Any person with a personal computer can develop and make their own drum samples for various purposes. It is still not such an easy process and the learning curve can be quite steep, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to make your own unique, signature drum samples with ease and precision like a professional.

Common tools for the task include audio editors and wave sound compatible sequencers and plugins. There are free audio editors like Audacity that you can download at a moment's notice. These types of programs are usually a snap to install, so if you haven't used one, don't worry; you'll get it installed within seconds in most cases, even if you're not all that comfortable with computers. Editing in a program like this, although very powerful and accurate, is not as hard as many make it out to be. There are usually some simple operations that need to be performed to trim and crop, nothing more!

You can also develop your drum samples in programs like Propellerheads' Reason and FL Studio. Simply make the changes you want in the programs using the in-built editors, effects units and reverb before exporting just the channel for that one sound and its associated effects. Then crop it up if you set the length to be the whole song, otherwise export just a single bar or beat if the sound occupies that amount.

Sampling is another popular method that has helped DJs, music producers and beat makers find quality drum samples for the last 20 years and even earlier than that. Extracting these sounds from records from the 60s, 70s, 50s and earlier also is good for locating uncompressed drum samples, as these decades did not have the loudness war that is evident in every chart-entering song of the modern.

Synthesizing drum samples is another option for the budding music sample connoisseur. The machines with this capability also date back many decades, including old Roland and Korg drum groove boxes with synthesizer functionality. Usually, a number of parameters are there to be modified by the user, and the traditional sound offered by that particular box usually remains with any changes, generating a nice mix between the structure of that sound and the special characteristics assigned to it.

When it comes to then sculpting your own sounds, you can use many processing techniques. Equalization and compression are two common choices for professional and amateurs alike. One tip sometimes given by those with experience is to limit the effects to sculpting and not loudness. Changing the tone of a sound is different from changing its level indiscriminately.

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