PLEASE Help me make drums!?

[ScarletCyanide]

Okay, so I'm using Logic Pro 9, trying to use Ultrabeat (using the sequencer) to TRY and make a half decent drum pattern (Not overly fussed about the samples at the moment, because once I have the beat down, I can make it with better samples) I just tried to get the basic kick beat in Slats Slats Slats using Ultrabeat, but no matter what it always sounds slightly too robotic and stiff unlike Skrillex's (In this instance). Someone please help me! I'm trying to get this down before I put in pads and synths but I just cant make it sound good!

And yes, I have been watching LOTS of tutorials / videos and reading posts but I get confused and am just stuck right now

Thanks guys

[Cubicle]

Okay, so I'm using Logic Pro 9, trying to use Ultrabeat (using the sequencer) to TRY and make a half decent drum pattern (Not overly fussed about the samples at the moment, because once I have the beat down, I can make it with better samples) I just tried to get the basic kick beat in Slats Slats Slats using Ultrabeat, but no matter what it always sounds slightly too robotic and stiff unlike Skrillex's (In this instance). Someone please help me! I'm trying to get this down before I put in pads and synths but I just cant make it sound good!

And yes, I have been watching LOTS of tutorials / videos and reading posts but I get confused and am just stuck right now

Thanks guys

I don't get it.
Just listened to that Slats Slats Slats song.
It's just electro. There is nothing hard about making those drums mate.

I don't think I understand your question completely.
Decent samples do a shitload to get a non-robotic sound. I expected a track with a hard kick rhythm but electro is ridiculously simple tbh.

[ScarletCyanide]

Basically, when I make the kick it sounds too 'Exactly in time' whereas Skrillex's sound slightly different and I can't make mine sound exactly right!

[-[2]DAY_-]

layer it with a disco break

[oWLinDaylight]

Skrillex uses a lot of triplets I believe

[ScarletCyanide]

I'm really new to this, what do you mean by triplets? Do you literally mean 3 notes straight away like bambambam? Thanks

[-[2]DAY_-]

this is why i say non-musicians shouldn't write music. sorry OP, no disrespect, but it's up to you to look up triplets, and for that matter whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, time signatures, etc. then its up to you to process that information, practice it, and apply it. And that's just rhythm. after that you can work on pitch, harmony, etc.
to many people this stuff comes naturally and they don't need to attach words/labels/semantics to it in order to use it. From the questions you posted though, you're not like that. perhaps your talents lie elsewhere.

Anyway the answers you need are not on any forum. Listen to music, play along, learn an instrument, begin producing your compositions... or take up painting/photography/hopscotch/whatever.

[Huts]

4/4 beat with kick - open hat - kick+snare repeat for 5mins. Maybe you're using poor samples or something? Your kicks have to sound in time, as does skrillex's or the song will be a mess, it's just the placement of hats that give it a bit of swing. however this song's beat is pretty straight forward

[ScarletCyanide]

this is why i say non-musicians shouldn't write music. sorry OP, no disrespect, but it's up to you to look up triplets, and for that matter whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, time signatures, etc. then its up to you to process that information, practice it, and apply it. And that's just rhythm. after that you can work on pitch, harmony, etc.
to many people this stuff comes naturally and they don't need to attach words/labels/semantics to it in order to use it. From the questions you posted though, you're not like that. perhaps your talents lie elsewhere.

Anyway the answers you need are not on any forum. Listen to music, play along, learn an instrument, begin producing your compositions... or take up painting/photography/hopscotch/whatever.

Bit awkward considering I've played guitar for the last 5 years and have been in several reasonably successful metal bands :/ I never learnt the words etc associated with it, because I felt that being able to play and shred, was more important than learning the music behind it, now I'm seeing the light ^^

[-[2]DAY_-]

great! so play guitar. i don't see what's wrong with that
Maybe buying Logic was a good move, because you can use it to track and mix your guitar playing.

I don't know why you'd want to move over to making screechy electro when you have such a wonderful talent, ability, and knowledge of the equipment. But i'm not trying to say don't do it. I'm just saying the question you posted is about as easy to answer as "how do i shred on guitar"
Basically, you put years into it.

[oWLinDaylight]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't metal use a lot of triplets in the drums? One of your band mates might be able to help you out a lot.

[elyhess]

It's all about the drum samples you use! I'm tellin ya

[-[2]DAY_-]

yes and a lot of the kick lines are hard quantized, but with looser pattern n the other drums. gives them a more human feel.
and just to quickly answer the triplet question, it is a subdivision of a beat into three equal parts, rather than two, four, or other even #'s (which are easier for many people to count/feel). If you count eighth notes out loud as "ONE-and TWO-and THREE-and FOUR-and" you might count the triplets as "ONE-trip-let TWO-trip-let" etc. to be more clear, those are 8th note triplets. Doubling them gives you 16th note triplets, which are much faster, and in a way easier to feel because two of the beats line up with their 8th note counterparts:
"ONE-trip-let-AND-trip-let TWO-trip-let-AND-trip-let" (16th triplet)
"ONE---------AND...........TWO---------AND" (8th notes)


so at the same tempo the words that are the same would line up and the triplet bits would fall in between
I don't mean to be a dick and tell people not to make beats. maybe you're gonna make great beats. and learning to shred as opposed to learning theory wasn't necessarily a mistake. you can always round out your knowledge down the road, and you must have an ear for music. Its just a lot of people these days think they can just crack ableton and make beats when they've never even whistled an original tune. I shouldn't have assumed you're not a musician. hope that helped some.. though i doubt it lol. its hard to convey musical ideas without having the same vocabulary.

but in a nutshell drum beats are all about subdivisions of time and grooves. good luck

[ScarletCyanide]

Hey man, it's cool thanks, I was getting a bit pissed because I'd made some awesome synths etc and drumming really isn't my forte (I can make original tunes etc as hopefully you will hear soon!) But I've never really had anything to do with the drums side of things etc aha! And also, I moved into EDM recently, mainly due to the fact that the band I was in was slowly falling apart (The other guitarist joined another band and devoted about 200% more of his time to that), the drummer and singer refused to speak to eachother and the bassist was a tnuc. I kind of was joking on Skype one day and said "Shall I buy some Skrillex tickets?" to which the answer was yes, and I bought them and actualyl started listening to skrillex, decided I liked what I heard (I was also a bit insecure about my image as a whole, I'd built up a rep as a metal head and was under the stupid impression that EDM sucked and involved no skill, oh the irony) so yeah, I progressed from there, listening to Deadmau5, Skream, Borgore, Skrillex, SHM, Noisia, Zedd, Porter Robinson, 12th planet etc a whole variety of people and decided that this might be more my scene. So yeah, that's the story, this was just over a month ago and then about 3 weeks ago I bought the tools necessary for EDM production and have been literally and I'm not exaggerating spending 90% of my free time learning and practicing, it's become an obsession and as such when I can't do something for an extended period of time, I get frustrated! ahaha

But thanks for the advice and help you guys! Currently have a good track started and hope to show you guys soon

btw, this is my first ever piece of EDM work, a 'remix' of strobe (Not dubstep, kind of trance / house I guess)

Soundcloud

Rant over, thanks guys

[drake89]

one good technique is just letting the beat build by adding one new element every four bars. that should give you at least 24 bars to get things going and by that time you might have more ideas to get things flowing. if you're going to compare yourself to producers that sell lots of records you're going to be dissapointed for a while, kind of like wishing your career/life/girl was more like your friend's or something. it's best not to set yourself up for failure, which is what you're doing by trying to re-create a professional beat. my $0.02