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How to add interest / variety to electronic drum parts?
First of all, thanks to all the contributors who post their music and techniques for creation on this forum. It is very inspiring.
I was wondering what are the best techniques to add interest / realism to rhythm tracks, particularly in the electronic genre. For example, repeated 16th hi hit notes could get boring, but musicians on this forum seems to vary the dynamics, tone, and pan throughout a part. What is the best way to accomplish this, say in an app like DM1 (or something else if better.) Manually adjust the volume, pan, etc. per hit? Many thanks.
Comments
This is a favorite of the site:
http://www.attackmagazine.com/features/roger-linn-swing-groove-magic-mpc-timing/
When using Novation LaunchPad I use the FX popup to vary the rhythm while changing the drum pads in the first two columns. I lay down a drum track only performance using this technique into Cubasis; then add other parts using other synths. The stock FX controls in LaunchPad add a lot of variety like delays, stutters, filters and gated effects. There are probably some great Effects apps that could be used with IAA or AudioBus that do the same thing.
Take a look at Different Drummer. It uses multiple wave types (saw, sine, square, pulse, and triangular) to vary pan, dynamics, tone, rests, and ties.
^^^
@TrustButVerify remember that timing has a massive impact on the feel of a song. If your using a sequencer that can push beats forwards and backwards against the beat, this can drastically change that pattern of 16th note hi-hats into something with more life. Combine this with variations in tone and volume to really make things move. As @funjunkie27 says, Different Drummer is fantastic for tweaking these in real time.
I thought elastic drums would solve this issue for me, but I've had the devil's own time trying to get my head round it . I like @bsantoro's suggestion above about using launchpad - as I've been having a ton of fun with it lately.
If you are sequencing in a DAW like Cubasis or even Gadget make use of MIDI controllers to vary velocity, decay or pitch/tuning of individual hits to give a more natural feel.
For example, sequence a 16 th closed hi hat pattern and set alternate hits with about 10-15% lower velocity. Make sure you do this by hand so they are all slightly different. Subtle, but effective. Play around with slight variations of decay and tuning. Also use curves to create gentle swells and dips in line with your groove to help the rythmn section blend with the other elements of the track.
Great topic for a thread.
Something I've been trying to improve on too.
Ideas:
(Mostly around using Gadget drum sample gadgets)
Vary pitch of drums - can be great
FX sweeps and pulses (eg LPF) or step effects (eg Effectrix or Egoist... Diode looks good at this)
Yamaha music studio - great for making a basic midi drum pattern - they using the ton of remix options to create different fills, rolls and breaks - midi out, pointed at Gadget. You can restrict it to just effecting certain drums (eg Hi Hats) too.
using Poly and Rhythm Necklace as midi out drum pattern generators.
using liquid rhythm by WaveDNA (completely crazy) on my Mac and sending the midi into gadget. I've just used the demo though - a bit too much hassle to merit the purchase.
try adding triplets and or 32nd
...
use a synth (eg Chiangmai in gadget ) rather than a drum machine and play a short percussive patch as 16ths. Modulate the synth and also vary the notes you hit.
buy Seek beats and use the remix function on a drum pattern (incredible)
buy iEletribe and use the stutter function as well as modulating stuff
tame Elastic drums (something I've never managed!)
use a sampled 'break' eg the Amen break or 'think' break - put it in a sampler/slicer like Beatmaker, iMPC Pro, nanostudio, Gadget or Egoist and resequence cutting out the snare and kick and just hitting various percussion slices.
Or just run various drum parts through Turnado
Thanks all, great ideas, there is a lot to work with. I am curious which variables (velocity, early/late timing, pitch) give the most realistic feel. I don't own Different Drummer, but have Drum Perfect, which I think adjusts timing forward/back.
Look into "ghost notes" or "ghost hits" for drum patterns. Very popular in the Jungle/D&B era (well actually...Jazz/Soul/Funk era too), also there are a few iOS apps that do the stutter or drum sequence jump around thingy...Damn I can't remember the app I'm thinking of...It's circular.
Does it have groove/ swing settings cause that can have a big impact, sometimes there is a velocity control as well. Also some will allow you to humanise the drums if actually shifting notes is not possible. Try layering sounds as well on alternating hits and you can also autmotate the decay and envelopes on drum hits to create subtle variations.
But realism is normally achieved by shifting notes backwards and forwards a few milliseconds to pull push the rhythm of the drums. HTH.
Oh, I forgot about DrumJam. If you add the in-app-purchase Electro IAP, you can jam along with Bedlam to create realistic drummer fills and breaks; all with electronic drum sounds.
Great thread and perfect timing as I have been spending some time on this lately. Quite franking, everything on the iPad sounds like artificial drums. I recently hooked up with my old drummer and basically I sent him my working copy tracks and a version without drums and he sends me back his drum track. What takes me about a week or 2 od tweaking to do he can achieve in 10 minutes in his studio and it sounds miles better than what I do. There is just something organic with real drums that cant really be captured on a computing device using midi and tweaking velocity, swing, decay e.t.c. it. My theory is - if you are working on a computing device for rhythms -- work with what you have and work towards its strengths and dont try to make it sound like something it wasnt designed to do. I may be wrong but thats my theory. If anyone interested, you can google "s4 studio mount albert". he only works with wav files.
If you use Diode-108, you can add variety to every single STEP (not just hit). Common ways include altering the tone, changing the pitch, changing the volume, changing the amount of reverb, etc. The possibilities are endless.
I just uploaded some videos. Here's one on Note Mode:
and here's one for Special FX
@Diode108 Thanks for the vids. Very timely.
drum jam is very cool sounding.
Apps with a variable Swing setting are always good.
Add some variation to the velocity and/or pitch of each hit on hats
Separating the kicks, snares and hats to different tracks in daw then you have the ability to play with effects on just one part to add variation and you can EQ the drums to fit your mix when you have added other elements
Oh and the simplest way to get more varied timing is to switch off quantisation and record the rhythm parts by hand. DM-1, Gadget, Cubasis and may others have pads to give you this feature. An external controller with velocity sensitive pads would give you even more expression too. This method often gives surprising results which is a bonus.
Has anyone mentioned Sector yet ? Great for variation within a drum loop with cuts, also the various fx for additional glitchery.
I've started doing this, using Impaktor to drum on a table and then I change the drum sounds in Auria with Drumagog. In fact if you have Auria and Drumagog you don't really need Impaktor to do this. Drumagog will respond to how hard each it is, and can add additional expression. Any really bad mistakes cans still be fixed in the timeline.
Use DrumJam to trigger midi..... niiiiiiice!
@Cinebient - I found this page:
http://www.drumjamapp.com/docs.php
But anyone know what MIDI ccs the solo pads send OUT please? Doesn't seem to say.
I'm thinking to use Drum Jam to trigger the drum gadgets in Gadget.
i didn't know drummagog was on ios
The pads send out midi notes, the exact values of which depend on the selected instrument and whether or not GM bindings option is enabled.
Lots of great tips here. @TrustButVerify, you mentioned having DM1 and DrumPerfect ... Both allow you to adjust swing, which in small doses can add interest. One of my fave features of DrumPerfect is the randomize/probability feature for fills. It's worth looking up in the manual, guaranteed to add interest. DP has a decent selection of default electronic kits plus the ability to add your own samples. Also supports up to 16 variations for each voice so you don't get the same, repetitive crash cymbal (for instance). And it's easy to grab beats and shift them slightly ahead/behind the groove as needed.
But most important in my mind is to think like a drummer. Most genres of pop/rock/dance music are based on a basic trap kit. Kick, snare and hats. There's so much you can do with just those three voices. Referencing commercial drum tracks in your style of choice can be really helpful. Just let the variations that grab you sink in over a couple listens. Then set your sequencer on loop and start adding and subtracting parts until you've piqued your own interest and build from there. Syncopation in your rhythms, panning voices across the stereo field, finding new ways that excite you as a composer to express rhythm over one, two, four measures - all through exploration - are usually more important for me than any subsequent FX added for flavor or accents.
All a long-winded way of saying, if I just settle for a beat that works, then it usually sounds like I settled for a beat that just works. Great recordings require great performances, and drums in any flavor of music can be every bit as musical as your synths/pianos/etc. Play around, experiment, season to taste and above all, have fun with it
Thanks @eustressor. I think a productive way to start is finding some tracks I like with interesting rhythm parts, and try to find their essence in DM1 or DP with as you say, kick, snare and hats. After doing this for a couple of tracks, it is interesting to "see" the patterns behind interesting, syncopated, evolving drum parts.
I also like just playing by hand with a pressure sensitive pad or via Imapktor / Auria + Drumagog.