Jump to content

How do you go about drum programming?


Recommended Posts

For a while I used Superior drums.. I would pull in a fair amount of their one bar loops,, I would place them in a row, repeating ones I liked,, making sure rolls were in the right place.. I also use tyros 5,and it makes some decent drums parts,, by selecting where you change sections, and how quickly you change them,, you can get interesting stuff..

 

Sometimes I create a 2nd drum track.. and make ghost kicks and snares.. (softer, and a different part.. I listen to song.. and pick couple places, where I want the bass and drums to do accents, or motifs together.. Sometimes one is content to let a loop repeat and repeat, and sometimes this can work well.. However subtle changes, help a lot..

 

I'm just getting into the new Logic X drummer, and there is more there than you see on the surface.. I sometimes layer drums together, one under the other, being careful of flanging effects. A real drummer is great.. But often us solo composers don't have access to that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My general approach is that I'll try to capture that first instinctual beat I think of and record it, fix the timing, then use that for the basis of the song. Then for say a pop song, I'll try to decide if that's best for the verses or chorus, then come up with one of those next. Get the basic drum part down and then later in the song figure out where it needs fills or changing it up to keep things from sounding too dead.

 

I made a track using the Drummer in Logic for the first time and I really liked it, though I did have a feeling like I was "cheating" since I didn't think of the beat myself. I ended up taking that track and putting it in a few different drum kit sounds and adding delays and reverbs to make it a bit different sounding (for example it made the snare sound a few times instead of just one hit.) I will definitely use Drummer again for projects that are more low profile or may not pay me enough or at all.

 

This is all very different from how I used to do drumming, which is every single thing with my fingers on the midi and recorded, sometimes one full "live" take for the whole song. It took me years to really learn how to drum program, and since I'm new to Logic I'm still learning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...