Sequencing Drums With "feel" Options

[slowintrepid]

Ok folks I've been producing alot of music on my computer that isn't electronica at all.

thus my drums now feel very very ridgid
I need to get more feel and consistency when sequencing drums..

I either use battery into cubase, or I just use reason

and no matterr what my drums don't sound good (rhymically)

I've tried playing that parts on my keyboard and nothing.

I've tried using the pen tool nothing....

and I've tried different quantitisation methods (like swing and what not)


but still nothing can someone shed some light on this for me

[B3 Basher]

Riverdog makes a great point. Do not add a 5th arm (limb would have been a better metaphor). Watch a drummer and see what he/she is capable of and what he isn't. You can't hit a crash cymbal at the same time as you are doing a snare paradiddle. You simultaneously can't play a closed hi-hat beat whilst playing a snare/tom fill.

Secondly, if you're using a drum machine such as RedRum in Reason 2.5, use 4 variations of the same snare drum, slightly detuned to each other to simulate the random 'whacks' that a real drummer may give. Sometimes they are hitting the centre of the snare, sometimes towards the edge (rimshot). Such changes in the timbre of the snare can give a realistic sound to a basic 4/4 rock beat. Hi hats can be given the same treatment particularly with the use of accents that 'tie in' with actions of a real drummer.

Try triggering two similar snare hits together and shift them a few milliseconds apart to give the impression of a two handed snare hit by a real drummer (Think of the drum track to "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc - sheesh who would have thought he would be a reference to drums with feel!).

Above all - LISTEN to a real drummer. I'd recommend a DVD for drum tuition, it's amazing what you might learn in the quest for realism!

Expensive tip - Hire a session drummer and a electronic drum kit with a midi input to your sequencer. I'll be recommending hiring a whole orchestra next!

This post has been edited by B3 Basher: Tue 5 Oct 2004, 17:01