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Post by Cornflake on Sept 30, 2006 19:13:59 GMT -5
I hate 'em, but sometimes there's no avoiding the things. I have no knack for programming them in any way that isn't boring. I try to think of ways to vary them. I don't get much past sometimes substituting a closed high hat for the snare, or having the toms roll occasionally.
Anybody know the secret? Or know of any resources?
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Post by loopysanchez on Oct 2, 2006 16:36:57 GMT -5
Having somewhat successfully faked the funk using a drum machine for the drum tracks on my CD, here's my advice:
1. Keep the drum patterns fairly simple. The more complex the pattern, the more it starts to sound like a machine and less like a drummer. Resist the urge to layer lots of parts just because you can; instead, try to think about whether a real human drummer would have a reasonable chance of nailing the pattern in real time with only 2 arms and legs at his disposal.
2. Listen to CD's by bands with solid drummers who aren't too flashy, but who come up with interesting grooves. Try to copy their ideas in your own patterns.
3. Focus on getting a good snare sound. If your machine has multiple snare drum samples available, spend ample time choosing a sound that sounds as real as possible. I've found that a little "looser" snare sounds more real than a "tighter" one. Since snare is the drum sound that listeners hear best in most songs, it's the one that needs to be most realistic. You can get away with a less convincing kick sound, since it's lower in frequency, and most cymbal/hi-hat sounds sound ok as long as you use them sparingly--They're thin, hissy, metallic...adequate.
4. Avoid using the toms too much. Unless you have a machine with customizable sounds, the toms will probably tend to sound rubbery and fake. If you can shorten the "decay" length and tighten the "pitch" to a higher sound, that'll give you a more realistic, punchy sound than you'd get with the stock options on most machines I've heard. (Of course, I haven't heard many machines in the past few years; they might've gotten a lot better at faking the toms' sound.)
5. Avoid getting to ticky-tick with the hi-hat. Rapid-fire hi-hat rides with no variation in sound make the drum track sound robotic and impersonal. If you need to use a hi-hat on, say, a fast 16th note ride, try to lower its level a little in the overall mix of drum sounds so it doesn't stand out as a loud, high-pitched metronome with music playing underneath it. If you can pan it seperately to one side of the mix, that's even better.
6. This is one I'm just about to start trying out for myself: Using a tamboruine sound instead of a hi-hat for the rides. My drum machine has a very realistic tambourine sound, and I think it'll make for a nice change from the typical hi-hat ticking sound a lot of rhythms have. If you listen to much U2, you'll notice they use tambourine in place of hi-hat on a lot of their biggest songs.
That's a little bit to start with. I'm sure I can think of some more pointers next time I sit down with my machine and start programming new parts for my next batch of songs. (I know I've already learned a good bit from getting the parts together for the last batch that's on my CD.)
Of course, if you don't like the drum machine sound on the CD, then just do the exact opposite of everything I listed in 1-6 above. :-)
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Post by Cornflake on Oct 2, 2006 21:17:02 GMT -5
Loopy, that's helpful. I was tending to keep it simple anyway, just as a matter of taste, but your comments about toms etc. are things I hadn't thought of.
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Post by aquaduct on Oct 8, 2006 21:48:34 GMT -5
And keep in mind that the drums are only one part of a whole. You don't need much of a "interesting" drum part if there are 16 other instruments. Find a pattern with the proper funkation, add a bass player that can feel, and that's all you really need.
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