A Kind Machine
New member
I have been developing my style of making good drum beats over the last couple of years and have acquired various odd bits of gear here and there. Here is my approach, let me know what you think, if it helps you or if it in some way offends your sensibilities.
I make drum beats and grooves using a combination of live instruments and MIDI drum instruments.Drum instruments: Addictive Drums, EZ Drums, and miscellaneous samples.
Live instruments:
Hi-Hat: I consider this to be the most important aspect of a groove in terms of energy and feel. Sampled hi-hats alone do not cut it for me, but I do use them to work with my live hi-hat tracks.
Shakers: I have a few, and just like the hi-hat these have an enormous effect on the feel of the track. They are also very versatile as they produce very even, broad transients (almost no transient if you want) allowing them to sit and flow in tracks in fun and surprising ways.
Hand Claps and Finger Snaps: these allow me to put very interesting transients into my beats. They are great for live energy, as well as adding interest to snares and depth to a mix if they are put way in the background.
Voice: the most versatile of lead instruments also gives me a great way to add interest to beats. Using low breath adds some “glue” to beats, sticking hi hats and snares and kicks together. Also, You can make some cool transients with the voice (beat-boxing? I don’t do it much, but it’s always an option).
Miscellaneous: Cow bell, tabletop, champagne ice bucket, etc. Whatever works!
Track arrangement:I have a consistent base of tracks I use to make and mix my beats (unless it’s a specialty track with an unconventional kit or no kit at all). I then add others as I feel the track desires.
2 Kick tracks: One for the high “snap” in the 1k region usually, one for the “boom” energy around 80 - 120. I will use the same kick sample from Addictive a lot of times, simply blending them over the two tracks.
2 Snare tracks: Similarly as the Kick, one for the snap and for the body. Sometimes I don’t need one of those two qualities and I will use the track for some other form of interest (tape delay echo on one track, some other effect etc.).
2 hi hats: One live for the groove and energy, one sampled for the interest and syncopation. Sometimes I like to pan the sampled ones pretty hard to give the drums some more horizontal dimension. I've heard it's an old motown trick.
Cymbals, toms: the ride cymbal can work with the live high hat track or replace it, as sampled rides have much better energy than their hi hat counter parts (to me). The crash is used for accents and transitions, and the toms may or may not have a place. Generally for some fills, sometimes for the groove if that’s what the song calls for. Live toms would be better, of course, but that’s not an option for me at the moment.
Extras: I almost always have at least 2 extra tracks such as shakers and random effects. If they are played live, I like to mic with a directional and a room mic to give me some options for blending.
Busses:
Bus 1: this is the dry track that I send all of my individual drum tracks into for mixing. It’s here I always apply a compressor and EQ so that I can start gluing the tracks together, so-to-speak.
Bus 2: I send the signal from Bus 1 here, which is my reverb track. That is the only plugin I start with, and generally all I need here besides some EQ. I then blend these two tracks until I find my balance in the mix.
My standard process:
1. Tempo.
I always get this first using the hi-hat to feel exactly where the quarter or eighth note groove sits. This is extremely important for me as since I use a live hi-hat, changing tempos later is slightly annoying as I would rather re-track than alter tempo using the sample editor.
2. Track live hi-hat and back beat.
Depending on the song I am composing or the type of beat I start with one or the other. Usually the hi-hat unless I have a specific back beat in mind. It’s actually a bit easier for me starting with the back beat as I can always shift my MIDI hits, as opposed to re-recording my hi-hat.
3. Start playing some fills for fun.
I use an alesis Control Pad to trigger my drum sounds, so I can play with my sticks and get live grooves. I have a bank set up with snares and toms so I can just mess around with fills, as well as a bank with crashes and rides to mess around with hits and layering cymbals in the background.
4. Get into the rest of the song.
Once I have my groove, I can start tracking my other instruments. I generally will start with bass or keyboards, but I generally write on guitar so if I have a specific lick that holds the feel of the track then I go with that.
5. Go back to the beat.
Once I have verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus or something along those lines (1:30 to 2 minutes in) I get back to the beat. This is where I start to place my transitions a bit and add some extra groove pieces, specifically shakers and hand claps/finger snaps.
6. Vocals
I track my vocals once I have a good understanding of the phrasing that is required for the track. I am not a great singer, but the quality of the voice is second to the feel at this point and that is where the phrasing and note placement comes in. If doing an instrumental, this would be whatever would be considered the lead track.
7. Really getting into the beat.
Once I have the vocals I can start putting in hits that accent the lead line. The vocals and bass line also share an extremely deep and important connection so this is where I would start trying to track a final bass line.
8. No script after that.
This just my usual approach, and it came about from just doing what feels right at the moment so I am sure it will be completely different for everyone else. I always am tweaking until the track is completely finished, though.
I hope you got something out of this, thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts! Always looking to learn more stuff.
I make drum beats and grooves using a combination of live instruments and MIDI drum instruments.Drum instruments: Addictive Drums, EZ Drums, and miscellaneous samples.
Live instruments:
Hi-Hat: I consider this to be the most important aspect of a groove in terms of energy and feel. Sampled hi-hats alone do not cut it for me, but I do use them to work with my live hi-hat tracks.
Shakers: I have a few, and just like the hi-hat these have an enormous effect on the feel of the track. They are also very versatile as they produce very even, broad transients (almost no transient if you want) allowing them to sit and flow in tracks in fun and surprising ways.
Hand Claps and Finger Snaps: these allow me to put very interesting transients into my beats. They are great for live energy, as well as adding interest to snares and depth to a mix if they are put way in the background.
Voice: the most versatile of lead instruments also gives me a great way to add interest to beats. Using low breath adds some “glue” to beats, sticking hi hats and snares and kicks together. Also, You can make some cool transients with the voice (beat-boxing? I don’t do it much, but it’s always an option).
Miscellaneous: Cow bell, tabletop, champagne ice bucket, etc. Whatever works!
Track arrangement:I have a consistent base of tracks I use to make and mix my beats (unless it’s a specialty track with an unconventional kit or no kit at all). I then add others as I feel the track desires.
2 Kick tracks: One for the high “snap” in the 1k region usually, one for the “boom” energy around 80 - 120. I will use the same kick sample from Addictive a lot of times, simply blending them over the two tracks.
2 Snare tracks: Similarly as the Kick, one for the snap and for the body. Sometimes I don’t need one of those two qualities and I will use the track for some other form of interest (tape delay echo on one track, some other effect etc.).
2 hi hats: One live for the groove and energy, one sampled for the interest and syncopation. Sometimes I like to pan the sampled ones pretty hard to give the drums some more horizontal dimension. I've heard it's an old motown trick.
Cymbals, toms: the ride cymbal can work with the live high hat track or replace it, as sampled rides have much better energy than their hi hat counter parts (to me). The crash is used for accents and transitions, and the toms may or may not have a place. Generally for some fills, sometimes for the groove if that’s what the song calls for. Live toms would be better, of course, but that’s not an option for me at the moment.
Extras: I almost always have at least 2 extra tracks such as shakers and random effects. If they are played live, I like to mic with a directional and a room mic to give me some options for blending.
Busses:
Bus 1: this is the dry track that I send all of my individual drum tracks into for mixing. It’s here I always apply a compressor and EQ so that I can start gluing the tracks together, so-to-speak.
Bus 2: I send the signal from Bus 1 here, which is my reverb track. That is the only plugin I start with, and generally all I need here besides some EQ. I then blend these two tracks until I find my balance in the mix.
My standard process:
1. Tempo.
I always get this first using the hi-hat to feel exactly where the quarter or eighth note groove sits. This is extremely important for me as since I use a live hi-hat, changing tempos later is slightly annoying as I would rather re-track than alter tempo using the sample editor.
2. Track live hi-hat and back beat.
Depending on the song I am composing or the type of beat I start with one or the other. Usually the hi-hat unless I have a specific back beat in mind. It’s actually a bit easier for me starting with the back beat as I can always shift my MIDI hits, as opposed to re-recording my hi-hat.
3. Start playing some fills for fun.
I use an alesis Control Pad to trigger my drum sounds, so I can play with my sticks and get live grooves. I have a bank set up with snares and toms so I can just mess around with fills, as well as a bank with crashes and rides to mess around with hits and layering cymbals in the background.
4. Get into the rest of the song.
Once I have my groove, I can start tracking my other instruments. I generally will start with bass or keyboards, but I generally write on guitar so if I have a specific lick that holds the feel of the track then I go with that.
5. Go back to the beat.
Once I have verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus or something along those lines (1:30 to 2 minutes in) I get back to the beat. This is where I start to place my transitions a bit and add some extra groove pieces, specifically shakers and hand claps/finger snaps.
6. Vocals
I track my vocals once I have a good understanding of the phrasing that is required for the track. I am not a great singer, but the quality of the voice is second to the feel at this point and that is where the phrasing and note placement comes in. If doing an instrumental, this would be whatever would be considered the lead track.
7. Really getting into the beat.
Once I have the vocals I can start putting in hits that accent the lead line. The vocals and bass line also share an extremely deep and important connection so this is where I would start trying to track a final bass line.
8. No script after that.
This just my usual approach, and it came about from just doing what feels right at the moment so I am sure it will be completely different for everyone else. I always am tweaking until the track is completely finished, though.
I hope you got something out of this, thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts! Always looking to learn more stuff.
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