Keeping The Rhythm – Part 2

July 28, 2020 by Aaron

aaron j. trumm, diy drums, do it yourself drums, do it yourself recording, drum programming, drum recording, drums, MIDI drums, nquit, recording magazine

DIY Drums – Part 2 – Programming

This article first appeared Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

Last month, I talked about recording acoustic drums yourself within whatever limitations you have. This month, we’re expanding the conversation into programmed drums. Just like last month, the main thing I want you to get is inspiration to experiment and maintain your relentless pursuit of cool.

If you’re an EDM producer, dubstep guru or drum n bass oldie, programming drums is your bag. You may also be a singer/songwriter looking to do something fresh, an electropop person making licensable, “current” records, or you may just be completely without mics or recording space, relegated to headphones and a laptop, trying to make something sound “real”.

That last scenario is the root of all electronica, including hip-hop, and the thousands of genres that have been created over the last 30 years should be a testament to the idea that limitations really can be the mother of creativity.

Whatever your Reason (pun intended), here you are, wanting to make a sick drum track, or at least tastefully augment your tune. First, let’s talk about “reality”.

Keepin’ It Real

The first question when you start any drum track is whether you want it to sound like a real drummer. When you’re doing rock n roll, singer/songwriter, world or other “natural” music, the answer may be yes. In that case, start with my article on acoustic DIY drums from last month’s Recording. People aren’t easily fooled, and my experience is the more I try to make programmed drums sound “real”, the less “real” and legitimate they actually sound. Rather, I recommend letting an electronically created track sound electronic. That’s not to say you won’t have acoustic elements, but let each part do what it what it does best.

That doesn’t, however, mean you shouldn’t employ some techniques that people might refer to as making a track sound more “human”.

To begin with, picture a drummer. She has two feet and two arms at most. More than 4 different drum hits at the exact same time might not make sense to the ear. Then again, it depends on what they are. You can certainly get away with conga laid over drum kit, for example, because that could be a whole other person.

Another thing about human drummers is they’re never computer-perfect. Try using your software’s swing or groove-quantize (Figure 1) to create a more human feel. If swing doesn’t work, try sliding hits around a hair to make them a little less uniform in time. This is a technique not well suited for techno and dance genres but if you’re aiming for something more “real”, it could help.

Subtly randomizing velocity, phase or pan is great too, especially for hi-hats, to make the track more “lifelike”. Even if you’re not going for a natural sound, programmed hi-hats can get pretty boring and lifeless, so messing with them is often a good idea. I’m a fan of a little distortion and subtle (or not) auto-panning on programmed hi-hats.

All that said, if you need real sounding drums, another way to achieve that which wasn’t available even a few years ago is to use live loops. Loop libraries like Loop Loft use real live drummers to play loops and fills you can use. Some freelance drummers even keep loops lying around that they’ll sell or even give you, if you’ve got a good relationship!

I wasn’t a huge fan of loop libraries before multitrack versions started showing up; a pre-mixed stereo loop is too hard to mix and too generic-sounding. With separated tracks, though, you can treat them like you would anything delivered by a session drummer. EQ to taste, pan how you want, use distortions, compressors and pitch shifters, and make it your own. You can even stretch or compress to change tempo (within reason).

BYOB – Bring Your Own Beats

Most drum tracks created electronically make no attempt to sound like real drums. This is great, because what used to be a limitation is now an unlimited palette of options. This may be overwhelming, but like I said last month, you can start by thinking of the functionality of a drum kit.

My usual process is pretty typical. First I build a virtual “kit”, by picking a kick sound I like, then snare, then hat, etc. I make a basic pattern while I do this, usually starting with kick/snare. If you do this work for long, you’ll realize there are only a few workable kick/snare patterns in 4/4. You can always experiment, say by changing time signatures, but it’s not necessarily bad to start with a tried and true four-on-the-floor “pop” pattern. The pattern itself is only the first of many places you can be unique!

You can build drum patterns any number of ways. You can use a pattern editor (Figure 2), which is how old drum machines work, you can step enter into your MIDI sequencer (Figure 3), you can play live using your MIDI interface (Figure 4) and then quantize (or not), or you can copy/paste actual samples or MIDI data right into a timeline, such as with Ableton (Figure 5).

If you enter MIDI data rather than audio samples, you can easily experiment with different patches, or create remixes later by using different sounds with the same pattern. In any case, avoid placing different drum sounds all on the same track. Just like with acoustic drums or loops, you want separate kick, snare, hat, etc. tracks so you can control and manipulate properly in the mix. You can get away with having some stereo loops here and there, but you’re usually much better off giving yourself some mix control.

If you’ve played your MIDI performance simultaneously into one track, say by doing kick/snare or kick/snare/hat all at once, simply create a new track, select only one instrument (eg kick) using the filtered selection option (Figure 6), and cut/paste to a new track. If you don’t have this option, you may be able to route different patches to different outputs on your device or any number of other things to get your tracks separated. If there’s no way for you to do that, then play one part at a time.

Be Cool

Creating basic patterns is pretty easy, but you want them to be cool. Think of your basic pattern as a roughed in Michelangelo’s David. You can see that it’s him, but now it’s time to start chiseling in that six pack.

One of the best ways to improve a groove is with what I like to call tiered turnarounds. Consider this basic pattern:

If you loop this, you’ll notice an odd sensation of wrongness when it repeats. The second measure needs variance. So instead, I might do this:

That feels better, but on measure 4, we get a similar sense of wrongness, so I’d add another variant, a bit more like a fill.

I usually take this out to 8 measures, where I might even use both the last 2 measures as “fill”. Once I have an 8 measure groove, I feel more comfortable repeating it. Each of these little variances or fills, which usually happen over proportionately longer periods of time (ie: a quarter of the length of the loop) is basically a turnaround, which creates the feeling of balance in a passage. The number of tiers and variances you use may vary, but the concept is to create a push-pull while repeating. You don’t really want to NOT repeat – that would be chaos, but turnarounds work with repetition to keep the listener engaged. The same concept can be applied to any kind of riff – guitars, pianos, bass, etc.

Oh Yeah, The Song!

Hopefully you’ve already been considering the song as a whole, but if you haven’t, this is a good time to refer again to the song itself. Once you’ve got one pattern you like, consider a larger variance or different pattern altogether for your chorus, and maybe a third for your bridge. The song should have informed your basic pattern, and it will probably inform your chorus, and it should certainly inform you what to do with the bridge and other odd sections.

Thinking of the song as an arrangement when you’re building drums is one of the best ways to make your rhythm track stand out from the crowd, even if you’re starting with drums, and even if you’re not going for a standard song structure. If you’re going for a build over time track or a trance track with subtle progression, do these things in the drum track as well as any other instrumentation, rather than letting the drum track plod along with no change.

Once you’ve got an arrangement, start augmenting with effects, variable velocities, new parts, and even recording acoustic parts to go along, if you can. If you’re using hardware synths, you should probably record that audio to the DAW now, so you’re not fumbling around when you try to mix. This is a good opportunity to use cool things like tubes or even more drastic effects to give the tracks even more life, grit or uniqueness. Make sure to mute and record one by one (or use your synth’s L/R or aux outputs strategically) so you still have separated tracks. Don’t just record the whole stereo mix from the synth, especially if you’re sending tracks to a mix engineer.

Timbre And Flavor

Once you’ve got some cool sounds, killer patterns and an arrangement that doesn’t just drone on, try going back to timbre. Is anything off? Does your snare fit, is the kick awesome? You’ve probably already found some cool sounds to start with, but no matter what they are, they probably came from a sample pack or a synth, which means other people have access to them. That means you should start making the track your own. You might try layering certain tracks to strengthen them or make them cooler, or try adding elements in certain sections. You may even change something like the snare in a chorus or bridge, or bring in a vastly different sound for a one measure breakdown. Look at your arrangement again and see if there’s anywhere you can cut the drums entirely, or break down to just hats, or kick.

At this point, your track probably sounds pretty cool. You’ve probably already laid in any other tracks, if you’ve got them, and you’re well on your way toward a mix. You may have spent 4 hours, and you may have spent 4 weeks. Either way, it’s probably time to go outside!

Hopefully you’re inspired now to experiment and search. Drum tracks, like anything in the record making process, are a matter of purpose, an open mind and that relentless pursuit of cool. Groove on, baby!

I’ve been programming drum tracks for long on 25 years (well…more now I guess), and I’m still pursuing cool. Talk to me about it on Facebook or Twitter @AaronJTrumm

Capturing Your Voice

March 31, 2020 by Aaron

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, capturing your voice, do it yourself recording, home recording, music, nquit, recording magazine, recording on a budget, recording rappers, vocal recording

Vocal recording in a home studio

This article first appeared Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

It’s a fine art, hearing your recorded voice and not dying of shock. But let’s assume you’re over that, and that you’re not accustomed to $500,000 recording budgets. You’d probably still like to record your vocal tracks professionally and efficiently. Whether you’re a crooner, a diva, a rapper or a writer recording demos, cutting a great vocal track at home is very doable.

Let’s dive into that process, so you have the tools to record vocals you can be confident about. I’ll talk from the point of view of a vocalist recording their own vocals, but everything applies to recording someone else in your space.

There are two major things you need to accomplish in any recording session, and it’s no different for vocals. First you need a killer performance. Next you need to capture it cleanly. Let’s tackle those in reverse order.

Recording

Before you think about your performance, let’s take away everything that would get in the way, and make sure when you hit your stride, it’s getting on tape. We’ll go from the ground up, starting literally with the room.

Acoustics

It doesn’t matter what your mic or voice is like, if your space isn’t right, your track won’t be right. There are a few ways you can go about adjusting your space, but the main is keep noise and unwanted room reflections out of your track. If you have a room that’s a little bit live and sounds awesome, that can be great sometimes, but I wouldn’t recommend printing a lot of reverb on most tracks. What I’m usually looking for is a super dead and even sound, so I have flexibility later. The best way to do this is in a booth. You can purchase a fancy vocal booth, or you can build one. I’ve always been fond of a coat closet, either treated completely, evenly and thickly with acoustic treatment like Auralex foam or ridged fiberglass, or chock full of clothes. My favorite vocal booth was a little bedroom closet we called “The Old Man Clothes Room”. It was full of about twice as many clothes as really fit, because I’d inherited a wardrobe from a friend of the same size who passed away. That “booth” was dead, quiet, and perfect.

What you don’t want is to stand inside a closet without a good amount of treatment. If you were to stand in an empty closet, for example, your track would sound incredibly boxy and probably nasally or wooden. You don’t want to stand in a normal sized bedroom with no treatment whatsoever, as you’ll have similar room reflection issues. No matter what you do, do not put yourself in a corner facing in. If you feel like you can’t treat your room at all, and you have no booth or closet, you could try vocal reflection filters like the sE Reflexion Filter or the Aston Halo Reflection Filter. These small “filters” surround a mic and block reflections. They’re ok, but they don’t really prevent reflections from the room behind and above you from coloring your sound. In a pinch, this may be better than nothing, but if you can, deal with your room. It’s not hard to do something quick and dirty like hang tons of blankets up or surround yourself in mattresses. Be creative.

The advantage of a booth over recording near your desk is that you can isolate better from gear noise. If that’s not an option, see if you can quiet your computer down by baffling reflective surfaces, or move your vocal position away, and/or use a directional mic aimed away from gear. If you’re in a booth or another room, you can use a remote or set up some lead in before the song so you can get into position. At home, where my mic is about 4 steps from the desk, I usually give myself 8 measures of click before the song, and then have the click turn off.

Speaking of noise, you will contend with noisy streets, barking kids and crying dogs. If you have the money, you can build a truly isolated room, but that’s rarely an option, so timing is your best friend. Understand when the quiet times are in your space and use that knowledge to your advantage. That may not be at night. I once had a studio that was very quiet EXCEPT at night, when crickets would blare outside the window.

Mic Choice

The “best” vocal mic is really the one you can afford that is compatible with your voice. That said, a large diaphragm condenser of some kind is probably your best bet. See if you can get a local music store to let you test some. I use an AKG 414, which I love for its detail, but sometimes I find it harsh for my tenor belting. You might find it perfect, or terrible. I’m quite fond of Rode’s selection of affordable condensers, and I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Slate VMS lately (that’s a mic and emulation package which could give you some nice options if you’re recording other people). It’s also nice to have a good directional dynamic on hand. Sometimes a classic Shure SM57 can surprise you. A ribbon might be a nice choice, especially for softer vocals, but try not to scream into it – most ribbons are very delicate.

Don’t just spend as much money as possible. A U87 is a pretty awesome piece of equipment, but it may not be right for your voice. When you’re shopping, start by asking friends or Facebook groups, and be sure to explain what kind of vocalist you are. Whatever you do, get a pop filter, or make one from a coat hanger and some panty hose. Of course, remember that the better your space, the better the mic will do.

Signal Chain

You can spend a lot of money on preamps and vocal processors, and there are a lot of really cool choices out there. The main thing you need is a preamp that you trust that delivers a clean sound, and a way of recording. I’ll assume you’re already set up with some kind of DAW and interface, and you’ve given some thought to the workflow and signal quality there. If you’re looking for a special vocal preamp, the advice is the same as for mic choice. Shop around, keeping in mind the type of vocals you’re recording, the style and your budget. I use a single ART Tube MP preamp, because I like the sonic flavor and the limiter comes in handy. That’s a pretty cheap piece of equipment, and most gear snobs would scoff, but it’s simple and effective. If you’re not planning on recording multiple tracks, you can save a bunch of scratch by going high quality, one channel. Don’t necessarily opt for a tube pre just because it’s cool. Again, test and ask, and find a mic/preamp combo that works for you.

Once you’ve got your gear in place, do a bunch of level checking, and get your gain structure right. Make sure you’re not sending a distorted signal to your interface, or too low a signal. Make sure your gear is clean and well organized, and while we’re at it, organize the space efficiently. Run your audio cables so that you don’t trip on them and keep them away from power cables and other noise sources. Standard studio stuff.

If you want, you can use a hardware compressor in your vocal chain. Put that between the preamp and interface. If you do this, I recommend subtle settings. You can compress more later, but you can’t “uncompress” later. Some subtle compression or limiting can help you keep your vocal signal even, and that can be nice. A lot of vocal preamp units come with built in compressors and/or EQs, and that could be handy, but I would be judicious about using EQ when recording.

In general, I wouldn’t print any other effects like reverb or delay onto your main vocal track, but if you want to use them to influence your performance, you can always record them separately if you have the channels. I usually just record dry and decide on effects in the mix.

Headphones

You’ll need some kind of headphones. For my money, the most important thing in your vocal recording headphones is that they make you feel inspired. It helps if you can hear everything, and it would be awesome if they didn’t bleed into the mic. This is truly a matter of taste. Some vocalists like to take one ear off so they can hear themselves better. I (usually) like to get a really great mix in the cans, so I feel like I’m already in a record. You might try an earbud type if you’re worried about bleed. I use the classic Sony MDR-7506s. The main point here is, do some work to get your headphone mix to the best place for you, in a way you can repeat. This isn’t a place I normally do a lot of experimenting.

Speaking of repeatability, work up front to get your setup wired in permanently. Create templates in your DAW, set up your tracks the same way every time, and permanently install your vocal station and signal chain. Having everything ready to go at the push of a button will do more for your energy and inspiration than any other one thing. The one exception is you don’t want to leave a condenser or ribbon mic up on the stand in the room. Just disconnect and put that away for protection, but don’t rewire the whole chain every time you want to record.

Performance

Now for the important part! Everything we’ve done so far is just ground work so the process of capturing is as transparent as possible and nothing gets in the way of what you have to say and how you have to say it.

You probably noticed by now that performing in a studio is vastly different than on stage (or in the shower). Some people thrive on a stage and shrink in a studio. Some people seem to be perfect in the studio and can’t find a pitch on stage. To get what you’re looking for in your recordings, you’re going to need to know yourself a little, and know what you’re trying to create. Are you trying to create a perfect replica of your live self? Are you trying to be perfect, clean and beautiful? Are you going for a sound that just can’t be done on a stage? This could be drastically different from song to song, but at least if you know where you’re headed and how you tick, you can get there.

Some things won’t change much. First of all, take care of your instrument. Recording isn’t different from performing in that you need to be properly warmed up, hydrated, and fueled. Some beginners make the mistake of thinking “oh I’m just doing the one song”, not realizing that you might have to sing for 3 hours solid to really capture that “one song”.

With that in mind, rehearsal is your friend. Earlier in my career, I felt a great pressure to cut a track the instant I figured out what I wanted to do, often while I was writing. While that method has some merit (spontaneity, etc), I no longer do that. I make a point of NOT turning on the mic when I’m writing. Instead, I “capture” the performance by rehearsing it a bunch while I write (which means I warm up even before I WRITE songs), and subsequently for a few days or even weeks until what I wanted to capture is captured IN ME. Later, I set up a session much like I might in a studio and perform what is now a well-rehearsed song. I need far fewer takes this way. Plus by this time its usually memorized, which gives me more room to “perform” and keeps me from rattling papers in front of the mic (a music stand solves that problem, too!). If you’re afraid of losing an idea, you can “jot it down” with a simple voice recorder app.

Of course, this may not work for you. You may feel an inexorable need to write (or learn, if you don’t write) and record simultaneously, and you may be completely happy with the results when you do. If so, do that but be willing to go back later if you need to. The great advantage of having a home studio is you can come back as much as you need to get it right.

The other advantage is comfort. As a vocal engineer, the job is largely to take care of the singer in the room so they’re comfortable and can perform their best. As your own engineer, the job is the same. Treat yourself well. Have tea, water or whatever comfort drink you need (but understand that slurring can occur with too much of certain beverages), record when you feel fresh, inspired and confident, and make the room the way YOU want it. Maybe you want cave-like darkness. Maybe inspired mood lighting. I generally like day time sessions, with plenty of light and nature visible. But this can change. Some songs require a new vibe, and it’s ok to give yourself the vibe you need.

You may also consider having an audience (or not). Once I’m confident with a song, a few people in the room or even just a video camera causes me to turn on my “performer” self a little better. However this can sometimes mess with my accuracy. Other times, I prefer absolute privacy, with no one else even in the building. You’ll need to find your own balance and listen to yourself.

As far as position, some singers like to sit or get on a stool, and some like to stand. It’s your choice, but in general I would recommend standing. It’s standard in studios to set the mic a hair above singers so they have to look up just a tad. This opens the chest for better breathing. I’d try this if I were you, but don’t crank your neck. Depending on your room acoustics, you may be better off stepping back 2 or 3 feet from the mic. You might feel a bit freer this way, and if the room is right, it can open up the sound. If you’re closer than about a foot and a half, use your pop filter. Even if you’re decently far away, you’ll want to cultivate the ability to really express yourself while not moving the position of your face, so you get an even recording. This is a tricky skill which usually causes stiff performances at first, but you can master it with practice.

Generally, what you want is to find the positioning and set up that gets your mind off the mic, the recording and the technical stuff as much as possible.

Finally, a word on editing and feedback. First, I wouldn’t edit too much while you’re in performance mode, unless you’re very comfortable with the DAW, such that being in that “techie” space for a second doesn’t take you out of “artist” mode. I tend to drag the front and back tails off my takes so I’m not cleaning noise later, but I don’t comp takes during a vocal session.

Next, once you’ve got it down, perhaps after an editing session where you’ve paired down to your best couple takes, or made a comp’d take using parts from your favorites, get feedback. Even though you’ve worked hard to get it “right” already, the best thing you can do for your quality in general is use feedback and be willing to revise. Since you’re recording in your space, it’s not like it costs $150 an hour to do so! That’s the biggest advantage you have.

Go Forth

It can be a challenge to be the engineer and artist simultaneously, and if you’re a vocalist and not an audio person, setting up your studio may seem daunting, but the truth is it’s all very doable. Just do some diligent ground work getting your workflow right, do some good checking and rechecking to get your signal sounding good, then concentrate on your best performance. Ease and efficiency are all about preparation, and that’s something anyone can do! Go forth and vocalize!

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