— Daily Journal Entry 019 —
I should make a better effort to get back into programming my drum tracks as a more intentional endeavor. Of course, playing an actual set would be the most ideal thing to do, but that’s just not on my realistic radar at the moment. I’m jealous of a few part friends who have had the opportunity to go into a decent studio and record their music with fellow, live musicians, not to mention my Father has been a part of a couple of albums, CDs.
But, realistically I will be using some sort of drum software , which allows for the use of pre-recorded drum loops and / or you can program every single beat yourself. The later is the preferred method, but it does take a little time. However, I think I’m pretty good at doing it. And there are so many options to choose from when it comes to the software. You have Native Instruments drummer collections, Toontrack, and just about every DAW out there has some sort of drumming program inside it.
If I remember correctly, garageband.com (which points to Apple’s program today) used to be a community for independent musicians where you could post original music, join in on conversations, etc. I remember posting one song that included some drum programming performed on a Boss DR-5. Someone eventually commented saying, “Song’s ok, but that drummer is right in the pocket!”
I figured my use of a drum machine was pretty obvious, but apparently it wasn’t. Now I did take extra time to make sure no single verse of the song was exactly the same, and added a few different fill here and there. I didn’t just pick a pre-recorded beat and build the song around that.
I could be wrong, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot going on these days. Most videos I tend to see that include some sort of drumming software as part of the rhythm track use loops. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I mean, if the drums aren’t the main event for that video, then maybe the extra time wasn’t worth it. In the future, I think the more personalized we can make our music the more desirable it will be. Meaning, the more time and effort someone (you / me) puts into his work to make it sound less reliant on a looped structure, the more it will stand out.
Until Next Time,
Featured Image: The successor to my Boss DR-5, the Boss DR-880.
Note: These “Daily Journal Entries” are part of a mini blog within the main blog where I make every effort to publish a 250+ word post per day on top of the regular, longer posts. The idea is to just create a daily habit of publishing written content. And also, to try and become a better overall writer… We’ll see…
