Transcript
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
DRUMS Program, record, process and mix perfect drum tracks for any genre
PLUS:
CMUS56 GUIDE TO DRUMS
THE BEST ROMPLERS, DRUM SYNTHS AND PERCUSSION CONTROLLERS ROUNDED UP!
£6.50
computer music special / editor’s letter <
SPECIAL 56 2012 Future Publishing Ltd. 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 732275 Email:
[email protected] Web: www.musicradar.com/computermusic EDITORIAL Editor: Ronan Macdonald Art Editor: Stuart Ratcliffe Sub-editor: Kieran Macdonald Disc Editor: David Newman Editor, Computer Music: Lee Du-Caine Contributors: Steve Evans, Tim Oliver, Jon Musgrave, Dave Clews, Scot Solida, Alex Williams Editor-in-Chief: Daniel Griffiths Group Senior Editor: Julie Tolley Senior Art Editor: Rodney Dive Creative Director: Robin Abbott Design Director: Matthew Williams Editorial Director: Jim Douglas ADVERTISING Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 732285 Advertising Sales Director: Clare Coleman-Straw Advertising Sales Manager: Aaron Slater Account Sales Manager: Leon Stephens CIRCULATION & MARKETING Trade Marketing Manager: Liza Austin Brand Manager: Alix Thompson PRINT & PRODUCTION Production Coordinator: Frances Twentyman Production Manager: Mark Constance LICENSING Licensing and Syndication Director: Regina Erak Image Library: To purchase images featured in this publication, please visit www.futuremediastore.com or email
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welcome Whether you’re making nasty-ass dubstep, tearup DnB, chin-stroking electronica or emotive pop/rock, drums are almost certainly going to form the essential foundations of the vast majority of your tracks. And the integrity and strength of these foundations couldn’t be more important. From the notes playing them to the sounds themselves, get your drums wrong and the power, pace and overall temperament of your choons will suffer. Get them right, though, and you’re well on the way to a great rhythm section and, consequently, a great track. This Special has been put together to provide you with all the knowledge you need to produce quality drum tracks on your PC or Mac. Whether you’re after the groovy sound of a real drummer playing real drums (either recorded or emulated), a hyper-real assault of hard-hitting sampled beats, or a delicate, understated percussive backdrop, you’re in the right place. We’ll show you how to program MIDI drum parts in a range of genres, make those sterile sampled drums sound lively and authentic, synthesise your own drum sounds, and much more. We’ll also help you get your hands on the right tools for the job with roundups of our favourite ROMplers, virtual drum machines and MIDI pad controllers. Make no mistake about it, the beat starts here. ENJOY THE ISSUE…
Ronan Macdonald Editor © Future Publishing Limited 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. The registered office of Future Publishing Limited is at Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW. All information contained in this magazine is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/ services referred to in this magazine. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from well managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. Future Publishing and its paper suppliers have been independently certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
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SPECIAL ISSUE 56
contents Groov 06 WHAT’S ON THE CD?
Details of your Loopmasters drum sample Special library, free with this
08 A QUICK GUIDE TO THE DRUM KIT We guide you around the instrument that this magazine’s all about
17
THE EASY GUIDE TO RECORDING DRUMS You don’t need a big studio and a ton of mics to make fantastic drum kit recordings, as our step-by-step guide reveals
24 GET REAL!
Learn how to program totally convincing drum tracks for triggering sampled kits using your DAW’s MIDI editor
31
PROGRAMMING REALISTIC DRUM FILLS Take your MIDI drum grooves to the next level with the addition of fills – we show you how
37 MIXING DRUMS
Whether your drums are recorded or programmed, knowing how to mix them for the best possible sound is essential
43 MAKE YOUR OWN VINTAGE-STYLE BREAKBEATS We attempt to recreate a classic break from the ground up – can you tell the difference?
Filling the bottom of any drum groove, the kick drum is where it all starts. Get the sound right with our guide
14
Bring that elusive human quality to programmed drum parts and transform the grooves of audio tracks
78 PROGRAMMING BEATS BY GENRE From funk rock and drum ’n’ bass to dubstep and Moombahton, we lay down some fundamental grooves
88 SPECTACULAR DRUMS
Elevate your drum tracks beyond the conventional with our high-impact production tricks and techniques
LAR TACU SPEC
Why limit yourself to samples when there’s a whole world of drum synthesis out there waiting to be explored?
10 THE PERFECT KICK DRUM
12
65 GROOVE AND FEEL
56 PROGRAMMING SYNTH DRUMS
The perfect drum kit
THE PERFECT SNARE DRUM Supplying the backbeat and funk, the snare drum is the centrepiece of the kit. Find out how to make yours truly crack
THE PERFECT HI-HATS AND CYMBALS Make your metalwork sing with our sound-shaping tips and advice
l e e f d n ea
S DRUM
Product guides es
50 VIRTUAL DRUM KITS
Staggeringly realistic sounds abound with nine of the best drum kit ROMplers on the market today
72 VIRTUAL DRUM MACHINES
15 synth- and sample-based drum machines, including classic emulations and software-empowered originals
94 MIDI PAD CONTROLLERS
Get hands-on and let your fingers do the drumming with these eight MIDI performance surfaces
COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL / 5
> disc / contents
DISC 1193 Loopmasters drum samples!
Courtesy of sample developers/publishers par excellence Loopmasters, we’re proud to present one of the most comprehensive collections of drum samples you could ever hope to find. Taken from a diverse group of libraries, all available at www.loopmasters.com, it comprises a vast range of acoustic and electronic hits, kits and loops in a range of styles, from Loopmasters themselves, Quantum Loops and Wave Alchemy. LOOPMASTERS Produced by Andy Lee of Barcoda, Essential Drumworks is a library of exquisitely recorded and produced one-shot drum samples aimed at minimal, tech, progressive and trance heads looking to create their own beats from scratch. 100% Remix Tools is an assortment of hits from Grammy-nominated Brighton remixers The Freemasons, whose credits take in the stellar likes of Beyoncé and Kylie, among many others. This set of carefully manicured sounds comes from their personal sample library and will suit producers of electro, pop and other club- and chart-friendly styles. Moving sideways, we have a mixture of hits and loops from Jazz Sessions that will add swing, soul and plenty of jazz cool to your
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productions, while Opolopo Electro Funk is a collection of one-shots dripping with funk, soul and boogie from the Hungarian producer. From session drummer Laurie Jenkins, whose working credits include Chaka Khan and Glen Scott, Session Drums is an inspirational set of sounds recorded using Laurie’s very own Yamaha Maple Custom kit, for that truly professional sound and feel. From one of Britain’s biggest hip-hop acts, Stereo MCs, comes Vaultage, a drum sample smorgasbord drawing on over 20 years of musical experimentation. Finally, Global Communication’s Tom Middleton blends elements of late 80s B-boy electro, Detroit techno and UK jungle for his contribution to Loopmasters’ epic drumfest. QUANTUM LOOPS New sample producers Quantum Loops launch their brand with Drum Construction, a one-stopshop for electronic drum samples chock full of single hits. Designed by Ben Wilson and Dom Kane, this soundpack has been precision engineered using various vintage analogue and digital synths, including models from Moog, Roland and Doepfer.
WAVE ALCHEMY Wave Alchemy wade in with Deep Tech & Progressive and Drum Tools 01, both superb collections of hits built from the ground up using a mind-boggling array of high-end analogue outboard gear. A plethora of hits and loops comes courtesy of Tech House & Minimal, while slappers, fluffers and suckers are the order of the day in Paper Skins – Snare Toolkit, a hand-crafted and creatively designed set of ‘filthy’ snare drums processed through an all-analogue signal chain. Lastly, Syncussion Drums is a versatile collection of unique drum hits taken from the extremely rare 1979 Pearl Syncussion SY-1, recorded through various analogue machines, including a Studer A80 1/4" tape deck.
Tutorial files All of the step-by-step tutorials in this Special come with accompanying audio examples – you’ll find everything you need in the Tutorial files folder. Readers of our digital editions can download the files from www.bit.ly/cmtutfiles.
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A quick guide Before we get started on our digital drumming journey, let’s take a tour of the instrument it’s all about
For as long as human beings have walked the earth, there have been drums – and for almost as long, they’ve been accompanied by cymbals! From hollowed-out logs and frame-mounted hides through all manner of vaudevillian, military and orchestral percussion paraphernalia, the history of drumming is epic and diverse. This tale writ large and loud ultimately culminates in the modern drum kit, a seemingly disparate collection of instruments that came together at the start of the 20th century and forever changed the face of music. From jazz and rock ’n’ roll, through pop, rock, soul, country and funk, and on to hip-hop, house, techno, drum ’n’ bass and every other genre of the last 80 years, the drum kit, whether real, synthesised or sampled, has been a constant. And although playing techniques and styles have changed over the decades, the essential make-up of the drum kit has remained largely the same, centring on the kick drum, snare drum and hi-hats/ride cymbal, supplemented by tom toms and crash cymbals.
If you’ve spent any time hanging around drummers, you may have heard them refer to their drum kit as comprising a number of ‘pieces’. This only refers to the number of drums in the kit – cymbals aren’t counted. And with the kick and snare being absolutely essential, the rest of the pieces are usually tom toms: a four-piece kit will have one mounted on or suspended over the kick drum – also knows as a rack tom – and one floor tom, while a five-piece will add an extra rack tom (or possibly a second kick drum). Beyond that, there are really no limits, and any number of rack toms, floor toms, rototoms, octobans, concert toms, gong drums or anything else the drummer fancies can be added into the mix. As touched on a moment ago, many drummers also employ a second kick drum, although space-saving double pedals are available as an alternative, enabling the same functionality to be had from the one drum.
Metal works As for the cymbals, beyond the fundamental requirement of a pair of hi-hats and a ride, there
really is no upper or lower limit to the amount of metalwork a drummer might choose to hang around the kit – space and reach permitting, of course. Some drummers like to envelop themselves in veritable clouds of the things, while others are satisfied with a couple of crashes. For examples of some really over-thetop setups, Google the drum kits of Terry Bozzio, Mike Portnoy and Neil Peart. They might look kind of ridiculous, but their big-name owners absolutely make use of every component. Today’s sample-based virtual drum kits pack all of these elements into a flexible software interface for triggering by keyboard, drum pads, manual note entry and, in most cases, an included library of MIDI clips. Turn to p50 for our pick of the best currently available. Throughout the pages of this Special, we’re going to be dealing with both real and virtual drum kits. Our step-by-step walkthroughs will show you how to record the real thing, program and humanise the sample-based alternatives, and process, mix and enhance both. Let’s get started!
And what of the drum machine? This Special is primarily dedicated to recorded and sampled acoustic drums, but no programmer of beats should overlook the characterful, sonically expansive sounds of the synthetic drum machine. With a history going all the way back to the 30s, the drum machine has gone through endless changes, fashions, declines and revivals, ultimately finding its natural home in dance and electronic music. Although the sounds made by these electronic boxes might be miles away from their acoustic counterparts, all of them still categorise their sounds as regular drum kit components – kick, snare, toms, hi-hats, etc – and
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they’re often programmed to play exactly the same sorts of parts that real drummers play, or at the very least interpretations of them. It’s testament to the longevity and continued relevance of the classics – most notably the Roland TR range – that many of the software plug-in drum machines we use in our DAWs today are emulations of them. It’s not all nostalgia, though: there are also plenty of completely original virtual drum synths on the market, taking the concept to amazing new heights. Our roundup of some of the best starts on p72, and we show you how to synthesise your own drum sounds from scratch using ‘regular’ synths on p56.
They won’t fool anyone into thinking they’re the real thing, but classic drum machines like these Rolands have fabulous a sonic character all their own
to the drum kit Hi-hats
Crash cymbals Crashes are thin cymbals, generally ranging in size from 8" to 18", with anything below 13" referred to as a splash. They’re used for accenting significant beats and marking changes in a track, such as the transition into the chorus, and are almost invariably struck at the same time as the kick or snare. Variations on the crash cymbal include the China type, the crash-ride and, er, the Rocktagon – Google it.
Tom toms AKA rack toms. Used to provide syncopated embellishment to grooves and pseudo-melodic meat to fills and solos, tom toms range from 8" to 16" in diameter and are tuned to a specific set of pitches that also incorporates the floor tom(s) at the lower end.
A pair of 12-15" cymbals mounted on a stand and brought together by pressing down a pedal at the base, the hi-hats can be played with sticks (with the cymbals closed most of the time, but often half-open for a ‘splashy’ sound) or pedalled to provide a distinctive ‘chick’ sound. The most commonly used playing technique is with the right hand (assuming the drummer is right-handed) ‘riding’ the hats on eighth-notes, crossing over the left hand, which strikes the snare. In some styles (most notably disco), the hi-hats play 16th-notes using both hands, with the right hand moving to the snare for the backbeat.
Ride cymbal A large (20-24"), heavy cymbal struck with the tip of the drumstick on the body, or the shoulder of the stick on the bell (the bulging section in the centre). While the majority of eighth-note riding action takes place on the hi-hats, for choruses and middle eights, drummers often switch to the ride cymbal for its bright, floaty, sustained sound. The bell can also be struck for a shorter, louder, more cutting sound that’s typically associated with rock but is thoroughly usable in any genre.
Floor tom
Snare drum
Kick drum
Essentially extra-deep tom toms on legs, floor toms range in diameter from 14-18" and sit next to and behind the kick drum. They’re quite simply an extension of the rack toms, providing a deep bottom end to the tom tom frequency range.
A shallow (between 3" and 6.5" deep, usually) drum with a rack of ‘crimped’ springs stretched across the bottom head, the snare provides that cornerstone of popular music known as the backbeat: relentless hits on beats 2 and 4. The snare can be struck on the head alone, or on the head and rim at the same time – this is a complicated-sounding manoeuvre called a rimshot that’s actually an almost unconscious technique for any half-decent drummer. The sidestick (often erroneously also called a rimshot), meanwhile, involves holding the tip of the stick on the centre of the head and dropping the butt end down onto the rim. This produces the distinctive ‘click’ that’s been the mainstay of many an 80s ballad.
The kick drum (or bass drum, as it’s traditionally known) delivers the power and bottom end of the drum kit. Measuring between 18 and 24" in diameter, and sitting on its side on the floor, it’s played with the foot using a pedal-mounted beater. In pop, rock and many styles of dance music, the kick drum generally compliments the bassline, directly following it or weaving around it. In house, techno and other four-to-the-floor styles, of course, it simply nails every beat of the bar – surely the most ubiquitous and powerful rhythmic device of the last 30 years. Many metal drummers use two bass drums for the fast double-kick grooves that are essential to that style.
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> the perfect kick drum
THE PERFECT
KICK DRUM A good drum track starts with the bass drum – find out here how to make sure yours kicks ass The kick drum, or bass drum, is the powerhouse behind the music. When you’re in a club, its the kick that’s nailing the four to the floor, and at a rock gig it’s the kick that’s making your chest compress. The kick started life as a hollow log being whacked by one of Dave Grohl’s ancestors about 60,000 years ago, and evolved through being carried in marching bands to its current status as the logo-bearing centrepiece of the modern drum kit. Nowadays, of course, it also exists as a sequence of zeros and ones neatly filed away in your sample collection. Amazing! The kick drum is all about low frequencies. It has mids and highs, but its full weight can be felt from 150Hz all the way down to 45Hz, where your speaker cones (and possibly you if it’s too loud) will start farting uncontrollably. This ‘bottom end’ is a wild beast – it’s the hardest element to contain within a mix, demands the most power to deliver live through a big sound system, and is the area in which most rooms will misbehave when monitoring or performing.
The spice of life Of course, despite our snappy title, there’s really no such thing as the ‘perfect’ kick drum – a subby 808 from a minimalist electro-house anthem isn’t going to work in a metal track! We have the basic acoustic kicks that the drummer plays using his foot and a pedal. We also have electronically synthesised kicks like those of the classic Roland 10 / COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL
TR-808 and 909. Then we have amazing hybrid kicks sampled from acoustic kits, machines and records, then blended and resampled out of all recognition into infinite variations on the bass drum theme. Context is everything, as anyone who has trawled through 300 kick drum samples and still not found the right one will know. So how do we learn to control and perfect all these different sounds?
“Getting the perfect kick drum sound begins with balancing sub, punch, honk, mid and top” Easy. Regardless of their origins, all kicks break down into three sonic elements: low, mid and top. Grab a few kick samples, put them up in your DAW, insert a graphic equaliser and experiment with cutting and boosting frequencies using a narrow Q (making a thin, pointy spike). As a rough guide, the mid and top frequencies (1kHz and 7kHz) comprise the clicky part of the sound, and are often the area in which
you’ll hear reverb or ambience, if there is any. The low part is the boomy bit, and it breaks down into three elements: sub (60Hz), punch (150Hz) and ‘honk’ (350Hz). Getting the perfect kick drum sound begins with balancing sub, punch, honk, mid and top (see opposite). When recording an acoustic kick with a microphone inside the drum, you have the added problem of internal shell resonance. This wouldn’t normally be heard, but with a microphone stuffed in there you’ll need to know how to get rid of the parts of the sound that you don’t want. This is all done with filters and EQ. As with any acoustic recording, a huge amount depends on how you tune the drum, how it’s played and the shape of the room it’s in. Turn to p17 for a tutorial on acoustic drum recording.
What next? Once you’ve shaped your basic sound, you have the option of layering several kick drums together to combine their different qualities, and using compression and limiting to alter their dynamics. The walkthrough on the facing page demonstrates these basic processes and shows you how to create a kick sound that’ll give your track the backbone it deserves. You’ll recognise perfection when you can hear the kick drum sitting nicely with your bass, punching through the mix without being too loud, and sounding deep and fat without making the speakers distort.
