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19. Adding pre-punch with reversed layers

1 Using reversed drum sounds to lead into main drum elements such as kicks and snares can add tons of punch. Let’s explore this in more detail: set your DAW’s BPM to 128 and import the files beginning “House…” from the Tutorial Files folder. Set the Quantize amount to 1/32, then chop the tail from the first clap. 2 Copy the chunk of clap tail we’ve sliced up to a blank audio track, then shift it so it leads into the main drum hit. Now reverse the audio, then position the sound so it sits just before every clap. The reversed version leads into the clap, giving a greater sense of attack and momentum. After this, turn the reversed clap channel down to -6dB to make it more subtle. 3 To spice up our drums even more, let’s use a bigger reversed drum sound to lead into the second clap on bars 2 and 4. Import Splash.wav onto a new audio track, then shorten it to half a beat’s length. Now, reverse the Splash sample, then place it directly before the relevant claps. Finally, add a volume fade to the new sound to blend it in to taste.