Tips for Recording Drum Machines?

[Genie]

Does anybody have any unique ways to record drum machines, while it is easy to just plug the machine into a board and record what the machine spits out, i'm trying to find ways to enhance the sounds of the machine and to give the sound a little character as opposed to just straight signal. Does anybody use compressors on drum machines? Howabout some fancy routing thru tube amps er sometin? I'm using the Boss DR770 and it is cool but a little plain.

 

[Krakit]

I'm going to watch this thread with interest, because I'm shopping for a DM right now. I've never been partial to canned kits, but I'm thinking that these things have matured since the 80's. At least they sound a hellevu lot better now.

As far as experimentation goes. I once mixed a break in a tune where the entire direct sound of the kit was muted and only the reverb and effects went to tape. This made for an interesting (if not a "get's old real fast") quality. I'm thinking this could work for a DM too if it isn't over used. Like I said this is a one time type thing.

 

[Wide Awake]

I love to alter drum machine sounds in many ways.

I send individual sounds through an ART Pro VLA compressor, and I've also used the Presonus Bluemax. It really fattens the sound and is great for times when you want it to stand out in a mix. You want to be careful not to destroy the attack transient, so experiment with the attack and release times. A lot of hip-hop and techno producers use compression in creative ways, such as causing "pumping" for an effect.

Tube preamps work great. Sending a snare drum through a guitar amp and miking it works great too. My favorite piece of gear is my Sansamp PSA-1(amp simulator), for running drum sounds and keyboard sounds through it. Any amp modeler such as the Pod, J-station, and DG Stomp do the same thing. Distortion pedals can be fantastic for giving a sound a lo-fi vibe. Running cymbals through a flanger or phase shifter pedal is worth trying.

I like to just alter one or maybe two of the drum sounds, instead of the whole kit. If you just want a more punchy upfront sound, I recommend running some or all of the sounds through a tube preamp.

 

[Jason001]

That would be sound advice if one could isolate the snare, kick, etc... of a drum MACHINE.

J

 

[Wide Awake]

I guess I take it for granted that I have 12 individual outputs on my Yamaha drum machine, and my main synth (that I use for many drum sounds) has 4 outputs.

 

[Jason001]

Shows what I know about drum machines. I use a Boss dr. 5, and I'm always wishing I could isolate stuff. What kind of Yamaha is it, and how much do they cost?
Is there any way I can hear this baby?


J

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I second the technique of sending snare thru a POD or SansAmp... it works very well to add color to sterile snare samples.

Most drum machines worth their salt have at least 4 outs - allowing you to isolate kick and snare, then a stereo blend of the overheads/toms.

Bruce

 

[Wide Awake]

jason- The machine I was referring to is the Yamaha RX-5. It's a 12-bit machine from the late 80's, and it's got some interesting sounds. Some are lame but some are really good. The cymbals are suprisingly realistic. It goes for around $120 on Ebay, and I've seen them in music stores and pawnshops for as little as $90. Other used machines I like are the Roland R-70 and R-8. The R-70 is a very expressive machine and I wouldn't mind owning one.

You can hear sound clips of old and current drum machines at www.drummachine.com

There are so many options for drum sounds these days. Samplers and sample-playback synths offer so many great sounds, and the Akai MPC and Alesis DM Pro are really versatile. I still use a Korg 01/W synth for a lot of my drum sounds.

 

[VOXVENDOR]

Try not to compress sampled drums...(unless it's full mix compression)......in a way they are already compressed, and any more will likely thin them out even moreso

Joe

 

[Jason001]

Thanks for the link Wide Awake. What a sweet site!

J

 

[mikeh]

Recording drum machines

If you don't have the gear to enhance drum machines (pre-amps, pods, etc.) a good way to get a "room sound" is to send the drum machine through a speaker system (keyboard systems work good since they can handle the lows and the highs) then record the "room sound".

If you have the channels on your mixer, send the machine signal into a mixer channel(s), take an aux. out to the "drum amp" and bring the mic'd signal in thru a seperate channel(s).

 

[trebles]

Hello there

a quick question on drum machines

i owned a drum machine many years ago and ditched out because i felt it was all to stiff sounding for my liking prefering what real kits sound like because i am no expert here can i ask anyone who may feel they know is there to date any drum machine that was made or is available now which sounds like a real kit or am i wasting my time looking for such a thing i want the full on natural sound of a kit in a portable or rack mount module is there such a thing out there roland is having a 75% of sale in my town tomorrow so i guess if there is something out there anyone could advise me on id go see if i can purchase one tomorrow at the right price c h e a p

i thank you for all your assistance to those who assisted me

cheers

wayne
Melbourne Australia

 

[Cyrokk]

Do drum machines sound like live kits as opposed to those that came out 10-20 years ago?

Yes... Oh god yes..

I've worked with the Roland R-70 for a couple years now.. and it's one of the only pieces of gear that I haven't had second thoughts about..

I'm a control freak.. and I won't settle for the same looped drum track over and over in a song.. I get good results with programming drum fills.. and creating tempo and time shifts is a snap.. (no I do not work for Roland, btw)...

One trick I use for recording a drum machine is to make a copy of the high tom, raise it's pitch as closely as possible with the snare, and program the new tom sound to hit at a less volume with the snare.. This gives the snare a lot of depth.. and the sound of the tom itself is not separately distinguishable..

On my next project I plan to utilize 7 out of the 8 tracks of my ADAT just for drums alone: one each for snare, kick, hi hat, two cymbals and two tracks for the toms... (track 8 reserved for SMPTE). I will then mix down to two dat tracks and transfer them back to another ADAT tape to record the rest of the instruments (by then I hope to have my DAW and I can utilize mixing utilities to incorporate both the dedicated 8 tracks of drums and the second tape of guitars, vocals, etc.) My hope is that I can work with better drum levels, and spread the drum sound out to create a more spectral mix (Umm.. this is theoretical at the moment though..so any comments to this approach are welcome)..