Please help MIDI drum masters

[SocialNumb]

Katatonia, "My Twin" from: "The Great Cold Distance"

The situation is: Even tho I said I would not record other people for a while till I nailed my own stuff, life played it's wonders and I have agreed to help a friend out for free. What are friends for?

Anyway, I need to nail this beat down (Look above). I thought "yeah how easy", yet again a simple beat stumps me. It's not the pattern so much as the groove of said pattern. I can't for life of me get a steady BPM, I do suck at Time Signatures as well (after 7 years of 4/4) My friend wants to sing something over this drum beat and later change to taste. The source of drum sounds is not an issue at this point, that will come later.

I have no clue how you all can help me. I'm trying anyway. Heres a short sample of the song which hopefully will not get me into any sh*t.

http://www.deluxelimousineonline.com/chunk.mp3
(You can right click and "save as" if you want)

I really want to copy it for reference and a initial idea. Jon (the singer friend) really likes the way it feels.

 

[Metaltastic]

God I love this band - I can tell you that it's exactly 4/4 + 95 BPM up until the chorus; when that comes in, it goes up to around 100 BPM (but that's just to heighten the dramatic effect, I think - it's a subtle change) and actually stays in 4/4, though it's just oddly (but awesomely) phrased (just continue counting 4/4 through it, you'll hear it syncs up at "been" at the end of "and all it's been")

As for programming the beat, I could definitely do it, though I wouldn't know how to get the MIDI file exported from Cubase. And there's the issue of you and I having different drums/cymbals assigned to different notes on the piano roll, but that'd be easy enough to figure out, I'd think.

 

[SocialNumb]

God I love this band - I can tell you that it's exactly 4/4 + 95 BPM up until the chorus; when that comes in, it goes up to around 100 BPM (but that's just to heighten the dramatic effect, I think - it's a subtle change) and actually stays in 4/4, though it's just oddly (but awesomely) phrased (just continue counting 4/4 through it, you'll hear it syncs up at "been" at the end of "and all it's been")

As for programming the beat, I could definitely do it, though I wouldn't know how to get the MIDI file exported from Cubase. And there's the issue of you and I having different drums/cymbals assigned to different notes on the piano roll, but that'd be easy enough to figure out, I'd think.

Metaltastic, Thanks for the reply. Yes, I love this band too!

Dude if you can program it then that will erase the 3 days I've spent trying. I don't know if it's a hardly audible(my comp)latency issue or that I'm retarded but when I try to tap out the tempo on this song I can't get a fixed/steady BPM. It keeps going from like 95-98 and up depending on the song section. Probably just a real drummer push and pull deal. The groove/ feel

I don't use Cubase, I'm on Logic Pro 8. So I wouldn't know how to export a standerd MIDI file in Cubase. Why is it hard? Isn't it just something like File/export/MIDI ? wild guess. As for the mapping that's not so hard. Or I can just load up whatever you use. I got EZ with all expansions, AD & DKFHS. Thinking EZ or AD will be the easiest. What do you got?

Well if you got the time and want to do it, I will you! Meanwhile I'll keep at it. I'm gonna have to learn how to deal with situations like these anyways.

 

[Metaltastic]

Alright dude, all done! You can listen to the mp3 of it on my myspace link in my sig, and since I don't have any file hosting service, PM me your email and I'll send you the MIDI file (which was, in fact, as easy as File/export/MIDI ) I actually use the original Battery with just a handful of DFH samples; literally two of each drum, and one of each cymbal, so hence the...ahem...robotic sound. However, it's tolerable within a mix, and I'm planning on getting Superior 2.0 as soon as funds allow. I'm pretty sure I nailed it; a lot of the cymbals in the original version are WAY back in the mix, so it probably sounds a bit jarring to hear them so loud on mine, but I'm pretty much certain that I got everything down perfect (and since I have just the aforementioned 7 MB of samples in a sampler, I couldn't do the ride crescendo right before the chorus, for example). Hope it helps man!

 

[SocialNumb]

Wow, that was super fast! I was thinking a week or so. Can't wait to check out the MIDI to see why I couldn't get this "simple" beat down.
Export was that easy It's usually there. Sending PM and added you to friends on MS if you don't mind.

on a side note: that "Song to my Parents" sounds sweet.

Thanks a lot dude, it will definitely help out a lot.

Oh, don't freak out at my profile. I'm not "sic" or "demented". So many people say that after seeing it. :Smokedev:

 

[Metaltastic]

Email away - and thanks for the compliment and the add dude! Your profile definitely has a crazy vibe to it, but hey, I'm a metalhead, so I know all about shocking imagery adopted by totally sane people But what's with all the links? I couldn't for the life of me find out where your pictures were, for example

 

[SocialNumb]

Yeah that's why I did it. It's a simple puzzle. The links all have the same thing in common except the chicken one. Sometimes it takes a stranger about 20-30 mins to get into my profile. "dude! I spent 20 minutes to get into your profile. Are you O.K? mentally" I always get a laugh at comments like that. Anyways, the thing in common is my name "SocialNumb". Every link has my "name" in it, clicking on it takes you back to the same page. About this time some people notice my "name" in the lower right corner. Thats where my profile is. Then it gets strange....... hover over menu's and listen. It's hilarious. :Smokedev:

 

[Djabthrash]

Is it me or you forgot all the snare ghost notes ? I guess it was intentional (i think it takes more time to program the ghost notes alone than the rest of the beat).

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, I thought I heard ghost notes in there, but since a) I'm not a drummer and b) I don't have any samples besides a pair of very similar "KA-POW!" snare hits, I did what I could. Plus, on a more theoretical level, how could he do ghost notes if he was constantly doing 8th notes on the ride? I mean, I hear them there ever so slightly, but it just seems odd...

 

[SocialNumb]

Yeah, I noticed the ghost notes missing. Don't really care I could add them if need be. I'm also doing all the velocity and timing tweaking. Gonna end up changing a lot anyways. I'm happy to report there wasn't much of a mapping issue popped it in AD, changed a couple notes... all set. Aside from said tweaking.

 

[Metaltastic]

Cool dude, hope it helped!

 

[ahjteam]

I opened it up in cubase and aligned it to the grid and this is what I got for you:
Verse: 4/4, 95bpm, each hyphen in this mighty one bar ascii presentation represents 16th note

BD   |xx-- --xx ---- ----|
SN   |---- x--- ---- x---|
RD   |x-x- x-x- x-x- x-x-|

repeat and add random cymbal/splash hits

edit: didnt read the thread, metaltastic was a bit faster

 

[SocialNumb]

Thats cool, thanks anyway. Now that I know I feel like I had a week long brian fart. Dam that was easy..... Have to up the Ginseng