Lets Talk Drum Mapping

I've been mapping drums wrong for years, which is why my drums sound weak and poor. I usually just add a kick on one pad, a snare on another, precisions on the other pads. This usually ends up with robotic sounding drums, even with swing added to some elements, regardless of how I play them.

I've been watching some videos such as these, just randomly browing YouTube for inspiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwyMkqB6thU

And I've noticed many people using the the same kick, snare, hat, and cymbal on the first row, than varying the pitch and velocity of the same sounds on the row above. To give the drums a more real feeling.

I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to feel this is very important. To create that realistic feeling on the drums.

It's certainly one area which I lack in. I don't know anyone else personally with an MPC so it's difficult to bounce ideas and to learn more. Hence why I'm asking here.

What's some of the common ways of layering drums? I know there's a million ways to skin a cat, and eventually I'll find my own way that feels comfortable for me.

I wouldn't want my drums to sound anything like that guys...


I lay out my drums the way I always have... bottom row kicks, next row snares, then hi hats. Everything else after that can go wherever.

Coz wrote:I wouldn't want my drums to sound anything like that guys...


I lay out my drums the way I always have... bottom row kicks, next row snares, then hi hats. Everything else after that can go wherever.

I guess it all depends on the style of music you enjoy. I'm really fond of the natural, yet raw sound. I get the impression the guy in the video is into some sort of rock genre. His drums sound that way. Tracks with realistic drums always seem to sound nicer to my ears.

JamesJeffery wrote:I've been mapping drums wrong for years

im sorry but what?

who decides what is 'right'?

where you place them on the pads imo has nothing to do with making the pattern sound interesting, it's how you play it.

you can also set up parameters that react to how you play and you can do it all on one pad. you dont need to waste pads on that.

which pad triggers which drum is not something that is going to change the way those drum sounds.
real talk.

JamesJeffery wrote:Tracks with realistic drums always seem to sound nicer to my ears.

You should check out Mike's Round Robin thread.


viewtopic.php?f=25&t=148300&hilit=round+robin

I like to set them up similar to how I would set up a drumset. A kick or two on the bottom left, a few snares above, hats to the right of that and rides/ crashes above those...

But, as tapedeck said- there is no right or wrong way. What works for me may make someone else pull their hair out.

have you ever considered 16 levels?

assign your velocity to sample start, attack, pitch, filter cutoff, whatever, and suddenly you've got a ton of variations on a drum sound on one pad.

and you can put that on whatever pad you want.

im thinking you are not really talking about 'drum mapping' per se, but more techniques to vary up single hits.

hope that helps.

tapedeck wrote:have you ever considered 16 levels?

assign your velocity to sample start, attack, pitch, filter cutoff, whatever, and suddenly you've got a ton of variations on a drum sound on one pad.

and you can put that on whatever pad you want.

im thinking you are not really talking about 'drum mapping' per se, but more techniques to vary up single hits.

hope that helps.

Thanks tapedeck.

I'm mainly wanting to be able to play the MPC like a drumset and be able to jam to get an original sort of sound. I do agree with your first post, but its the "how you play" that becomes difficult with my current method.

I want to break out of having to use quantize, and playing each element separate. It's what I've been used to from growing up on software and programming drums manually. I've actually discovered the similar thread below this one which has been a bit helpful.

This video I just seen has also been useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vKb0oe5gfw

I can't play drums like that on the MPC, but I'd love to be able to get to a level where I can. Which of course is going to take time and practice but he does talk about his layout which has helped me a lot.

Although, the parameters you mention, I'm interested.

I know abut the 16 pads for velocity, tune, decay etc. etc. But I'd like to be able to play in time, in a straight run eventually. Again, I do understand this can only come with practice.

JamesJeffery wrote: I do understand this can only come with practice.

exactly.
and that's why any drum mapping will work.

so long as you have the mapping that works for you and you work at it.

but if someone is gonna tell me my drum mapping is 'wrong', as i drum circles all around the copycats with the 'right' mappings, they're gonna catch a wary eye from me.

sorry, just that little bit bugged me. just cause some dude on youtube made a video doesn't mean any way is 'right' or 'wrong'.

same goes for dudes on forums (myself included)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHhcB4D-po

this is a really great example of 'natural' sounding pad hitting, and theres no way a standardised pad layout would have worked.

tapedeck wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHhcB4D-po

this is a really great example of 'natural' sounding pad hitting, and theres no way a standardised pad layout would have worked.

Tapedeck that is baaaaad. I was talking to Meta about Anticon yesterday or sometime recently, great stuff.

tapedeck wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHhcB4D-po

this is a really great example of 'natural' sounding pad hitting, and theres no way a standardised pad layout would have worked.

That's amazing. And that top comment is so true.

I think the problem is that you havn't found YOUR personal drum mapping yet.
It's really personal taste. To sound realistic you need playing skillz and not necessarily different drums. Look at his mapping and what he plays at 3:40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vKb0oe5gfw

very nice realistic drumgroove with just 3 pads.

Watch the Jeremy Ellis lessons too. They seem to be boring for some people who want all the skillz by a click of button or so but if you practise these lessons every day 10 minutes you'll really know how to play in a few weeks.

peace

Coz wrote:

JamesJeffery wrote:Tracks with realistic drums always seem to sound nicer to my ears.

You should check out Mike's Round Robin thread.


viewtopic.php?f=25&t=148300&hilit=round+robin

Thank you. That's a really nice feature.

peterpiper wrote:I think the problem is that you havn't found YOUR personal drum mapping yet.
It's really personal taste. To sound realistic you need playing skillz and not necessarily different drums. Look at his mapping and what he plays at 3:40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vKb0oe5gfw

very nice realistic drumgroove with just 3 pads.

Watch the Jeremy Ellis lessons too. They seem to be boring for some people who want all the skillz by a click of button or so but if you practise these lessons every day 10 minutes you'll really know how to play in a few weeks.

peace

Thanks Peter Piper. I'll check those 2 videos out now. Amazing what you can learn in 30 minutes. Big help guys and really appreciate the resources shared.

I decided to try a different layout just on the MPC, and just from the few responses here and a few videos, I already feel I've found a more comfortable way of working with drums and I can actually play basic patterns which I couldn't do be for.

Learnt so much in 30 seconds I've amazed myself. Defiantly going to put a lot of focus on my drums from now on in future productions.

Edit: I posted that video above It's been a great help already. I feel kinda dumb asking a question like this after owning an MPC for 2 years. But hey, just trying to increase my skills (if that's the right word).

Edit2: I like the Jeremy Ellis videos so far.