Dumb Newbie Question - Making a "Real-Sounding" Drum Track

bongolation

bongolation

New member
I'm getting ready to set up a fairly nice home studio and am reading all I can about the recording, hardware and software aspects - but the single biggest question I have right now is how I go about generating a "real-sounding" (NOT techno-ish) drum track with software-based tech (Reason, CWP9, Footy Loops).

Everything I hear in the demos sounds like garbage, presumably because crummy synth-sounding drums are in fashion. Choppy decay, bad envelope, etc.

How do YOU software-generate a drum track that sounds relatively like a studio drummer?

Any URLs for demos?

Thanks for any help; I sure need it.
 
Its not a dumb question, and not a newbie one either. Its fucking hard to make real sounding drums.

The best bet is to use a sampler or sample-playing software to play sampled loops of real drums.

If that is not possible, you need a drum-machine that has real sounding drum kits, and you buy yourself a book on how to play rock/pop drums that includes beats, and program according to these beats. You also need to know basic drummer stuff, like always whack the kick at tyhe same time as the crash to get more oompf, and when you hit one drum twice in quick succession the first beat tends to be slightly weaker. I've tried this, and it helps, but I sure can't get to the reality level of a proper sampled loop.

Reason and Fruity-loops can do both things, but it's easier to use loops with them. Especially with Reasons Rex-player + ReCycle.
 
When it comes down to it the drums are the back-bone of any song. To illustrate this-imagine the best lead guitarist in the world (if there is such a thing), best rhythm guitarist, keyboard player and bassist all together in a band. If the drummer is shit the song is going to be shit, simple as that. Same thing goes for the sound of the drums, synthetic sounding drums sound shit (unless you have money to buy the top end equipment).

Here's what I do. Lay down a drum track either with a cheap drum machine or sofware program. This provides me with the tempo and the foundation to build the rest of the song on. If the song turns out to be good then I will record a proper drum track over the guide track. This can be by way of hiring a drum kit and mic's, getting a session musician/friend with drums etc. The point is, spending the extra money is worth it if the track is worthy of this. You can be in a position where you have many songs in need of a firm drum beat-get 'em all done at once or go one step better and buy yourself a real drum kit and some mic's. It may be expensive but you can justify that cost with the material you have.

If the track turns out to be nothing much, forget about it, you'll have a shit sounding drum track coupled with a shit song-fine.

The bottom line:
You can't replicate a great sounding drum kit (unless you go electronic ($/£0000's) and I would still prefer the real drums).

You may have seen my post, I'm buying my own set now cus I'm fed up of paying for hiring them.
 
OK, so I'm not crazy or stupid. 8-)

Can we define "loops" as it applies to our purposes in this particular discussion? Are you talking of modular repeatable samples say a measure long, plus fills and variations that can be inserted _en bloc_ into the recording, or what? I'm not absolutely clear here, but I'm trying...

Can the recorded drum files in the the drum software be tweaked in terms of making a more convincing envelope? Reason (and others) claim to have drums samples from all the classic machines as well as actual drums. Seems like one ought to be able to do something with them.

I can sure see the point of real drums, but they are a bitch. I can play them fairly well, but not where I'm living now. I moved a set around from house to house for fifteen years and was never able to play them until I finally gave up and sold them.

Then, of course, there's the hell of trying to mic and record a convincing drum track with the real drums. This is no pushover either.

I do see the idea of laying down the synth drums as a glorified click track, though. 8-)
 
Originally posted by bongolation
OK, so I'm not crazy or stupid. 8-)

Well, we have to see about that. :)

Can we define "loops" as it applies to our purposes in this particular discussion? Are you talking of modular repeatable samples say a measure long, plus fills and variations that can be inserted _en bloc_ into the recording, or what?

Yup.

Can the recorded drum files in the the drum software be tweaked in terms of making a more convincing envelope?

I'm not sure what you mean with envelope here.
 
regebro said:
Originally posted by bongolation

Can the recorded drum files in the the drum software be tweaked in terms of making a more convincing envelope?

I'm not sure what you mean with envelope here.
Click to expand...

Attack, sustain, decay, etc.

Particularly, there's no gradual decay in the stuff I hear, as if they cut off the last two-thirds of the .WAV or something.
 
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