Drum programming for beginners?

[singlecoil]

Can anyone recommend some good source material in this subject? I had this book a few years ago the last time I had a DAW, an Atari, so some time ago, and the book was really no good at all

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drum-Programming-Complete-...

I've looked on YouTube but they tend to get too involved with specific software rather than theory, and assume that the would be programmer already knows the basics

All suggestions gratefully received.

[Drums]

What are you planning to use to program them this time around? Are you going down a hardware or software based route? With a little more info I could perhaps be of some assistance.

[singlecoil]

Drums said:

What are you planning to use to program them this time around? Are you going down a hardware or software based route? With a little more info I could perhaps be of some assistance.

Software, Cubase to be exact. I believe I'm OK with the actual programming side of it, it's just knowing what to actually put in there, fills and stuff like that (I know they tend to be at the end of four bars and eight etc), and maybe stuff like what would be a good rhythm for, say, Irish folk songs in 3/4 time.

[Drums]

Ah fair enough, we'll if that's the case have a look at the rock school drums grade 3 book. All beats and fills are mapped out, it's easy to follow, and has a CD so you can hear how it should sound, then you'll have the values to program. I know it sounds quite basic, but drum notation is simple to read and it might give you some good ideas for fills. Alternatively I can take some screenshots of beats I've programmed and stick some rough bounces of them on soundcloud so you can get a feel for it?

[singlecoil]

Drums said:

Ah fair enough, we'll if that's the case have a look at the rock school drums grade 3 book. All beats and fills are mapped out, it's easy to follow, and has a CD so you can hear how it should sound, then you'll have the values to program. I know it sounds quite basic, but drum notation is simple to read and it might give you some good ideas for fills. Alternatively I can take some screenshots of beats I've programmed and stick some rough bounces of them on soundcloud so you can get a feel for it?

Thanks for the offer, I don't think I will take you up on it yet as I am quite sure I wouldn't be able to appreciate it (yet, but who knows what might happen in the future). I need something really simple so that I can start to learn just what it is that I am hearing.

I'll look into the book you mentioned, but wouldn't I be better off with the grade 1? Maybe I haven't made it clear just what a basic level I am at with regard to drum programming

[Drums]

Yeah you could definitely start on grade 1, I only mentioned grade 3 because that's when they start bringing in fills. Start looking at drum notation in grade books or for your favorite beats. All you have to do is look at where the hits are placed or correlate in relation to the bar, and then just input those same values in your sampler. I think I'm making it sound harder than it is, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it quickly!

For example a bar of a 6/8 folk beat like you mentioned earlier would look a little like this in a sampler.

|x - - - - - |Kick
|- - - x - - |Snare
|xx x x x x|Hi Hats

It would look pretty much the same but reversed (Hi-Hats on the top) in drum notation. It's just a case of copying what you see. Sorry the drawings a bit crap, hope it helps!

[pilbeam_mp62]

I have been messing around with MIDI and various software programs for over 20 years now - and what I did when I first started was download MIDI files of the sort of music I was interested in, and extract just the Drum track (usually track 10) and then just see how the beats were constructed. You can learn a lot that way.

[pilbeam_mp62]

I have been messing around with MIDI and various software programs for over 20 years now - and what I did when I first started was download MIDI files of the sort of music I was interested in, and extract just the Drum track (usually track 10) and then just see how the beats were constructed. You can learn a lot that way.