Make a Retro Tom Fill

Synthwave is a genre that mixes nostalgia of the fantasy and action movie soundtracks from the '80s with modern production methods and precision. Simple patterns, gated reverb, saturation, and samples from drum machines popular in the 1980s, such as the LinnDrum, are all essential elements of this genre. Massive cymbals and tom fills were also famous at the time. The following tutorial will show you how to appropriate retro-sounding tom fill for a Synthwave track.

As usual, we'll listen to a short sequence created in our SoundBridge: DAW. It contains the majority of a full mix's elements.

First, we'll make a new MIDI channel and load RitMix. The same tom sample will then be loaded onto five different RitMix pads, as shown in the picture below.

To change the pitch of the pad, we will open the edit window. Under the "Envelopes/Humanizer" menu, select the "Pitch" tab and change the semitone parameter to the right. This must be done for each pad.

After that, we can return to the Sequencer and write a pattern in the MIDI editor. Let's listen to how it sounds.

Since our tom fill sounds dry, we will color it with some effects. In this case, we will use a touch of reverb and a Bit of Crusher. Let's take a listen to that.

Finally, let's hear this in the context of the whole mix.

If you liked this article on drum processing, here are some more on the same subject:

• Create Epic Cinematic Drums
• Create Kick Drum Sounds in Tune
• Make A Huge 80s Snare Drum
• Create a Classic Tech House Kick Drum