Overdubbing live drums - after drum machine

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Titanship

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I'm wanting to overdub snare on some tunes. I want to use (keep) the kick from the original drum machine patterns. Actually, I'll be overdubbing toms and cymbals too. I'll probably do snare/toms together, then come back with cymbals. I've tried this before and gave up because my timing sucked, and I was in a hurry.

I'll probably also program in a hi-hat for a timing "guide."Any other tricks out there to help with timing?
thanks,
Titan
 
I've done what you're doing many times. It's a sonofabitch for sure to make it sound natural but it can be done. I also used a drum machine hat as a timing guide. That seemed to work for me. No sage advice, just sympathy.:D
 
It really depends on if you have a stereo track of the drum machine or individual tracks of the peices (snare, kick and cymbals).

If you have the individual tracks you can just line up the snare samples with the original snare sound in a DAW, if not give up. :D Trying to line up, sample or play in a snare to an existing snare track will result in a chorusy, phasey distortion especially if it's lined up with the original snare. You need to be able to mute the original snare isolated from the rest of the drums when you have replaced the hits. This artifact is totally unnatural sounding and I've never found a way around it.
 
This is a harder trick than you might imagine but it CAN be done.

You have to have it loud enough in your headphones to keep the beat and keep the timing "electronic" which is not natural for a human player.
 
All you guys are right, from what little I've tried it.

"You have to have it loud enough in your headphones to keep the beat and keep the timing "electronic" which is not natural for a human player."
Right drstawl. Loud is a huge help- and absolutely necessary.

"If you have the individual tracks you can just line up the snare samples with the original snare sound in a DAW, if not give up."
Darn straight jake.

" It's a sonofabitch for sure to make it sound natural but it can be done. I also used a drum machine hat as a timing guide. That seemed to work for me. No sage advice, just sympathy."
Right again Rat Man.

I do have the snare and kick on seperate tracks. The thing is, I like the drum machine kick, and I don't have the right mic selection, gates, etc. to do them all live. What sucks about the whole thing is that even though I I'll end up with real drums, the "exact" timing of the kick gives it a more sterile feel.

I might try doing live kick, snare, toms- then overdubs crashes and rides.
What amazes me is that Todd Rundgren did his huge hit record by himself- including drums. So did Ben Folds on his last solo record.

I'm off work early, here I go.
Titan
 
There are drum machines that can handle some timing 'inaccuracies' to make the sound more human - otherwise you might change the midi-files... Assuming you have worked with proper midi timing so that you can redo the drum machine track anytime you want...

Why don't you try to have a drummer you know play the whole thing? I know it is quite hard, but might be worth the effort....

aXel
 
Tips:

I will quantinize my drum machine parts so they are dead on, and then when the tune is done I will again do this, but add some % of randomness this time (Cakewalk allows this) to the whole drum mix. This causes ever so slightly timing "mistakes" which really makes it sound more human.

Another trick alot of people do when possible is to record a live drummer playing the same thing as the machine tracks, and then ever so slightly blend them together on the final mix. This can really add some unique sound to your drum mix. One kit can be dry, one kit can have reverb, etc,etc.
 
It is difficult but you can do it!

It is a great challenge, even for an experienced studio drummer to add drums to an exsisting track. Because it is so perfect and many drummers like to lock in visually with a bass player. But it is well worth the effort, and you will be improving your timing every track you record.

Dom:p
 
If you like the bass drum so much, why not record the drums acoustically... and then just overdub the bass drum pattern? You could even trigger the bass drum from your acoustic bass drum and just use the drum machine signal. I didn't read all the other posts... sorry if I repeated someone else!

RF
 
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