I recently stumbled onto some workflow that has really helped me get better drum tracks with Superior Drummer 2.0 ---- many thanks to Rick Beato:
The biggest change for me was instead of mouse clicking to a grid (which produced a wooden and artifcial sounding groove and took forever) is that I'm playing the grooves in real time then quantizing them (making them fit the grid after the fact). This gets all the velocity nuances and touch nuances unique to the time feel of the track (as opposed to say a stock midi groove).
It's been a night and day change for me in terms of quality and feel.
Do you guys have any further tips of comments on workflow or strategies here that could help me even more?
Comments
Generally speaking, I'm a lover of dead on tempo. In fact, I "c
Generally speaking, I'm a lover of dead on tempo. In fact, I "can" any drummer that can't keep a kick dead on the beat. Which is pretty much the entire industry lol! Sorry guys.. this thread is about programming and mixing, not live drums and playing with the local bar band etc.
I look at it like this... I don't need "feel" on a metronome so why do I need feel on a kick drum or the beat. I was never taught to believe a fluctuating tempo was acceptable or inspirational. In fact, I find drums that aren't dead on, very uninspiring.
Programming drums is pretty easy and really fun to me.
Now that I've said that, I program all my drums, start to finish. It all starts with a kick or whatever the established sound is for the beat. What ever that is, something in a song is always dead on the beat which could be a foot tapping, a guitar note, , shaker... any sonic hook indicator that remains dead on the beat.
I refrain on adding drum fills until the very end of a song. Once the music is done, that's generally when I add the "feel" "fills" like toms, crashes, snare, accents etc.
I play the fills in real time and if needed, time correct those as well. Everything is on a grid.
Thats the way I do it. Play it in and fix it if needed. I also u
Thats the way I do it. Play it in and fix it if needed. I also use the Slate Trigger to add another layer or completely replace a noisy drum track to live drum recordings. When I track it's more of an enhancement but I do get drum tracks recorded elsewhere that require the type of repair that drives producers crazy.