How to improve drum production?

[Mear Bace]

Alright, drums is currently my favourite part of music production, and I love playing them. I used to have a full drum kit until I moved, but now I try to recreate drum patterns in my head, I just fail. I listen to so much DnB, Jungle and Breakbeat, and try to recreate some of those drums but I just can't. While I'm clicking on the beats with my mouse, I just can't get the spacing or speed right, and it's frustrating.

Any tips to help this? I've tried getting a new drum kit but it's far too loud, seeing as I'm 16 and live with my parents and brothers haha.

[sixth sense]

turn off quantize and tap in the drums

[Mear Bace]

turn off quantize and tap in the drums

Does that really improve rhythm? Good God, I should have bought a pad sooner. It's next on my agenda. I tried using my midi keyboard, but it was such an awful experience.

I wasn't supposed to quantize? Hm.

[nowaysj]

Give it a few years, you'll get better.

[ambinate]

like anything else, it takes practice. one thing that helped me a bit is trying to recreate the drum patterns of songs i like rather than trying to recreate the stuff i had in my head. just load up a basic kit - how good it sounds doesn't really matter yet - and listen carefully to what's happening on which beat and see if you can copy that. in the genres you mentioned, a lot of the important stuff is in the cymbal work or in the syncopations, which can be kinda tough to make up yourself if you haven't had much experience yet. after copying some patterns for a while (even if it doesn't work out perfectly), you'll start to get a much better feel for what makes these grooves work.

[ascent]

quantization tends to make perc sound robotic, which can be good or bad depending on what you are going for. playing in via midi keyboard then touching up bits i dont like works for me, occasionally i will just draw them in with the mouse though out of lazyness or if the rhythm is too complex for me to play

[IC0N]

practice practice practice. Then more practice

[Big Freq]

Download premade midi files... analyze them... learn what sounds good and the way the patterns look

You’ll notice a lot of midi files have mixed velocities for that "realistic" sound

or you can go the old fashion route and just click random shit.





http://www.dogsonacid.com/showthread.ph ... did=590447


http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=115946

[lyons238]

for the high hats try clicking in every space in the sequencer and then un click some until you find a pattern you like. sometimes that way is easier if you cant think of a pattern right away.

i have an mpk25, but its kinda funny i still find myself programing drums more often. i guess i need to start tapping out beats more to at least see if i may like that way better.

[mks]

For those styles that you mentioned, it's all about chopping breaks. There is a whole art to that in and of itself. That is how I learned my drum Kung Fu, by practicing the art of Jungle.

[upstateface]

For those styles that you mentioned, it's all about chopping breaks. There is a whole art to that in and of itself. That is how I learned my drum Kung Fu, by practicing the art of Jungle.

Very true

[legend4ry]

I don't get how people think on the grid sounds robotic - it only sounds robotic if you want it to. (listen to the 3rd track in my sig, thats all on the grid and isn't that robotic?)

Its all about correct sample choices and dialing that swing a little bit.

Instead of having 1 hat playing a patten, copy it twice and pitch it up 1 semi tone and down 1 semi tone - use that as 1 hat line - this is EDM we don't have to be stupidly natural.

Percussion is easier to get good groove than hats I find though. Work with some shakers and tambo's for a bit - thats how I started learning how to get nice percs to fit my drums.

Also use velocity - having everything at 100% is boring.

Once you can naturally make a groovey beat without even thinking about it, dnb and jungle becomes a whole lot easier to translate from head > daw.

[therapist]

I agree Legendary, I think the off-the-grid thing is given more credit than it's worth (people suggesting this to get Benga beats for example, you can make them on any 16-step sequencer). Recording stuff in is great for getting realistic velocities but just taking a beat and jumbling the timing about doesn't make you Burial. Learn to make a pattern that swings with the fewest drum sounds you can.

Working with breaks is great for getting to grips with realistic drum grooves, like not having a billion different cymbals all going together. Your beat should work/flow with just the basic parts.

[nowaysj]

Look at benga's beats (old ones at least) in a wave editor, they are firmly off the grid.

Not that that is necessary. Velocity alone can push and pull a beat, just saying...

[Laika]

Look at benga's beats (old ones at least) in a wave editor, they are firmly off the grid.

Not that that is necessary. Velocity alone can push and pull a beat, just saying...

Use of delay maybe? If I remember correctly from his old masterclass video he uses Fruity Loop's step sequencer for all his drum/percussion patterns.

[nowaysj]

Not delay, look at the beats for yourself. Yes, I saw that masterclass.

[5qu1dfacekilla]

OP, i'm quite the opposite actually. I can't play drums for shit or hold a steady rhythm on the sticks to save my life, but if i hear a beat i can almost instantly reproduce it in a sequencer. I guess it's all a byproduct of growing up on tracker programs

[wizeguy]

watch this guys videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/Scheisspapier
should help you out.

[Genevieve]

Yeah pretty much everything I'd say has already been said. Do what you're doing and do it better. I think the only thing I'd add is, don't specialize. Mess with breaks, do 4x4, jungle, choppage, techno beats, glitch-hop, whatever. I still pretty much suck as a musician, but I can do some pretty damn good drumfunk AND Venetian Snares style fuckery. Not because I'm that awesome, but because I just love writing drums and just try do it in different ways for several years now.

As for on the grid/off the grid. There's a time and place.

[fateisaweapon]

I like to seperate the frequencies in my drums to 3 seperate lo/mid/hi tracks and then bus that to a main, that way If I want to spice up a seperate frequency within the whole drum track I can do that, then compress on the final drum bus, that can really add some more dimension to your drums. The only trouble is I think it's easy to 'over do it' in one frequency so it takes time to really get an ear for it, practice