time consuming

[Mashreef]

guys i really need a big favour from you all...
I see people tracking a average of 4-5 min song with in 2-4 hour's
When im doing it it takes atleast 10 hour's for a 3 min song...
the thing which is eating up my time is programming the drums...
its a simple 4/4 song... still i dont know whats wrong with me??
i had this problem for atleast 6 months from now..
its kinda embarrassing to share... but i had to
cant do anything bout it.. man im so sad and tired after today's work
it feels like i should have never came to this field....
Hoping for some valuable lessons

 

[heshian46]

Programming drums is a very time consuming thing to do right. It's not just you. If you want to cut down on your tracking time when using programmed drums, I suggest using an electronic kit, or midi keyboard to help speed things along. Then you can go through and adjust velocities and nudge notes.

 

[Mashreef]

i stay on Grid still it doesnt goes with the metronome :S

 

[Plendakor]

.

 

[Mashreef]

God i need to learn making drums in guitar pro...
i think it might help speeding up and not getting super pissed


im using Reaper

 

[bryan_kilco]

When I first started programming drums, it was in TabIt. Didn't have to use the mouse and I got pretty quick at it with just the keyboard and punching in numbers.

Moved on to FL Studio and things got a bit better. Then just a few months ago I finally bought my first drum VSTi and it's a world of a difference.

Programming is a bit awkward at first. I'm in REAPER and it seems that each time I create a new section of blank MIDI, I have to manually zoom in to be able to see my whole "drumkit"/piano roll/note names. That get's a little irritating after a while but there may be a work around that I don't know about. That, and I liked in FL Studio there was an option to "fill every other note" or whatever, so if you had a long double kick run. (Then again, I wasn't using piano roll in FL Studio)

Copy/paste is your friend.

 

[Mashreef]

Piano roll is a total pain in the ass

 

[right_to_rage]

This might be obvious, but copy/pasting large sections is very useful in situations like this, especially if everything is in 4/4. Outline the all basic rhythms first then go in and make subtle changes like ghost notes, velocity and timing. Or find a pack of decent midi loops to paste onto your DAW. Don't be afraid to use your DAW's humanize function too.

 

[Mashreef]

I dont humanize during the tracking process...
i do it later in the mixing process..
timing is the shit im missing

 

[bryan_kilco]

You're saying that you have troubles actually programming beats when you say "timing is the shit im missing"?

 

[Mashreef]

like i can make the beats...and other stuffs
but my total pattern has some Quantization problem

 

[bryan_kilco]

How so? Can you post an screen shot?

 

[AntonioPetrole]

Practice makes perfect. I will always preach that once you get the piano roll down, you can crank out the songs in no time at all. Control C + Control V practically makes this process 10 times easier

 

[bryan_kilco]

Also - shortcut/hot keys.

I found it extremely annoying to have to go to Insert - New Midi Item every time I wanted to add a blank chunk of midi. Went into Reapers Actions and set a command for this. It only saves like 2 seconds of time, but figure if you do it 100 times in a song......

 

[MIAnn]

Practice makes perfect. I will always preach that once you get the piano roll down, you can crank out the songs in no time at all. Control C + Control V practically makes this process 10 times easier

agree!!

plus i SWEAR by midi keyboard for kick & snare...

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Also - shortcut/hot keys.

I found it extremely annoying to have to go to Insert - New Midi Item every time I wanted to add a blank chunk of midi. Went into Reapers Actions and set a command for this. It only saves like 2 seconds of time, but figure if you do it 100 times in a song......

CMD (ctrl on pc) + left drag will draw an blank MIDI item or loop the highlighted item.

 

[bryan_kilco]

CMD (ctrl on pc) + left drag will draw an blank MIDI item or loop the highlighted item.

Dood! AWESOME! Thanks a bunch for that!!



That also reminds me, seeing your little gif there - you CAN add FX for just certain chunks of audio, can't you? (Instead of the entire channel/track)

EDIT: Tried adding FX to just separate chunks of audio, cool.....but can't figure out how to automate.

 

[AntonioPetrole]

CMD (ctrl on pc) + left drag will draw an blank MIDI item or loop the highlighted item.

Mind=blown

I always try to learn the hotkeys in Reaper but unless I'm applying them while I work I always forget them. I'll definitely remember this though

 

[Terminus]

Programming and editing are the most time-consuming things ime. I hate editing the most, and don't really fuck with it on guitars or bass all that much...which you know if you can play well enough is a good thing. I try...

Vocals and drums though , especially when I track someone else doing vocals....fuuuuuuuu

 

[Mashreef]

CMD (ctrl on pc) + left drag will draw an blank MIDI item or loop the highlighted item.

WOW thanks a bunch man