Syncing guitar and drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter calgaryben
  • Start date Start date
C

calgaryben

New member
So I've just started recording with Reaper, my Line 6 POD HD, and ezdrummer.

How important is setting the tempo of the track? I have laid down the guitar tracks, and then started setting up the drum grooves to accompany them. However when I drag the drum parts over, they often are slightly out of time, or go out of time very quickly.

I'm wondering is this because the reaper program defaults its tracks (to say 120bpm), and my guitar parts are a different tempo. So, then when I bring over the drum parts, they don't match up.

The ezdrummer program has a default 'follow host' function, but I feel I'm doing something wrong from the get-go.
I haven't recorded to a click, and that may be part of the problem.

Also, I don't know a lot about key signatures. I've been told I generally plat in 4/4, but also that one of my tracks features a lot of 5/8.

Any help seriously appreciated!
 
Chances are more likely that the guitarist is out of time with the drums.

It make more sense to record to a click or a simple pattern.
 
That's what I've been thinking, that I'm out of time with the drums. As it makes more sense that the program will be in time, and I will have to improve on that with my playing.
I'm guessing the best way to do this, is record to a click, and work out the tempo from there?
I'm doing all this on my own, so it's hard to know where I'm going wrong etc.....
 
You can set the project tempo to whatever you want in Reaper (tiny window at the bottom of the main screen). EZ Drummer will adopt that tempo. If you can play to a click, you can add drums without any trouble. Don't forget, you're not stuck with the stock loops in EZD. You can edit them to your heart's content. Grab the loop you want in the EZD window, drag it over to a track in Reaper. Then you can double click it to bring up the MIDI editor window. If you want to make the editing a little easier, load up the EZD drums names under the "File" menu in the MIDI editor window. That lets you load the drum names from a file. You can get the file off the cockos forum. It's easier to edit drums when you can see at a glance which drum sound corresponds to which note in the editor window.
 
Some people don't like playing to a click (me), so I find a loop in EZD that sounds about right for the song, find the tempo, then just repeat the loop for the song length.
Record a scratch guitar track. This lets me know if parts (or all) of the song need a tempo change. If so, I do the tempo change to the EZD track where needed, re-record the scratch track to it.
As a guitarist recording a scratch track with no click/loop, you're never going to hold the tempo steady, just not going to happen.
 
You definitely need to set the project tempo in Reaper if you're going to drag MIDI into it from an external editor. The drums will follow whatever the tempo is set to in Reaper. If you're using the stand-alone EZD app, set its tempo to the same desired project tempo. This will make it much easier to keep it all straight once you move the patterns to Reaper.

Probably the easiest way to keep it all straight is to insert EZD as a VSTi on a track in Reaper, and set the tempo to "follow host". Then you won't even need to drag the MIDI files around if you don't want to. Either construct your patterns in the EZD song builder, or record through a MIDI controller and the data will be recorded to that track in Reaper and will be played by EZD along with the project.
 
Ok, thanks everyone. This has given me a lot to work with. I'll report back mid next week, when I'm back recording again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top