Programming Drums
Programming a drum part looks simple: put blocks in a grid, press play, a beat comes out. That takes five minutes. What follows is usually the frustration that it sounds like a keyboard demo, and dead is not a mystery, it is a short list of measurable things.
- velocity
- ghost notes
- sample first
Where you run into this
- Hip hop
- Pop
- Dance
- Rock production
In short
Everything at exactly the same volume is the first and biggest giveaway. A MIDI note drawn in gets a default velocity in most DAWs, and a real player never hits twice with the same force. Varying velocity does more for realism than any plugin.
The moment ghost notes appear under a backbeat, a programmed pattern stops sounding programmed.
How it works
Sample choice is the first and most important decision, and it is routinely made last. Producers spend hours on EQ and compression fixing a kick that is simply the wrong kick. Pick a sample that already does most of what you want and everything after that is cosmetic.
Where you run into this
- A beat that sounds like a demo until velocities vary
- Quiet snare hits between the backbeats that make the groove breathe
- A kick that needed replacing rather than processing
In practice
Layer by function rather than by instinct. A kick usually needs a low body and a click for definition, and those are two different samples doing two different jobs. Adding another kick because it sounds thin is how most low ends become mud.
Keep going
Everything in production and arranging
- Synthesis
- Sound Design
- Sampling
- Programming Drums
- MIDI and Sequencing