How do I warm up my drum machine?

S

sondriven

New member
I have an alesis sr-16, and am recording it straight into my akai DPS16 direct. Is there any way to warm up the tone to not make it sound so much like a toy?

I also have a guitar POD that has a tube Pre-amp built in, can i use this to do the trick?

Help is very appreciated!

sondriven
 
Nits

Not to pick nits,but your Pod has models of several tube preamps,no actual tubes.One trick you might try is to put a pair of mics up in advantageous positions in the room and play your drum machine through your speakers and record the result in sync with your other tracks.It can give the machine a bigger airier sound.
 
I don't know if this will help, but I have a Boss DR-770 and I have the ability to ajust the EQ. I would check out your manual to see if you have that capability. Another possible option is to try a little reverb. It may not add warmth but will give it some air.
 
Thanks for your ideas, one other thought is a regular tube pre-amp like an ART Pre-Amp. If I run the drum machine trhough something like this will it do the trick? Maybe someone has tried, I dont have a preamp at this time and what is a good one to get?

sondriven

Graci
 
Another thought I have is if you run your drum machine through a mixer (if you have one), you may be able to tweek the EQ in that manner. Mixers can be used as a pre-amp. They probably are not as good as a dedicated pre-amp but from what i've seen, if you don't own either, a mixer would be a lot cheaper. It would probably by a little more functional as well.
 
Ahhh...an area where I have some experience. I use a Sansamp on certain sounds, it gives them an aggressive quality. You can get all kinds of sounds through your POD. However, those kind of effects change the sound too much for most music. My best drum machine sounds are had running through a tube pre-amp or a tube compressor. Sometimes both. Micing a keyboard amp or P.A. is a good way to make a drum machine sound more real. Also, never use just one source for the drums, break them up between two or more keyboards or drum boxes. If everything comes from one source it will sound one dimensional.
 
Yes, a tube preamp should do that. Presonus Blue Tube can be had for $149 and it's stereo - 2 indep. channels, so you could process your kick or snare separately, if your machine has that. It's just a better unit, better in a rack, better sound, better deal, etc. I have 2.
 
to wide awake,

how do i break up the drums, do you mean have two different kinds of drum machines at my disposal?

-sondriven
 
Well, I have a Boss Dr. 660 and it has an extra output, so you can take out a drum (say, kick or snare) and process it separately.
 
I have a Boss DR-770 and usually run it through my ART Dual MP. I try adjust the input level to a mid-level to make sure it doesn't distort and then use the output to adjust the level going into the PC. The Dual MP cost me about $250, but I've seen some good press here for the Presonus Blue Tube, which is $100 less.

It doesn't make a drastic difference. It's a more subtle effect, but I like the way it comes out.
 
Drum sounds

I'm using the Presonus Blue Tube and a Nanocompressor as I record my DR 550mkII in stereo. I use the pans in the Drum machine to seperate the sounds in the mix. I'm getting pretty good results so far,smoother and punchier. I will also lay on effects as I transfer from my 4trac MD recorder to the PC. To my ear this all helps but the key is not to over-do it.

Rusty K
 
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