Making more interesting drum patterns

If you are having trouble finding new patterns, try jamming some beats while recording. Dont bother with a click or the tempo, just play around with differnet ideas. Then take the recording, convert to audio and chop it up to get the best parts and rearrange them. Playing little pieces of different tempos and making them fit together can give some great and unexpected patterns.

I'm also a fan of adding occasional triplets, and using triplet based fills. Seems many people are not so used to triplet based patterns so it can sound fresh. Dubstep is about the only modern genre I can think of where there's plenty of triplets in use.

multisamples and very loose time correct (TC strength in the low 20-30% range). swing as needed depending on melody.

try to get some very subtle velocity => parameter changes going on, more than just velocity => amp. if possible.

here's my best recorded "live" style drums as of yet. i'm a big fan of open hi hats and drum rolls.



also, re-ordering your pad assignments can tease out new rhythms that you didn't know you can make.

MoreBuck$ wrote:Good tips there Clint

+1

Nym wrote:multisamples and very loose time correct (TC strength in the low 20-30% range). swing as needed depending on melody.

try to get some very subtle velocity => parameter changes going on, more than just velocity => amp. if possible.

here's my best recorded "live" style drums as of yet. i'm a big fan of open hi hats and drum rolls.



also, re-ordering your pad assignments can tease out new rhythms that you didn't know you can make.

thats awesome. this is what im currently trying to achieve with my drums. in the past is just seemed like i was trying to do too much with the drums though whenever i tried to go for more than a simple pattern but i'm seeing its mostly a matter of playing with velocity and using slightly more varied drums. with some rolls here and there.

and ya for a long time even though i always knew the difference between open/closed hi hats it wasn't up until recently that i've actually gotten an idea as to how to work open hi hats into a pattern. this alone changes the sound of your drums immensely.

nym that is dope! did yo just take the acapella parts and re arrange the samples around it? or did you replay and chop your own replayed samples?

that is this song isnt it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHNSAK-iWy0

i'd love to hear the process that you used in making this song.

at the op, check out my thread, i was having some trouble laying down more complex snare drum patterns/fills.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=147870

What I did yesterday;

I found a super dope drum loop with kicks snares and cymbals, I chopped the kick party with some cymbals on it, eq'd the low notes away so I have a dirty ass cymbal sound, then putted reverb to it,

in the sequence I played that sound like the kicks then putted some straight up punchin kicks on that exactly the same way.
then I used the snare from the loop with just reverb on it, putted it on place and added some extra hi hats , that kind of weird tricks may add up to your music.. at least they do at mine

all my stuff, even the more experimental is just jamming. There is still lots that can be done whilst still having a groove and not just weird or odd for the sake of it. Jamming whilst trying to think outside the box a bit will also help you get better at improvising.

nym that is dope! did yo just take the acapella parts and re arrange the samples around it? or did you replay and chop your own replayed samples?
that is this song isnt it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHNSAK-iWy0
i'd love to hear the process that you used in making this song.

sorry, only just saw this.

yeah that's the song. i found it on record, brought it into reaper, and molded it to the grid so i'd have an easier time programming drums over it. then i cut it into equal block pieces and imported them into my MPC as sequences. this is strictly a "remix" or a studio version of how i think the song would sound if it were released today by people i know.

the drums are just breaks layered with oneshots played with the pads...very little time correction, lots of perfecting, and variety.

Many great tips on how to make your drums sound better and to make it sound more live.

To the OP:
If it's purely a pattern thing I'd recommend you to just listen to some random music. Watch live perfomances with a live band and 'see' what kind of stuff a drummer usually do to make it more complex. Gives you a few new ideas on how to make it more intresting.

yeah Menco, I agree that its a good idea to randomly listen and also watch drummers. You have to think like a drummer (not that hard, he is the drummer), and after a while natural resolves, fills and rolls will seem sacond nature after a while

Nym wrote:

nym that is dope! did yo just take the acapella parts and re arrange the samples around it? or did you replay and chop your own replayed samples?
that is this song isnt it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHNSAK-iWy0
i'd love to hear the process that you used in making this song.

sorry, only just saw this.

yeah that's the song. i found it on record, brought it into reaper, and molded it to the grid so i'd have an easier time programming drums over it. then i cut it into equal block pieces and imported them into my MPC as sequences. this is strictly a "remix" or a studio version of how i think the song would sound if it were released today by people i know.

the drums are just breaks layered with oneshots played with the pads...very little time correction, lots of perfecting, and variety.

thats filthy, thanks for getting back to me man.
i'd love to release an instrumental trip hop style album one day. theres one sample i tried to flip before that im gonna revisit soon and try and get it.