Realistic Drums, tips/suggestions Options

[Taka Perry]

Hey GMC, what are your techniques for making drum software like EZDrummer sounding more realistic. I've found playing around with velocity works fairly well, but I'm interested on hearing the techniques you guys use

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[miguelbatalha]

BFD3 from Fxpansion

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[Cosmin Lupu]

For me, it's quite the same I am using velocities, in order to humanize the strokes as much as possible, especially in respect to the actual musical context - for instance, check out this intro:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Deftones-Style/ - see how the drums are growing to raise the tension? This is an example

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

I had really hard times trying to make EZ drummer sound real. I think that the secret is work with velocities and humanizing a bit the tempo, avoiding precise quantization, using external reverb and sometimes even adding extra snares and kicks. Nowadays I'm using SSD 3.5 and I find its samples much realistic.

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[Ben Higgins]

Don't forget to very the velocities on the hi-hat counts so that the strongest hits occur on the down beats. But don't boost the volume of the bits you want loudest, instead cut the others.

Watch videos of drummers playing too. If you have a beat that is similar enough to a song that you know then try and find a live version of it so you can watch the drummer.

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This post has been edited by Ben Higgins: Jan 25 2014, 08:10 PM

[Cosmin Lupu]

Ben is right here I am a big fan of drumming and I consider the drummer as being more important than a guitarist in a lot of situations So, for me, I guess it was a natural thing to experiment with various touches and dynamics in drum writing, simply because I love drums

Why not pick your favorite drummers and learn from them:

- styles
- groove examples
- breaks

And try to see the dynamics in their playing as this really makes the difference

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[Taka Perry]

Thank you everyone! I will play around with it when I get the chance to. I guess the key is to think like a drummer would.

For me, it's quite the same I am using velocities, in order to humanize the strokes as much as possible, especially in respect to the actual musical context - for instance, check out this intro:

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Deftones-Style/ - see how the drums are growing to raise the tension? This is an example

Thank you Cosmin. The internet is really slow for me at the moment, so I will listen to the Deftones style in a few days hopefully

Ben is right here I am a big fan of drumming and I consider the drummer as being more important than a guitarist in a lot of situations So, for me, I guess it was a natural thing to experiment with various touches and dynamics in drum writing, simply because I love drums

Why not pick your favorite drummers and learn from them:

- styles
- groove examples
- breaks

And try to see the dynamics in their playing as this really makes the difference

Saw this post as soon as I posted mine I will try and look at a few drummers. Maybe I'll start Danny Carey from Tool, he is one of my favourites

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[Cosmin Lupu]

I salute another Tool fan here

Hehe! Yes, well you have A LOT to learn from him and from them in general! Well, let me know what you have cooked in respect to drum writing I would say that another good exercise would be to come up with a phrase and record it in 3 different states of mind Write different drum dynamics for each one - even if it's the SAME groove

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[audiopaal]

I use Steven Slate Drums for recording drums.
Amazing sounds can be achieved using this, but you have to tweak them a little yourself.
You have control over volume, room, humanize, panning, bleeding etc.
Build your own drumkit or use one of the assembled.
Many of them sounds rather great right out of the box, but tweak some values an play with velocity for an even better result :-)

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[verciazghra]

Yea as the guys are saying velocity and random quantization. I find myself using a lot of ghostnotes on snares, highhats, ride cymbals, where appropriate. I generally try to stay away from the "triggered" type of drumsound which some people prefer(like mike portnoy which sounds like a drum machine even when he's playing live due to this). Which is totally fine if that's your cup of tea but the other end of the spectrum adds more variety in my opinion. Nice to hear your guys thoughts on this.

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[Todd Simpson]

The basic kit that comes with ezdrummer is really just enough to get started. I'd say add some of the other expansion kits and then pick and choose from those. For example, one of the metal expansion has 4 snares available and you can pick the one you like. Same on the kick drum etc.

Also, it's important to not use ez drummer in default two track/stereo mode. Use it in true multi track mode so that each drum gets a channel in your daw. That way you can actually mix it like a real drum kit and add compression/eq/reverb to individual drums and not the entire kit.

Also, using a good external room reverb to glue it all together helps In addition, you can take the drum tracks and "bus" them, (once you get the mix of the drums sounding good) afterward to a stereo bus where you can then add the reverb/compression to the entire thing. This is how drums are done in studios. They mix the kit, then bus it and add some compression/reverb to "glue" it together.

Here is a vid

Hey GMC, what are your techniques for making drum software like EZDrummer sounding more realistic. I've found playing around with velocity works fairly well, but I'm interested on hearing the techniques you guys use

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Also, it's important to not use ez drummer in default two track/stereo mode. Use it in true multi track mode so that each drum gets a channel in your daw. That way you can actually mix it like a real drum kit and add compression/eq/reverb to individual drums and not the entire kit.

Excellent advice here Todd - especially the one above It's a bit more work but it pays off without any doubt!

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[Taka Perry]

Thanks Todd! I actually already use it in multitrack mode, I agree its a lot more flexible that way. I only have the basic kit and cocktail kit (if that's what its called), I got it on the black Friday sale so I'm trying to get the most out of it. Only a few more days until I can get back to my computer and try all these suggestions out.

Thanks heapsm everyone

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[Todd Simpson]

They run sales frequently. Try to get DRUMS FROM HELL when they cut the price again. It's a great kit to start off with as an expansion pack! It sounds like you have outgrown the kit that comes with it.

The kit that comes with it is ok, but not killer. I'd say add better drums via expansion pack when you can. Till then, you've got some tips here that should help.

I also use SLATE drums which was mentioned. You can even build the midi using ez drummer, then use slate for the drum sounds. I did this when I didn't have any expansion kits. The slate samples are really good and you can STACK snares and kicks. So one snare channel can have 2 or three snares combined.

Here is a vid comparing several drum packages.

Thanks Todd! I actually already use it in multitrack mode, I agree its a lot more flexible that way. I only have the basic kit and cocktail kit (if that's what its called), I got it on the black Friday sale so I'm trying to get the most out of it. Only a few more days until I can get back to my computer and try all these suggestions out.

Thanks heapsm everyone

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