Responses to my previous post led me to believe I worded this wrong. I'm not asking for the basics, so much as just looking to find out how each person goes about coming up with the rhythms. I know about quantize, 8th notes, etc. I've been programming drum machines for almost 20 years. No, what I'm interested in is how do YOU, YOURSELF, go about creating a new groove? What's YOUR process from head to record.

Sorry for the confusion from my previous post. Hopefully we'll get more of a discussion on this topic now.

---

For example, yeah, I lay in the snare on the 2's and 4's. Then I put in the bass drum. Do you try to end up with a pattern that sounds like a real drummer? Do you just go straight for an electronic sound? Do you even think about these things?

Footsteps, bedsqueaks, the sound made when you open your refridgerator door.

Other then that, I look at how many bpm I want and start thumpin out a groove on the pads.

Dauphin said:

Yes! that's it.
Hearing a pattern in traffic, the sounds made in the kitchen, spashing of water...


Sometimes i just sit behind the kit and work on various tripplets with the kick drum and sometimes other things come out of it.

Sometimes I here something off a record that I dig and then I want to add to it. Example: the footwork by John Blackwell on "Everlasting Now" (Try keeping that up for as long as that song is... fumble all over yourself)


I thing my usual process is starting with a strait fat back beat then doing variations with each limb one at a time, then I throw around the different patterns until somthing comes of it.

I actually dont like to use any programming. I can do it but just choose not to. All my drum parts are either live on a kit or played in via midi on my electronic kit. I guess as Drums is my first instrument, Im naturally biased against programming my drums

I usually play around with some drum sounds until I get a cool-sounding rhythm, and then I go from there, layer upon layer. Sometimes I hear something in a song that I like, and I'll rework it into something of my own.

edit: and i'm not talking about samples
[This message was edited Tue Jan 28 8:47:25 PST 2003 by Jasziah]

I suppose when programming, I am still going for a live feel, in that I don't normally program something that a drummer obviously would not be able to do!! By that I mean I don't want it sounding like the drummer had eight arms and eight legs!!

I also am not overly keen on quantising, or velocitising as, again, it can sound un-natural. But sometimes, with dance tunes for example, that works very well. Just try having sixteenth hi-hats all at the same volume - even ust for 8 bars its very tedious!!

As I am primarily a drummer, I tend to mix everything up anyway, so there's a bit of live drums, a bit of programmed, you know.

It really depends on the type of tune I'm doing. If its Psychedlic Trance, then I program the bass first, then hats and build from there. If it's a mad bit of drum'n'bass, then I'll either do the same, or sample myself playing something funky on the kit and then doubling the speed, chopping it up, whatever! If I'm laying down some funk, well, I normally just play the beats on the kit.

every one does these things. What do is sample Linn Drum machine sounds from old Prince & Jesse Johnson Cd's, take frum smaples that Timbaland used from someone else (I can tell because i hear the noise when a snare comes on).

Or I can just sample Drum sounds from any other songs.

Then I put them 2gether how ever the funk want it. It is the easiest way 2 me. have some very complex rhytms

i like to make em sound as live as possible, but i also like to make trippy drum tracks that are unlike other things i've heard before. Even on those songs, i still go for the 'non-machine' sound. The drum sounds themselves may be machinated, but i never do simple patterns with infinite repetition. Drum loops that sound like broken washing machines suck! unless that's what you're going for.


On this note, does anyone else here find it ironic that the more and more "advanced" our music-making technology gets, the more crap the industry churns out? Back in the days of pure analog, you had people like the beatles, sly, jimi, stevie, cranking out complicated stuff on 4 tracks and it sounded slammin. Now you've got millionaire producers crankin out songs where even the guitar is a loop, and even that riff came from a machine and not a sample of a real guitar player. It's one thing if you are making music at home and can't hire a guitar player or can't play yourself, but sheesh. Can't they at least throw in some alternate loops once in a while? And people pay money to buy their records. Sick!

Sometimes, I just try to keep it simple: Go with an odd meter and keep it consistent with a few snare fills here and there. The more room in the drum pattern, the more helpful. Sometimes, the funk needs space to be tight.

ThreadBare said:

Yeah, I hear you on this one, but THEN I throw in a PE track where Terminator X has maybe 87 different samples making the FAT-THICKEST drum riff... and then you listen to One Nation under a Groove, where it's just SPACE in there.

The song makes the drums work in those situations, I spose.

otan said:

One Nation Under A Groove didnt have no space in that song. It came on complex, jingles lots o voices, timbles congos drum machine everything. It was very jambled. And It IS PHUNKY

paisleypark4 said:

Sorry - you're right. Knee Deep was the one I was thinking of... there's the straight ahead drums - only other thing I hear rhythm-wise is the squeaky-doohicky... what's that thing CALLED?

otan said:

ho huh he hi uuuggg.

Damn i dont know what the funk that thing is. I thought it was a person doing that, but they couldnt b doing that that long.

paisleypark4 said:

Naah. It's two pieces of something - looks like pvc pipe (only saw it in use on a live video I think) the two pieces fit one inside the other, the friction between them makes the noise - the faster you twist the pieces, the higher the squeal.

Edit: I knew a girl like that.
[This message was edited Tue Jan 28 17:30:20 PST 2003 by otan]