Reply To: getting programmed drums to gel

[David TaitParticipant]

Hi Mark, I'm very late to your post as I've just joined the Academy.
As a drummer my first response would be to say that you drums are back to front ie the first down beat is on the snare (where more traditionaly it would start with the kick. (But then we do love to celebrate the wrongness here!)
For what it's worth my opinion on "programing" drums is that it's just a waste of time and will never sound natural unless of course you spend years and years perfecting it! (Even then it will always sound wrong) I find the best way to "program" drums is to use a vi such as Abbey Road Drums or Slate Drums or Superior Drummer and use the midi grooves provided (also midi groove packs for all genres can be purchased very cheaply) these midi grooves have been performed by a real drummer using an electronic midi trigger kit so they are far more realistic in terms of groove, it's then just a case of finding a ball park groove and tweeting the midi notes as desired, often you won't need to as there is usually a groove that will be fit for purpose, and being midi they will play at the tempo of the track you are working on (but still have some movment) then you can blend in Warren's samples along with that (but you will have to line them up using "tab to transient" Pro Tools or a similar edit feature in your daw. You can get some very real sounding drum grooves by using the " played by a real live drummer midi grooves" and it's way way faster! hope this helps you some. Feel free to ask for more info if you need to. Cheers
Dave