movement/accents on percussion

MarcAshken · Post by **MarcAshken** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:10 pm

the cover article in this months soundonsound is about programming realistic drums, fine article too
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NewSc2 · Post by **NewSc2** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:54 am

MarcAshken wrote:the cover article in this months soundonsound is about programming realistic drums, fine article too
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Need to check it out.

I'm having some problems too. Not really falling into cliches (offbeat HH, 2/4 snare), but trying to program a loop that sounds like a real drummer played it. I'm likely comparing my programming to actual live drums, so that doesn't help, but still... a lot of those drum fills, little accents, and end-of-the-bar crashes aren't feeling natural for me on MIDI.

MarcAshken · Post by **MarcAshken** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:09 pm

basically u gotta think bout how many arms and feet a drummer has, tom fills would mean no hats playing, a open hat would mean no closed hat playing, a closed hat would choke an open hat, hat fills at the end of a bar would naturally accent the last couple of hits for emphasis etc... also try an put in slight velocity and rhythm changes on the hats every bar to keep the loop fluid, just subtle ones tho cos you dont wanna lose the groove. Listen to stevie wonder, he's a don for it
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aciduss · Post by **aciduss** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:26 pm

Hey, get this book and make most of the exercises provided.

It really helped me understand how a drummer thinks.

http://www.slideshare.net/edgararruda/d ... ummer-book

Hades · Post by **Hades** » Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:01 am

aciduss wrote:Hey, get this book and make most of the exercises provided.

It really helped me understand how a drummer thinks.

http://www.slideshare.net/edgararruda/d ... ummer-book

that's quite useful !

thx !

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 1:04 pm

always remember that the great thing about electronic music is that you can program rhythms that no drummer could ever play (as pointed out by markashken)

so why worry about real drummers ?

i started out as a drummer, but i much prefer the freedom of electronic rhythms. i'm not saying dont learn from real drumming, but using your imagination and experimentation is way more important to our type of music

aciduss · Post by **aciduss** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:34 pm

Of course one you know the standard stuff about drumming you can go mad arranging, glitching and fucken up percussion ala Aphex Twin

coldfuture · Post by **coldfuture** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:54 pm

steevio wrote:always remember that the great thing about electronic music is that you can program rhythms that no drummer could ever play (as pointed out by markashken)

so why worry about real drummers ?

i started out as a drummer, but i much prefer the freedom of electronic rhythms. i'm not saying dont learn from real drumming, but using your imagination and experimentation is way more important to our type of music

Thats what I am thinking here. If I wanted the sound of a real drummer playing, I'd just record loops of one and do some minimal editing so I could staple it to the tempo of my track... Otherwise I want that sh!t to sound tough and fake and electro-funky.

I think people think way too hard about stuff like this. 909s and 808s have very limited control of things like dynamics (one level accent) and swing (no swing in the case of an 808) and they sound funky as hell.

If you want it more funky, or one to make something with the swing of some broken beat, then for crying out loud:

1) sample some Sly and the Family Stone or P-funk like hip hop has been doing for ages

2) finish the song

3) move on with your life

Life is too short to spend all day trying to make Redrum, Guru, iPluginOfYourChoice sound like James Brown's drummer.