Virtual drum plugins like EZ Drummer are powerful tools – assuming you know how to leverage them to build custom performances for your song.
Currently I’m in the process of producing my latest EP as a solo artist and this time around I’m using EZ Drummer to play my drum tracks. Over the next few weeks I’m going to take you behind the scenes of my production workflow so you can see how I make a record.
Today we’ll start with how I’m building out the drum tracks for one of my songs – specifically how you can get your virtual drummers to play exactly what you want them to play!
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
EzDrummer is one of the best investments I’ve ever made from a pure songwriting standpoint as far as getting right into a song quickly. I’m also getting ready to use it for an EP so seeing this video was perfect timing. Great stuff!
AGREED 100%! Thanks for sharing all the time, but THIS I believe is the video that’s going to get things moving for me. I bought a MAC, PT10 and EZDrummer2 at the same time – and haven’t done anything but try to “figure it all out” for 3 years! I was more productive on a 4-track cassette recorder than I am now. (Mostly because I hear the beats in my head, but can’t replicate them- till now) Seriously- Thank you!
…if you don’t have EZDrummer but what to have a bash at the techniques Graham explains – you could always download…
http://www.powerdrumkit.com/
It’s totally free and might be a good starting point if you don’t have a midi drum instrument.
🙂
Luke! This is so cool. I wanted to try EZ drummer but after looking at Powerdrumkit I can start there for Freeeeee! Thanks for posting this. Al from California….
No worries – glad to help! 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Good tips. Thx Graham.
Nice! I used to randomize MIDI notes slightly before I print them out to audio tracks for mixing.
But isn’t 10% too much? How far would the notes move within a 10% range? Is it 10% per beat or measure?
Qtractor (for Linux) has a randomize feature and the last time I tried, setting the randomize value to 5% seems to make timing go way off, even exceeding a starting duration of 64th note.
I would like to show images, but I don’t want to trip the “your post is awaiting moderation” in your blog. Maybe I can show it to you by email.
Instead, I would set the randomize feature to about 1.25% or less. Anything more than that would make the timing seem way off.
That happened to my first song during the one-month challenge when at first I would set the randomize value to 5%, but then I tried setting it to 2% and released my song. A few months later when I posted my song to the KVR forum, they said that timing is very important, so I’ve had to re-release my song after reprinting MIDI into audio tracks again. While setting the quantize strength to about 80% which almost snaps all the MIDI notes to grid, I’ve had to readjust the notes when I do the strumming part.
Here’s the finished song that I’m talking about:
https://graysonpeddie.bandcamp.com/track/car-free-village
10% could definitely be too much. On one song it certainly was. On this one, it almost didn’t seem like enough. It’s worth playing with and going by ear – what FEELS right when played back with the band.
Thanks for this, Graham!
I’m looking to add EZ Drummer ( I have no space for drums at home) to my recording gear (hopefully soon) and watching the video helped me get a good idea how to tweak patterns. Thanks again!
I too am in the same situation. EX Drummer is a good product and they offer a tone of expansion packs enabling you to get more percussion into your mix i.e., Congo, Djembe and so on.
Thanks for the video! Keep em coming. I save every video you put out to review when ever I need them. Awesome stuff! God Bless!
Graham – glad to see you covering this subject. Editing the patterns via midi event is a great subject. I incorporate a Roland V-drums kit to trigger either the Blackbird SSD kit or Addictive Drums. It simply requires the drummer to acclamate to the V-drums (which, of course isn’t the same as an organic, acoustic kit). But….if it’s impracticle (or) impossible (based on gear) to close-mic drum surfaces; having a great virtual kit can be heaven-sent.
Randolph
That was wonderful Graham. I am currently using EZDrummer and is a blessing to know that you are doing the same. What you have shown in this video really helped to open up my mind to the potential of using EZDrummer.
Thanks. Looking forward to the next video
Awesome!
Very nice run through and simple “How-To”. Thanks for sharing and I’m looking forward to seeing how this all comes together.
Great to see you working w/MIDI.
Inspiring stuff. Not being a drummer, I don’t know if I have the imagination to compose a drum track. It is very tedious, in my opinion, but hey, that’s music creation, I guess.
The general public neither knows nor cares about the hours that go into the production process, but it is satisfying when you create, and that’s what it’s all about.
You don’t have to start from scratch. Virtual drummers come with MIDI files you can use as a starting point. They were played by pro drummers and bring some feel to the table.
I’ve using EZ Drummer on all my recordings. Great sounding tool, and super convenient. Thanks for the “randomizing” idea. I’ll start incorporating that, so things sound more “real”.
Thanks for your audio “ministry”, Graham. I really appreciate your help.
– Tim
Glad to help Tim
Good video! I wanted to emphasize something Graham touched on: think about how a living breathing drummer would play the part. As a general rule, that would mean no more than 4 sounds playing on the same beat (most only use 4 limbs and don’t bash stuff with his or her head).
Haha.
Great job Graham, I use Addictive drums to help me write and I also have the pleasure of a warm body drummer. I don’t try and write his parts but I will give him the basic beat I worked with. He in turn will record his performance through his Roland kit and I take the midi. He’s a great drummer but occasionally a miss hit and I always turn snap to grid off if I move notes. At the moment we don’t record the acoustic set although we will soon and this has proven to be a great alternative.
Thanks.
Me being a drummer,having to use a drum program(BFD2)has been very helpful and less time and equipment consuming when putting a song together.Naturally I prefer live drums but drum programs do a great job when you spend time in the pattern making process.I usually build my patterns from scratch to match my drumming style.
Cool! This is exactly what I do, though I tend to build the drum track as the song progresses rather than create a full track to start. But then I am usual writing the song as I go rather than have a finished idea. Great stuff
Good start for a new home recording fan. I have been intimidated by virtual drums. Even though I have a drum set in studio I’m not strong enough of a player to fit my ideas onto an actual kit. This makes it seem a bit more digestible. Thanks
Steve R.
EZDrummer is a great tool… once you learn how to “think” like a drummer and then start to put in the “human factor” of incidentals and accent hits the real big pitfall to avoid is to use the default kit and not work the track’s audio output or over work it.
If you get EZDrummer… spend a little more and get a couple different drum kits, it’s well worth the extra expense.
It also greatly depends on which kit you use as well as the type of music you are creating. But the best thing you can do is spend the extra time on the solo sound and the “in the mix” sound of EZDrummer and the samples with the specific kit.
That requires you to learn to turn off the snap to grid function and become very very very familiar with what each part sounds like with very light hits, moderately increasing or decreasing hits and full on hits with the drums and cymbals. Learning these characteristics will help you when it comes time to adjust your gate, eq, compression and de-essing and reverb settings. The velocity as well as the particular hit on the scroll map to your left (there are more than one snare hit, hi hat hit, tom hit, cymbal hit on the midi map)
Another thing to watch for… don’t make a drum track that is beyond the capability of a human sitting behind the kit…
The way you can tell you are off to a good start is when you get the track going you can sit back and literally air play a drum kit the way you would want a drummer to play during the song.
If you can adopt that mindset… your tracks will sound human. Otherwise it will sound very robotic if you don’t flavor the sauce as it were.
This can actually be done without taking that random jump off the “Quantize” function… I prefer to put the “slop” factor in by hand.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for clarifying your process.
Im using Slate in reaper and learning the ropes.
Patience is a virtue but it is fun once you get it right.
Drum fills are so hard to nail. Being aware of the interplay between the hits during the syncopation is my challenge as I find less is more.
Thanks again man.
“I find less is more…” – exactly!
Thanks a lot for this one. I’m a complete novice with EZ Drummer but I’ve found, for the money, and as a home recorder a great tool. And yes, it IS painstaking to map out the drums but completely worth the effort. One question: I see you have ‘Dry Rock’ selected but WHAT DRUM KIT is being used? I also like the add-on Latin Percussion kit. Thanks~!
I think it’s the default kit – haven’t tweaked that much yet 🙂
Learning Protools little by little thanks so much this was huge for me!
Nice! If you need more specific PT training check out my class REthink Pro Tools: http://www.rethinkprotools.com
Graham,
Do you send the individual parts of the kit out so you can eq, compress, etc? I can totally see why you wouldn’t cover that in this video, but I am curious!
Yep – later on I’ll split them out for mixing.
The patterns in EZ Drummer are already randomised in the sense that they are digitised from the performace of a real drummer (as can be seen from the note positions relative to the bar division lines in your video). I appreciate the need to keep things relatively simple for the purpose of the videos and that EZ Drummer is being used only as a (generic) demonstration tool but EZ Drummer has a lot more functionality and versatility than alluded to for compositing and tweeking drum tracks prior to dragging basic patterns into the DAW – no I don’t work for Toontrack!
Keep up the good work – looking forward to subsequent videos in this series….. Regards
Excellent video Graham!! Can’t wait to see the rest of them.
Great Video. I use Steven Slate and love it!! Great idea about dragging in patterns.
Ezdrummer and superior drummer are great. However one area where Logic Pro X truly shines is the Drummer program. It can automatically build great patterns based on your arrangement and then the adjustments can be done either through MIDI editing or through the simple XY grid. It generally varies it’s patterns quite well and thus sounds more human. I’ve been using it extensively and once I’ve got my arrangement just how I want it, I move it to superior drummer for exporting to audio and mixing. If you have Logic Pro X you should really explore Drummer.
Yeah – they were smart to build that in 🙂
This is great timing for me. I have only used EZ Drummer II once and although I like the program I was clueless as to how to properly use it. I already know more than I did after just watching this first video. Thanks Graham!
I’m so upset. I bought EZ Drummer after seeing you use it in the Song a Month Challenge and it doesn’t work with my Studio One 3 Artist, which I also bought because you used it in your $300 Home Studio Challenge. Amazing!
Artist does not accept third party plugins. For that you need to go to Presonus, find the link for third party stuff, they have an add on (around $80.00) that allows for both third party VST and VSTi as well as rewire which allows you to use Melodyne as well. Or if you have lots of spare cash, you can upgrade to the Studio One Pro version.
I don’t have the cash so I went with the add on and use MK Power Drum Kit. (also a free plugin in.) Not as extensive as EZ Drummer, but still very functional.
I’m about to post a question to Graham about some mixing confusion and rendering to audio that also comes into play. But yes you need to either upgrade entirely to Pro (major $$) or buy the add on.
Graham, Question.
Using EZ Drummer or any other drum machine type of VSTi. I see all the drum notes you are using are all for one single track. Ergo this question
Lots of your other videos have all the different drum tones in separate tracks.
Studio One has what they call “Exploding virtual notes” (similar process in other DAWs) but doing this means I need to render all the individual tracks to audio before I can move forward with plugins for tone shaping.
For this video series are you going to just have all the drum tones on one single track using midi to edit, or are you going to eventually separate out the different drum tones (kick, toms, crash etc.) to individual tracks for EQ, Compression and panning?
“For this video series are you going to just have all the drum tones on one single track using midi to edit, or are you going to eventually separate out the different drum tones (kick, toms, crash etc.) to individual tracks for EQ, Compression and panning?”
My guess is the latter. It would allow more control.
I’m going to split them out to individual tracks before the mix.
Hi!
Thanks for a great video Graham!
EZ Drummer is a great thing for song-writers. When I get a song from a producer/songwriter, my job becomes very easy, when they’ve used EZ Drummer. Their point, drum-wize, comes across so well, and I can just go for it, and track the live drums.
Indeed!
Awesome! Looking forward to the entire series.
Great, thanks Graham!
This article confirms my approach to song writing with EZ Drummer 🙂 The only difference is that you’ve dragged the MIDI notes much earlier into the DAW than I usually do in the arrangment process. But it just opened my eyes that doing it earlier means committing to a basic groove. And that’s a good thing! Also it also reduces the CPU load…
Looking forward to the next videos.
A couple of thoughts that might be helpful: An easy way to add interest is making use of the fact that in EZ Drummer the midi patterns are graduated to add little differences. Patterns are grouped by 1/4, 1/8/ 1/16th note on hi hat and usually with or without ghost notes on snare. Create variety by starting with a basic pattern but every now and the drop in the same type of pattern that changes up the hi hat a bit or adds a ghost note on snare which will give it a more realistic feel.
If you use a particular virtual drummer for your song but decide to route the midi info to a different v drummer some things may sound decidedly different because of how each company handles layout of drums, depth of layers, velocity as it relates to layers, and patterns as it relates to those three. You don’t want your expectation to be a disappointment.
Lastly, think like a drummer (two hands, two feet) but think outside the box too. Watching Mike Mangini, now of Dream Theater, playing and teaching in the film, ‘A Drummer’s Dream’ you realize that there are drummers who seem to grow an extra pair of hands and feet when they’re behind a kit. It’s fun to give your v drummer that ability also.
Thank you! Your project and willingness to share is very helpful to me.
You’re welcome!
Great video Graham! Thanks for your time investment here.
How does this compare to the virtual drummer on GarageBand? I’ve only begun experimenting with that drummer concept, and it seems the virtual drummer is pretty decent. Could I get EZDrummer as a plug in for GarageBand or do I need a different DAW?
You can also add human interest by adding extra percussion tracks to the virtual drummer tracks such as yourself playing shakers, tambourines, handclaps, etc.
AS a retired pro drummer of 40+ years the best start to a drum track I have found is Groove Monkee, Odd Groves, and Platinum Samples Midi. These files are light years ahead in the feel department compared to the ones that come with EZD, Addictive Drums, or any other (and I think I have tried them all over the last 10 years! LOL!). I am a AD, Cakewalk Session Drummer 3, an Analog Drums user.
REAL feeling tracks, and low cost as sales happen a lot thru out the year…..just a IMHO, YMMV, yada yada post….
Note about the randomizing: The Midi Grooves in EZ and Superior Drummer are actual performances from real drummers, not programmed. So they are certainly not robotic as everyone can see if they check the placement of the midi notes in the editor. There is a lot of Microtiming going on that makes a great drummer groove. If you are using the randomize function you are basically messing up the drummers timing which is sort of counterproductive. We used randomize in the past when dealing with programmed drums and it did its job, but that is exactly why Toontrack and others came up with the idea of midi-grooves played by real drummers. Btw, afaik you can add more groove inside Ez Drummer if you think the drummer is too much on the click.
Thanks for the tip!
Here’s a question, and maybe it is coming up in the series.
When using a midi track like EZ/Slate how is you plug in chain different than acoustic drums, or is it different?
Nice video !
I discovered that it is also possible to use the record button to record a certain instrument pattern into a clip. That can be quicker than using the midi editor.
I`m curious for the other videos !
Todays seminar was full of wonderful information!! Graham you are a great teacher! Thank you for blessing me today!!!!
Thanks for posting this Graham. I use EzDrummer2 a lot and basically use it in the same way you do. I’m looking forward to see how you deal with these in the mixing stage. Cheers.
Hey when you drag across from ez drummer to the midi – does it then draw on a different drum sound ? i.e. the virtual instrument in pro tools? i find the drums are worse in my DAW (Logic) than in ez drummer so if I want to edit them the only way is to move to DAW and lose realism
No it’s the same sound because the MIDI is still triggering EZ Drummer and some other instrument.
Hi Graham
Thanks for your recent feedback on my song Long Road Home. One comment was that the drums sound great. I used EZ drummer and just the loops I found with very little editing as I didn’t know you could do that. I can’t hear the drums in my head so what I did is record my singing and acoustic guitar to a click track. Locate the markers for verse, chorus etc. and go from there to find something that worked. Later I went back and re recorded the guitar and vocal parts. Bass and Electric guitar were recorded by friends after a good track of acoustic guitar and vocals were laid over the drums. Seems backwards but it worked for me.
Hey Graham, have you uploaded subsequent videos to this one, regarding the making of your EP? I have missed them if so! I was wondering if by now you had gotten to the mixing phase. I am working on a new EP using Superior Drummer, and am interested in how you go about routing, eq’ing and compressing EZ drums for your final project!
I did a lot of content on this for our Dueling Mixes members. If I get to it I’ll try and show my mixing process for these drums in the future.
Thanks Graham. I appreciate all of the helpful tips and videos.
Chuck
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