EZDrummer
- Thread starter Bisson820
- Start date
mjbphotos
Moderator
$29 for EZD? Where?
nevermind, found it from those good folks at Sweetwater! That's a $50 savings from the regular price.
Last edited:
Monkey Allen
Fork and spoon operator
Criticism of EZ =
1. fills tend to go from basic to ultra complex without too much in the middle. There seems to be very few nice lazy fills in the Nashville exp...but there's a lot of insane ones...which I feel are inappropriate
2. loops from the same category do not always sync correctly in Sonar...but I think this could be something I am doing wrong with snap to grid rules
1. fills tend to go from basic to ultra complex without too much in the middle. There seems to be very few nice lazy fills in the Nashville exp...but there's a lot of insane ones...which I feel are inappropriate
2. loops from the same category do not always sync correctly in Sonar...but I think this could be something I am doing wrong with snap to grid rules
PDP
There once was a note
You can edit the busy fills down, this way you get the natural feel and velocity changes of the natural drummer, then calm it down by editing.
guitaristic
prophet of Dave
Chili
Site Moderator
Cool.
i know your emphasizing the pointlessness of his post... but yours is worse.
I have spoken
Being a superbly awesome drummer with impeccable taste and skill, please allow me to share some advice:
1) Program like a drummer - if you can. Drummers have two hands and two feet. Don't program fills or beats that are physically impossible to play. For example, a drummer can't do 16th note fills on the snare, hats, and floor tom at the same time. Well Rami might be able to, but the rest of us can't. Keep it realistic.
2) Humanize your drum track. Vary the dynamics of the hits. Maybe even drop a wongo hit in there somewhere. I don't use software so I don't know how to achieve this, but it's pretty easy to tell when someone does because it sounds like a typewriter.
3) Don't pan your cymbals and toms hard left and right. If you want to you can, but if making a realistic sounding drum track is your goal, avoid hard panning of individual drum/cymbal hits. Use panning, but keep it reasonable. Drums don't sound like that in real life and there's no overhead setup that I've ever heard or tried that provides insanely wide stereo imaging. Only from ground-zero at the drum throne does a floor tom sound like it's stabbing right into one ear.
4) As someone else already mentioned - cut way back on the room mic track or ditch it all together unless you want crazy roominess. I think that most of the time people want their mix to sound like a band in a room. That room mic track almost always puts the drums in the next room. Just go easy with the room mic. I've mixed songs from people with programmed drums, and the room mic track almost always mucks things up.
5) Use real drums
1) Program like a drummer - if you can. Drummers have two hands and two feet. Don't program fills or beats that are physically impossible to play. For example, a drummer can't do 16th note fills on the snare, hats, and floor tom at the same time. Well Rami might be able to, but the rest of us can't. Keep it realistic.
2) Humanize your drum track. Vary the dynamics of the hits. Maybe even drop a wongo hit in there somewhere. I don't use software so I don't know how to achieve this, but it's pretty easy to tell when someone does because it sounds like a typewriter.
3) Don't pan your cymbals and toms hard left and right. If you want to you can, but if making a realistic sounding drum track is your goal, avoid hard panning of individual drum/cymbal hits. Use panning, but keep it reasonable. Drums don't sound like that in real life and there's no overhead setup that I've ever heard or tried that provides insanely wide stereo imaging. Only from ground-zero at the drum throne does a floor tom sound like it's stabbing right into one ear.
4) As someone else already mentioned - cut way back on the room mic track or ditch it all together unless you want crazy roominess. I think that most of the time people want their mix to sound like a band in a room. That room mic track almost always puts the drums in the next room. Just go easy with the room mic. I've mixed songs from people with programmed drums, and the room mic track almost always mucks things up.
5) Use real drums
1. fully agree, a lot of what im doing wont be very complex and mostly slow tempo with some nice innovative fills. (i can hear them in my head i just cant play them lol)
2. i will do my best
3. noted, i will figure out a way to get a nice spread by doing some kind of crazy trickery that will blow your fucking mind greg
4. i will mix to taste, as always
5. i wish
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
You could be onto a winner here, Greg !Greg is sleazy drummer
I'm impressed.
Chili
Site Moderator
Greg knows I have nothing but respect for his talents and contributions here at HR.
I was probably the first person Greg gave that advice to about the room mic several years back. It was good advice and I try to share it as much as possible.
I don't know what a Wongo is... sounds like something Ted Nugent might do...
I don't know what a Wongo is... sounds like something Ted Nugent might do...
Lol. Yeah I think "wongo" might be my own terminology. It means less than great. That's the sound I hear when I hit a drum off-center or kind of crappily. Drummers do it all the time. Sometimes a rimshot will be too much rim and not enough shot. That's wongo.
Armistice
Son of Yoda
I'm forever adding various depths of wongo to my drum programming.... instead of hitting the same snare L, L, L, L, I'll randomly add a bit of rimshot snare or other variant to the occasional hit, so it just sounds a little different... and a bit of bell to the occasional ride hit etc. etc.
Changing velocities ALWAYS... I mean, you have 128 to choose from, if you decide you're after a light-ish hit generally, work in a band of 10, excluding on and off beat emphases, which you need to work out as well..
And I'm also constantly waving my arms in the air even though I can't drum, to work out whether, if I could drum, what I'm programming is physically possible...
And deliberately listen to drums in music... hear what they're doing...
Nice word coinage there Gerg....
guitaristic
prophet of Dave
mjbphotos
Moderator
My wife said 'there's no room in here for drums' - but what she really meant was that she doesn't want to hear me practicing for endless hours to get even a 'fair' drum part recorded. And my room would suck for recording drums, anyway.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
If all else fails, "close Michael" those skins !
Good thread, by the way.
Good thread, by the way.
No offense to any of the drum programmers {I'm no snob and Chili's songs are fantastic and went a long way towards curbing my ire when it comes to EZ drummer and the like}, but I love the drums and I'd rather have shitty raw drums recorded in a technically crummy room. It may not be 'the way I am' but it's the way I choose to be !
Chili
Site Moderator
Wow man, thanks!!! How much do I owe you??
Must spread before giving rep to Grim again....