Drum Quantizing Workflow

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

So im in a REAL exciting situation. The drummer im recording CANT PLAY TO A CLICK but the band insists on making sure he does.

So of coarse this session has turned into a 101 on teaching this dude to play to a click, problem is his feet SUCK! So of coarse we are doing all the hands only.


What we are doing is going through a part and then quantizing right after he plays it, then going to the next part, quantize and so on. It actually is a pretty decent way of going about it because you can make sure he plays it tight enough that its even quantizeable! ANd trust me there has been MANY that were NOT fixable hahahah so im happy were doing it in sections rather than finding out later that it SUCKS!


What are some of your workflows for different quantizing situations? :zombie:

 

[Russtopher]

Wow - I was literally JUST about to post a new topic that's almost like this!

I'm editing a drummer who's timing isn't that bad, but during fast sections/blasts I think he just hit the kicks as fast as he could. There's anywhere from 3-5 kick hits per snare hit in the same section, and I was wondering how everyone would compensate for that situation. How's editing just to the hands working out as far as how the kicks are sounding?

We tracked everything straight through to scratch tracks so there's no way to quantize per section unfortunately. Aside from the double kick sections, it's been relatively painless.

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

Well since its metal and I am going to sample replace im able to just program the kick in. So I have to sit with the drummer and go Ok so what do you do there lol

 

[cloy26]

when they leave, program everything via midi. haha. I've done it before.

Are you using real OHs?

 

[Russtopher]

when they leave, program everything via midi. haha. I've done it before.

Are you using real OHs?

Yup real OH's.

 

[amarshism]

when they leave, program everything via midi. haha. I've done it before.

Me too.

 

[Charlie E.]

Sounds like a nightmare...

The only thing I can suggest is to go electric kit style or deaden the kick with pillows and blankets and program it.

While we're on the topic of drum quantizing, does anyone with extensive Logic 9 Flex editing care to share how they deal with the flex markers taking forever to move after moving a whole bunch?
Do you guys just start at the top then bounce in place once things get too slow, then continue moving the markers from that point on?

 

[freakkguitarist]

charlie, ive just gotten really into editing drums in logic, ive found that the slicing mode works best, and i try not to use any flex time unless i need to seperate two hits that are too close...even then i try and stay away from it. id say chop a 32 bar section, edit it, save a "chopped" version, then bounce it and move on.

 

[Charlie E.]

Slicing is actually what I use. I just hate how slow my comp gets after moving a whole bunch of flex markers.
In the past I tried splitting sections but I'd get tons of pops and clicks when gluing them together.
I guess I gotta bounce them first and then try to cross fade the sections together...
I just hate the idea of bouncing. Makes me have to go back to different saved files to fix things that I missed. I guess the benefit of being able to move flex markers quicker offsets that.

 

[Urgul]

Unfortunately I work with such drummers every time :/ All I do is recording them through my edrums via midi, it's much simplier to quantize and edit all that mess. I know that most people here will say that recording through e-kit sucks but I don't care. It works for me
As for your situation - you can always try to program kick, snare, toms and record only real OHs. As far as I know Samael and Anaal Nathrakh record drums that way (but maybe I'm wrong).

 

[Russtopher]

Quantizing to the hands didn't work out so bad in this situation, thankfully. We're still about halfway through the recording process, but with guitars over the drums, and the kicks EQ'd a bit less clicky than the "modern" tone, it's really not too noticable. Thankfully. This time.

 

[zackpennington]

I would like to do a screen cast of how I do drums using a mixture of logic's drum replacer and flex time. I feel like it works really well.