Drum Samples... Now What?

[Seanduffy]

Okay, now i'm quite experienced in recording, i've recorded decent sounding songs many times before, but i've been using EZDrummer for all of them.

I've been looking into things, and it seems to me the way forward for a better sounding mix would be to be doing what many people are doing, and using individual samples and tweaking each one to get a more realistic sounding drum track.

So i've downloaded a lot of interesting samples, and now i'm looking at plugins. I have demos of aptrigga and Drumagog, however it seems to me they are not quite the software I need for my purpose. I program my drum tracks in guitar pro, export them as MIDI, import them into my DAW (Reaper) and then put them into EZDrummer usually. So i'm looking for something that i'll put my midi files into, which will then trigger the corresponding samples of each hit, and give me my better sounding drum track.

However I don't seem to be able to find anything of the sort, so I decided i'd ask it here, and get some clarification on just what it is I need to be doing.

Thank you in advance,

-Sean!

 

[Mattayus]

In that case then apTrigger and Drumagog ARE what you're looking for.
You can still map everything with EZDrummer, and use it for Overheads, but pull up your mixer and load drumagog onto the channel of the drum you want to replace, pick a sample, hey presto.

 

[bryan.batiste]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
what he said

 

[Seanduffy]

Oh okay, so I should just run the MIDI track through EZDrummer like usual, and then assign the samples in apTrigga each to the sounds on EZDrummers output channels?

 

[Mattayus]

That's the one man, do it.

 

[crillemannen]

I've been looking into things, and it seems to me the way forward for a better sounding mix would be to be doing what many people are doing, and using individual samples and tweaking each one to get a more realistic sounding drum track.


-Sean!

Nothing beats real recorded drums...

 

[schnykeees]

Nothing beats real, properly recorded drums...

fixed

 

[Seanduffy]

fixed

Yeah that's true, i'm just a teenager in a starting out band so probably the kind of drums we'd be recording would be on a kit that doesn't satisfy our needs, with some very primitive mic-ing.

 

[timislegend]

Yeah that's true, i'm just a teenager in a starting out band so probably the kind of drums we'd be recording would be on a kit that doesn't satisfy our needs, with some very primitive mic-ing.

it's cool ...the majority of recording engineers incorporate sample replacement.

(so you are definetly on the right track).

there is nothing wrong with this practice. hip-hop is entirely sample based material and it seems to be doing well.

 

[Seanduffy]

it's cool ...the majority of recording engineers incorporate sample replacement.

(so you are definetly on the right track).

there is nothing wrong with this practice. hip-hop is entirely sample based material and it seems to be doing well.

Haha yeah man, I mean you have bands like Periphery, all the drums on their self titled album were recorded on an electric kit, and then put through samples, and it still sounds great. I'd want to have real drums eventually, but right now it isn't really a necessity.

 

[crillemannen]

DFHS 2.0 is one of the best sounding out there. I use their toms all the time on my recordings. Also the snare sounds awesome and big. It is worth the money. And its all about the programming.

 

[Seanduffy]

DFHS 2.0 is one of the best sounding out there. I use their toms all the time on my recordings. Also the snare sounds awesome and big. It is worth the money. And its all about the programming.

Yeah I was actually considering buying that, it'd make things a lot easier for me too. But how do you mean, all about the programming?

 

[timislegend]

programming is a term used to describe the midi arrangement characteristics that one would use in an effort to achieve a natural acoustic drum rhythm. this can be obtained by simply practicing the use of midi parameters that are associated with gm drum mapping. you can read, "drum programming: a complete guide to program & think like a drummer."

this isn't necessarily the best way to learn however reading this may clear up some terminology and gain further detail on the matter.

another method you could use to educate yourself a bit more is; listen to your favorite drums phrases in a song that you admire (or hate) and copy it as best as you can using a midi drum instrument. the more you understand the physics and methodology to the variation; the more it will become a lot easier to translate any drum rudiment in context of the mix you are working on. it can be an extremely powerful editing skill that a lot of current bands request.

there is also a negative connotation in regards to drum editing; other people that consider it a crime to program drums that are intended to be played by human beings and not robot computer machines. don't pay any attention to this attitude... these people are cynical and they are most likely incapable of the patience and focused ability it requires to edit an entire (6 minute) composition.

so practice makes perfect.

also, if you're looking for production drum samplers: a strong recommendation would be like crillemannen said: drum kit from hell but also superior drummer, bfd, steven slate drums platinum and joey sturgis custom drum samples are some really great alternatives.