how about your drums...??

[LonChainy]

It works like this for me 99% of the time. Without the risk of sounding corny, the drums speak to me as to how to lay the chops. I'm sure its like that for some of you.

But here lately, my drums are lacking to my ears. Would the Ill fam mind sharing how you go about laying down your drum patterns? Do you keep them simple at first i.e. just "boom, bap", lay the chops then fill in more drums? Or do you lay a complete 4 bar patten, then the chops, then alter your patter etc etc. OR..is the pattern really that important?

Please help a brother out! This stale mate im in is driving me crazy!

thanks in advance!

 

[dacalion]

I kinda do the opposite with sampling... Most of the time, I let my sample dictate everything, including my drums. Lately I've been working on my composition game and sometimes I start with the drums and build around them first, but try that. Listen to your sample first and build your drums to it.

 

[RAW-D]

thats exactly what im doing.
the sample is the basic of my beat.
i listen what the best drum is for the sample.

 

[LonChainy]

Thanks for you inputs fam. I've tried that in the past..building my melody first and drums around them, didnt seem to give me the same feel i wanted. But, maybe i should hit it again

 

[dacalion]

Yeah I don't feel like theres a right or wrong way to do it, its all a matter of creativity and what works for you.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Yeah I don't feel like theres a right or wrong way to do it, its all a matter of creativity and what works for you.

Exactly. Just go with the flow. Dont judge what you're doing till after you are finished for the night/morning. Just work, ignore what you usually like and venture out. Seems you are making this alittle more complex than it needs lol

 

[LonChainy]

Your prob exactly right Dox..i have a tendency sometimes to overthink shit..thanks for the input family.

 

[Sucio]

Exactly....just keep on going and you'll eventually get it....a lot of times it just doesn't happen right away...especially if you're looking for that distinct sound to get it meshing well....

I do that all the time..I'd put some drums in there thinking they're hot...and then all of the sudden I'm sitting for a half hour going thru drums......

 

[Shonsteez]

I got a couple rough personal guidelines I like to follow...

(1) I generally have a specific sounding kit I like to choose from so I'll start there, whether it be a recent kit I built or a new one I'm bout to build but with the same signature feel I like.

(2) Back in the day, I used to prefer to lace my drums up first but nowadays I never do for whatever reason so I prefer to lay down my main rhythm samples first to help dictate how Ill lace my drums up.

(3) From there, its basically a matter of loading up kits that I already like or building ones that I think will work with the same feel in mind as mentioned in step 1.

(4) Often though, this doesn't always work right out the gate so its not fool-proof and I may have to switch my kit up till it feels appropriate...one thing I will vouch for for certain is that when I lay the samples down first its always easier to find the drums that feel appropriate versus the other way around, but thats just how I prefer to work these days.

Moral of the story - its all trial and error IMO...but a good starting point never hurts.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Side Note Response

(2) Back in the day, I used to prefer to lace my drums up first but nowadays I never do for whatever reason so I prefer to lay down my main rhythm samples first to help dictate how Ill lace my drums up.

Drums are the easy part, if you can get you beat KNOCKIN with out drums, it'll be just that much awesome when you lace them.

Its like kids eating dinner, We love the drum, if we eat everything elsebefore the meat we'll finish the meal happy, instead of stuck on the vegetables trying to figure out a way to get ride of them lol

*Not directed at you Shon*

 

[LonChainy]

Thanks for everyones input, its really opened my mind...much love

 

[Cymatic Kicks]

It depends on what I'm working on really, it could be different every time. If I'm using a sample, then that will definitely dictate the rhythm. I usually make things from scratch though, so that's why there's usually a lot of freedom. It could be a melody line in my head, a bass line, or just an overall sound. Often I'll make a bass line and one other instrument with a very basic beat, and then I'll deactivate those drums and play along on an Alesis Control Pad. That gives me the freedom to play drums live while trying out different variations.

 

[Greg Savage]

It works like this for me 99% of the time. Without the risk of sounding corny, the drums speak to me as to how to lay the chops. I'm sure its like that for some of you.

But here lately, my drums are lacking to my ears. Would the Ill fam mind sharing how you go about laying down your drum patterns? Do you keep them simple at first i.e. just "boom, bap", lay the chops then fill in more drums? Or do you lay a complete 4 bar patten, then the chops, then alter your patter etc etc. OR..is the pattern really that important?

Please help a brother out! This stale mate im in is driving me crazy!

thanks in advance!

Really just depends on how I feel. Most of the time I just lay a straight 4 bar then the sample to just get a groove. This will generally tell me what direction I should go in with the sample. Sometimes I'll hear something that will force me to re chop the sample or make the drum pattern with a little more variation etc.

Then there are times when the 4 bar drums is all I need and I go from there

 

[Haze47]

at the moment i am laying my drums first, so i can line the bassline up with them, so the rhythm section is locked.... then set the mood with the samples....

then layer that kit up a couple of times either with different soundsets or signal splitting and filtering, effecting etc....basically doing a more advanced low end theory ting.... one layer for bass, one for presence and feel and one for top....then sometimes them layers are layered up again.... some sometimes im rocking 6 kits for one drum line....!

massice CPU overhead though - even with reason....

 

[subaqueous]

I start with my kick, then layer my hats and jazz. After that I lay down the bass. I find getting a good kick is the foundation. Make sure it has a good swing or somethign to it that makes it dancable. Also less is better.

 

[LonChainy]

Respect for all the feed guys..i def thing 98% of the time..LESS IS MORE

 

[2infamouz]

lol i wouldnt kno ive never succesfully sampled anything.. composing is all i got :\ n i go either way start w/ drums or start wit melody..id definately start with the sample chops first tho if i was gonna sample somethin, probably make the baseline second n drums last.