One of the hardest things to do is get a natural sounding drum track without hiring an actual drummer. But getting a fabricated-sounding drum track can throw off the rest of your recording. Since drums are the basis of most recorded music and the first thing we lay down for a song, they can dictate the feel and vibe of every instrument that comes afterwards. So it seems pretty clear why having the most natural sounding drum beat possible stands to take your song to higher levels than robotic, artificial-sounding drums.

There are many options when it comes to manipulating your drum beats to sound more “human.” Here are a few that may help your next recording.

Variety is the spice of life

One problem with drum loops is the lack of variety. Most drummers don’t just play the same pattern over and over again throughout a song. Usually there are multiple sections, fills and crashes that give the song a little more variety. Therefore, adding variety to your drum track makes it sound much more real. If you’re using loops, find some that include more than one version of each pattern and various fills. You can even use a combination of loops with samples to add cymbal crashes and other fills. If you’re sequencing drum patterns with samples, be sure to program in your own fills and switch up the drum track throughout the song.

Randomizing

Drummers aren’t robots–one of the things that makes a drum track sound natural is the very slight variation with which the drummer plays his kit. They don’t always hit the snare drum exactly on beats 2 and 4 for every single measure… There are tiny differences in timing for each drum hit, and while we can’t usually directly perceive them with our ears, the variation makes the track feel more human to us, and we connect with that as listeners.

Most digital audio editors have a randomizing function. If you’re assembling a drum beat out of samples, it may be worthwhile to use the randomizer to shift various beats slightly off the click. You can determine how much you want to move the beat around by adjusting the randomizing percentage.

Adding dynamics

Continuing in the “drummers aren’t robots” vein, not only do real drummers play slightly off the metronome, they also don’t hit every drum and cymbal equally as hard each time. Though subtle, each snare hit is just a bit different in dynamics from the others. If you sequence a drum beat and it sounds particularly non-human, try changing the velocity so that some beats are slightly louder or quieter than others. You’ll notice an instant change in how real it sounds–and in turn, how good your song sounds.

The real thing

When it comes down to it, you can spend hours upon hours trying to make a fake drum track sound real, but nothing truly beats the real thing. Randomizing might not achieve the desired effect and changing the volume of each beat is not only tedious, it requires you to think like a drummer to determine which beats should be stressed more than others. It isn’t very time-efficient, and it isn’t always very fun.

Nothing is better than having a pro session player lay down the groove on your songs, but most people don’t just have access to a top-level drummer who is also within their budget. That’s where DrumTracks.com comes in… All of our drum tracks are played by real, professional drummers. They are full-length tracks with multiple sections, fills and dynamics. Plus, they’re edited to the click so that you can copy and paste sections to exactly fit your musical needs.

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Pushing your boundaries is fun… It’s even more fun with a slapstik! Drummers – if you haven’t heard about this neat new contraption, don’t worry. I’m here to tell you all about it!

The slapstik http://www.theslapstik.com/ is a new and exciting tool that can bring your creativity to a whole other level! It basically consists of a regular drumstick, with a small bendable attachment on the end that lets you create upstrokes and down-strokes on the hi-hat, or anywhere else on the drum kit, with amazing speed and agility. It is intended to be used in the dominant hand, with a regular drumstick in the other hand. With the slapstik you can produce AMAZING new rhythms, and styles that haven’t even been invented yet!! – and anyone can use it! Whether you’ve played the drums for 7 years, or 7 days, you’ll find sounds coming out of your sticks you never thought could be possible!

New sounds, styles, and techniques are emerging from drummers such as LA artist Yotam Rosenbaum, check out his site at http://www.yotamrosenbaum.com along with his band, The Capitalist Hippeies  http://www.capitalisthippie.com

The Slapstik. Let’s you end on an upbeat!

For me, the bass drum is the heart of the song. It’s what drives the song and keeps the mix together. So, when I’m setting out to record my music, I need to make sure I get the perfect kick. But how? The truth is, there’s no right or wrong way about it. Once you know the basic rules, observation, experimentation and and brainstorming are the key. But what are the basic rules?

First, you need to make sure the kick is tuned properly. It needs to sound great naturally before you try to get a good sound through the mic. A good source will produce a good recording.
Once the the drum is tuned and set, choose your mic. A dynamic mic, which can handle loud sound pressure levels, is the typical choice. Classic dynamic mics for the kick drum are the AKG D112, Shure Beta 52, and the Sennheiser 421. If you decide to go with a condenser mic, be mindful that the sound pressure may hurt the fragile condenser diaphragm. Follow the basic rule of thumb; use it only if you can put your ear in front of the sound sourse without hurting your hearing. That being said, good condenser mics to use are the Neumann 47 FET and PZM microphones.

Yamaha SubKick Low-Frequency Capture Device

Bass Drum Recording Mic placement is the next factor to consider. There are no rules, only guidelines. Start by using one mic. If the front head of the drum has a port hole, you can start with placing a mic slightly inside the hole pointing toward the beater pad. Adjust until you get a sound your happy with. Remember, the closer to the beater you are, the more punch; the farther, the more low end. If the kick has no hole for miking, place the mic about 6″ back from the center, and slightly to the left. If you’re using two mics, place one inside the bass drum and the second six inches or so from the front of the drum. Again, adjust until you get the sound you like. Careful, with multiple miking you need to be aware of phase cancellation. This is important to maintain the fullest possible sound.

Bottom line. Know the guidlines but use your ears when determining the right tuning, mic choice and mic placement. Sometimes, the willingness to throw out the rules and do whatever it takes leads to the sound that fits the best!

Paul Hurd is a Los Angeles based drum tech who has worked for years with Drum Paradise, one of LA’s top of the line drum providers for session musicians and recording artists in the area. Hurd shared with DrumTracks.com some of his tricks of the trade he’s learned from being a drum tech and working in the music industry.

Say a drummer is setting out to get a new kit. Do you have any advice for them to get the perfect matching kit?

I would say the most important thing for a beginning drummer would be to get a drum kit that is well balanced. If you are getting a small drum kit, you want to match it with an equally balanced kick drum. SO the rack toms and cymbals can be placed at a level that ergonomics come into play. Being physically comfortable behind your drum set is the first thing you should think about when getting your kit. Be aware of your size and your musical needs. It’s very important to get into the headspace of what’s going to be comfortable for you while you’re drumming.

What’s the difference between buying a kit for live performance and recording?

It’s important to find a kit that’s versatile and can be used for both recording and playing live. The first thing is absolute experimentation with recording. There’s so many different styles and configurations that can be applied to recording. Drums come in so many different sizes, shell configurations, that you would want to experiment with your sounds and use your ears. I’ve found experimenting and finding what most comfortable works is best.

As a drum tech, you’ve set up drums for many artists in the Los Angeles recording studios including Henson, The Village, The Record Plant; What’s would you consider to be #1 thing you have to keep in mind when setting up drums for recording artists?

In setting up for other artists has a lot to being aware of their set up and every angle of the tom and cymbals. One thing I’ve had to let go of was setting up as if it were for myself. There’s no rules to where things go. I’ve had to learn and get used to the drummers needs to get the feel for their perfect set up. Each setup I’ve done for drummers has been different from my own.

I basically try to get a really nice tone out of the drums and to kind of leave it for the drummer to fine tune their kit after I’ve setup. I go over every detail, use photos, and am not afraid to call the drummer and double check on certain cymbal set ups they might want. I always leave extra heads for the drummer in the studio. It’s always best to be prepared for things going wrong. I’ve found this to be such an individual process, the more practice setting up each different artist, the more you’ll learn the subtleties of their individual kits and playing styles.

Do you have any advice for tuning your drums?

Basically, tuning for the room is the most important thing for tuning your drum set. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that a drum that sounds great at a certain tuning in one room might not sound as good in another room. Trial and error and practice is the best way to fine tune your drum heads. My set up at my band’s rehearsal studio sounds entirely different when I set up at a club to play live without changing any of the tuning. Each room has its own reflections and dynamics. Re-tuning your drum set every time you set up in a new room is very important if you’re going for a good drum tone. A drum set reacts very differently in each room. It’s important to always make sure you have fresh ears and build up from the start when you’re setting up your kit in a new place.

Everyone always seems to be moving forward in music. New ideas are being brought to the table every day in the music business. Technology changes, things become digitalized. People replace live drummers with machines. But what about when we want to bring it back? I thought it’d be a good idea to take a minute and look back to what has worked in the past and use it today. Drum tracks for the future, using the tricks of the trade from the past. Good idea? I thought so.

Sometimes I get sound alike projects where customers are looking for the old sounds of the sixties. As a producer, I have to go into the studio and set up the kit to get that “old sound”. Here are tricks I have found to work to get that 60’s drum sound:

1. I use my Rogers Dyna-Sonic snare drum that captures that old sound
2. I use two condenser mics as left and right overheads and a SM57 in front of bass drum
3. I try to make the drums sound as natural as possible and capture that sound

Apart from the miking and placement of the drums, the performance from the drummer was different back then. Players from the past used different playing techniques. In most cases, old drummers used more snare drums and the hits were less aggressive than the drums of today and more prevalent. The ride cymbal wasn’t as heavy as today’s cymbals.

Check out some drum tracks from the past. References are a must when you’re about to record drums. Experiment with your setup and listen back to your recording.

I thought rock and roll is strong rhythmic popular music that evolved from jazz and the blues. Apparently, I was wrong:

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Go China!

Admit it. We’ve all used drum loops or drum samples at some point in our songs. It’s a quick fix to the huge problem of finding the right player and place to record your own custom drum tracks.

At first, drum loops and samples sound really good. Most of them are being recorded in commercial studios with professional drummers so they sound flawless. Most loop libraries are taking well known session drummers and putting them in a box for you. Drum loops have individual creative characteristics like live drums do, but that manufactured beat wasn’t created with you in mind.

You know those hit songs you can identify in the first five seconds? Think for a minute why those songs stay so fresh in your ears. The answer is simple. Those songs have a unique sound and way of performing that even your grandma won’t forget. When you’re tired of sharing the same drum loop with a thousand other songwriters, custom drum tracks will be worth the effort and the money. A live drummer creating custom drum tracks will get you a unique sound, something that belongs only to you and separates you from the crowd of everyday songwriters.

Find a drummer or an easy way to record your custom drum tracks at http://drumsforyou.com.