Jungle Programming?

[Nightbanana]

Can anyone shed some light on the art of drum programming in the style of Squarepusher or Aphex Twin? I've gotten better at it, but it still sounds too mechanical. I want to be able to program realistic sounding drum rolls. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[barefoot]

One simple way to get a more realistic sounding drum roll is to use two slightly different sounding samples for each drum. Say you just want a simple snare roll. Think about how a real drummer does it. She uses two hands. Each hand will create a slightly different tone and loudness.

Also, just try adding some dynamic variations throughout your beats. Dont make every snare or kick the same loudness or tone. And remember this: hard drum hits tend to be slightly higher pitched than soft drum hits. So, say you're making a breakbeat and you want the 1st snare hit in the pattern to be a little harder than the 2nd. Raise the volume on the 1st snare hit and also shift its pitch up by about a quarter-tone (50 cents). Then you can even get into slightly shifting the hits in time. These kinds of variations make your beats sound much more realistic.

Thomas

----------------------
Barefoot Sound LLC.
Recording Monitors
San Francisco

 

[Nightbanana]

Thanks Thomas

Thanks for the info. I've been using different samples, and adjusting the velocity. I've also been recording with little quantization, at a really slow tempo, and then speeding it up. The pitch shifting advice is new to me. I'll try it tonight. Thanks again.