I was wondering how you guys go about telling a band that you want to program their drums. I've had no bands ask if i could do it for them.. but what if i thought it would be better if i programmed them?
What do you say?
What do you say?
Questions about programming drums?
- Thread starter Onset to putrefaction
- Start date
coneyis
I am the Warchild!
I would throw it out there as an option and leave the choice up to them. That's a touchy topic especially for the drummer cause in essence your telling the whole band their drummer sucks! Just be tactful.
Good luck...
Good luck...
dubbingmixer
Member
- Jul 10, 2008
- 58
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Torniojaws
They call me Juha
The drummer could notice, especially if there's some difficult passages to program. Then he'll start nagging, and the band starts nagging 
i've seen too many drummers who would have no idea if what's on the album is what they played or not
shit, just tell 'em you quantized and used some samples, and they'll stop asking
shit, just tell 'em you quantized and used some samples, and they'll stop asking
siegfried
Member
Maybe you can speak only to drummer and let him help you with programming, so maybe he will not feel bad, he will cooperate on programming a little bit and if he don´t want it the band will not know that you completely replaced his drums.
Anyone know if Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold was programmed or just triggered? Always curious about that and this is as good a thread as any to ask...
If the drummer is horseshit I'd try to sample-replace and align the drums. If that doesn't work I'd program them and tell the entire band cause they aren't gonna get any better by thinking they have a good drummer. I've never had to go to that length. Samples and whatnot usually are ok.
But to be honest, till i got into this recording game I had no idea bands like Type O were all drum programming on cd. My friends still have no idea unless I tell them that this band or that band have samples in their drums which are fairly obvious. Joe Blow doesn't know. As stated above, 1/2 the drummers out there don't even know when THEY have been replaced by samples!
If the drummer is horseshit I'd try to sample-replace and align the drums. If that doesn't work I'd program them and tell the entire band cause they aren't gonna get any better by thinking they have a good drummer. I've never had to go to that length. Samples and whatnot usually are ok.
But to be honest, till i got into this recording game I had no idea bands like Type O were all drum programming on cd. My friends still have no idea unless I tell them that this band or that band have samples in their drums which are fairly obvious. Joe Blow doesn't know. As stated above, 1/2 the drummers out there don't even know when THEY have been replaced by samples!
Zombietakeover
Member
Give them the Truth
They have the option to go to a real Studio and lay down the Drums but it will cost 50-60 bucks an hour......if they want to go for that then cool go to the nearest good studio and grab up some time....and take those tracks home and finish the rest
And thats if the drummer is badass and can nail shit
but by your post and i run into the problem time and again "shitty drummers"
I recorded a band awhile back they were all over the place, I convinced them to let me program there drums ......And It OPEN there eyes....Since i programed them it was on a solid tempo so everything would be with the click....It instantly tighten everyone up.....the guitars and bass feel right into place....i even burned off just the drums and gave it to the drummer he took it home and practiced it and became a better drummer .
Forget about the machine sound for a minute, it makes people become better musicians.
but also nothing compares to an amazing drummer...but they are endangered
They have the option to go to a real Studio and lay down the Drums but it will cost 50-60 bucks an hour......if they want to go for that then cool go to the nearest good studio and grab up some time....and take those tracks home and finish the rest
And thats if the drummer is badass and can nail shit
but by your post and i run into the problem time and again "shitty drummers"
I recorded a band awhile back they were all over the place, I convinced them to let me program there drums ......And It OPEN there eyes....Since i programed them it was on a solid tempo so everything would be with the click....It instantly tighten everyone up.....the guitars and bass feel right into place....i even burned off just the drums and gave it to the drummer he took it home and practiced it and became a better drummer .
Forget about the machine sound for a minute, it makes people become better musicians.
but also nothing compares to an amazing drummer...but they are endangered
Zombietakeover
Member
maybe, but that drummer from Avenged, i think his name is the Reverend or something like that.........he is just that fucking good......the dude is a beast..so i wouldn't be surprised if thats really him, very consistent player
Have you seen the DVD accompanying their latest? It shows him recording their first single off the cd. He is sampled to hi-heavens. He hits his drums very weak compared to the finished song. He might be tight, and you would be too after touring like him, but it's definitely sample-enhanced.
As for Bat Country, it's machine-gun drum rolls all around. That is not him. Even I can get better defined rolls out of samples, which is why I think it's programmed.
Edit: I'm not bashing him or the band. Very good musicians. But I'm not gonna pretend that what I saw him play is the same as what's on the finished CD.
Zombietakeover
Member
johnjm22
Member
Hmmm. How are you able to get away with that? I can't imagine the drummer not being able to notice.
How are you able to program the OH's to match what the drummer actually played? Or perhaps it's not that difficult, maybe I should give it a try...
i've never done it myself, but i've heard plenty of instances where drummers had their tracks replaced with programmed drums...or guitarists had their takes replayed by someone else after they're gone, and the musicians were - supposedly - none the wiser.
actually now that i think of it, i did do it once...i had a buddy of mine come down to my school to track some drums on some songs i was working on. he only bothered to learn about 1/2 of the material, so when it came time to hit record, he barely knew what he was doing...however, i did like some of the ideas he came up with during the takes, so i took his performance and programmed it, and made changes as necessary.
there's also at least a couple of engineers out there who will record drummers, sample replace and quantize all the skins, and then program the OH's/cymbals...
