Metal Drums Programming

[DarkCide]

I would like to record a few of my own songs. My issue has always been drums programming. To me it's been a mystery and I'm not even sure how to start learning. I have The Perfect Drums plugin and use Reaper.

What's the best approach (tutorials) to start learning drums programing? Anyone out there who does metal drums programming on the side or paid services?

 

[thebeesknees22]

practice practice practice is what it takes (in my experience). Starting with modifying midi that you can drop in is probably a good starting point.

I used to loathe programming drums, but the more I do it the more I'm getting into it. But it's a real pain in the backside at first.

The main rule I follow is to try not to make unrealistic hits like hitting more things than you have hands and feet at the same time.

There are a few youtube tutorials floating around youtube. I think Misha Mansoor has a cubase one for GGD that was interesting.

Just following real drum tutorials helps too so you have a better idea of the flow a real drummer would have.

in my own opinion of course.

 

[afterzaar]

You can use this free kit on perfect drums. After that you just need to write drums or midi libraries.

 

[DarkCide]

You can use this free kit on perfect drums. After that you just need to write drums or midi libraries.

I already have the paid version.

 

[Koldunya]

The main rule I follow is to try not to make unrealistic hits like hitting more things than you have hands and feet at the same time.

This is a big one.

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There's always this LOL

 

[thebeesknees22]

This is a big one.

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There's always this LOL

geez. that's challenge level 100

yeah... i can't do that. haha I'm more of a mouse click and play it on loop for a few measures until it's right. haha

 

[bostjan]

I'd treat it like learning drums. Start with programming a fake beat: hihats on 1, 2, 3, and 4; kick on 1 and 3; snare on 2 and 4. Then swap out hihats for crash cymbals as accents, obviously a good one is the 1 on the first of every four measures or however long a stanza is supposed to be, then just start adding in snare and kick hits one at a time in different positions to see what effect it has on the feeling of the song. Don't worry about adding in any fills until you are comfortable at that level.

Once you want to add fills to spice things up, start with the tripey ones like 4 16th note hits on each tom from high to low and then a crash instead of a hihat on the very next beat after the fill. Then start playing with triplets and patterns where the toms do more interesting things.

Probably the last step you need is going to be locking the kick drum in with the accents of the riff you are playing on the guitar/bass. For real drumming, you have to use your ears, but for programming, you can zoom in on the waveform, look for peaks and just stick kick hits in synch with them.

Easy as pie, right?

Yeah, right, just like saying all you have to do to learn how to build a rocket to fly to space is to 1. be very clever and 2. work really really hard. I know it's very reductive, but maybe breaking things down into meals is at least a little easier than just not knowing where to start. At least you can take these "meals" on one bite at a time from here... right?

This is a big one.

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There's always this LOL

Wow. That not only was interesting to watch, but the sound samples are almost too good to believe.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Subscribe to the Drumeo YouTube channel, learn the rudiments,then borrow inspiration from the greats on implementing those skills. I take more time with drums than any other instrument, but I love what it does to lift the music so much more.

 

[owlexifry]

MT Power Drum Kit AU VST Drums Sampler Plugin Instrument FREE

www.powerdrumkit.com

drop this free plugin into your DAW and starting writing the midi tracks....
(if you don't know how, google "how to write midi drums")

the link in my signature is an example of what these drums sound like

 

[JSil13]

I've been using KVLT Drums from Ugritone. I ended up getting most of their midi packs as well to kind of cut and paste drum beats. From there I can edit their beats or add in my own. I use Logic Pro and used to use the built in beat sequencer to make beats, but now after seeing the Ugritone beats in midi format I've started to understand how that works and it's easier than the beat sequencer. I think by now I have the black metal, death metal, melodic death metal, thrash, NWOBHM, progressive death metal, and industrial metal midi packs which have beats and sometimes fills.

 

[TheBloodstained]

I used to play the drums for real but nowadays I mostly program drums for my demos. Here's a tip I wish I had know earlier on:

When you program in your DAW or whatever you can set the velocity for each individual hit (IIRC it's a value that goes from 1 to 127).
When I started out I max'ed the velocity on every hit, but what that effectively does is killing the dynamics of the drums. In the real world you don't hit everything with max strength when you play.

Find a suitable mid-ground for the velocity. Big hits can be max'ed for a great effect. Small fills, hits, ghost notes etc. can be achieved by turning the velocity down.

This really elevated my own drum programming in a dramatic way and made my demos sound so much better.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I got tired of writing guitarist drums so I hired a drummer and it really brought my music to life. Another option if you've got finished songs but feel your drums hold them back.

 

[thebeesknees22]

I got tired of writing guitarist drums so I hired a drummer and it really brought my music to life. Another option if you've got finished songs but feel your drums hold them back.

this is what I would like to do if I ever get around to making a real EP, and if I can afford it. I would still block them in with programmed drums just to get the song structure down, but then hire a dude to lay down drums for real. ...someday...someday..

 

[DarkCide]

I got tired of writing guitarist drums so I hired a drummer and it really brought my music to life. Another option if you've got finished songs but feel your drums hold them back.

I'm sure it varies per person. But what kind of fees are we looking at per minute/song?

 

[DarkCide]

I got tired of writing guitarist drums so I hired a drummer and it really brought my music to life. Another option if you've got finished songs but feel your drums hold them back.

I'm sure it varies per person. But what kind of fees are we looking at per minute/song?

 

[Nicki]

Start with a kick on the 1 beat. Then add kick on beats you want there to be a kick on.

Always start with the kick. Then add your various flavours. It's really not that difficult. You could also take samples provided in whatever library you're using that you like and morph them to fit your track.

And unless you have a giant octopus playing your drums, keep it realistic.

 

[Kaura]

I would like to record a few of my own songs. My issue has always been drums programming. To me it's been a mystery and I'm not even sure how to start learning. I have The Perfect Drums plugin and use Reaper.

What's the best approach (tutorials) to start learning drums programing? Anyone out there who does metal drums programming on the side or paid services?

Download some full band tabs if you have GuitarPro and analyze the drum tracks. That's what I did when I was a kid. For me the biggest mind explosion was that most beats can be played with just 8th notes or 16th notes. Before that I programmed everything using 32th notes and just randomly put the drums hits on the grid which sounded like the "drummer" was drunk.

Programming drums is easy to learn but difficult to master (like most things in life, I guess). Just get the basics down, like how the notation works, which hit lands on which beat etc. After that, start paying attention to the drum tracks on some of your favorite songs and analyze what the drummer is doing. That way you can get some ideas and start spicing things up and start coming up with fills and accents instead of just everything being straight 8th or 16th note lines.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

this is what I would like to do if I ever get around to making a real EP, and if I can afford it. I would still block them in with programmed drums just to get the song structure down, but then hire a dude to lay down drums for real. ...someday...someday..

I still write midi drums for all my songs to figure out the song structures and then give the drummer an idea what I was thinking of.

I'm sure it varies per person. But what kind of fees are we looking at per minute/song?

It varies a lot who you ask but most drummers charge $150-$250 a song while some charge by the minute.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I finished writing my album in Summer 2021.
Still holding it back from recording it because (besides other things) I'm not convinced on the drum parts.
I also have to divide the brasses and the strings into single channels.
Work that is already done but needs some time and concentration to do it and I don't have it at the moment, same obviously for the drums.

I was also thinking of using multiple tracks and divide into more channels the kicks, the snare, the cymbals and the toms to have more control over volume and dynamics when mixing.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Download some full band tabs if you have GuitarPro and analyze the drum tracks. That's what I did when I was a kid. For me the biggest mind explosion was that most beats can be played with just 8th notes or 16th notes. Before that I programmed everything using 32th notes and just randomly put the drums hits on the grid which sounded like the "drummer" was drunk.

Programming drums is easy to learn but difficult to master (like most things in life, I guess). Just get the basics down, like how the notation works, which hit lands on which beat etc. After that, start paying attention to the drum tracks on some of your favorite songs and analyze what the drummer is doing. That way you can get some ideas and start spicing things up and start coming up with fills and accents instead of just everything being straight 8th or 16th note lines.

This is great counsel! Start out with the simplest, then fill in more to taste, sparingly. Fills are where more of the 32nd notes and such are going to find application. The focus is groove, and precision. It's all math, and then subdivisions of math, but the math must be sound, Know the meter that you're working with and the tempo.

I start off all Pro Tools sessions determining the meter & tempo, get my basic drum patters and bass parts in midi, then I start rehearsing with it in order to determine if the tempo needs to be increased or decreased. After that, I can start working on nuances of the rhythm section. I knock 85% of this out before I track guitars. It's just going to make the guitar tracking that much more inspired sounding. In fact, sometimes my bass player and I will track together after he's had a chance to fiddle with the Midi bass in order to plan out his parts & then we'll make edits as necessary to the drums to lock the bass & drums together. Once that's done, we track together and it feels so much better when we're tracking and believe me, that translates into the recording.


Learning the basics of drumming is crucial to understanding how to subdivide the math. Youtube has a channel called Drumeo which is fantastic for this. Look at the vids they do on Danny Carrey from Tool, or Neil Peart from RUSH. They dissect the patterns so that you understand them at their most basic level. Once you get that down, filling in the gaps tastefully will come, and more naturally.