For today’s music producers, it is essential that we use high-quality drum sounds in rhythms and instrumentals. Many future producers often purchase drum sample kits named after famous producers. For example, a beat maker may want to create an instrument to sound like producer Dr. Dre or Timbaland to try and buy their drum sounds. Often times these kits will be labeled “Drums Dr. Dre” or “Timbaland drum samples”.

The problem with many of these kits is that the sounds are often recycled from the original drums on the keyboards (Roland Fantom, Korg Triton, Yamaha Motif, etc.). This can make a producer’s beats sound bland and inauthentic. It also helps the rhythms “sound the same.”

Welcome to exclusive sounds

Since I became a music producer in 2004, I have bought a lot of drums and sounds, but in 2010 I came across Traumahdrums.com. Traumah is a music producer who specializes in engineering and crafting unique drum samples. By visiting Traumahdrums.com, I signed up for their mailing list to download a free battery.

Over the course of the next year, I received regular emails from Traumah with music production tips, videos, and lots of free drum kits. After receiving tons of good information from Traumah, I finally decided to invest in one of their batteries.

The Traumah Drum Library includes 187 organic drum samples crafted exclusively for producers and beat makers. It includes “50 ear-stabbing crunchy drummers, 50 back punch kicks, and 37 foreign-sounding percussions ranging from West Indian-influenced vibrators to South African-inspired Congolese drums.” The drum kit also features 30 unique drum loops.

Upon receiving my drum kit, I loaded the drum sounds into my music production software. I currently use Reason 5 to make my beats. I loaded one of the kick drum sounds into the Redrum rack in Reason and was immediately impressed by the thickness and uniqueness of the drum sounds. I went through all the kicks, traps, claps, percussion, and hi-hat in the package and realized that each one had been designed to “hit.” With my production roots in hip hop, this was especially nice to my ears!

Compare and contrast

To make sure the sound I was hearing wasn’t all “hype,” I loaded up some of my favorite drum sounds and compared them to those in the Traumah drum library. Frankly, the sounds I was using didn’t cut the mustard! My favorite kicks, claps, snares, hi-hats, and percussion instruments sounded weak compared to Traumah’s gear.

So I started asking the question. Why? Why did the Traumah drums sound better than my favorites? Tried doing an EQ analysis. I brought the Traumah battery and my favorite battery to ProTools for comparison and contrast.

When comparing Traumah’s drums to mine, I noticed that each drum sample was designed to fill the sound spectrum. The kicks had a lot of momentum in the low and mid frequencies. The traps and applause hit hard! Also, all the sounds were pre-mixed, which was huge for me!

The sounds I was currently using were not pre-mixed. Anyone who has taken the time to mix instruments knows that it can be a lengthy process. The fact that the sounds were pre-mixed saved me valuable time in the engineering department!

Final verdict

Overall, I am very satisfied with the Traumah Drum Library, I use it often in my rhythms and instrumentals. Since using Traumah Drums, I have noticed an increase in rhythm sales, as well as increased interest from independent artists. The percussion library is worth the purchase price. I would recommend the kit to any serious producer looking to improve their sound and sharpen their skills.