midi drums / samples

[Lee_B]

I've been doing some home tinkery with varied results... Excuse the post if mildly retarded. I've been going to the Joey Deacon school of sound engineering...

My main problem is to do with the drums. I'm using midi / sampled drums (programmed, not triggered) , but when I get to a part that needs fast fours or Slayer style doubles on the hi-hat, do you have any tips on making it sound more human? The samples I have just seem to cut off too short and make the hats sound like a big buzz.

CD coming this weekend by the way...

Lee

 

[Hewy80]

Use a real drummer.

I know this isnt the answer you are looking for but nothing sounds more like a real drummer than a real drummer.

I guess when using the samples it depends if you have varied hits on the same high hat/cymbal/whatever if you can use varied hits. By varied I mean varied in the power used to hit it and not in precisely the same spot. I know this makes things difficult but its the only real way to get it sounding remotely human

 

[egan.]

Using varied velocity will definitely improve things a great deal. Most software sequencers will allow you to radomize your velocities within given parameters which will simplify the task. Also a little bit of randomization within time can help too since real drummers don't play like metronomes. Some drum units and software can also trigger random samples of a single instrument at a given velocity. That is, a ride cymbal at a velocity of 100 could trigger any one of 4 different samples. This really helps to break things up, and I suggest you try something with this capability.
The Ghetto Answer:
What software/hardware/samples are you using? Changing it could imprvove the choking of the samples. Another trick for this would be to run 2 different cymbal parts for fast shit. 1 would have the 1 and 3 and the other would have the 2 and 4 beats....you could dump them to seperate tracks and the samples wouldn't choke. Early on when I would cut and paste drum samples in Protools I would do subtle pitch shifting to cymbal samples to emulate different hands hitting cymbals.

 

[Andy Sneap]

earaches bitch....I love that, Joey Deacon, a national hero...free backstage shirt to anyone who can name his mate who could understand him when his shoe fell off! I still have a blue peter badge!!

Anyway barrett you sicko, what software are you running, need more info.

 

[Cooperman]

Ernie Roberts

 

[Andy Sneap]

was it ernie roberts???? I'm going to search on google now!

 

[Cooperman]

http://www.spleen.dsl.pipex.com/jd-history.html

I would have been maybe 6 years old at the height of his popularity, but like all kids growing up in the UK, watching Blue Peter was like a religion... and that John Craven twit that was on just before Blue Peter.

 

[Andy Sneap]

oh christ you're killing me!! That link is outstanding, Lee B will be logging that in his favourites. Send me your address I'll get a shirt in the post. Good work cooperman!

 

[Cooperman]

Thanks! I PM'd you my details.

 

[Lee_B]

I am the proud owner of the joeydeacon.com domain address .

You can also try http://www.log.dial.pipex.com/joeydeacon/joeyback.htm which is another good site. Written by a guy from Nottingham in fact. he also mentions my band The Joey Deacons, where my stage name is Cyril B Palsy... other members include Diana Cancer and Will Chair.

 

[Andy Sneap]

barrett you rule