I'm having trouble on making an efficient drum groove. They sound dull and lifeless. I want to make them more complex, hypnotic and humanized. Kinda like this:
Can anyone give me directions? I'm kinda lost, and already googled it a lot for this...
Thx =)
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Melange5738
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Posted : Sep 24, 2012 18:00
Well, you should have posted one of your own tracks too, to have one to compare with.
If I were to criticize the percussions on track you posted, it would be mostly a mixing issue. The volume of the percussions seem to be a little too uniform or flat.
What I usually do in Cubase is to set up a Drum Groove agent for each element, such as one for hi hats, one for cymbals, one for maracas etc. That way it is easier to scale them, change volumes and control mixing etc comparing if you were to have all the percussions on the same MIDI track.
IMHO, percussions always have to have a human element. A variation of velocity is absolutely necessary.
Listen to real percussionists to get inspiration. Kodo drums, death-, and progressive metal, maybe reggae and so forth.
A final advice would be to obtain a bongo drum or something, experiment with it and record, or learn by taking a percussionist course.
What I usually do in Cubase is to set up a Drum Groove agent for each element, such as one for hi hats, one for cymbals, one for maracas etc. That way it is easier to scale them, change volumes and control mixing etc comparing if you were to have all the percussions on the same MIDI track.
If I'm using Ableton Live as the DAW, it would be the same if I put all elements in a Drum Rack? Or it would be best if I put every element in one Midi Track each separately, like you said (with the Cubase example)?
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Melange5738
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Posted : Sep 24, 2012 19:48
Quote:
On 2012-09-24 18:18, caioqmoura wrote:
If I'm using Ableton Live as the DAW, it would be the same if I put all elements in a Drum Rack? Or it would be best if I put every element in one Midi Track each separately, like you said (with the Cubase example)?
Have not used Ableton for many years, I have no idea. What I meant is that you want it to be easily scaleable in terms of complexity and volume. You add stuff as you add complexity and will also be able to remove stuff easily. If you put everything in one MIDI track you will lose out productivity time searching for the specific feature you want to change and so forth.
Keeping all the hi hats in one or two lines on a single track will make it easy for you to change stuff. If you want to change sound properties or panoramic features to specific beats you can add a "hi hats 2" track to make mixing easier for a different pan or whatever. I usually have a few stuff like claps and maracas in several versions, sometimes with hard left and right pans. Not sure how this applies to Ableton Live though.
Hmmm I got it.. I'm sure there's a way of doing it in Ableton.
I guess mixing is an issue for me too, cause all the cymbals together sound too "small" in the speakers, and they don't appear "separate" enough (as they do in professionally mixed tracks).
I guess speaking is not a good way to describe it, will try to do some stuff and post here later as a more clear example...
Anyway, thx for the fast feedback! And sorry for the lame english =)
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The Bap
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Posted : Sep 24, 2012 21:59
This is how I do a similar thing. It's for FL9 but I'm sure you'll get the idea of how to translate it to other DAWs.
1. Get a nice beat into FL Slicer. (The source doesn't matter to me, grab any old loop if you want).
2. Clone it and put that in a new FX slot.
3. Bang it through some FX. Here, I chose a comb filter,Melda MFreqShifter MEqualizer, DVS Trance Gate, FL Reverb and FL Delay in that order.
4. Fart about with it until it sounds good.
5. Mix in/EQ with the original drum loop to taste and... voila. Instant "glitchy" goodness that is guaranteed to be in sync with your rhythm.
6. Add some perc hits that are reverbed/delayed/stretched to hell and back to add some psychedelic tastiness.
7. Have a well deserved cup of tea.
Alien Bug
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Posted : Sep 25, 2012 04:20
Quote:
On 2012-09-24 20:40, caioqmoura wrote:
I guess mixing is an issue for me too, cause all the cymbals together sound too "small" in the speakers, and they don't appear "separate" enough (as they do in professionally mixed tracks).
