Sooooooo tired of fake drum threads.

Funny that the e-kit geeks are taking over the tail end of this thread :D

That's OK, I live in a glass house here. I love my little Yamaha e-kit. Since the last time I played a real kit was over 12 years ago, I don't know the difference in feel between hard rubber pads and a drum head stretched across a real shell. I'm a guitard through and through, so at least bass comes somewhat naturally to me. But the drums have been a tough mountain to climb. I'm still in the foothills. Post-performance editing is the only thing that makes my drums presentable, but I'm only getting better and requiring less and less piano roll futzing all the time.

As far as samples, I have to side with minerman and miro here. I have EZD (1, then 2), SSD4 Platinum, and SD2. They each have their merits, but SD2 seems to put it all together in an intuitive way that just makes it the best balance between ease of use and quality of samples. But be prepared to drop some cash on a couple of expansion packs because by default it only comes with the one kit. It's a fine kit and all, but once you play it a little while you start to hear it on the radio and on streaming sites and on commercials and on television shows...

Keep an eye out for sales (SD2 and all of the SDX expansion packs were on sale all summer this year) and you can get a good deal. A solid e-kit paired with a solid sample library is a pretty attractive option for those of us with limited space, or in my case limited skill.
 
Greg_L said:
At least with an e-kit you're tracking a performance.
Click to expand...

Sure would be faster to simply track what I want rather than search through a hundred midi files to get something close and then edit (although I enjoy editing).
I recently bought a sax, so music funds are depleted for a while. Someday though, I'll get an e-kit.
 
I have a Yamaha DTX-400 e-kit, & it's really helped me with my fake drums. Sure, I have to go into the midi editor & fix a lot of fuck-ups, but it gives me an idea of how a real drummer (obviously not me...) would play something...

Between the e-kit, all the midi loops/packs, & Jamstix 3, I can pull off a fairly convincing fake drum track, but like mentioned before, it takes forever, for me anyway...My hat's off to you real drummers who can bash out loud-ass drums & get away with it. I can get loud here, but not at 2-3 in the morning, plus, I'm not a drummer anyway, so the e-kit/software route is about the only option for me right now...
 
fat_fleet said:
I'm sincerely curious.. who are the masters of fake drums in your opinion?

I ask because it occurs to me I may not have heard the "good stuff".
Click to expand...

I didn't have anyone particular in mind - and I'm talking about their use around this place, rather that out in the "real" recording world. I've come a hell of a long way, myself, and spend hours trying to "real-ise" my drums, because I'm trying to get to a place where people don't even ask. Still learning.

Every now and then someone pops in with something that I can't pick. Probably a real drummer would.

But we get people in here all the time who spend a great deal of time on their guitar playing, sound, singing, songwriting, recording, mixing, and then do half-arsed "I can't be bothered so I'll rip a pre-programmed 'beat' out of Superior Drummer" fake drums - because they don't know how, and they don't think it's important, so they don't learn how. They should. It's like their final frontier... ;)

Of course, this is all borne of necessity as far as I'm concerned, if that bitch Marco Minnerman would just take my calls, I wouldn't spend half my life dicking round with fake drums.

This is the last thing I did - always happy to be told what's wrong with it: https://db.tt/Iz84iNV6 so I can get better :spank:
 
TBH I get pretty floored when I come to learn that a band tracked live drums that end up sounding like programmed samples. Examples being Animals as Leaders, Periphery, and Tesseract.

Personally I have an e kit and a acoustic kit. It comes down to what works and what doesn't for the sound we (me and band) are going for. I've tracked both and been happy with the results.


TBH I really feel the biggest downfall with drums in a home environment is the room, even more so than the actual instrument.
 
Guitargodgt said:
TBH I really feel the biggest downfall with drums in a home environment is the room, even more so than the actual instrument.
Click to expand...

I think that's probably a big part of it. I think the other part may be the tuning of the drums. A lot of people don't seem to spend enough time on it. That was one thing that struck me the one time that my old band recorded in a real studio: the amount of time spent tuning the drums (and it was a very nice kit too).

I'm not a drummer, but I've read up a lot on drum tuning. Man, whenever I've tried to do it, I feel like a complete moron. I just can't seem to hear what I'm supposed to tune. I can never find the fundamental note; I just hear all these different notes going crazy, and I can't find the one on which I'm supposed to lock in. I guess some things are just meant to be left for other people. :(
 
famous beagle said:
I think that's probably a big part of it. I think the other part may be the tuning of the drums. A lot of people don't seem to spend enough time on it. That was one thing that struck me the one time that my old band recorded in a real studio: the amount of time spent tuning the drums (and it was a very nice kit too).

I'm not a drummer, but I've read up a lot on drum tuning. Man, whenever I've tried to do it, I feel like a complete moron. I just can't seem to hear what I'm supposed to tune. I can never find the fundamental note; I just hear all these different notes going crazy, and I can't find the one on which I'm supposed to lock in. I guess some things are just meant to be left for other people. :(
Click to expand...

I have never used this, but I have a friend that really likes it. It looks interesting.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/tune-bot-electronic-drum-tuner?cntry=us&source=3WWRWXGP&gclid=CNjlz5_V4cgCFYVqfgodtc0CPw&kwid=productads-plaid^136039602987-sku^H80312000001000@ADL4MF-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^82795616067
 
Atkron205 said:
I have never used this, but I have a friend that really likes it. It looks interesting.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/tune-bot-electronic-drum-tuner?cntry=us&source=3WWRWXGP&gclid=CNjlz5_V4cgCFYVqfgodtc0CPw&kwid=productads-plaid^136039602987-sku^H80312000001000@ADL4MF-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^82795616067
Click to expand...

Interesting. It has good reviews at least. Thanks for sharing!
 
I use the drum-bot and a drum dial-indicator. They actually match up pretty well. The drum-bot though has the ability to tune a drum to the original pitch from the factory. The drums are marked inside with the note, set the bot and go at it.
 
It's really not as difficult as people seem to make it. One of the problems with learning is reading too much stuff on line. There are several different ways to tune a drum, they are all valid. The problem happens when you take several different methods and try little bits and pieces of each.
 
Farview said:
It's really not as difficult as people seem to make it. One of the problems with learning is reading too much stuff on line. There are several different ways to tune a drum, they are all valid. The problem happens when you take several different methods and try little bits and pieces of each.
Click to expand...

Yup. Another thing is people try to tune dead ass busted heads. Old battered heads don't want to tune easily. Cheapo stock shit that comes on drums doesn't want to tune well either. If you're having trouble tuning drums, you don't need drum dials or drum bots. You need ears and decent heads.
 
Greg_L said:
Yup. Another thing is people try to tune dead ass busted heads. Old battered heads don't want to tune easily. Cheapo stock shit that comes on drums doesn't want to tune well either. If you're having trouble tuning drums, you don't need drum dials or drum bots. You need ears and decent heads.
Click to expand...

Maybe my problem has been that the drummers had worn-ass heads then. I think I have pretty good ears, but I haven't been able to make hide nor hair of the pitch of the thing. It's like information overload---multiple pitches bending up and down and sideways. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it's the toms specifically that I'm talking about.
 
I think that on a "home recording" website - the majority of people would not be using acoustic drums. It is not practical for many reasons to try to track acoustic drums in a bedroom "studio" or a corner of a basement - not to mention the need for quality, well tuned drums, an accomplished drummer, a lot of mics, cables, mixer channels and an acoustically effective room.

I am a drummer with years of experience (live and recording). I have a couple of high quality kits that I know how to tune well and play well. I have excellent cymbals and all the mics, cables and mixer channels I would need .......... but I use electronic drums and various samples to record. Why? Because my home "studio" simply can not provide the needed acoustics to track live drums - I I can get better sounds using e-drums and/or samples.

Now, I spent a lot of time tweaking sounds and working on my playing technique to make the e-drums sound as "authentic" as I possibly could and I readily admit the recorded results ultimately do not capture all the subtle nuances of an acoustic kit - but I feel it is an acceptable trade-off.

I have heard many recordings where it is clear the artist or the engineer did not take the time to capture the best possible electronic sounds (I place more responsibility of the artist who chooses to use e-drum to have the sound together before an engineer gets involved - and engineers' primary responsibility is to accurately capture the sound provided.

I think this would be a rather lonely chat room if left to only acoustic kit players ..... but certainly many e-kit players could and should do more to improve their "sound"
 
^^^^^^^^
I get that. Believe me, I do understand.

But, where there is a will there is a way.

You can in almost any town find a rehearsal space to rent by the hour.

They have usually a Pa, which means mixer. You can always rent extra mics from them.

Get your songs down, find a drummer, set up mics and go to town.

Hell, most computer based recording systems can fit into a backpack.

You'd be bringing less gear than a band would.

The only limitations would be how many inputs your interface had.

Worst case scenario, you'd end up with a two channel stereo drum track

But, it would be real drums!

Where there is a will, there is a way.

If someone wants real drums, it CAN be done.



:D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top