Is it possible to record a rock record using midi/as a one man band?

Permit an old timer to add to the good advice already offered. I started out as a drummer; getting a good drum sound is a labor of love.
I keep all drums on separate tracks. Instead of having one bar of hi hat eights repeated seven times, I'll create multiple one bar patterns with “slight variations” (time, velocity, open the hat a little, etc.) Place them all past the end of the file where you can go copy/paste. label the one bar patterns A, B, C or whatever your like. It doesn't take that much time. Now mix and match: 2 bars A, one bar C, two bars B. Do the same with snare, and bass drum. With only three variation of each, you have a total of 27 combinations per bar. Start with 5 variations of each - now you have 125 possible variations. And that's before the schwa humanizer (I use reaper) As your working the song, you can tweak the same way a chef adds salt to the stew.
Another good feature to use in reaper is tempo change. If the song is at 110, when you get to the fill, bring it down to 108 or whatever works. Or speed up the final verse to 112.
Use every trick you see and invent your own.
 
Is it possible to record a rock record using midi/as a one man band?


Right. De-perfecting is an art in itself. The quick answer to the question is yes. Of course you can. If you're a MIDI keyboard composer/song writer, your DAW and all the VSTs and plugins are your tools of the trade. Learn them. If you're an instrumentalist, you need to learn how all the instruments you want to record are performed and played in real world environments. Once you've heard a real sax section play live in front of you, and you can feel the breath of the trumpet you're sitting next to, your whole attitude about live sound gets rediscovered.

We have the technology to duplicate any live instrument or ambiance imaginable including drums. In fact, drums have been at the fore-front of sampled instruments since the Lind Tempo box was invented along with the side man. The best samples recorded today because of all the years of R&D and early sampling technology are the drums and pianos. Just because they've been at it longer than any of the other instruments. That said, triggering and editing samples need to be converted into playing performances to authenticate the sounds. You actually need to become a virtual drummer. One who understands how and what a drummer would do in a real world situation. It's way more difficult than it sounds unless you've actually been in the bands, on the stages and stood next to the amp the guitar player was playing out of. Or, in the orchestra that phat sax section was playing. Or, maybe you like classical music and made a point to sit in the center rows of the concert hall at about five rows in. You know, the "sweet spot".

Realism and authenticity is what great actors and directors look for in their performances. You should be looking for the same things as an instrumentalist/home studio owner. The playing field is level. But, that doesn't mean you've honed the necessary skill sets or have the talent to make the technology work for you. IMHO, critical listening is the best guarantee for duplicating real world instrument sounds and performances. The tools we have. But it's a life-long journey to attain the skills for their mastery not only for real instruments but for virtual instruments as well.:listeningmusic:
 
Don't worry too much about perfecting/de-perfecting. Build your song, and adjust to taste.It really is that simple.
 
Simple. Manually play every single note. Do not copy, loop or paste anything. Do not quantize or edit a single note. Treat it just like a tape based machine. Punch in to fix things or re-record the entire part.

All the above assumes talent, and the ability to play whatever instrument parts with feel, dynamics and authenticity.
 
You need to learn something about how to play drums if you want to program some realistic fills. One good tip, get yourself Guitar Pro (I prefer v5) and download the tabs for rock songs. Most of them have well programmed drum tracks. These are usually terribly robotic, but they are often quite good transcriptions of the real drum parts, and that makes for excellent study material. You can solo it or listen with the bass, play it at any tempo, and start to learn about what patterns work where.

The internet is full of tips for how to make more human drums if you google it, but not so much on how to write realistic patterns. You sort of have to learn that by lots of experience. watohing tutorial videos for drummers can give you great ideas too. You don't need the muscle memory/control training, but the way of thinking about patterns like paradiddles, and building them into drum scores will surely help.
 
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