How do you program your drums?

[digitalmikey]

A lot of dudes here like myself seem to not have access to real kits and we resort to programing drum parts for our tunes. How does everyone go about constructing their drum tracks in S2.0, EzDrummer, ect.?

Do you lay out drum tracks first and then write to those?

Do you construct riffs and then write the drum track to each riff?

Share your setups.

 

[Mulder]

I steal.

I choose parts I need from records, temposync them in Nuendo, zoom in on the hit'starts and put midinotes on that place. Then I change the tempo back.

For fills I slam my table on which I attached a Ddrum pickup triggering midis.

Sounds very natural. Looks rather stoopit.

 

[|Thanatos]

Before programming drums I usually record a stratch tracks of guitars to a click. While playing I do the tempo track if there are any time signature changes to the song. After that I usually try to get drums programmed. I do this all on a template so my drums won't sound like shit when programming (DFHS1) but I still usually tweak them alot on each separate song.

 

[STINNETT]

Usually, I write the drums while I have a vague riff in my head that I haven't even figured out how to play yet. Then, when I have the rhythm created, I'll figure out how to play the riff. Sometimes I record riffs first if I've got some on my mind, but not usually.

I think I like to create something that is rhythmically cool before I think about it being harmonically cool, so getting the drums together first helps me with that. After I create the guitar parts, that's when I go back and add the fills and accents. I keep everything pretty simple at first.

 

[James Murphy]

I steal.

I choose parts I need from records, temposync them in Nuendo, zoom in on the hit'starts and put midinotes on that place. Then I change the tempo back.

For fills I slam my table on which I attached a Ddrum pickup triggering midis.

Sounds very natural. Looks rather stoopit.

you should seriously look into Toontrack's new Drumtracker software.

 

[Jaymz]

Usually, I write the drums while I have a vague riff in my head that I haven't even figured out how to play yet. Then, when I have the rhythm created, I'll figure out how to play the riff. Sometimes I record riffs first if I've got some on my mind, but not usually.

I think I like to create something that is rhythmically cool before I think about it being harmonically cool, so getting the drums together first helps me with that. After I create the guitar parts, that's when I go back and add the fills and accents. I keep everything pretty simple at first.

Same here

 

[-J-]

since I don't understand midi all that well, I start with out-of-the-box loops and move/add/delete stuff until it fits. I try not to construct entirely from scratch since I don't know (or care to know right now) all the nuances of velocities and ghost notes and such. I figure if I learn all that, I'm back to hit-by-hit programming, which stopped me from recording for awhile it was so tedious.

 

[Sacha]

It varies in terms of the writing process, but for programming I always just mouse it in the editor in Cubase, i've gotten pretty fast at it nowadays.

I'm going to try recording some v-drums in to capture the midi soon though, from my initial tests it will work great and maintain some more dynamics.

 

[Eschatologist]

Combination programing/editing in Sonar and this:

 

[Eschatologist]

I steal.

I choose parts I need from records, temposync them in Nuendo, zoom in on the hit'starts and put midinotes on that place. Then I change the tempo back.

For fills I slam my table on which I attached a Ddrum pickup triggering midis.

Sounds very natural. Looks rather stoopit.

Haha good idea. You could probably jerry-rig a dynmaic mic this way too, in to Drumagog or something else that converts audio to midi (Toontrack Drumtracker maybe?) by tapping on the mic or whatever... unconventional ideas can often produce really interesting and convincing results.

 

[Torniojaws]

First I jam a riff, and when I like something I record it and then program some drumbeat to go with it. Then I jam out until I have about 10 riffs or so, and I do some beats to go with all of them. Then I arrange the song to some sort of structure. Once that is done and I like the structure, I start replacing the drumbeats with more intricate ones, constantly improving upon them over time, until I'm happy with the drums and changes. And that's about it

Oh yeah, and the actual programming I do with a mouse into a piano roll. I never got accustomed to a drum roll view, since it's so weird placing drum hits *between* beats, on the vertical dividing line between them.

I might try out finger drumming the parts someday, should be fun.

 

[Mulder]

you should seriously look into Toontrack's new Drumtracker software.

If its really tight it would save a lot of time (and noise), but I always had to edit midi's generated like this by hand to get the timing spot on.

(And I like slamming desks)

 

[Temps]

I start with a riff, play it without click. Then I figure out where the bars should be ending, use the tempo tool in the waveform viewer in Cubase to work out the tempo.. then add a hihat playing, work out time signature (or signatures if I've gone nuts) and re-record the riff if my tempo is inconsistent. Then I fit snare and kicks to it the riff, move on to the next bar, finish the passage, then delete the riffs again and re-record again.
I use Cubase's drum map the whole time, totally used to it, never had to use a piano roll for it I turn quantize off so that the hits are always a tiny bit off beat, sounds less mechanical that way.

 

[Mulder]

Haha good idea. You could probably jerry-rig a dynmaic mic this way too, in to Drumagog or something else that converts audio to midi (Toontrack Drumtracker maybe?) by tapping on the mic or whatever... unconventional ideas can often produce really interesting and convincing results.

This one:

http://rcpt.yousendit.com/634677572/41294f9bdefeb1f9dae1badbb82c35d9

is made this way. 'Grace' of Jeff Buckley (Telecaster alert) stripped from the original and transposed to fit the singer.

I don't play guitar, I just lay out the cords/notes and edit everything together (classical recording trainee).

 

[xFkx]

I program them in ableton live, it's best for midi editing (and looping is super easy), took me a few years to aquire the brain of a drummer though

 

[James Murphy]

Combination programing/editing in Sonar and this:

i have one of those as well.

 

[MetalJonesy]

i tap hits, and use midi clicks to trigger drumagog!

 

[ItsAFugazzi]

I always do a basic no frills or "fills" (haha) drum track to start with... Just something solid as the back bone to write/record to. Programming the drums in detail is something that I've always left to last.

 

[Eschatologist]

I always do a basic no frills or "fills" (haha) drum track to start with... Just something solid as the back bone to write/record to. Programming the drums in detail is something that I've always left to last.

Same, I lay out the basics of what I want, tempo changes and markers first, then basic drum lines (blast beats, double bass, etc), then fill in the rest with the PadKontrol. I especially use the PK for ride/hats/cymbals when programming blastbeats...works pretty well. I'll see if I can get a sample up later.

 

[Rupturemetal]

First I jam a riff, and when I like something I record it and then program some drumbeat to go with it. Then I jam out until I have about 10 riffs or so, and I do some beats to go with all of them. Then I arrange the song to some sort of structure. Once that is done and I like the structure, I start replacing the drumbeats with more intricate ones, constantly improving upon them over time, until I'm happy with the drums and changes. And that's about it

Oh yeah, and the actual programming I do with a mouse into a piano roll. I never got accustomed to a drum roll view, since it's so weird placing drum hits *between* beats, on the vertical dividing line between them.

I might try out finger drumming the parts someday, should be fun.

Yep thats how I do it. But I use the drum editor in Cubase,so fucking easy, Oh and a Korg pad kontrol, that thing rocks,the XY pad is thee shit