Inside the Session: The Making of Session Pop Drums
- Harmeet Singh
- Nov 2
- 4 min read
The search for perfect drums never ends. I too was once in search of some Pop drums for one of my productions. There are thousands of packs, paid and free but none of them sounded like the drums from my favourite songs.
It was that moment that led me to create a drum pack that not only drew inspiration from chart-topping hits but also sounded like a finished record straight out of the box.
After months of research, sound design, recording, mixing, and mastering, I finally created the Session Pop Drums sample pack.
This pack is made for producers who, like me, prefer organic and mix-ready sounds that instantly fit into a song. As any professional will tell you, get the source right, and everything else falls into place. That’s the philosophy behind this collection.
Let me take you behind the scenes of how these drums came to life.
The Story Behind the Pack
Since the beginning of my music career, I’ve used Studio One as my main DAW. It comes loaded with some great stock instruments, plugins, and sample libraries but after a while, those same sounds start to feel repetitive.
That’s when I went searching for something fresh. None of the available drum sample packs captured the feel of the drums dominating modern pop charts. So instead of waiting for someone else to make them, I decided to build my own library.
None of the available drum sample packs captured the feel of the drums dominating modern pop charts.
Originally, these sounds were meant for personal use. But as the collection grew, I realized other producers might find them useful too. That’s when Phonogram was born. I started reaching out to distributors like Producer Loops, ADSR Sounds, and LANDR - and slowly began releasing products under my own label.
The name “Session Pop” came from the idea of having session-grade musicians at your fingertips. Each sound feels like it’s been played, processed, and recorded in a real pop studio.
The Session Pop Drums sample pack is not just limited to “acoustic” or “electronic.” It’s the perfect balance between machine precision and human feel, crafted from both drum machines and recorded performances, then layered and processed to match the punch and warmth of today’s pop productions.
From Full Mixes to Loops
The samples weren’t just designed in isolation. they came from fully produced beats and songs that were created specifically for the packs. Each track was professionally mixed and mastered to a commercial standard before being broken down into stems. Those stems were then extracted to create loops and one-shots, giving every element the same polish as a finished record.
This means every drum loop in the pack has already gone through a professional EQ chain, compression, analog saturation, and a mastering-grade limiter - making it mix-ready the moment you drop it into your DAW.
While the original idea was to only include cohesive drum loops, I added one-shots too so producers can chop, layer, or build entirely new rhythms. The goal was to provide endless flexibility while maintaining the same sonic integrity.
Some users noticed a bit of white noise in certain loops, mistaking it for low-quality artifacts. That noise actually comes from tape machines and analog saturators used on the master buss. The same warmth and glue that make these sounds feel “record-like” also introduced subtle tape noise, barely noticeable in a full mix but part of the analog character.
That said, I plan to include cleaner, raw versions of future packs for producers who prefer ultra-clean digital sounds.
File Naming and Metadata
Each sample and loop in Session Pop Drums comes with precise metadata for smooth workflow integration.
Every file name clearly mentions its BPM, instrument type, and loop or one-shot category, making it easy to drag and drop into any DAW. Additionally, metadata is embedded within the files so platforms like Studio One, Ableton Live, or Logic Pro automatically read tempo and tagging information.
This helps producers instantly find, sync, and organize samples without manual renaming or guesswork.
What’s Inside the Pack
90 Drum Loops
83 Kick One-Shots
86 Snare One-Shots
22 Clap One-Shots
85 Hats & Crashes
73 Percussion One-Shots
Each sound is designed to sit naturally in a mix, ideal for modern Pop, Indie, and crossover genres.
Mixing, Mastering & Quality Assurance
Before finalizing the library, every sample went through a strict quality control process.
Tested across multiple systems like studio monitors, headphones, and consumer grade speakers to ensure consistency.
Balanced loudness, tone, and phase alignment across loops and one-shots.
Applied gentle compression, harmonic enhancement, and final EQ shaping for mix-readiness.
The result is a set of drum samples that sound finished out of the box - ready to drop into any pop production without heavy tweaking.
Final Thoughts
The Session Pop Drums pack represents everything I love about modern production - organic, professional, and effortless to use.
If you’re a producer looking for mix-ready pop drum loops and royalty-free samples that capture the energy of chart-ready tracks, this pack was made for you.
Get Session Pop Drums and bring organic, polished drums to your next pop production. Explore Session Pop Drums on phonogramaudio.com
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