D
dintymoore
Guest
Over the last long time I have built up what I call a cyber-band... it started out as me sequencing on a Six-Track in 1983 and it's kinda turned into a real band that doesn't exist.
What I struggled with for a long time, and still do to a degree, is getting the songs to sound fairly uniform, so I came up with some MIDI standard volumes that I use.
I've been using outboard MIDI modules this last while, Roland SC-8850 and 8820's, so most of this will apply best to Roland stuff, although it probably works the same in many brands.
I found, unlike others, that running the volume of say the kick at 127 did not sound good, that there needed to be some headroom above it, and I fully understand how this does not make sense with samples but my ears tell me otherwise.
For a basic drum beat, let's say the kick is on 1 and 3, and the snare is on 2 and 4, I program all those at 88 (out of a possible 127). The snare might be at 80 in the verses. If I added hi hat doing eighth notes, I would likely make the strokes that lie on the beat, on 1,2,3 & 4 programmed at a volume of 72, and the hi hats on the off beats, on the "ands" of 1,2,3 & 4 programmed at 40.
It's important to have the soft hi hats sound like ghost notes, and they are barely heard. If the hi hats that are on the beats are made louder than 72, the beat will have more drive.
Cymbals run in the 24 to 72 range, toms in the 32 to 88 range.
Some accents will go up to 100, and rarely over, but sometimes... there are no rules.
I usually run the whole drum track ( CC #007 ) at 100. I set the filter (CC #074) to a standard of 64 at the track's first and sometimes set it lower (maybe to 56) in the verses.
This is all just where I start and every song will have exceptions.
Here's some examples of what it's like all together:
http://musicmusicmusic.cn/grooveoftheweekb.html
What I struggled with for a long time, and still do to a degree, is getting the songs to sound fairly uniform, so I came up with some MIDI standard volumes that I use.
I've been using outboard MIDI modules this last while, Roland SC-8850 and 8820's, so most of this will apply best to Roland stuff, although it probably works the same in many brands.
I found, unlike others, that running the volume of say the kick at 127 did not sound good, that there needed to be some headroom above it, and I fully understand how this does not make sense with samples but my ears tell me otherwise.
For a basic drum beat, let's say the kick is on 1 and 3, and the snare is on 2 and 4, I program all those at 88 (out of a possible 127). The snare might be at 80 in the verses. If I added hi hat doing eighth notes, I would likely make the strokes that lie on the beat, on 1,2,3 & 4 programmed at a volume of 72, and the hi hats on the off beats, on the "ands" of 1,2,3 & 4 programmed at 40.
It's important to have the soft hi hats sound like ghost notes, and they are barely heard. If the hi hats that are on the beats are made louder than 72, the beat will have more drive.
Cymbals run in the 24 to 72 range, toms in the 32 to 88 range.
Some accents will go up to 100, and rarely over, but sometimes... there are no rules.
I usually run the whole drum track ( CC #007 ) at 100. I set the filter (CC #074) to a standard of 64 at the track's first and sometimes set it lower (maybe to 56) in the verses.
This is all just where I start and every song will have exceptions.
Here's some examples of what it's like all together:
http://musicmusicmusic.cn/grooveoftheweekb.html
