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Drum Samples Don’t Cut It: Get Custom Drum Tracks From An Online Session Drummer
This article was written to help you, the composer in need of drum tracks.
Undoubtedly, in order for your music to stand out you must have professional drum tracks for your music. Top-quality drum tracks can make a song shine just as less-than-pro drum tracks can drag a song into “demoland”. But how do you get professional drum sounds without going way over budget?
People often see the solution to the problem in drum sample software, such as the “BFD” premium drum module.
Some see this as a solution because, admittedly, the drum samples within the software tend to have drum sounds that are very good. Generally, the drums have been recorded well, and have been EQd in such a way as to generically fit in with most mixes. But there are detrements.
The biggest disadvantages to using drum sample software are:
1)“Canned”, uninspired results -- drum tracks that sound strangely out of context in relation to your music. 2) Frustrating amounts of time being squandered putting together pretend “custom” tracks slice-by-slice with individual-hit drum samples.
Now, most of these drum sample programs give you pre-made, “factory” loops you can use. Most also give you the option to construct your own beats through the use of separate, single-hit drum samples.
Lets talk about said factory loops for a minute.
You may have some luck finding a factory pattern in the package that basically fits your song.
But even if a pre-made drum pattern works to start with, there will inevitably be parts of your song that could use a little bit of variety in the drum track. Certain sections may benefit from a change in the bass drum pattern, for example. Perhaps a gradual loosening of the hi-hats or some extra snare hits would be in order.
At any rate, the chances of drum sample software containing a loop that actually sounds like a real drummer throughout your song are very slim.
When confronted with this situation you are likely to think to yourself “I need my drum tracks to sound more organic than that”, or perhaps that “this loop or that loop won’t cut it because I need the drum part to highlight the vocal rhythms on the third pre-chorus”.
Of course these are valid concerns as you need your music to sound alive, not contrived.
And at this point you may deem it necessary to construct the drum parts yourself, slice-by-slice, hit-by-hit, using individual, single-hit drum samples. Admittedly, you’ll probably get a better result using this approach because you at least have control over specifics such as ensemble rhythmic figures etc.
One huge problem is associatied with this approach however: It voraciously eats up your precious time.
If you have been through this before, then you are well aware: putting together “custom” drum tracks through the use of individual-hit drum samples will take up so much of your time that you are likely to compromise your artistic needs in the end anyway. You will spend much time, and the tracks will sound better than just using factory loops, but you will probably give up in the middle of programming, realizing that they will never actually sound and feel like custom drum tracks that were played for your song.
Eventually it would become maddening how much time you have put in to your drum samples and you would settle for your cobbled-together drum tracks (that still sound canned) because you couldn’t bear to do such tedious busy work anymore. You wouldn’t even end up with the results you wanted:musical, exciting drum tracks. That may be preferable to simply using the loops, but it still won’t sound like a real drummer.
They say “time is money”. It seems like you'd save money painstakingly cobbling together drum tracks slice-by-slice from drum samples, but in reality its just not worth the frustration you would feel and the time you would waste.
Looking at it that way, it is obvious that approach would really end up costing you.
The better way to go is to do things the easy way: Get custom drum tracks from an online session drummer.
You can now get real, custom drum tracks from pro studio drummers, online, and save quite a lot of money compared with traditional recording practices. Traditionally, getting custom drum tracks recorded for your music has involved paying a list of people for services including: rental of the studio for every minute of usage including setup and teardown; carting the drums there. Don’t forget you still have to pay the engineer(s), the drummer, etc. Paying all those people can get quite expensive.
With an online session drummer you only pay for one service, the finished drum tracks, which obviously saves you a bundle of cash.
Be sure to shop around -- all online drum track providers are not of equal quality, neither in terms of quality of performance nor sound quality. Of course you should base your decision on which online session drummer would most musically fit your music, but you must also compare the actual sound quality provided. Use your ears and compare the sound quality of tracks on the websites, and compare the gear and signal chain used by each online drum track service.
Choose carefully, for you will see that some sites are providing noticeably better sound quality. To get more tips on how to choose an online drum track provider, see an article called “Online Drum Tracks – Tips For Success”
Remember, use of drum samples for your final drum tracks will condemn your music to blandness. Pre-made loops won’t sound like they were made for your song. Piecing a drum part together from sample slices will drive you mad with wasted time, yet still sound ”canned” and uninspired.
Stay away from drum sample software-- samples are “canned” goods! Go for fresh, custom drum tracks online!
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