BR>Later

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2002 12:50 pm
by Mike Zee
Speakin' of DMX, here's the page where you can d-load wavs-samples. <BR>They are momo. and sound pretty good. <BR>If you use sampler, get 'em , it's a good extras for your reggae-beat lab, or for what ever else you may make: <BR><A HREF="http://www.electrongate.com/dmxfiles/eproms.html" TARGET="_top">DMX files &#40;download&#41;</A>, <BR> <BR>and the home-page-DMX, with more info, pic of the machine &#40;it's UGLY! he he he <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... /happy.gif" ALT=":&#41;"> &#41;, Q-A etc. is here: <BR><A HREF="http://www.electrongate.com/dmxfiles/index.html" TARGET="_top">DMX files home page</A> <BR> <BR>respects, <BR> <BR>/Mike Zee <BR><A HREF="http://www.audiogalaxy.com/bands/mikezee/dub_lab.htm" TARGET="_top">zee dub lab</A>

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2002 11:54 pm
by interruptor
yo massai, <BR>thanks for that answer regarding steely and clevie's drum machines. when info like this is rolling in it really makes me feel we are gathering knowledge here and it was worth it to start this discussion board. <BR>lots of respect also to mike zee who does a great job helping out people with info and thus making this board what it is. <BR> <BR>daniel aka the interruptor

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2002 6:40 pm
by Mike Zee
Daniel said: "...it was worth it to start this discussion board" <BR> <BR>&#42;&#42;&#42;&#42;&#42; <BR>Daniel, just wanted to drop an extra note here. <BR>I don't know, just in case your get feellings like creating this site and managing the board is/was a sort of 'waste of time'... well, I hope you don't feel this way... <BR>I've seen some other boards/sites etc which are related to dub music. some are more, how shall i say this...,more 'filled with stuff' , but your place is REALLY well organized and it is TO THE POINT!!!!, which maybe is the most important in my view. Even, thou... it may look like there are no many guys hanging out here, or talking/posting, but I think it is perfectly fine. <BR>Good specialized b-boards are not fast-moving blah-blah type of thing, you know... <BR>And over time you've collected a real FIST of info on dub..., so <BR>well, man, keep this place alive, it is a sort of unique spot on the net. <BR> <BR>best regards, <BR>/n' respects <BR> <BR>/Mike Zee

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Sun May 12, 2002 11:20 am
by interruptor
here's a link to a page with samples of the yamaha rx5 mentioned above: <BR><A HREF="http://naoki.hirotaka.co.jp/R_box/Rx5/rx5.htm">link to webpage</A> <BR> <BR>and here a download link for a sample set of the roland r8: <BR><A HREF="http://www.headfuk.org/samples/r8.zip">download&#40;1.4 MB&#41;</A>

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2003 1:45 pm
by GARY M
Interruptor , that snare sound you posted from Frankie Paul is THE exact sound that you you hear non stop everywhere in reggae. I would really love to know what drum machine it comes from as its driving me mad someone out there please help!

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 3:02 am
by roman
Massai is right. Oberheim DMX, Sequential Circuits Drumtraks, Linn they all had the same sounds. The rimshot posted is pitched down which is the only editing you can do on these machines for different sounds.

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 7:05 pm
by Derek
Some of the sounds that are being referred to may just be the producers own sampled drums from earlier analog recorded productions. I recall alot of dancehall producers were using the Akai MPC60 for alot of that stuff &#40;some probably still are&#41; back in the late eighties and early nineties. Its all part of them creating the their own signature sounds that made them so successful. <BR> <BR>-DM

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 3:51 pm
by Patrick Galea
Dear All, <BR> <BR>Really love the site. Keep up the great work. One thing though, why do so many people waste so much energy in imitating when they could be creating? The reggae greats did not hesitate to experiment and that's the most important thing in my humble opinion. Innovation is the key to great stuff.

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 1:27 pm
by Arv
is probably mentioned before, but it is actually the rim shot from the Linndrum.. <BR>You can also hear this sound in early Prince songs!

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 11:09 am
by Massai
Greetings everyone! <BR>Lost you all, but I finally found you all again - I'm glad to see you're all still alive n kickin! <BR>I would just like to touch on what Arv has mentioned. <BR>I don't think there is a problem with a man/woman trying to imitate a sound from an artist, group, producer, engineer, musician, studio etc. To me, it&Otilde;s just a question of whether they will grow to develop, and evolve past that. Not all reggae greats are innovators, and vice a versa. I'm not saying that you should not try to innovate, but we all haffi start somewhere - seen?! Back to drum machines... <BR>In England, people are using drum boxes as doorstops! This of course means you can pick them cheap. Be very cautious when purchasing the first U.S. digi drum boxes, <BR>as they tend just die on you. The parts are not that easy to get hold of, or they are obsolete. But if you you want warm, thick sounding drums on a budget, these are the boxes to go for. Haffi sign off now. I'm gonna fry some fish! <BR>Blessed.

80's Dancehall Riddims: Snare drum sound

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 11:34 pm
by Peter M
after a bit of messing around I think the key drum machines are rx-5, r-50/e, oberheim dx &#40;more so than dmx, this one has the classic snare sound used in rolls&#41; and the roland 707 <BR> <BR>the "snare" sound is a rim shot from one of these pitched down layered with at least a kick, sometimes another snare

Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:46 am
by interruptor
Over ten years after this thread was started (T-E-N years...) I stumbled upon this 80s dancehall snare issue once again. I followed Arv's hint regarding the Linndrum and it's use in early Prince songs ("When doves cry", "1999"). In fact I found several forum posts on the web indicating that Prince used the Linn drum on those songs. So I checked the web for Linn drum samples and found this one:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.interruptor.ch/audio/Linndru ... ck_low.wav
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I does not sound as grainy as the one I posted a decade ago:
http://www.interruptor.ch/audio/wannarokk_snr.wav
But I guess that's due to the fact that the old one was sampled from a scratchy jamaican 7-Inch single. At the time I treated the vinyl sample with a software to remove hiss and crackling. Without this treatment the sample sounds as follows:
http://www.interruptor.ch/audio/wannaro ... uction.wav
It seems that the noise reduction software eliminated not only the surface noise on the vinyl but also the end of the drum's decay tail..
Also the tuning of the sample seems to be somewhat different. But that does not mean it cannot be the same sample because the Linn Drum as well as Steely and Clevie's Oberheim DX were able to tune the samples up and down by about an octave.

It seems to me that Clevie replaced one of the stock sounds on his Oberheim with the Linndrum sidestick.
Check the following video from the late eighties where Cleavie explains that it's possible to replace sample EEPROMS on the Oberheim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crARrMMK ... age#t=292s

And here you can see them playing live in the studio. Clevie seems to play that snare sound live. However it is not completely clear whether they are actually playing all sounds live or only adding some touches on an already recorded riddim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crARrMMK ... age#t=516s
Does anybody know more?

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 5:11 pm
by postet
I don't know anymore.. although I am curious if you have the full set from where that sidestick came from! Organising single sample files in the maschine isn't as fun 8-)



also.. first post.. been coming back a few times a year for about 4 years now :) hopefully I'll have some wicked dubs to share very soon!