Members Chrisjd Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 A wave of frustration hit me last night as i was trying to get drums either through loops or by using the built in software keyboard in my daw. I don't know where you people learn to play drums, but i have no drum training, and i don't have a damn clue on how to program drums in my daw. I CAN'T PLAY DRUMS. i have so much guitar work and ideas i want to capture and add drums to, but i am completely limited in doing so. is there any advice anybody would like to share with me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JR13 Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 EZdrummer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peavey_impact Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I have the opposite problem. I actually can play drums, but when it comes down to entering {censored} on a piano roll it's tedious as hell. I even bought a little yamaha digital drum thing to try and capture my hits through midi, but the {censored} never tracks perfectly and quantizing never {censored}ing works for me in Sonar X1. Maybe I should try it with Cubase. X1 has been pissing me off for a while. Easiest way would be to try and find basic midi drum beats, drop them in your DAW, tweak them to your desired result and process them with Slate, EZ, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elemenope Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Man I have the same issue. I can play drums a little...But it seems like no matter what I do I can never get {censored} recorded properly or play it properly on a recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members maggotspawn Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I use midi files for my drums. I'm too lazy to program them myself. You guys can PM me your e-mail addresses for some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sbrett Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Originally Posted by peavey_impact Easiest way would be to try and find basic midi drum beats, drop them in your DAW, tweak them to your desired result and process them with Slate, EZ, etc. This is what I do, and pretty much the only way I can get anything accomplished when it comes to drums and recording. Tweaking the piano roll isn't so bad if you have some decent loops to work from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 It sounds like you should find a drummer to work with - what's the point slogging through drum programming if it's tedious, how will that ever inspire you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AdrianPOA Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I have been watching Derek Roddy DVDs and checking out the On The Beaten Path: Metal drum book, and trying to apply that to my drum programming via my MIDI pad. It is slowly but surely coming along, but I think I might just program everything into Guitar Pro and export the drum tracks as MIDI, as it that is starting to look like a less stressful route. Knowing your theory as far as time signatures and note/rest values are concerned definitely helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I had the same problem. After years of trying drum machines, loops, etc I ended up buying a small drum kit and one drum mic. Now I record each drum individually on separate tracks. Made a huge difference in my recording and songwriting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NinjaRaf Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I suck at drums. Program them in guitar pro or tabit then export the midi file. Thats how I roll. Also, my best friend is a sick {censored}ing drummer, and he gave me some tips on drumming that I have no idea how to explain in words, but I can at least make somewhat decent drums now. If I have problems, I just send him a guitar tab and he sends it back to me with drums lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poolshark Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Originally Posted by lz4005 I had the same problem. After years of trying drum machines, loops, etc I ended up buying a small drum kit and one drum mic. Now I record each drum individually on separate tracks. Made a huge difference in my recording and songwriting. Wait. Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Originally Posted by lz4005 I had the same problem. After years of trying drum machines, loops, etc I ended up buying a small drum kit and one drum mic. Now I record each drum individually on separate tracks. Made a huge difference in my recording and songwriting. I went the opposite direction. Got tired of mic-ing up my kit and trying to get everything to sound the way I wanted and perfecting every take. I'd rather program that way I can change the sound and hits without having to redo the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thefyn Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I've turned to grooves, and just edit them in the piano roll. Just make sure teh grooves you purchase are the same tempo of the tracks you want to enter. I actually wrote a song for a drum part for the first time. This is how it turned out:http://soundcloud.com/tock-1/piggy-voivod-tribute I chose some drum grooves that sounded Voivody, and then jammed over it until I got something that fitted. I almost always come up with riffs first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spoonie g Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Where do you guys get the midi files? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JerEvil Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Man I am a mediocre drummer at best but I play well enough and understand the mechanics enough that I program decent beats. I also use some of the GrooveMonkee stuff and edit it. ALL the drums on my Cherry 2000 reverberation/Facebook page are done this way except the song "Same Ol' Same Ol'" Am I amazing, no but the average music listener has no idea a real drummer didn't play those tracks and our drummer plays it well enough live that no one is the wiser. It also was very intimidating/frustrating for a long time, then it clicked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SexWithRobots Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Load up something like ezdrummer and program it in piano roll. Also if you cant think of drum parts then record guitar first to the click track then dick around with adding drums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thefyn Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Originally Posted by spoonie g Where do you guys get the midi files? I get them via groove monkey, Steven Slate and slamtracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SexWithRobots Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I still cant get slate to work in Sonar. Works in cubase and fruity loops but I know how to use Sonar so much better. {censored}in annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Originally Posted by poolshark Wait. Really? Yeah. My real issue was that I had very specific drum patterns in my head and couldn't reproduce them with anything but real drums. Maybe more accurate to say I didn't have the patience to learn how to do them digitally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T303 Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I can help you program some drums if need be. It's easy once you get it all figured out.Feared - Song 3 Give me some specific questions you're struggling with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members "sasquatch" Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 It is easy but time consuming and takes away from the fun of making music IMHO. I'd rather setup a mic and record me hitting a tv with a fork or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ku'Yleh Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I always do it in the Piano roll. Make one measure of each beat that is in the song, copy/paste them into the right order, then tweak individual measures as the song requires. Throw the grid on your DAWs piano roll if you are having issues getting timing right, or just quantize the thing after you have made the basic beat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knucklefux Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 drumkit from hell has tons of beats for basic song structuring. add some fills and accents, and you're done. super easy, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poolshark Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Yeah. My real issue was that I had very specific drum patterns in my head and couldn't reproduce them with anything but real drums. Maybe more accurate to say I didn't have the patience to learn how to do them digitally. That sounds ... time consuming. Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike LX-R Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 I think learning some really basic drum rudiments would open up your musical mind and be a more worthwhile endeavor in the long run. Or you could grab midi loops and never really understand them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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