I Can't Get A Drum Line

Off-Topic
1

Hi all,

I am very new to Renoise and this site and I am really enjoying it a lot!
I have been using different music software for some time now trying to take something out of them (or should I say out of me?!),
but it seems that I am terrible (specially) at drum lines. I don’t like what I do and I am looking at improving that.

This is a small track I have written using NanoStudio (everything is done in an ipod touch). The sound is not great and I still have to polish it. But I am really desperate with the drum line. I rebuilt it several times without much success.

http://www.ebi.ac.uk/~mp/T2-02.mp3

And in case you want to give it a try, here is the same song without the drum tracks:

http://www.ebi.ac.uk/~mp/T2-02_nodrums.mp3

The same files in .wav format:
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/~mp/T2-02.wav
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/~mp/T2-02_nodrums.wav

I am looking for new ideas, and to know how other people would do it… and improving my skills in the process :)

Well, thanks in advance for any help!

M;

PS: I post this under Off-Topic because I haven’t used Renoise much yet, and the song posted has not been written using Renoise. But it would be nice to record a new drum line using Renoise, I will look into this!

2

Hey, it’s not that bad! ;)
I think the snares goes all right, I would only add some more hats. If you want to have some cool drumlines, then you need a lot of stuff like breaking the drum patterns, cut the tempo to half when needed and also some speed-ups and slow-downs at a time. You first need to think of a song’s charisma and feeling. Then create some first new rhythms. Renoise is extremely easy to do it. Just load samples and put them in any places. Also, don’t be afraid to put them at weird and crazy places - this creates cool groove effects ;) Try to keep them as non-repetitive as you can without destroying the tempo of the song.
I also find inspirative listening to some rock/metal song and giving attention particulary to drums. Listening to masters and learning their tricks will improve your skills!
That’s just my point of view, I hope you find it at least a little helpful :)

3

for your inspiration:
http://www.keith303.i24.cc/temp/Untitled.mp3

4

Thanks! Indeed this is a good start for the drum line. I was trying to dissect the basic pattern you are using. Did you do it with Renoise? Would it be too much to ask for the pattern sequence in any format? (Renoise, drum tab, sketched in paper…)

I’ve been trying to look for tutorials on basic drum lines, but I come to the conclusion that the best thing to do is to look directly into other people songs/tracks!

Thanks again for your help,

M;

5

There are some free MIDI drum samples on this commercial site I just found, only looked at a couple but they seem ok to me as a starting point

http://mididrumfiles…t/free-samples/

6

Hmm, is this yet another case requesting the cause of some sort of XRNS library?

7

http://student-kmt.hku.nl/~bart13/Untitled.mp3

8

first of all: it’s hard to guess exactly what you are after but here are my 2 cents:

the “problem” is that you get a 2/4-feel… a bit too um-pa, um-pa. that’s because you don’t play the notes in between the snare and bass drum.

edit: i’ll try to write a better explanation if i can find the time later :)