# Mixing/Humanizing Drums



## David Thangjam (Mar 9, 2013)

Can You Give Some Hint of Humanizing and Mixing Drums in EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer


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## newamerikangospel (Mar 10, 2013)

Outside of taking your velocities off of 127 for all hit. In your midi/piano roll, open up the non-quanitze option (where you can "freely" drop in notes) and eyeball the hits. If they sound wrong, then move then until they do. The few milliseconds of difference between the hit and the "100% correct" placement is what your ear hears as human. Also, understanding basic drumming helps. Such as, on faster kick parts, most drummers start pushing ahead of the rhythm a little; on drum rolls, velocities should favor the leading hand for single stroke.


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## meambobbo (Mar 11, 2013)

there's another thread by EtherealEternity that's really good on this.

basic points:
1) change tempo a few BPM to "push" high energy sections
2) don't program anything impossible for a real drummer. 4 simultaneous hits max, no ridiculously fast playing, no patterns that'd drive a real drummer's arms into a knot
3) adjust velocity - play hardest on accents and first hits in a sequence, randomize a bit after making basic adjustments, manually fix anything that sounds off
4) adjust hits - if you have left-hand or off-center samples, throw them in where appropriate, especially for rolls.
5) adjust timing - randomize or manually move hits slightly off-time
6) add ghost notes - not entirely sure about this

Some other things - make sure your samples aren't too dry - they need a bit of the room in them, or add some reverb. Depending on your style of music, you may also want a bit of compression to make things more audible while getting the different timbre of varying velocity.


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## David Thangjam (Mar 12, 2013)

thanks


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## GSingleton (Mar 12, 2013)

Actually I have come to learn that...seriously it is all about the tones and how you eq it because I actually turn the humanizing off because it screws up the velocities and it just sounds floppy. esp on the kick.

You can mess with velocities in your daw where needed but you typically want most of that the same. Like as a percussionist, I work constantly on making all my strokes the same for what I need it for. Dynamics are useful but it depends on what you want. 

Also, I never program anything I cannot physically play. I want to be able to actually play my things myself.


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## meambobbo (Mar 12, 2013)

How can EQ make a difference? I understand alternating samples with the same velocity, but ultimately if everything is perfectly in-time and everything has equal velocity, unless you have some very interesting patterns, it's going to sound very artificial, like someone is looping the same sound over and over, because that's exactly what it is.

A good drummer definitely tries to keep his strokes consistent, but even if they were 100% identical every time, you still hear it just a bit differently - chaulk it up to random factors such as instrument resonance or reverberations or environmental changes. And they're not 100% consistent anyway. The subtle variations make the sound natural, even if the feel is the same. There's a difference between hearing 10 snare drum hits with the exact same technique and a 10 loops of a recording of a single snare drum hit.

I wouldn't leave humanizing to an algorithm. I'd select everything and set it down off 127 to about 80-100, then select all the accents and boost those up to around 115-120, then randomize from there -/+ 3-5%. If that screws a hit here or there up, just fix it manually.

Ultimately, the best way is to use a different sample for every hit, but that's just not practical; however, at least some of the drum software will switch between left/right hits automatically.


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## GSingleton (Mar 12, 2013)

With everything that goes into production, it is hard to tell anyway what is human and what isn't anymore. 

Just telling you what a lot of people do and my problem is that programs think humanizing means making the patterns not consistent with the rhythm you want. It jacks it up and I cannot stand it. Like, just double bass patterns sound like a fuckin helicopter and it pisses me off immensely.

EDIT: Like, by studying and being consistent...I mean musicians who have been practicing for years and years and If I can play it consistently enough that the rhythm is spot on...I do not want a program displacing my rhythms off by a certain percentage. I cannot stand it in general. I spend hours and hours working and Humanizing should not be identified as an error where a rhythm or skeleton is offset by a bit. /rant


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## meambobbo (Mar 13, 2013)

I think you are talking about those automated "humanize" functions built into programs. Yeah, I agree with that. Human != random.

I think you gain the least by moving hits slightly off-time. It has to be done very subtly. And I would avoid doing it on bass drum at all or maybe even any on accents. The better thing is to swap samples and velocities, but everything should be quite subtle. As you said, you don't want it to sound like a freaking helicopter or a train or something. But you don't want to sound like a drum machine or looped sample either.


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## GSingleton (Mar 13, 2013)

Agreed.


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## morzzzzz (Apr 4, 2013)

It varies on what you want. One tip I can give you is that when you program double bass sequences, it helps to *slightly* drop the velocity on the hits that would otherwise be played on the left foot. Of course not all, but for many drummers the left foot is the "weaker" foot so slightly less velocity on those left foot beats makes it seem a little more realistic.

Keep dynamics in mind and try not to keep everything at the same velocity. Dynamics are key to musicianship in general.

Also if you are trying to fool people into thinking your recordings with programmed drums are authentic, it's probably best to avoid 32nd note fills especially on the feet (bass drum).

Hope I was of aid to you


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## CircuitalPlacidity (May 27, 2013)

In my experience one of the best things you can do is have interesting patterns. That obviously helps in adding to the realism. Another thing that I do is to program out the part and if it's super complex, simplify just until it doesn't sound like its missing anything. This is easier said than done and is an art itself. As far as humanizing goes really pay attention to velocities on cymbals and fills. On fills also be aware of the timing on some of them. Even Thomas Lang doesn't play dead on the beat on all of his fast fills. Also, if you vary the parts a little it gives a more realistic feel. Say you have a riff that repeats later in the song, don't just copy and paste. Keep the same feel (or completely change it up) but don't use the exact same pattern. Like if you have crashes on the quarter notes, snare on 3 and double bass rolling on the 16ths under a riff and it repeats twice ending in a fill, when it comes back around maybe have double bass go to 8ths, china on 1 & 3, and share on 3 just for some variation and end in a different fill. Of course those beats are very basic examples but most drummers play with that kinda stuff a lot. My drummer never really plays the same thing twice unless I ask him to but he always manages to keep the same feel we're after. If you pm me your email I can send you some examples of programmed midi drums that I have done to better explain what im talking about.


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## CircuitalPlacidity (May 27, 2013)

Also, don't over complicate it. Using space and not filling every moment with percussion can have a huge impact.


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## CircuitalPlacidity (May 27, 2013)

Also, I just realized I gave you writing and not mixing/humanizing suggestions. Sorry.


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## Sammicat (Jun 3, 2013)

Something really good that I use, REAPER has a Humanize option in the Midi roll. It lets you specify how far off the timiny, velocity, and makeup is. I generally drag all my midi up to 127 to get it all even, Drag it down to maybe 90, and throw on the humanizer with the timing at 4 , makeup low, and velocity from 25-47
I'll manually edit certain parts like blast beats and snare rolls after. It saves me so much time and I get really natural sounding performances.


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## Yo_Wattup (Jun 3, 2013)

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/re...-humanizing-drums-cubase-5-a.html#post3462937


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