getting that "feel" in FL Studio.

[konceptG]

http://www.beatstreet.ca/product_info.php?products_id=7146&artist=Spacek


Go there, click on "Eve (J-Dilla Remix)" - Pay attention to the drum pattern, especially right before Mos Def starts his verse (comment on how dope that track is later...)


Now, I've been programming beats in FL Studio recently and was working on a track yesterday that I was TRYING to do something similar with my drums (double kicks and whatnot), but the shit was coming out stiff as fuck and no amount of editing seemed to get it "right". Shit feels too stiff or mechanical. I can't get the notse "loose" enough to have that feel to 'em.


In the past, I used an ASR-X with groove quantising and that shit always fell right into place. If I programmed beats with Sonar, I'd get the same/similar results. I'm using FL studio on my laptop while on the bus mainly 'cause it's a P-233MMX and FL Studio works well on it, but also because I use it as a plugin in Sonar and rewired through ProTools. It's my scratchpad, I need this shit to work 'cause the ideas are starting to flow again.

 

[GRAFIK]

you could put some swing on your drums or offset the kicks and snares a little to make them sound better, sorry i cant listen to the track at school in the lib. but i will check it out later..............

 

[konceptG]

you could put some swing on your drums or offset the kicks and snares a little to make them sound better, sorry i cant listen to the track at school in the lib. but i will check it out later..............

When I use the swing, it's not quite gettin' it either, especially that doubled up kick. It's more like a 909's swing than an ASR or MPC's swing.

 

[StressWon]

when usin the swing option,,,put the lever right in the middle.

 

[Knox Raw]

Turn off quantize and practice.

 

[konceptG]

that's the thing, I don't record with it on. I quantise after the fact. In Cubase or Sonar, that shit happens right in one or two takes. I just don't like building drum tracks in either one enought to use 'em like that.

 

[AMG]

Turn off quantize and practice.

also the piano roll is your best friend. as stated before^ offset your notes by moving them left or right, but make sure the "snap" in the piano roll is off.

i love that j-dilla beat too.

 

[Big Tone]

use your keyboard and play it live. and i heard you say you use it on the bus but you can use your typing keyboard as a controller too

 

[StressWon]

also the piano roll is your best friend. as stated before^ offset your notes by moving them left or right, but make sure the "snap" in the piano roll is off.

i love that j-dilla beat too.

no doubt,,,listen to the man,,,use ya pencil in there and you'll have that "feel"

 

[dj360_iNfInItE1]

also the piano roll is your best friend. as stated before^ offset your notes by moving them left or right, but make sure the "snap" in the piano roll is off.

i love that j-dilla beat too.

I have to co-sign that. I use fl exclusively and that piano roll with the snap off comes in handy more than you think. You can recreate any swing or off-beat tempo with no problem thanks to that feature.

 

[Gene Flo]

ok.... well here are some solutions

1) if u use a faster tempo then go ahead and try messing around with the drums

2) after you lay down some simple drums... for example boom bap boom bom bap.... turn the snap off and just cut each one hit smaller and add more before each bar

 

[open mind]

play it yourself how u wanted it to sound it but before u do that turn the quantize OFF.its only way u can sound it OFF BEAT disable that fuckin quantize.

 

[Da IllFellaz]

put the tempo up between 160-200. believe, ur drums will come alive. takin da snap off helps as well too, but u gota be more precise with it.

nomics

 

[5th Sequence]

USE the piano roll. turn quantize off and push the hihats back a lil. You can actually put them however you want, but dont just click them on the grid lines. From past experience, i may throw a hihat a whole grid line behind where it is suppose to be.

Experiment with no quantize though, you'll get a feel for what sounds right and what doesnt.

 

[Formant024]

I know you need to be delicate with fl swing slider, doesnt matter if you're the pianoroll or step editor. What does matter when setting the right swing for the proper drive is how the current pattern is quantized, this in order to hear the effect of the swing properly. When in piano roll with small quantize or no quantize its hard to tell how well the swing works out opposed to a step sequenced pattern. If you slice a lot of breaks but dont make chops of single drumhits ( kick + hat /snare + hat ) I would not use the swing as much because you're mixing the human swing with the fl swing which doesnt always come out better or make it easier the determine the proper swing factor.

If you record notes unquantized ( human feel ), quantize them afterwards and then add swing...well...there's nothing wrong with that but the whole human feel is out the window. Also, im not a drummer as much as I would like to be, I play keys and program so I dont intend to do much "live" drumming since its not as efficient in my case ( which counts for lots on here too ).

 

[Bobby Ffitch]

fuck with this as your midi controller....
http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMDD55


hahaha actually i have one from a long ass time ago when my brother was playing drums. i should fuck with the midi sync on it sometime, havent yet.

 

[lion-ucs]

As Formant024 said: "...you need to be delicate with fl swing slider..." You want it to be around 25%.




Side-Note:
Swing settings around...
50% is more of an east coast swing
25% is a more modernized swing, IMO (been hearing a similar touch lately)
12% has a more human touch (doesn't shift the odds over too much.)
A percentage signifigantly under 12% doesnt really have a noticable change.

I've never gone over 50, so thats all I know. XP

 

[konceptG]

Bet. I've found one of the best things I could do was to NOT use my laptop for more complex drum patterns. The latency is simply too high to be useful (81 - 300+ms depending on how many devices are in use). I tried working with that pattern on my desktop and I nailed it on the first take (11ms latency through my AudiomediaIII). I'll prolly get an Echo Indigo IO card for it so I can drop the latency to a more useable setting.