I use Addictive Drums 2.0. The Fairfax kit has a good usable palette of tones, and the 60’s beats collection hits all the right marks in terms of beats.

Surf_Skater wrote:

I tried Hydrogen and didn't find it easy to use and ended up downloading ezdrummer. I'm really happy with the sound and simplicity.
I had hoped to load some tracks into my old Digitech jamman but they don't seem to have the jammanager software available and have not responded to my email to tech support.
At the moment I've been using my boss katana with a laptop for drums while I play along with tank and tube amp.

which jam man do you have? found links to the jam manager software on the stereo version on digitech's site. under manuals and downloads for example: https://www.digitech.com/loopers-delay/JAMMAN+STEREO.html

Last edited: Apr 25, 2020 14:05:16

Scary to think this thread started 11 years ago but the recording of drums has vexed even the most accomplished engineers, producers and drummers for decades.

How many times do you read interviews, articles, etc. about a recording session with a quote along the lines of 'It took us 2 days to get a good snare sound.' Tap-tap-tap. Move mic. Tap-tap-tap. Change EQ. etc.

I won't say I have THE solution because I don't but using a drumpad as a MIDI trigger for Studio Drummer plugin combines several good things for a better-than-average drum sound although not even close to a real (good) drummer and drumkit in a studio.

-Slight variations in timing (even with a click track) give a human feel since a human is playing.
-The plugin has all manner of kit selection, tuning of heads, comp/EQ/mic options, randomized volume, pitch, etc. (if desired).
-You can tweak and nudge after if you like. You can quantize but why?

I record kick, snare, cymbals/hi-hat, toms as separate tracks and mix together to simulate a real kit. There are some inherent limitations eg fast snare rolls don't like the MIDI setup but that may be down to my aging equipment not the computer.

I've been using EZdrummer for a long time, now EZdrummer 2, and I've spent a considerable amount of time with Superior Drummer 2 & 3. All great tools.

In EZdrummer 2, I often use Big Rock Drums, Gretsch kit is nice. The stock Vintage kit works well too. One of these days I play to build a MIDI library with all the standard surf beat variations and a bunch of fills that I tend to hear in my head. Haven't gotten around to it. Even without these, I find writing the drums in MIDI isn't so bad, and the end results are very good.

Guitarist for Northern Tides from Hudson Valley, NY.
Northern Tides on FB

Little update on my project as it relates to live drums. I have been having success repurposing live drums recorded previously on different tunes. It's quite liberating and takes about the same amount of time as recording a session. I used to have a tracking room for such things, but not these days so I'm thrilled to use live drums - albeit edited.

My process:

1) Choose a preexisting drum performance from a vaguely similar groove. These are sessions for which I paid a drummer or I played the drums myself. If I know I own the tracks I don't bother asking permission. Sometimes I ask out of courtesy.

btw there's lots of places to find multi tracked live drums. They also can be custom recorded affordably. If you are a solo artist and don't desire a partnership with a drummer, just pay for the service. Ethical and simple and the results are the real thing.

2) Import the raw tracks into a DAW (I'm a ProTools zombie). A lot of my recordings are 6, 7, 8 or 9 tracks of live drums.

3) This step is only for tracks that were recorded wild, without a click. I tempo map the performance. Occasionally It's necessary to put in tempo markers at the 1/8 or 16th note levels if the performance is really wild. Sometimes a couple of beats line up. Mostly it's every quarter note. It's tedious and can take a couple hours on a tough one. There can be hundreds of mapped tempo markers when complete.

4) Once tempo mapped, turn on elastic time. All the DAWs have some form of this time stretching capability. Change the tempo to the desired tempo. It's still magical to me when the tracks morph into the new tempo. btw before I do the new map I usually copy the whole thing later into the session at its original performance with all the mapping in place. I keep thinking I might need to go back to it, but I never have. I guess I like having that visual representation of my labor.

5) Here's the artistic part - edit the drums into a performance that works with the new song. It's way more flexible than I first imagined. While choices are limited by the original performance there's so so so much that can be manipulated. It's like giving direction to the real drummer. 'Hey can you punch the and of four? Drop the snare from beat 2? Play half time? Do the classic surf snare 1/8th note beat? You can almost always carve it up - and it still is THAT drummer REALLY playing. Occasionally I'll have to add a crash sample to breaks or ends because it wasn't part of the original track.

Then it's just normal mixing.

The tracks still have that life. I've been able save formerly unusable jams because their tempos were too wobbly for "professional" use.

There's even a bit of pleasure in this technique. I'm currently working on one that was only two tracks - kick and mono overhead recorded on a Yamaha minidisc many years ago. I can't wait to add my drummer friend's credit on that one. It was from a random jam I still have lying around and it vaguely was sort or kind of in a similar groove. The pleasure is double because I get a new track and the old jam still gets it's moment.

So yeah, real drums.

Squid From Madrid - New Single on Bandcamp
MB Website