Drum Machines?

[RelentlessOblivion]

Really? I had no idea TON used programmed drums and I dig the hell out of their music. Programmed drums can work but you really notice when they don't. I guess it's a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[FatherAlabaster]

They took samples from the drum recording on Bloody Kisses (which was the last one before Sal left for Life Of Agony) and used them on October Rust, WCD, and Life Is Killing Me. Dead Again is the only one that Johnny actually played on. Once you know, it's kind of hard to miss, but it doesn't stop me from loving those albums. Except for October Rust, which has got to be my least favorite.

[RelentlessOblivion]

I didn't mind October Rust, I mean it's not their finest work but it's alright. Unless the drumming is phenomenal I generally don't take much notice of it to be honest. I focus more on the vocals and the guitar or the atmosphere. Absu are the obvious exception as Proscriptor is a phenomenal drummer I could almost listen to them for the drums alone, fortunately their music kicks all kinds of ass so I'm not left with that choice.

[NTNR]

Come on people keep voting. I don't expect a dissertation with the vote but a vote is nice.

[FatherAlabaster]

What, you didn't like my essays?

[NTNR]

What' date=' you didn't like my essays?[/quote'] No, I did actually. However I think some people think they need to give a reason as to why they feel one way or the other. While it's nice to get feedback it isn't 100% necessary.

[KSMASH]

I've seen a couple "bands" that were really just one guy performing with backing tracks, so all other instrumentation was prerecorded (not just the drums). If they can pull it off, I'm all for it. However, I think most bands just work better with a live drummer.

[deathstorm]

Does electronic drums count as drum machines

[FatherAlabaster]

Does electronic drums count as drum machines

Not to me, you still have to have a good drummer. When I talk about "machines" I'm talking about programmed or pre-recorded stuff, where someone presses "play" and it goes. But I don't see why someone would use an e-kit, it smacks of laziness to me. They don't sound as good. I've seen drummers use them live a few times and they always suck. Triggers for augmentation are different, a lot of people have a trigger on their snare for extra snap or ring, and some people replace their kick entirely. Sometimes that really works well live, where the natural drum sound would get drowned out or where (let's face it) the drummer isn't hitting consistently. NTNR - as far as drummers playing to a click and giving the rest of the band a count in the pauses, that's completely essential if you're going to use any prerecorded backing tracks. Unless the band all has in-ear monitors, the drummer is the only one that knows when everything's coming back in. A lot of bands have their drummer play to a click anyway to keep everyone tight and at the right tempo. You can build clicks for each song, that have all the tempos written in, to keep a natural feel. I like clicks although I've never used one live. They keep you honest!

[deathstorm]

Damn. You can use drum machine app on your IPhone or andoird phone. Recording has evolve. Looks likes you dont need a studio anymore with With the. Recording apps now

[NTNR]

I wonder if I could get drum samples from the engineer that recorded our stuff to play with for the purpose of forgoing a drummer at all? Back when we first started playing live, two weeks before our first gig our then drummer had a meltdown and quit the band. I figured w/e and was going to cancel the show, meantime however Jayke had called the engineer about getting the tracks from our album put to disc so we could still play the gig. After some convoluted nonsense the drummer came back and we played for just over a year before he quit. I often wonder how things would've turned out had we gone the other way. I think it would've been awesome but that's just me trying to embrace technology. I know how tedious it can be messing with drums while recording but I'm pretty good at it and don't mind the work.

[FatherAlabaster]

If the engineer has the tracks, after this amount of time, you should definitely get them. Get a mixdown, but also get the individual raw tracks. If you want to try programming with those sounds, you'll need several isolated hits for each instrument, of various intensities. That can be tough to grab out of a live recording, but it can be done. I have seven different hits on the snare drum my grind drummer used to use, that I took from our recording to use for programming. I have four different kick hits, four hits on each tom, etc... Getting good hits for all the cymbals is essential. There are also tons of free samples online of different drum and cymbal hits that you can use to augment your "kit". Fruity Loops lets you tune them, pan them, and control the master volume for each sample as well as the volume of each hit within a pattern. It's a lot of work, but safe to say many of my songs wouldn't have been written without the ability to program drums and get a real mix going.

[NTNR]

If I had a computer that would actually record like I want it to I'd be able to test those out but I'm without a functioning laptop/desktop for recording. Audacity, the only thing that's worked thus far fried 3 computers within as many months. All I've got is my tape deck (that was originally purchased for ghost hunting) that actually picks up a lot of sound or if I find it my digital. I can actually manipulate stuff on my laptop from my recorder but I'm incredibly limited on what I can do with it. I've also got an old Tascam 4 track. My gear is so primitive.

[FatherAlabaster]

I love those tascam tape recorders. Mine was awesome for years until the motor died. Did all of my recording as a teenager with one of those. I'm surprised to hear that Audacity somehow fried your computers, I didn't think it was capable of that. My rig is pretty basic but I can record myself easily and decently well, and I've taken it out to record full bands before a few times. I think some recording gear would be an excellent investment. Or just get a drum machine, program your tracks, run them out mono to tape, and then you've got a track for each guitar and one for vocals. Old-school magic.

[deathstorm]

How can you tell it is a drim machine on a song. What gives it away

[FatherAlabaster]

Usually, the hits all sound the same. Especially the cymbals, listen to the crashes and rides. They'll sound exactly the same every time. Pretty annoying most of the time IMO. Metal kicks and snares tend to be replaced a lot anyway, but if snare hits are all identical it makes fills sound like shit. The toms are usually too sharp and clear, and too accurate. And programmed drums usually sound very dry - there's no sense of real space, just sounds panned around that don't really cohere very well.

[NTNR]

Sometimes the drums just sound fake or really cheap that's a dead give away. That or they sound to perfect and sterile. I found my recorder, thankfully and I've got a machine but the damn thing doesn't work properly and I can't make anything record it.