midi drums

[guitar junkie]

So after digging around a little bit i decided to learn how to program drums and set them up on my songs....

with two Computer Music Magazine DVDs and 7000 samples i started tinkering...

just not sure where some patterns should start, how to create them... anybody got ideas?

this could be a pretty good open topic!

[brandondrury]

What exactly are you asking?

Are you asking how you start writing a song or are you asking about what software to use/technical stuff?

Brandon

[guitar junkie]

how to start creating drum patterns like where to start...


do you make a pattern with the kick and then start clicking in snare hits and toms and then cymbals?

i have a piano roll editor and a soft synth loaded with some decent sounds, then i have about 7000 drum samples i could mess with...

just not sure what kind of things to do with this or even how to really begin.

i am just a stupid guitar player with no clue about drumming.

[brandondrury]

Well, I've not exactly done this a lot, but I'll tell you how to get started.

Boom Pop Boom Pop

Just do a straight 4/4 kick snare kick snare thing with a hihat either playing 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16th notes.

Then put stuff on top of it. You can always go back and change it. Right now I'm sort going through all the cliches just to get practiced at doing it.

I think the real secret is to have fun with it. Do what all the 16 year old metal guitar players do and exactly copy X genre. Just don't fall into a rut where you think this is the way you SHOULD be doing it.

You may want to read a thread I just posted about the greatest drummer of all time. Listen to that song. Obviously, there isn't THAT much thought put into drumming on one of the greatest songs of all time.

Brandon

[richiebee]

I rely on a drum editor to do all my drum programming, then tend to set up one bar of drums, repeat through the song, then go through at various places and make some variations and add fills.

- Most popular genres have 8 or 12 bar phrases... fills go in the last bar of the phrase, sometimes more frequently like every four bars. Don't overdo it, and don't make all the fill bars the same.

- If your editor doesn't have a drum editor, think of each bar in eighth's or sixteenths depending on the complexity and frequently style. Divide the bar up into equal segments... here's some common patterns.

Hi Hat - plays closed on all eighth notes
Snare - plays on the second and fourth quarter note
Kick - in dance music it will play on each quarter note, in rock it frequently plays on the following eighth notes - 1, 4, 5, 7.

Keep it simple...

Add in accents to give the rhythm groove.

This is a massive topic to be honest. It would help to know what kind of music you want ot program and what kind of sequencer you're using.


Rich

[dach]

Guitar Junkie,

Make it easy on yourself, you are opening up a can of worms!

Go buy Jamstix or EZ Drummer immediately.

Once you get used to hearing drum beats and fills on their own and actually have an idea of what you want, then give it a stab... otherwise be prepared for the pain...

A couple of months of drum lessons will be invaluable as well....

[guitar junkie]

the most of what you might hear me program is country music...

but really what i am looking at is just to sharpen my skills and be ale to offer more to someone in my recordings.

as well as something to make a fuller sound in some of my tracks....

i have Mackie Tracktion 2

and Ableton Live 5 lite which is where i seem to have the best luck programming drums and stuff like that...

Garage band has a lot of nice loops but programming them is a pain....

I have a keyboard i can hammer them in with but it kind of has a lousy action.

[brandondrury]

I recommend that you just jump in face first and not think about it. Screw trying to make something good. Let real musicians do that (at least this attitude works for me). Instead try to have fun with it. There is so much of a learning curve for this programming shit that the only way you are going to learn is by doing.

With that said, to teach myself Cubase (which I wrote down about 15 bugs/complaints for last night alone) I simply found a 3 chord progression that I liked. I did some cliche dance music beat and played the progression a million times until I got a take that I liked.

Then I looped that for probably 20 minutes while I found a bass part I was really digging. (For this piece, the bass really made the song). Anyway, after that, I focused on creating melodies to go over the top of it. It's truely amazing how much you learn about harmony and music when you dick around with this a little bit!

Brandon

[Lou Ping]

i am just a stupid guitar player with no clue about drumming.[/QUOTE]

As a drummer who's been oppressed with drummer jokes for many years it ****s my heart to hear this! I wish I could help you...

Seriously though, just listen to a regular 4/4 beat. When your'e programming, put a hi-hat note on each beat, then a bass drum on the first (of every 4), and a snare on the third.
Then just try some variations... maybe another snare hit on the or 4th beat/a bass drum on another beat.
Then experiment with some lower velocity 1/2 beats (off-beats). This can give a good funky feel. Another good method is to make a really basic loop, render it to audio, then play around with some delay to get the extra beats. Try reversing the loop, etc etc.
Another option is to take some loops, chop them up and put each element in a different track, then edit a loop together manually.It's true that it would be much easier to buy a loops DVD but it depends really how you want to spend your time.
Good luck and thanks again for the quote...Lou.