Creating drum patterns

J

Jeff

Logician
I am new using Pro Logic. I checked out Ultra beat but I think it is easier to create beats on a keyboard instead of figuring out what beat the snare needs to come in.

I still need work on creating beats, and I wanted to see how other people are coming up with drum patterns, and how you create verses, fills, and choruses and how you put it all together. It is easy to just lay down a drum loop, but then it is pretty repetitive after a while.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
I have a variety of techniques ( not in any order):

1. I cycle/record a section of the song and play along on the drum track with all my fingers, using a GM keyboard allocation, so everything is within reach ( kick, snare, hihats, ride, toms etc). After a while, I have a groove which I can then edit as needed.
I can then parse the different drums if I want to make separate tracks for upgrading the sounds or applying different plugins, also to change relative gain as needed.

2. I record one drum at a time - maybe if its a jazz piece, a ride cymbal and nothing else. It's amazing how much differene one ride can make - and it often helps me find the bass track. If it's a rock piece, then probably kick and snare - and so on. Then later, I will add other kit components.

3. I use bits or all of MIDIfiles. Currently I am getting great value out of EZDrummer and SD2 plugin. One current piece uses a 4/4 EZ section truncated to fit a 3/4 song.

4. I pay Paul Robinson to remotely lay a REAL drum track for me 🙂
fully miked, including ambients, on separate tracks!
http://www.paulrobinsondrummeronline.com/

hope that's useful

peter
 
Jeff said:
I am new using Pro Logic. I checked out Ultra beat but I think it is easier to create beats on a keyboard instead of figuring out what beat the snare needs to come in.

I still need work on creating beats, and I wanted to see how other people are coming up with drum patterns, and how you create verses, fills, and choruses and how you put it all together. It is easy to just lay down a drum loop, but then it is pretty repetitive after a while.

Thanks,
Jeff
Click to expand...

Hi Jeff

a couple of things that I've found important when creating midi drums.

Use great samples - I use BFD2. They are very realistic.

record your groove rather than have everything quantized. Those little human variations in time add to the groove. Use Logic's 'Humanize' function, though I prefer my own humanizing.

No bar is exactly the same as any other - drummers always change things, even in straight fours etc. I also like to add in some sub-audible snare rattles and mess - drum kits are really noisy (just like guitars).

rzzz
 
Go to a music store and browse through some basic drumming books that contain written out grooves from classic tunes. Even if you've never read music notation, you can figure these out. Get some sticks and maybe a Hart Multipad. Pick up an old Alesis D4 or something that will convert the trigger voltage to midi data. I'm not a drummer per se, but I like to program beats by whacking something decent sized with a stick. In other words, understand how drums are played at least as well as an orchestrator learns the attributes of all the instruments in the orchestra.
 
Hi

There are loads of different ways to create exciting new beats using Logic Pro - I use the strip silence feature to cut up my original drum loop and then import the individual sounds into the ESX24 sampler; I then apply various editing techniques to really change the drum beats, reprogramming the MIDI drum parts with these new sounds.
I have created a series of videos to illustrate this technique at:
http://www.musicproducerxxx.com/play.php?vid=246

Hope this helps.
 
Hi.
It normally depends on the kind of music you want to create. if your trying to make electronic dance, the norm is usually Kick to hi hat to snare to bass line - synth. etc. You should definitely consider using the electronic drum kits as well. They're is a much larger variety of drum sounds and you can never go wrong with an 808 or 909 kit. Keep in mind that using these drums takes learning the exs24 plugin over ultrabeat.

I make downtempo/electronica and the occasional tech-house and minimal. This music takes a lot of drum layering and in depth eq'ing. I try to stay creative and not always start with drums and introduce other kinds of drums every 8 bars as usual. It's all personal preference. A lot of the ultrabeat drums, if not all, have "multipress" plug-in that is on the channel strip. It isn't altered at all untill you choose to double click and do so. Just a word of advice in this regard, having an unchanged multipress can vastly effcet the sound of your drums in a good or bad way (depending on what drum your using)

Lastly, i think it would help you to go on youtube and other forums, etc, and learn about each and every plug-in for drums. it can greatly effect the way you look at choosing instruments.

arkane
 
Back
Top