Building drum tracks

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SkyhighRocks

SkyhighRocks

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Wondering how you guys build your drum tracks? I just got EZDrummer and Steven Slate 4 Essentials and running them through Reaper.

Do you record a scratch guitar track with a click and then build off of that or do you go to it with no guitars or anything? I'm trying to see what will be the less painful option. :lol: :LOL:

I can use mostly grooves, fills, etc...it's the piecing of them together that does me in usually.
 
Great post. I am with you on all you stated. I have had many programs and drums just kill me. I use to have an Atari 100 and I would manually key in midi commands for beats and it just killed my efforts.
How do you like Reaper? Do you have the free version?
 
MARK1970":3gcvbzd8 said:
Great post. I am with you on all you stated. I have had many programs and drums just kill me. I use to have an Atari 100 and I would manually key in midi commands for beats and it just killed my efforts.
How do you like Reaper? Do you have the free version?
Click to expand...

Reaper is ok...I'm only going to use it for drums though. I just wish it were more like cubase. I do have the free version, which is fine because you only nee to wait 5 seconds when it loads to continue using it.
 
I do it all different ways... some of my best tracks came when. I lay down a guitar riff to a click. Then find the drum groove that fits...then I may lay down drum tracks blind, knowing I may want a crash chorus or something, then find a guitar riff in a mode that fits that. In the end I may lay down a matching bass line and complimentary clean guitars. By the end, the original guitar riff may be put inactive. The whole interplay is akin to bouncing riffs off your band mates but all by yourself, if that makes sense

This is how I wrote the video in my signature; I wrote the opening riff, then found matching drums to go loud>quiet>build>crash>repeat> 1/2 time> repeat
 
I usually just find a groove and lay down all my guitar parts first, just use a loop for the timing, of course it helps to find one that gels with the groove pretty decent. Then I usually spend time building my drums to near perfection usually last. I like to start with a midi groove if I can, cause it just saves time for me and usually is triggered by a drummer so there is a feel injected into it. But I start fitting the drums to my song, changing kick, snare, hat and cymbal placements, adding crashes etc to fit it just how I hear it in my head and think it will sound best.

I find it easier to move stuff around then it is to start from scratch. But keeping in mind what a drummer would do is best for realism, sometimes I slack a little in this department but try to keep things changing, moving etc.
 
I use EZDrummer and JamStix. Since I'm running Logic now, I can only do EZD though. I usually just loop the different grooves within EZD and then jam to them. When I find what I like, I start dragging the clips into the track.

The best $29 I ever spent though was on a Toontrack pack of Rock songs. They have full songs already set up that you can jam to. Then, under each, there are sections like "Intro", "Verse", "Bridge", "Chorus", etc., where you can take the individual clips and make a customized song. This pack was a revelation for me because it taught me about arrangement as well, from a drummers perspective.

The Toontrack stuff is great. I also have a MIDI pack from TT, of odd-time grooves as well.

All that said, JamStix is amazing in that you just pick a drummer, kit and style and jam with it. You can also sub-host EZD in it if you prefer the sounds from EZD. (and I do). It will also "jam" with you if you feed it a signal like your amped cab for example. Really amazing software that shocks me since it gets no mention on forums.

Dave
 
I do it a few different ways:

Find one of the stock grooves in Superior Drummer (big brother to EZDrummer) and heavily modify it

OR

Record a scratch track to a click and then 'play' the kick and snare using a Korg nanoPad and then add stuff manually after that.
 
My problem is usually the transitions. I can find the beats/grooves I need but when it comes to going from one part to the next, that's where I get stumped sometimes.

Was working on a song today where I could not program the correct hits that lead into the main beat. It was a simple double snare hit but I couldn't find the spot to place it. The first kick hit had to be moved closer to those snare hits as well....just wasn't having any luck.
 
might help to really start critically listening to drums. I am a hack drummer, but at least I have an idea of what I would do if I was a really good drummer. ghost notes, fills into transitions etc.
 
Audioholic":38m4okgt said:
might help to really start critically listening to drums. I am a hack drummer, but at least I have an idea of what I would do if I was a really good drummer. ghost notes, fills into transitions etc.
Click to expand...

That's the thing...I started out as a drummer. I have decent timing. But to manually insert notes...that's where I need to get better. If I had an E kit, I'd be all over this lol
 
Having a midi trigger setup of some sort is a blessing and huge timesaver, even if its a keyboard. I'm fortunate enough to have a trapkat setup, so I just use that, then edit later as needed, since I can't account for all the hit types 'live'.
 
I (my kids) do have a crappy casio keyboard that has midi in/out but I couldn't seem to get it to do anything when I tried it earlier today. That would be a huge help since I can tap out what I need no problem.
 
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