Recording - January 2016 - 33

and ears that Chris Lord-Alge does when
he cuts drums at a studio such as Ocean
Studios in Burbank, CA. He obviously
has many advantages at his disposal
and a wealth of skills and experience.
What do we do if we can't match
that? Sometimes we set up mics on
drums and learn to surmount the inherent
problems of a less-than-perfect setup, as
my colleague Sven-Erik Seaholm teaches
elsewhere in this issue. But if we're
going to work inside the box, we need
to get creative and be eng-in-ears.
Programming like a drummer
Step 1 in creating great-sounding
drums while using samples is to understand the drum kit and how drummers
play beats or grooves. Most drum kits
have (or some variation of) a kick drum,
a snare drum, one or two rack toms,
one or two floor toms, hi-hat, ride cymbal, one or two crash cymbals, and
maybe a splash/china cymbal. This type
of kit setup is what I personally recommend working with, as you have all the
options at your disposal. Now, do you
understand what each instrument does?
Drums are so very fascinating because
about ten unique instruments comprise
what we consider a single instrument,
which are the "drums."
For the sake of time, let's assume you
know all about what each drum is and
what it sounds like tonally. Let's also take
for granted that you understand what a
basic rock beat is and what it sounds
like. If you don't, listen to AC/DC. (Even
if you do, listen to AC/DC, they rock!)
Drums are a "sonically built house" of
sorts, when you think about it. The kick
drum is the foundation of most songs, the
downbeat. It carries an enormous amount
of energy and weight in the sub frequencies. The snare, or backbeat, is what you
feel smashing your skull when you listen
to AC/DC. The hi-hat is the rhythm, keeping "time" in (say) eighth notes, while the
cymbals are usually the peak register of
your song, brightly sitting atop your
vocals and guitar or piano. So, drums
are the deepest instrument as well as the
brightest. Everything else in your recordings sits in between the kick and cymbals
when thought of this way.
When you program drums, the most
important thing to do is make the tracks
feel realistic and dynamic. Nothing
sounds more sterile, uninspiring and
"fake" than a kick and snare loop at the
same dynamic level. To allow your drums
to feel more human, it's important to
adjust the velocity of each hit. Yes, each
hit. No human being kicks the bass drum
as hard as they hit the snare, as they keep
time on the hi-hat and so forth. Velocity in
any MIDI sequencer ranges from softest
(1) to hardest (128) and it's worth altering
each depending on the sound needed.

If you have an aggressive driving rock
song with a four-on-the-floor kick pattern,
your kick could have a target velocity
range of, say, 100. So, I would recommend that you have the downbeat of 1 be
100, while the 2 could be about 90-92,
the 3 could be say 95-96, and the 4 be
92-94. Some sort of scheme such as that
will give your drums the ability to breathe
and feel more realistic and human.

Next, think of how a drummer physically plays his or her kit. I typically think
of the greatest rock drummer ever-John
Bonham. Bonham was an animal behind
his Ludwig kit, but he was also in complete control over his dynamics. His kick
and snare were loud, but his touch had
a dynamic big-band element to it. He
most certainly was not a cymbal basher,
as he apparently preferred the sounds of

2
Another thing to consider is how a
drummer's dominant hand will be louder
than his or her non-dominant hand during drum fills. For example if I do a
basic four-hit snare roll on the 4 doing
16th notes, I will always keep in mind
how a drummer would physically play
that. Are they leading with their dominant or non-dominant hand? The velocity
should never be the same numerical
value on each hit if you want it to seem
as though a human played it. Something
along the lines of 114, 107, 110, 100
is believable.
When doing tom rolls I typically have
velocity values diminishing by about
8-10 ticks per hit, something such as
100, 92, 84 and 76. The best thing you
can do is to listen to how it feels and
sounds within the context of the part,
and more importantly, the song. Also, it
gives you the chance to play air drums,
which is always fun!

his kick snare and toms. So with dynamics and velocity ranges in mind, I normally leave my kick velocity between 90
and 100, snare between 100 and 120,
toms between 70 and 100, while hat,
ride, and cymbals are all roughly 7080. I feel as though this balance gives
me a natural dynamic and sense of realism to the parts that I program.
Lastly, I feel it's worthwhile to talk
about the grid. When MIDI notes are
placed on a grid it is dead-on mathematically perfect to whatever the BPM is.
Some people will argue tempo fluctuation is natural, vibey, and human.
Others will say it's a black and white
issue where time is either early, late, or
in time-imagine the music teacher from
Whiplash (a great movie but not for the
faint of musical heart). I personally straddle the two schools of thought and have
developed the following approach, after
years of having had to work with both.
RECORDING January 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2016