Don't want a drummer, I need a drummer

tswion

New member
So I'm an intermediate (on good days) home recordist and songwriter who had mildly large dreams of creating interesting music with some rock elements. So needlessly put, I need percussion! I can program some beats to fit my needs but they don't have the interesting humanish frills and overall feel of real drums. I want to create full sounding tracks without relying on programmed beats or a trap kit in my living room. Anyone else found a minimalistic approach to good sounding percussion?
 
So I'm an intermediate (on good days) home recordist and songwriter who had mildly large dreams of creating interesting music with some rock elements. So needlessly put, I need percussion! I can program some beats to fit my needs but they don't have the interesting humanish frills and overall feel of real drums. I want to create full sounding tracks without relying on programmed beats or a trap kit in my living room. Anyone else found a minimalistic approach to good sounding percussion?

Have you any links to the kind of music you make? I did a short record where we chose not to use a kit of any kind, mostly because we didn't want to go programmed and getting a kit in wasn't really an option.
The music suited the choice to use stomps/claps/shakers/random hits of things around the studio.

Is that an option?
If not, program some drums then send it to a drummer for reference and get him to record you some tracks at his place. :)
There are even a few guys around here who might do it for a reasonable price.
 
Anyone else found a minimalistic approach to good sounding percussion?
I think that's your dilemma. You want good sounding drum tracks with no effort. If you want them to sound good you will have to put the time and effort into making them sound good.

Pick 2:

1) Quick and Easy
2) Cheap
3) Sounds good.

The EZDrummer stuff comes close out of the box, but still requires effort to get them to the next level. Hit by hit editing to get exactly what you want.

Or... hire someone to play drums on your tracks.
 
I suppose I should elaborate a bit. I don't mean to say I want it "easy" as much as resourceful. I want to know if anyone has alternative methods of laying drum tracks. Even banging on trash cans, hand drums, diy crash sounds. The drums in my music is where I lose all my momentum in songwriting. I don't know a good method and wanted advice from anyone in a similar predicament. Moreover, I want my creative juices to be flowing away from standardized rock percussion, yet draw from similar inspiration.
 
Have you any links to the kind of music you make?
Yes, here's a short track I made about a year ago:

https://soundcloud.com/humanexperiment/dream-beats

I programmed the drums, yet added jingle bells and I think a crash sample. I had a lot of fun with it, but I don't feel this completely represents my artistic vision. BTW, I don't imagine this question has any real quantifiable answers, more of a subjective taste matter really. Just seeing what's out there.
 
BTW, I don't imagine this question has any real quantifiable answers, more of a subjective taste matter really. Just seeing what's out there.

That pretty much sums it up. There are tons of drum programs and different sample packs that you can purchase to use with them.

It is really up to you to find what you like. Download demo's and see what you like.

Or just be creative and find things around the house to make noises with. :)

I seriously sampled the dog house cover in a van once because I liked the sound. :thumbs up:
 
I suppose I should elaborate a bit. I don't mean to say I want it "easy" as much as resourceful. I want to know if anyone has alternative methods of laying drum tracks. Even banging on trash cans, hand drums, diy crash sounds. The drums in my music is where I lose all my momentum in songwriting. I don't know a good method and wanted advice from anyone in a similar predicament. Moreover, I want my creative juices to be flowing away from standardized rock percussion, yet draw from similar inspiration.

I remember a guy in here that beat on empty suitcases for his drum sounds.
 
I have the same problem, OP. Worse is that I have a bad sense of time with drumming, so banging on things around the house isn't an option. I made a thread about a similar topic in the digital recording section.
 
....... advice from anyone in a similar predicament..... I want my creative juices to be flowing away from standardized rock percussion, yet draw from similar inspiration.

So you want it the same, but different. And you're asking for help in being creative and resourceful.

You're in a predicament, alright... with a capital P.
 
If you need a drummer to collaborate with, then you should be going on a website like Band Mix to find drummers that are into the style of music you are looking to record.

It's a great site to find other musicians to record or jam with. You can search for drummers by location, so finding people in your area is pretty simple.
 
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