Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Wow dude that is a grat list of advice! 
I don't know how much i could add off the top of my head. 

   I am the owner of a group called IBGEEK it is listed in the 
bookmarks section of this group.  It is all about making programs 
for emu gear, but this is a topic I would be more than happy to try 
and offer my skills on.  I have been playing drums for about 15 
years now and I have spent most of that time playing break beats as 
well as jazz.  

So if anyone has any questions or wants to trade good leed keyboard 
parts for drum parts I would me more than intrested.

Peace ya all.

Mike G.


--- In xl7@y..., "Andre Lewis" <andrel@s...> wrote:
> Realistic as in a real drummer? Or realistic as in classic break-
beats?
> 
> There are many tips and tricks to making something feel like a 
real drummer, I
> believe that Electronic Musician has run several articles on it 
and probably
> Keyboard magazine, if you check their websites they might have the 
old articles
> online. I would ask the list and one of the sampler lists, I bet 
there are some
> grand masters out there.
> 
> Here are some basic rules for "Realistic" drums:
> 1) play with the timing slightly for each hit.  If you play four 
hits on a snare
> drum, I sincerely doubt you can make it happen with the precision 
of a computer,
> and it will sound dead.  You can easily fix this by adding a 
little swing or
> shuffle to your piece (I'll get into that in a second) or better 
yet adding a
> little swing then adding a little randomness.  In a typical 
sequencer like Sonar
> or Cubase you can just quantize the notes with a swing feel, and 
then go in and
> tweak notes individually or in the case of Sonar use it's 
scripting language to
> do the work for you adding random timing changes.  Most packages 
also allow you
> to extract timing from a sample with a groove you like and then 
quantize your
> patterns with it.  It will move your notes to closely match the 
groove of the
> sample.
> 
> 2) Modify the volumes of hits.  Each hit in a real drum line will 
be slightly
> louder or softer.  You should try to make patterns longer so that 
you don't
> notice the repeating volume changes, as that will definitely show 
signs of it
> being fake.  8 bars or longer is usually fine.  Also make sure to 
use dynamics
> for quieter sections, if the music is supposed to be more dramatic 
a real
> drummer will be really quiet then really loud. Don't forget to 
bring the overall
> volumes down for the drums for key sections.
> 
> 3) Play with the filters or EQ of hits.  This is especially 
noticeable with
> hihats and snares.  A heavy hit will be fully bright but a light 
hit will be
> much duller sounding.  You will want to tweak the filtering for 
each note, once
> again keeping the bars longer to keep from being noticeable.
> 
> 4) Think of how a real drummer would play it.  A real drummer can 
only (usually)
> hit a maximum of four things at the same time.  You obviously 
can't be playing
> the snare, closed hi-hat lines and tom lines at the same time, 
especially while
> hitting the crash.  A kick and closing hi-hat or opening hi-hat 
while hitting a
> snare and crash at the same time yes.  Running a complex hi-hat 
line with a
> complex snare line is very unlikely.  Make sure the hits aren't 
overlapping each
> other too much or it will sound machine-like.
> 
> 5) Get multiple drum samples and EQ them.  Sometimes a drum can be 
played
> radically differently and create a radically different sound.  
Snares can be hit
> on the edge, rim, or in the dead center and each has it's own 
tone.  EQing
> different samples to keep the same overall feel will allow you to 
use variations
> in your playing.
> 
> 6) Use reverb lightly to set your location.  A real drum kit 
sampled will
> usually have a certain amount of room feel in it, and it will be 
reflected in
> all aspects of your samples.  Putting a light reverb on it sets 
the space for
> the drums and makes the entire kit sound like it's part of the 
same kit.  Some
> things will be more noticeable with reverb, so you may want 
multiple reverb
> sends, more for the snare and hihats than say the low tom or kick.
> 
> 7) Use samples with natural decay.  Most crash sample out there 
are ludicrous,
> they cut off way to short and adding reverb may help disguise it 
but when it
> comes right down to it it won't sound right.  Same thing with a 
ride or
> practically any cymbal.
> 
> 8) make a lot of variations and change-ups.  Adding the occasional 
fill helps
> but switching hihat rhythms or keeping the loop length long enough 
will make it
> more organic sounding as well, sometimes adding a drum hook in the 
normal line
> will make you want the hook more adding that little bit of 
anticipation.
> 
> 9) Use ghost hits for your snares.  Ghost hits are those hits that 
bounce on a
> snare when it's played that are very quiet but add a fuller sound 
overall.
> Usually they'll be at 16ths or 32nds and sound like a light 
delay.  Duplicate a
> snare track, strip out any hits you don't want ghosted and put a 
delay on the
> new track with the filtering cutting off a lot of the higher 
frequencies in the
> repeating lines.  This allows you to quickly add the feel of light 
rolls.  Go
> through the original track and remove duplicates.  Changing the 
velocities of
> some notes to below 64 will make a ghost hit as well, adding a 
certain
> variation.
> 
> 10)  Take a sample of live drums, EQ out the kick and low tom then 
play this
> over your drum lines.  This will add a live drum sound without 
clobbering your
> original feel.  Make sure you add this to the ambient reverb to 
make it sound in
> place with the rest of the kit.
> 
> Woohoo!  Those are all the ones I can think of, I'm sure everyone 
has their own
> tricks and are willing to share...  Hope that helped!
> 
> Andre