i need help with drums please anyone?
ok so i love making my own tunes like chillout/rock synth pop type night time stuff
and the only problem i have is with drums
what is the best vst drum plugin for ableton 8 or even fl studio
i can make so many layers of synths etc…
but when it comes to programing drums i suck hard
looking to make drum beats like LIGHTS/owl city/postal service
that type of drum beat
any help would be great thanks x
Really I find the best thing in ableton, depending on if you’re sampling drum loops vs using individual drum samples, is to load up a blank Drum Rack, dig through your sample library (assuming you have one) for the best sounds and then use a compressor on the rack’s individual track , or if using multiple drum loops in unison, group them and compress the group rather than each track.
Also layer each piece, use maybe 2 or 3 snare sounds and filter their frequencies then add a short white noise clip on top of that, it depends on what type of music you’re going for where you’ll keep the bass at, for DnB where theres a sub bass you really want to scoop the low frequencies from the bass whereas Electro House you can use a low frequency (ie 80 - 100 hz possibly lower) considering it will be the lowest sound in the track. After you get all your clips together in a 4 bar loop try adding a graphical EQ to really accentuate each frequency you’re going for in the drums, and dont be afraid to cut frequencies completely out, if not only to see how it will sound when you mix down the entire track. I typically start with only a snare and bass just to get the groove or feeling I want for the drums and then layer ontop.
Considering drums are one of the founding pieces of your track I’d spend alot of time on them before you even get any synths into it. I heard a producer once say if you get the drums to a point where someone could enjoy them alone then the rest is just going to be icing and make it an even better track. For DnB sometimes I put a very slight fade in right as the bass drum is going to hit, you won’t notice it typically when listening but it definitely is there and can help push the sub bass and drums apart.
Those are just some general things I’ve learned in producing, definitely open to interpretation, really the best thing to do is practice making different sounding 4 bar loops or finding a professional track you really enjoy and try to emulate it from scratch.
+1 on the drum racks in ableton…
also check this stuff out, works really nice in ableton… http://puremagnetik.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=75&Itemid=156
cheers guys for the replys
the sound i am trying to get is like glitchy/8bit type drum beats
here is what i mean
play from 50 seconds
its the one thing i find hard to make is a good drum beat
guitars,synths vocals,lyrics aint a problem
i just suck hard at making a good beat that just aint kick drum snare repeat
i will get practiceing
buy drum samples, use drum rack in ableton. for FL you should be able to set up a group in the sequencer for the drums. read up on eqin and compressing drum sets. check out goldbaby.co.nz. they have great samples are great prices.
After you’ve got a beat you like, test putting different distortion units onto it, also ableton beat repeat audio effect, you can create some very interesting outcomes if used correctly.
These are both good techniques for 8bit glitch sound
i use drum rack in Ableton 8 load all the samples in
then thats where i become stuck
is there a trick to putting in patterns or is it reallly just put a kick here and a snare there and build it up?
well typically you should start with one bar of music and just begin with a basic 4/4 bass snare bass snare on every 1/4th note. That will give you a good basis to start from, then start moving the bass and snare around until you get a groove you want to go with, perhaps you want to just stay with that 4 to the floor and add cymbals ontop to make deviation, especially with glitch drums there should be alot of change ups/breaks/repeats while maintaining the steady consistent bass snare beat.
I heard a producer say that once. It was Rusko. He said it in this excellent tutorial on production he did for Computer Music.
It’s a helpful video even if you aren’t into producing dub step. In fact, you can learn a lot from YouTube. Those Computer Music “masterclasses” are a great place to start.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=computer+music+masterclass
hate to say it, and not trying to be negative, but i feel that some people have an embedded sense of rhythm that helps a lot with programming drums. not all hope is lost, but it will take some time to develop this sense. all you need to do is just surround yourself with rhythm, make the beat your pulse. sounds lame, but it’s really what it’s about.
and not all hope is lost, there are some people that suck with synths/melodies but kick ass at drums, and those are the people who you want to team up with to make an epic production duo! 
but really, mind the drums. they are the heart of all music.