How to get a more 'analog' drum sound that's not sequence-sounding?

hi – here’s a question for all of you… from decades ago when I used sequencers (like the HR16 ), I still remember a big problem in making tracks sound great is, when using a sequencer it always has that 80’s mechanical plodding sequenced sound…

.. not like a live drummer at all (I’ve played in a lot of live bands too: jazz, T40 , reggae, club)...for those of you who are drummers or have played in live bands, you know what I mean… a real drummer is never 100% mechanically on every beat, and the drum hits are different a bit anyways, and sounds a lot better, than a sequencer/drum machine sound.

any tips when using your favorite software sequencer, on how to get a more analog, dynamic sound? I know varying the volume, and using step-offsets helps a bit… but it still sounds like it’s out of the box, a lot of tracks (and here too for that matter), since they’re made w/sequencer…

(probably a good topic for an electronic musician’s forum, though I don’t know any)

Hey there,

I assume you mean to reproduce an organic (human) drumsound, not an electroc kit

I have found that different ways lead to a quite human feel. You’ve already mentioned some essential things, concerning dynamics (volume variation).

I am a keyboardist and not a drummer, but I do most drumparts playing in sandwich wise via my master keyboard. I start off with kick and snare, for simpler rhythms hihat at the same time (Kick/snare left hand, HH right hand) or I do overdubs and add hihat / crashes / toms afterwards.

I work with cubase 6 which has an excellent “human quantize” function which means the midi material is not hard quantized but there is room left for time variation within the grid (the amount can also be controlled).

Also many “programmers” forget about the fact that a human drummer can hit max. 4 items at the same time, I’ve come across many programmed tracks with hihats playing sixteenth during a tombreak supported by a crescendo sanre roll…

Over the years I have accomplished a programming style the (at least to my ears) also sound human, what helps a lot is to look at live-played midifiles (such as in Toontrack products, XLN Addictive Drums and so on).

One of the most important things is also the sample library you use. These days things like round robin samples (anti machine gun effect) and differnet velocity layers shall be mandatory.

One library I have come across recently is getting more and more my number one lib – check out drumasonic.com, an amzing drumkit which is not expensive at all.

Hope this helps for a start off.

Happy music making Dirk

hey thanks Dirk, some great tips there—good about human quantize, I’ll check that out in cubase. I’m a keyboardist too (roland d50, yamaha dx7 oldschool), bought an alesis SR16 awhile back, it has some good samples (like my old HR16 has and TR808 ). didn’t know about the human-played .mid files, will check ‘em out too.

good idea about playing drums using keys, I’ll give that a shot, should help with more analog sound, with 1/16th or 1/32nd quantize. will take a look at drumasonic, thx for the tip.

to the music,

-k

I agree with Dirk’s suggestions. I pretty much just quantize parts by 50% if needed. It just pulls them tighter without losing the feel. Also, adding a slight swing (maybe 54%) can make it feel really nice without turning it into a shuffle.

Graphic4444,

Isn’t that depend of genre of music you are working on ? Nothing wrong with quantisation and bit of shuffle (52% – 65%) when it’s any kinf of “electronic” music. For real sound drums and reaaaaaaly nice “human like” beats check for ezdrummer. My next track will definetly use that.

Cheers – Matt.

please delete this post

Also try using Massey Tape-Head plugin, does wonders to beef up the sound of drums and I’m pretty sure it’s free. Also try parallel compression or a Bitcrusher plugin like the one in Logic. Also if you’re using Logic try the Humanize feature in the Quantize menu for offsetting MIDI so that it sounds slightly more human and not so tempo-synced. Just my two cents, if it’s even worth that!