Converting Drums Takes To Midi Problems.

[hkollner]

NEW THREAD HERE WITH CLIPS:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/f-o-h/933904-real-drums-overheads-test.html

Hi Guys,

I am busy converting real drums takes to midi. I currently use Drumagog on each track and use the Midi out function. It works great for the Kick and Snare. I am having great difficulty triggering the toms properly. I found that putting a hi pass filter before Drumagog helps, but not entirely. Does anyone have any advice as to how to make the toms trigger accurately?

Then, my biggest problem is trying to trigger/extract the cymbal hits from the overheads and the hihat hits from the hi hat mics... I know this is a long shot as it does not seem possible but, is there a more efficient way of getting the midi from the Overhead tracks?

Currently I have to manually enter the hits into the midi track.

Thanks in advance

 

[bryan_kilco]

Try a transient designer on the toms. I've done crazy shit before to get things triggering properly. Duplicate the track, do some crazy EQ boosting or cutting, etc.

As for the OH's, I'd leave them natural. If you convert them into MIDI and trigger cymbals, it's going to start sounding fake fairly quickly.

 

[hkollner]

Try a transient designer on the toms. I've done crazy shit before to get things triggering properly. Duplicate the track, do some crazy EQ boosting or cutting, etc.

As for the OH's, I'd leave them natural. If you convert them into MIDI and trigger cymbals, it's going to start sounding fake fairly quickly.

Cool, thanks for the tips man. Ah makes sense using a transient designer now that I think of it. the problem seems to be the sustain. So I'll boost the attack and decrease the sustain.

As for the overheads. The Hi hats are waaaaaay too loud. They are like 3 to 4 db's louder than any of the cymbal hits

 

[bryan_kilco]

Cool, thanks for the tips man. Ah makes sense using a transient designer now that I think of it. the problem seems to be the sustain. So I'll boost the attack and decrease the sustain.

As for the overheads. The Hi hats are waaaaaay too loud. They are like 3 to 4 db's louder than any of the cymbal hits

Maybe slap a multiband comp and zero in on the hats to knock them down a few db? Just throwing ideas out there.

 

[hkollner]

Maybe slap a multiband comp and zero in on the hats to knock them down a few db? Just throwing ideas out there.

Already tried that. Problem is that the drums was tracked in a small room. This caused cymbal hits during hi hat beats to be completely inaudible while the hi hat was playing. It seems that the hi hats just fills the room completely thus overwhelming the cymbals.

Maybe I'll just have to manually draw the cymbals, ride and hi hats.

Thanks for the tips man.

 

[Studdy]

Using a transient designer / enhancer and/eq to bring out the cymbal hits best as possible. Then print track and fly through with tab to transient on delete all hits you don't want and keep cymbal hits you want. Trigger cymbals off new track.
It's also possible to use the new track as a sidechain to a gate on the original track but it kind of sounds odd and I prefer basic automation.

 

[Habsburgs]

Already tried that. Problem is that the drums was tracked in a small room. This caused cymbal hits during hi hat beats to be completely inaudible while the hi hat was playing. It seems that the hi hats just fills the room completely thus overwhelming the cymbals.

Maybe I'll just have to manually draw the cymbals, ride and hi hats.

Thanks for the tips man.

use automation and drop a cymbal sample when he is playing a cymbal accent

 

[hkollner]

Hey Guys,

I have taken your advise and created a new thread with the results.
Please check it out

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/f-o-h/933904-real-drums-overheads-test.html

Try a transient designer on the toms. I've done crazy shit before to get things triggering properly. Duplicate the track, do some crazy EQ boosting or cutting, etc.

As for the OH's, I'd leave them natural. If you convert them into MIDI and trigger cymbals, it's going to start sounding fake fairly quickly.

Using a transient designer / enhancer and/eq to bring out the cymbal hits best as possible. Then print track and fly through with tab to transient on delete all hits you don't want and keep cymbal hits you want. Trigger cymbals off new track.
It's also possible to use the new track as a sidechain to a gate on the original track but it kind of sounds odd and I prefer basic automation.

use automation and drop a cymbal sample when he is playing a cymbal accent

 

[Kohugaly]

For the overheads you may try narrow bandpass filters to extract individual cymbals - I mean, like find frequency that is most prominent for that cymbal and use it to trigger midi. Newer actually tried it, but it might work. Polyphonic audio->midi converters work that way (with additional processing).

 

[mstone564]

I don't want to be "that guy," but Slate's Trigger should easily be able to handle this.

 

[hkollner]

I don't want to be "that guy," but Slate's Trigger should easily be able to handle this.

Hey man, What do you mean? The cymbal triggering or on tom triggering? Does trigger have midi out/printing capabilities?

HERE's the new thread with examples though:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/f-o-h/933904-real-drums-overheads-test.html

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

I've used band passes and Melodyne to make midi from audio drum tracks before. The trick is, if the drummer crashes two cymbals at once, make a note that there where two instruments for that one midi note at that time in the song, make a copy, and drag the two to there respective cymbals notes on your midi grid.
You might have two do a little extra work, but most everything is going to fall into 1/4 1/8 0r 1/6th notes.
Good Luck