SettingUp

Audio Only Records On One Side

Whenever a stereo track is recorded, by default, the recording software places input #1 on
the left and input #2 on the right. The mic on the left side of the instrument is run to input #1
and the mic on the right side of the instrument is run to input #2.
If you are only using one microphone (and therefore recording in mono) if you send that
signal to #1, it will only come out the left side.
The solution is to make sure to create a mono track when recording mono sources.
Note: There is nothing wrong with recording in mono. Mono tracks will always allow for
panning and default to the center. So you record a mono electric guitar and pan it to the left
and a mono piano and pan it to the right to create a stereo mix.

MIDI Makes No Sound

MIDI does not make sound. This is why it can be used for channel switching and other, not-
so-musical functions. Only when we send MIDI to a synthesizer or sampler can it trigger
sounds.
If you have a MIDI track that is routed to a synth or sampler, but you are not getting any
sound, here are a few reasons why you may not be getting sound.

Synth or Sampler Itself

The synth or sampler may not have a patch loaded. In that case, our MIDI is making its way
to the synth or sampler without any trouble, but the synth/sampler simply isn't doing anything
with it. If you have ruled out all other options, you may want to fire up a different synth and try
routing your MIDI to it.

Wrong Channel

The synth/sampler may be expecting MIDI on a specific channel. If you have drums on
channel #1, bass on channel #2, and piano on channel #3 of a sampler, but are sending your

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MIDI track to the channel #6, you won't hear any sound. This only applies to synths/samplers
that allow multiple sounds/channels. Some synths use a single channel.

Wrong Notes

A tuba or cello only goes so high. A violin only goes so low. A 4 string bass (in standard
tuning) won't go as low as a 5 string bass. If you are attempting to play notes with your MIDI
track that simply aren't possible with the patch you are using, no sound will play. This is
typically more of a problem with samples than synthesizers but it's a mistake I commonly
make. It’s a really nice time to learn the actual ranges of acoustic instruments for more
realistic programming.

Channel Muted

When using virtual instruments in the computer, a channel will be automatically created to
route the output of the synth/sampler to the mixer in the recording software. It's possible that
maybe this fader has been muted or the volume level is all the way down.

Troubleshooting Clicks and Pops

The #1 cause of clicks and pops is an overworked computer. Let's make sure this isn't the
problem.

1. Restart your computer
2. Create a new song / project in your recording software
3. Record just a single audio track
4. Play back that track
5. Do you have clicks and pops in it?
If you have clicks and pops while recording just a single audio track there are a few
possibilities.

Clicks and Pops With A Single Track

Generally speaking, if you are getting clicks and pops with just a single track and your

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computer isn't a total train wreck, it's usually a sign that something has been misconfigured.

CPU

Your computer may have so many spybots and viruses that you are indeed using more
computer power than you think. This is easy to check. Fire up Windows Task Manager. (As
of this writing, this is done in XP and on via hitting Control + Alt + Delete) and selecting first
the “Performance” tab and then the “Processes” tab. If you are using next to zero CPU
usage, move on to step #2.

If your CPU usage is more than 20% with nothing going on, something is definitely wrong with
your system. I prefer my computer to be using around 1-2% after Windows is fully loaded. If
your CPU usage is not this low the first step is to make sure parasites aren't hogging all your
power.

CPU Parasites

Software manufacturers love to partially load their software on your system's startup. Why?
The idea is that by partially loading their software when your computer loads up, their
software will load quicker. The downside is your entire computer runs slower. There are
many programs that use this parasitic autoload method and frankly I find it disgusting. It's
entirely unnecessary and if a person really wants software to load on startup, they can do so
by pasting a shortcut into their “Startup” folder. (I automatically launch Cubase when
Windows starts up, for example.)
As annoying as software parasites are, they are relatively easy to solve. Click Start > Run >
msconfig. There are various ways of going about this. I turn everything off. After restarting
my computer there is usually a feature that I miss and need to turn on, but this is much
quicker for me than turning them off one by one. If you aren't comfortable with my seek and
destroy method, find the “Command” column and make it wide enough so you can see what
program is loading.

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When I take a look at my current laptop I see a bunch of junk I don't need. The one that
strikes me as being most interesting is this Adobe Reader 9.0 (see highlight). I use Adobe
Acrobat Reader about once per month, but the nice folks at Adobe don't see any problem
having it chew up RAM and CPU power the other 300 hours a month I'm on this computer.
That's unacceptable for a home computer and it's borderline sexual assault of a recording
computer.
Note: This msconfig tool applies to Windows XP. I'm taking the risk of being outdated here,
but I'm putting all my money on Windows keeping this one around for future versions. If you
can't find msconfig in your futuristic version of Windows, do a search on “Google” (a primitive
search engine from the year 2009) for an equivalent.
This is my laptop. You'll notice that I'm running absolutely nothing but ClamTray, my antivirus
definition updater; NvCPL, whatever that is; and two gizmos that run my wireless internet.

Worse Than Parasites

While I would like to take this time to formally slam all manufacturers who needlessly bog
down computers just so their program will load two seconds faster, I have to give them credit.
At least they are playing by the rules. With a simple uncheck of a box in msconfig we can tell

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their parasites to take a hike. Viruses and spybots are not nearly so compliant.
If after turning off all unneeded junk in msconfig you still find that Windows is using more than
5-10% of CPU power doing essentially nothing you have a problem with your computer. It
probably needs a formatting immediately. You can attempt to uninstall software, remove
viruses, and do the usual 101-style maintenance, but sometimes taking a shower won't cut it.
Sometimes you need a heart transplant!
Don't waste too much time trying to duct tape a system back together when you could have
Windows back up and running on your system in less than an hour after you backed up your
important files.
Note: The installation of software and the registering that software can considerably add to
this time.
It's important to know that most recording software has a CPU usage meter, but this meter
doesn't always read the same thing as the CPU meter within Windows.

Latency

It's very common for the lowest levels of latency (smallest buffer size in the audio interface
control panel) to cause clicks and pops. Even with a killer, modern system fully optimized for
audio there may be factors that simply don't allow you to run with latency set that lo. This is
okay. Usually, just changing this latency to the next smallest buffer setting will dramatically
reduce or solve the problem without causing too much trouble during monitoring while
tracking. If not, try going the highest setting and see if this stops the clicks and pops. I used
to track with a latency of 128 samples, but after an audio interface switch caused clicks and
pops at 128 samples I was forced to use 160 samples until better drivers were eventually
released.

Note: Clicks and pops can occur at two different times. They can occur during the tracking
process and actually end up on the track you have recorded. They can also be added during
playback. You can tell the two apart because clicks, pops, and glitches that occur during
playback will not occur in the same place. They show up randomly. If you've recorded the

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clicks and pops onto the track, you'll be able to zoom in and see where the clicks and pops
are occurring and you will hear them each and every time.

If you are using the highest buffer setting and your computer's CPU is barely cracking a
sweat, you've got real problems beyond that of just the basics.

Compatibility

It's possible you have some gear that is not compatible. Check the chipset requirements from
the manufacturer of your audio interface. Yes, they are there somewhere. These are buried
right next to the Watergate Tapes. Dig, dig, dig. Ask for help on the RecordingReview.com
forum if you need to. Usually someone knows where those stupid requirements are.
Then figure out what chipset your Motherboard and/or connection card (Firewire, USB 1.1,
USB 2.0, etc) is using. The easiest/most exact/best way is to check the manual of your
computer's motherboard, if possible. If this is out, try heading to Control Panels > System >
Devices. If your drivers have been properly installed for your motherboard, you will see Intel,
AMD, Nvidia, Geforce, TI etc. Note: We are not talking about the processor type. We are
talking about the motherboard or connection card's chipset. There is a difference. A
motherboard with an AMD processor could use a Via chipset, for example. (This is confused
by the fact that Intel creates both processors and chipsets.)
Another potential compatibility issue arises with certain audio interfaces not being compatible
with certain recording software. This was unheard of until this thing called “DICE II” came out
in specific audio interfaces. I'm not even exactly sure what it is, but it marked the first time I
was made aware of specific audio interfaces not working with specific recording software.
Before then, all Windows based audio interfaces were compatible with all recording software
(minus the proprietary systems like Pro Tools). Great! Like this needed to be more
complicated!!

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Drivers

Triple check to make sure you have the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your audio
interface and make sure they are installed properly. Sometimes installing a new driver
requires that you uninstall the old driver. Sometimes a new driver requires a firmware update.
It's very, very, very common for driver updates to require you to brush up on your hoop
jumping skills so make sure to read the instructions carefully if your driver upgrade goes awry.

I've seen drivers make outrageous improvements in reliability and performance. If you are
using a new driver that isn't performing well, you may want to give an older driver a shot. I've
had some luck in the past with this one.

Note: I never update my drivers unless I'm encountering a problem. If it ain't broke, don't fix
it!

In most cases, a new driver will solve the problem when all previous factors have been ruled
out.

Beyond these factors, there are no glaringly obvious reasons why you would be experiencing
clicks and pops when recording just a single track of audio. If you are still hearing clicks and
pops, it's time to swallow your pride (and free time) and begin contacting customer support.
You will will most likely get the run around and you will mostly likely encounter one
manufacturer blaming another manufacturer.

It's recommend that you make a post on the RecordingReview.com forum under Solve
Technical Issues because it's possible that another member has already gone through the
agony of customer support and can help you solve the problem in seconds. With that said,
tech support issues are always tricky so don't count on this exclusively.

BIOS

I hope I don't scare any of you. Don't worry, this one doesn't have to be all that bad, but if you
feel scared of this one, don't do it! If you are new to computers I can confidently recommend
you jump into the BIOS only if you have immediate access to a second computer with
internet. This is to dig you out of any holes you may dig yourself in.

The BIOS is where you can hardware settings. The BIOS is the very first thing to load when

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you turn your computer on. Guys who like to hotrod their computers (aka overclocking) do it
in the BIOS but there are a few options than can affect the way your recording computer
functions. Every BIOS I can recall in recent times has a “Load Optimized Defaults” option
which can sometimes fix problems with the way your computer runs. Usually the need for
such a feature is caused by idiots like myself who monkey around in the first place. So if you
don't know what a BIOS is may be good to avoid this. I just wanted to list it as a possible
factor.
Sometimes this “Load Optimized Defaults” can change one or two settings that stop your
computer from loading Windows. To a beginner, this could rival the fear of nuclear war. For a
nerd like myself, it's usually as simple as finding the boot order making sure your hard drive
with Windows is selected to boot. It's also common for this feature to enable A: (disk drives)
that don't exist which could cause problems until you manually disable them.
Note: Never mind. I've decided no one should play with the BIOS. Stay away from it!

Clicks And Pops With Multiple Tracks

When a computer can record one track without a problem, but adding additional tracks
causes issues the problem is usually more of performance. Make sure to go through all the
troubleshooting possibilities above that pertain to a single track.
If a single track can be recorded without a single click or pop, there is only one obvious
reason why a second track or even 10 tracks would cause problems. The mix you are playing
back is exhausting your computer's resources. Sometimes glitches occur within a given
project. I'm going to go ahead and define a “project” as that thing you save when you finish
working on a song. Sometimes you are using more CPU power than you realize. On an
computer that had its heyday back in 2005, it only takes a few guitar emulator instances to
cause the whole system to run out of gas. The same can be said about certain synths. Make
sure you check your CPU usage meter in your recording software and in Windows via the
task manager to get a feel for what your system is doing.

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CPU Usage Meter

I've had problems in the past where the CPU usage meter in Cubase was running at 50% but
my computer was actually running at 90%. I've noticed that with my newer computer the
Cubase CPU usage meter may say 50% but I may only be running at 30% in Windows. So
you may have to learn what your CPU meter is really telling you.

Scandisk

Another possibility is hard drive problems. I'd run Scandisk on the drive as soon as you have
a few hours where you don't need the computer. Go to My Computer. On each drive

· Right Click
· Select Properties
· Tools
· Check Now
Windows will have to restart to check the hard drive in which Windows is installed but others
can be done without a restart.

RAM

You may also want to make sure that your aren't maxing out your computer's RAM. I've
encountered situations where one stick of RAM would pop out or die leaving the system
running on half the RAM. I've encountered programs that have had runaway RAM that used
dramatically more RAM than they normally would. In this case a restart often helps.

Create A New Project

If a project becomes corrupted, the only option is to re-import your audio into a brand new
project. This is often a pain in the neck, but there really isn't any way around it if your project
is, indeed, corrupt. It's worth the hassle to get back on your feet. Cubase has a feature to a
save a project to a new folder and will render all the wav files to start at the same time. Other
programs likely have something like this, also. This can save centuries of tedious labor when

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you import these wav files into a brand new project.

Clicks and Pops With Samples

If you are experiencing clicks and pops when you trigger samples, you are not alone. This
most often occurs when the hard drive is being pushed too aggressively. The good news is
99% of the time, the problem won't occur when you render your tracks down.
This is generally solved when you move the “work” from the hard drive to the RAM. Of
course, this requires more RAM. Most samplers have a feature called DFD (direct from disk)
or streaming which allows you to balance your RAM usage to hard drive usage when dealing
with samples.

MIDI Sequencing
After recording live rock bands for years, I switched over to Cubase so I would have the ability
to use a powerful MIDI sequencer with synths and samples. I consider it to be one of my best
decisions. I can now easily enhance my “organic” live rock band recordings with stuff from
the synth/sample world when appropriate or make my own productions that are entirely MIDI-
based. I feel like I can make anything and everything I want! In other words, MIDI makes me
feel empowered! I can create an orchestra thingy in the morning and then a rap beat that
night.

In the early days of MIDI sequencing, the sounds possible were very limited. These types of
sounds become prominent in many of the 80s synth pop and dance genres. I believe that the
word “corny” comes up often when describing tones from the past. Some people love them.
Some people hate them. Few people make up the middle. I have the interesting perspective
of being raised on synth/dance pop music from a cheesier (or debatable: more fun) era, but
also completely understand where a natural, organic band is coming from when they say that
they feel constricted by a click track. So, I can 100% relate to the person who leans towards
the stereotypes that MIDI methods of recording have led to in the past, but I also understand
just how exciting music made with MIDI can be. As always, it's not the tools, it's how you use
them.

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MIDI

An Explanation of MIDI

MIDI is just data. MIDI never directly deals with audio. MIDI allows you to capture the
performance, not the sound. Let me say that again. MIDI has no sound. MIDI is simply the
capturing of a performance. It's as if we could measure exactly what your fingers did to play
on a piano, guitar, or drum and then saved that. Because MIDI has no sound of its own, we
use this MIDI data to trigger synths or samples that make the actual audio. We can tell a
synth or sample exactly what notes to play, how hard to play them, when to stop playing
them, among other things which we'll get to later.

The New Era Of MIDI

There is a common perception that all MIDI productions have this same “unnatural” sound to
them. This “unnatural” is what we think of when we look at cheap, synth drums or really bad
emulations of pianos and other instruments. I think the stereotypical sound of the old school
drum machine best sums this up (still found on some standalone recorders)..

This is all in the past. The drum sounds in your Roland keyboard when you were in junior
high are long gone (or at least have been surpassed by an absurd amount). MIDI synths and
samples can sound incredibly real if you want them to!

In fact, I'm positive that each and every one of us has been fooled at one time or another.
The corny world of MIDI died when home computers became powerful enough for software
samplers. Now it is entirely possible to make incredibly lifelike sounding recordings. The
previous limitations of hardware sampler and synths are over. With the right producer at the
helm, there is no way to discern between a recording done entirely with samples and a
recording done in a very high end studio. This is the modern age. It happens to be much

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less expensive to crank out recordings that sonically rival that of major mega studios because
we can use samples that were recorded by ultra mega studios.

RecordingReview.com forum moderator, Richiebee, illustrated the possibilities by taking a
stereotypical MIDI file and running it through modern samples. The results are astounding.
Take a listen.

The old era of MIDI production allowed for a snare sample. Yes, just one, single snare
sample. So you'd hear the same snare hit throughout the entire song. Listen to the snare fill
on an old New Order song and you'll know what happens whenever a snare hit is triggering
the exact same sample. (We call that the “machine gun” effect.)

While this sort of thing didn't bother anyone on a bunch of Janet Jackson hits, it's something
that is more acceptable in pop music than everywhere else. In more organic forms of music,
this kind of thing is distracting! A snare drum has a different tone when it is hit in the center or
in the edges. It has different tone depending on how hard you hit it or with which hand. It has
a different tone even when you attempt to make it sound exactly the same. You may not
notice this when listening to your favorite songs recorded with a real drummer, but you sure
notice it when the performance is supposed to sound real and all you hear is that one single
sample.

Now we have highly advanced drum samplers that are designed to rival that of the most real
of drumming situations. First of all, the first “modern” drum sample package I purchased had
10 DVDs worth of samples. We are talking 40GB of individual drum hits. This is a ton of
samples! I want to point out that this was for just a handful of drum kits. This was not one of
those “One Million Samples For $20” packages. The modern samples don't use 1 sample for
every drum hit. They use hundreds. Many of them even randomly grab variations even if
you use the same velocity over and over.

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The old way of using samples on drums never took into account bleed from the other parts of
the drum kit. While bleed can sound undesirable in some situations, bleed is also a big part
of the 3D sound of professionally recorded real drums. The sound of the snare in the toms
and the kick in the overheads is a huge part of the sound.

When the old-style samplers triggered a hi-hat, then a kick, then a snare individually there
was no interaction. The modern drum samplers allow us to control the amount of bleed from
the snare into the kick drum mic. We can turn bleed off completely or we can crank it up. We
can even turn off the bleed of the cymbals into the other drums which effectively achieves the
sound of recording drums with no cymbals. Basically, we have the incredible ability to pull off
natural sounding recordings that would have been considered insane just a few years ago.
It's just up to the talent of the musician to bring that out. A sampler is a musical instrument.

All of these drum samples output to individual tracks in your mixer as if you had tracked the
real drums yourself. The process has really became very close to the real thing, only without
the expense of a $2,000 per day room.

Some people seem to think that this could work well for simple music, but for complicated,
intricate music it's not going to happen. Well, nothing could be further from the truth.
Granted, if you want a sound that isn't included in the library (maybe the sound of smashing a
guitar into the front head of a kick drum or something equally obscure) then they are right.
However, so much detail has gone into these modern sample packages to be able to adapt
from any situation from jazz brushes to death metal that the sky is the limit.

MIDI Doesn't Have To Be “Stiff”

Many old timers are often against MIDI because they claim that it sounds “stiff” or “sterile”. I
need to make sure we shoot that myth down right here and now. The days of just telling a

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drum machine to keep a 4/4 beat at 120bpm are over. Let me rephrase that. The days of
simply firing up a drum machine at given tempo are over . These days, sequencers are very
powerful and are 100% capable of capturing a great human performance. In other words,
MIDI is just a data format and it happens to be very good at being able to capture a real
performance and play it back. There is no rule that says you have to push the Quantize
button or manipulate the performance within your sequencer at all.

When used in this fashion, there is absolutely no difference between capturing a performance
with microphones versus capturing it with MIDI and using samples.

MIDI can sound as real and natural as you want to make it. Because editing MIDI data is so
unbelievably easy, I feel that too many insecure musicians took the plunge and over-
perfected their tracks to the point of sounding sterile (and therefore non-perfect). It is much
easier and faster to program stiff sounding tracks than it is to program real sounding tracks.
We'll get into that later on in this chapter. Just keep in mind there are many ways to “enter”
MIDI data. There is no reason a person couldn't simply place triggers on a real drum kit and
capture MIDI that way while leaving the entire track 100% human.

What Is A MIDI Sequencer?

A MIDI sequencer is similar to those old pianos that would play songs automatically when you
put in a roll of paper with all the notes specified. Of course, a powerful sequencer like Logic
or Cubase is a little more advanced than a sheet of paper, but the concept is the exact same.
The sequencer allows you to record and edit MIDI data and then send it out to the synth /
sampler of your choice. This MIDI data tells the synth / sampler what to play.

You have control over which note was struck, when the note was struck, the length of the
note, the intensity with which that note was struck (known as velocity) and a ton of other
factors that I seldom use but are there for anyone who wants to take the realism of their

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tracks to the next level. This is the simplified version as I'm not really that advanced of a MIDI
guy. There are dramatically more complex functions that allow you to slap some notes down
and then “humanize” a groove. The musical possibilities are absurd!

With a sequencer, you can create an entire song with nothing more than a mouse. You can
draw in each and every note. Of course, you are not limited to using a mouse. You can
“enter” MIDI data with an electronic drum kit, a keyboard with MIDI or USB out, a MIDI guitar,
or any other musical device that has a MIDI Out.

In the past hardware sequencers were the big deal. I know of no popular hardware
sequencers anymore as just about everyone who is into MIDI production is doing it from
within the computer. These days Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer, Sonar, etc. all contain
very powerful MIDI sequencers.

What Is A Synthesizer?

Synthesizers are basically tone generators. In their simplest form, they play back a sine wave
for each note. (Think of the “smooth” sound on your old 8-bit Nintendo that sounded like a
bad flute if you really used your imagination) . There are many, many ways to take this tone
generator and manipulate it into sounding like everything from a buzz saw to a snare drum to
an Enya-like ambiance. As far as I'm concerned, I'm 100% amazed that people are skilled
enough in using synthesis to create sounds that are as usable as they are. It's very
impressive what people can do by creating sound out of thin air and then messing with it.
With that said, synthesis is not a substitute for the real thing when the real thing is desired
(that's where samples come in).

There are, however, unreal sounds that make synths extremely powerful musical tools in the
right hands. In the right song, synthesizers are capable of going leaps and bounds beyond
that of what you heard back in the ‘80s synth pop days. If you aren't up on the modern

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samples, you have no idea! Check out Absynth as an example of a modern synth.

In the old days, all synths were hardware (both analog and digital). Most synths were built
right into the keyboard, but there were also rack-mounted synths that needed a MIDI
controller of some type to receive MIDI data from. In time, computers became fast enough to
not only replicate synth sounds but to come up with some very exciting sounds on their own.

What Is A Sampler?

Samplers work entirely different than synths. A sampler takes a piece of audio that was
recorded (typically with a microphone) and plays it back when MIDI data triggers it. Because
samplers simply play back a real recording of a real instrument, they are capable of sounding
totally real. The only usual giveaway that samples were used instead of real tracking is the
fact that sample tracks tend to sound way better from an engineering perspective than tracks
often recorded at home by amateurs.

In the past, hardware samplers were limited by the amount of RAM available. It wasn't
possible to play back long samples with lots of sustain because samplers of that era couldn't
remember that many files. This meant that long, sustaining notes such as that of violins were
limited to a specific amount of time until they just cut off. The work-around to this was to take
the “sustain” portion of the sample and loop it until you released the note, then it would play
the “release” and “decay” portions of the sample.

Now modern samples have a feature where they will load up the beginning of the sample into
RAM but if the sample is long, the rest of the sample will be triggered real time from the hard
drive. This is a great illustration of how computers have revolutionized the world of samples
and made realistic performances possible.

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The lack of RAM couldn't allow for as many samples to be loaded on an old hardware
sampler. Maybe only three or four snare drum samples were available so that you had the
option of “super soft”, “soft”, “medium”, and “hard” playing. The sampler triggers the sample
that is closest to the correct velocity. It will change the volume within those velocity regions to
make the difference between a velocity of 56 and 58. Modern samplers allow for infinitely
greater resolution. There are so many individual samples for one snare drum that you won't
hear the sampler ever hitting the same snare sample twice. In addition to having so many
samples, there are often multiple samples for each velocity struck in slightly different parts of
the drum to add even more realism. To take it even further, there are separate samples for
the left and right hands. So you could program a drum roll with left hand hard, left medium,
right hand hard, right hand medium for even more realism.

Hardware samplers work just like synthesizers. These are typically external, rackmount
pieces that required MIDI to be sent out of a MIDI sequencer and into the MIDI input of the
sampler. Toward the end of the ‘90s, computer technology allowed for drastic increases in
the size of RAM. It wasn't long before software samplers essentially took over. While there
are still purists who prefer the sound of their vintage synths to virtual instruments using
synthesis in the computer, I can't remember the last time I heard of a person using a
hardware sampler. They have pretty much gone by the wayside. Prices for hardware
samplers plummeted from $5,000 down to just a couple hundred bucks. (I'm surprised they
are still worth that! They are obsolete in every way I can think of.)
Update: I just received word that there is a resurgence in hardware sampler use by a few
high profile indie bands and hip hop groups. This is similar to driving a restored car from the
1930s that has 45 horsepower, gets 12 miles per gallon, has no radio, no air conditioning, no
heater, but somehow has a vibe to it. Don't ask me!

Loops

Loops have become popular in the past decade. The idea is to get one section of audio,
repeat it over and over, and then mix and match the various pieces. So maybe you have a

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drum loop that is a straight 4/4: kick, snare, kick, and snare. You can then paste that loop all
over the place. Maybe you have a couple bass loops that are the same tempo. Maybe you
use a different loop in the pre-chorus and a different loop in the chorus. You add them
however you want as part of your song.

Loops are very popular with hip hop and electronic music. If the loops are of considerable
quality, it's not difficult to come out with a great sounding production with very little effort.
Programs such as ACID and Fruity Loops have become extremely popular.

Why I'm Not Big On Loops

I think that loops are an acceptable way of working in electronic genres of music, but that's
where they end for me. Rap and electronic music tend to be repetitive and rigid. Country,
rock, folk, and just about every other “less modern/more organic” genre requires a little bit of
human variety in the recordings. Sometimes you need a crash cymbal to jump out in a verse,
but what do you do if you can't find a loop with a crash cymbal?. There needs to be more
variation to avoid the boredom of sterility. It would take a huge loop library to be able to
conceive of every musical possibility. In fact, they have these already. They are called
sample libraries. They come one hit at a time so you have total freedom to make whatever
you want if you have a MIDI sequencer.

I personally feel like I'm using the wrong side of my brain when dealing with loops. I start
going through folders of loops looking for something cool. That's the idea anyway. In reality, I
find myself finding what is wrong with each loop and I kind of get into “picky mode” and I don't
put myself in “creative mode”. (It's the same thing that occurs when scrolling through presets
for too long.) I greatly prefer the power and endless possibilities of using synths and samples
with a MIDI sequencer. I can play any note I want. If I want my crash cymbal in a verse, I
add one. If the crash cymbal needs to be louder the second time through, no problem! I
don't feel like my hands are tied. I can easily make my own loops if I so choose (which I often

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do when making my little pieces of electroruckus). However, with MIDI sequencing, I
increase the velocity of the drums in the 3rd chorus verse the 1st and 2nd chorus. I can ramp
up the intensity or the tempo.

I want to emphasize that there are dramatic differences between searching through folders
versus playing keys on a keyboard. The mindset is totally different. Searching through
folders hitting the preview button sounds like work to me. Beating on an instrument sounds
like fun to me.

When it comes to recording “organic” styles of music, the budget of the project may prohibit
us from hiring a real drummer. I may have to program the drums or have a drummer play on
my edrum kit. If I had to use loops, it would certainly save me hours of time, but it would
definitely sound like I have copied and pasted the same piece of audio all over the song. This
isn't rock music. This isn't country music. This isn't folk music. This isn't metal (most of the
time). This simply sounds distracting in many genres of music. It's worth the dramatically
larger time for me to go in and do my best to simulate a human performance. .

I also think that there are a lot of people who are intimidated by going into the manual mode
of sequencing synths and samples. I think if a person can choose a 3 note loop, they can
pound out 3 notes on a midi controller. I don't see a difference. I find that when dealing with
loops, I may do fine until I want to take the tune in another direction. Of course, this is a given
with the nature of the loops. By definition, loops repeat the same thing over. You can go your
own way with this repetition if you so choose, but only if it matches the loops you have at your
disposal. In these cases, I'm at the mercy of the loop library. I personally hate this. So,
while loops are a simple way of working quickly, with simplicity comes a lack of control. If you
feel you are limited by loops, consider working with a full blown MIDI sequencer.

If you happen to enjoy working with loops, don't let me stop you. I'm not trying to limit your
possibilities with looping, I'm simply trying to illustrate the limitations of looping for me.

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MIDI Is Simple

MIDI is easy. You make sure your routing is correct and beat away on your keyboard. You go
into the sequencer and move stuff around, change notes, change velocities, or do whatever
you want. You can't mess up!

So just in case you are feeling a bit intimidated by the technology, don't! Relax. Sequencers
often have all kinds of fancy features, but you don't have to use any of them. Just hit record,
beat on your MIDI controller, and send that to a piano sample. It's as easy as that!

The fancy features are there to automate tasks that are a pain in the butt. In the beginning
skip them. Skip all of them. When you start feeling comfortable with fundamental operation
of the software then go in read about the capabilities in the manual. You'll surely find a 5
minute solution to a task that took you hours.

The Basics Of MIDI Routing

Many people get confused about the routing in MIDI. I think most of this is due to the fact that
they can't see what’s going on. A guitar player can see his guitar going into his pedals, going
into his amp, going into his speakers. With MIDI, these days, there are very few cables. Let
me simplify it.

In a simple setup, using a software sequencer (Cubase, Logic, etc) our MIDI controller has a
MIDI out which must send MIDI out of the controller and into the computer via the
conventional 5-pin MIDI port or via USB.

Neither USB or the standard 5-pin MIDI cable is better. These days most computers come
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with a USB port, but few come with a MIDI input. If your audio interface has one: problem
solved - use it. We then need to record a MIDI track. Our goal is to get a few notes/dots on
the screen on that MIDI track. When we bang on the keys, we should see some kind of visual
confirmation on the screen somewhere that MIDI is indeed coming into the sequencer. (In
Cubase, you can find this on the “transport” bar with play and stop and such.) This lets us
know that MIDI is coming into the software at least.

If I don't see the little activity bar light up when I beat on my MIDI controller, there are a few
possibilities. Either I don't have the MIDI controller turned on, I don't have the MIDI cable
plugged into the controller, I don't have the MIDI controller plugged to the computer / MIDI
interface, or I don't have that MIDI interface specified in my recording software as the MIDI
input.

We then need to make sure our MIDI track is actually getting that MIDI data after we select
our MIDI IN port as the input for that particular track. Usually there will be some kind of visual
confirmation for that, too. You can have a number of MIDI IN devices (MIDI controllers like
keyboards, electronic drums, or MIDI guitars) so each track needs to be able to define the
desired input.

There is no sound playing, but we could arm the MIDI track, hit the record button, and go to
town without hearing any sound and still record some MIDI data. This is all it takes to record
MIDI data onto a track in a software sequencer. Of course, it's pretty tough to play well when
you can't hear what you are doing. With that said, this is a time for celebration because
you've conquered the first half of MIDI recording. Yes, it's that easy.

In review, we did the following:

1. Plugged the MIDI Controller into the computer
2. Set the input for the MIDI track in the recording software
3. Hit Record

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So now we need to get our MIDI to trigger some kind of noise making synth or sampler. We'll
stay in the recording software and use virtual instruments although we could just as easily
route the MIDI data out of a MIDI OUT port (if we have one) and on to an external device of
some kind. In the virtual instruments window, I'm going to grab my sampler. By default,
there are no sounds loaded into the sampler; let's say I load up a piano sound into the first
slot.

Now we need to send out MIDI data to that sampler from our MIDI track.

Think about that 5-pin cable for a minute. That 5-pin cable was capable of sending 16
different MIDI channels to one device through it. So if we had a track for drums we could
send it through channel 10 and if we had a MIDI track for bass we could send it through
channel 2, until we went up to channel 16. This was useful when one single synth/keyboard
handled the drums, bass, piano, trumpets, etc for an entire song.

Each of these channels, which is easy to see in the sequencer, has a bunch of
patches/sounds/whatever you want to call them (128 of them). They are generally referred to
by the piano name like C4 is a “C” note in the middle of the keyboard. C#4 is one half step
higher than C4 and C2 is two octaves lower. That's how a piano works, but a C#4 could be a
snare drum and C4 could be a cymbal crash and who knows what is on C2. It could be
anything and it's totally up to the sampler manufacturer to decide. With our piano sound, a
C4 should actually be a C4 so that simplifies things just a bit.

People get confused quite a bit with drums when it comes to MIDI channels. People are used
to thinking of drums in terms of 10 tracks and therefor it's common to assume that a drum
MIDI part would use up 10 MIDI channels. This is not the case. An entire drum performance
will have no problem fitting on a single channel. The kick is one note. The snare is another
note. It's as simple as that. In fact, piano and guitar tracks often pass more MIDI data than

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drums do and they work fine within a single channel.

Let’s go back to the piano sound in our sampler that it defaulted to channel #1. This means
that our piano sample patch is only going to receive MIDI data from channel #1. We need to
verify that our MIDI track is being sent on channel #1. Depending on what your recording
software defaults to, it could be sending that MIDI data on any channel.

Once the MIDI out is routed to the correct virtual instrument (our sampler) and is on the same
channel as our piano patch (channel #1), we should hear our piano sound.

We could fire up a tuba on channel #2 in our sampler. Our piano on channel #1 will have
nothing to do with it. They will be completely separate entities. If we were to change the
output of the MIDI track to channel #2, the piano would stop playing and the tuba would start.

So, putting it all together, the routing is fairly straight forward. It's as simple as:
1. Data out of the MIDI track
2. Into a specific MIDI IN, synth or sample on a specific channel

Putting It All Together

We mentioned previously that we really didn't have to be hearing any sound to record MIDI
data. I did this just so we could crawl a bit before trying to walk. Obviously, we want to hear
the instrument when we are playing and we can easily do that. Data can flow through a MIDI
track very quickly. So all we need to do after we have a MIDI track properly routed to a synth
or sample is click the “Monitor” button. This is essentially a switch that allows the track to
decide if it wants to pass on the signal that is already recorded (if any track has been
recorded) or take signal from the MIDI input and pass it on to the specified synth or sampler.

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If everything is set up correctly and the Monitor button is engaged, you should be able to play
your pianos, synths, drums, and anything else all real time with your MIDI controller if you
have a low latency audio/MIDI interface.

Too Many MIDI Notes

There is just one problem. I mentioned that we have 128 possible notes with MIDI. I'm not
aware of any conventional piano that has 128 notes and I don't know of a sample package
that includes a piano with 128 notes. If we record MIDI data that was too low or too high to
fall within the range of that instrument, we are attempting to play notes that don't exist on that
instrument. No sound would play. Always make sure that if no sound is playing that you are
playing notes that are actually available for that instrument within the sample package. This
is usually made clear by the sampler software. Better still, develop an understanding for the
instruments you are writing for: their natural ranges and idiomatic uses. On a cello sample, it's
easy to start out playing low. Not too low. The lowest open string is C2. As you reach the
middle octaves, you'll hit a note and nothing will play. There is no reason to be alarmed. The
cello simply doesn't go that high.

MIDI Messages

For those of you are having a hard time understanding that MIDI is data, it won't take long
from checking around online for “MIDI Messages” to remind you that this is definitely a
computer language and not merely a tool for computer expression.

MIDI Messages are essentially the possible ways for you to express yourself musically with
MIDI. All of these can be manipulated to further enhance (or reduce) the realism in your MIDI
productions.

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Velocity

A measurement of force with which you strike a note. This plays a major role in the volume
and tone of nearly all instruments. Most synths/samplers take full advantage of this.

Note On

This is the term to describe when you hit the note. Your sequencer will keep track of when
you struck the note, the velocity, and which note you struck.

Note Off

This is the technical term for when a note stops. Obviously, there needs to be a difference
between staccato notes and long sustained notes. This is how it is captured. In your MIDI
sequencer you can go in with your mouse and stretch the length of the note. This is
essentially changing the time time of the “Note Off”. You aren’t likely to see this message
recorded in your sequencer. The computer will take the Note On message, figure in Note Off
and return a Duration measurement into your sequencer. Ahh, computers.

Aftertouch

This is the measurement of the pressure the notes are being held down at any particular time.
While not all synths nor samples take advantage of this, aftertouch can allow for additional
expression. Let's say we hold down a pad to create a spacey atmosphere to a tune but we
want to back off of this a little bit midway, aftertouch allows us to keep on sustaining the note
without killing it. Another illustration are some violin patches. When a real human being
plays a violin they can vary the volume or vibrato of any note they wish. Without aftertouch, if
a note is struck at X velocity and sustained, that note sustains at X velocity. With aftertouch,
a huge palette of possible expression and intensity opens.

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Pitch Bend

We've all played with the wheel on synths. It's fun to spend two minutes of your life hitting a
note and then monkeying with the joystick. While pitch bend has its defined uses with many
synths, the modern world of synths and samples don't always force you to use this as
“joystick” for pitch alone. Depending on the synth, you can control just about anything the
designer of the synth wanted to control. Don't underestimate the pitch bend knob.

Potential MIDI Problems

Latency

In order to play a piano part through your sampler, for example, it's usually not a big deal for
the MIDI to get into the computer quickly. Both standard USB and MIDI ports are fast enough
to pull this off. However, once the sound is triggered within the sampler, we want to hear it
immediately. We have no time to wait for the computer to think. This is why it's important to
use a real-deal audio interface designed for audio recording because stock soundcards are
notoriously high latency.

Sampler Click/Pops

Sometimes samplers will make clicks and pops (not much differently than an audio interface
in which the latency has been cranked down too low). To solve this, samplers have a “DFD”
(direct from disk) or “streaming” thingy which is their method for balancing between the
amount of RAM used and the amount of hard drive space used for temporary storage of
samples. If you are experiencing clicks and pops with your sampler, you may need to use
more RAM.

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Excessive CPU/RAM Usage

Virtual instruments (both synths and samples) are one of the most demanding tasks a
computer can tackle. As mentioned above, there are very popular sample libraries where just
the drums will use 2GB of RAM. Synthesizers can put an enormous strain on your
computer's processor. Because real time MIDI-triggered production requires low latency, the
combination of high loads and low latency means you need a fairly modern computer
tweaked for maximum performance in order to do any serious MIDI work. Just like with
games, if your computer isn't fairly modern, good luck playing the latest virtual instruments in
any quantity. We discussed ways to squeeze more power out of your computer in the
computer nerd chapters.

When a computer is overloaded from excessive CPU/RAM usage while the track is being
played, it won't just stop. Recording software is designed to go! If you overload your
computer, most recording software will keep on playing and essentially this can lock your
computer up so intensely that even the Task Manager may not come up. This isn't really a
flaw of the computer, it's a flaw of the user. You must be responsible with your CPU usage
and keep an eye on the CPU meter in your recording software. If you are running low, it's
time to upgrade to a machine with more power or begin to use various tactics to reclaim some
CPU power before adding yet another synth to your computer’s work load.

Drum Programming

There are some insanely powerful drum samplers out there now that make it totally possible
to program drums that even a trained ear would have a tough time discerning from the real
thing.

These modern sample packages are flat out amazing sounding! The sounds are amazing, but
that's only a part of the picture. A huge part of sound of an instrument is the performance of
the musician using that instrument. In other words, the best drum samples in the world mean

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nothing if the performance isn't also world class. A boring performance with great sounding
samples will sound boring.

Note: There are two sides to the performance in recording. There is the tonal side and there
is the musical intensity side. Because a robo drummer has played all of these samples and a
robo engineer has recorded them, you can be assured that at least the tonal side is not only
acceptable, but mindblowingly impressive. We just need to focus on the musical intensity
end.

With MIDI, we have a few ways we can go about this performance.

Electronic Drum Kit

We can use an electronic drum kit to “enter” the MIDI data. This is, by far, the preferred way
for me because I hate drum programming! When a real drummer plays the song, there is no
“programming”. (Honestly, I hate that word! I've done some real computer programming and
I don't see any correlation to looping arrays and looping drum tracks). It's entirely possible to
capture a 100% humanly natural performance with a relatively inexpensive electronic kit and
use it to trigger these killer samples I keep talking about.

Mouse

We can program the drums with a mouse. For electronic and hip hop genres where a rigid
drum track is okay, this is a great way to go. For styles that require an organic, natural feel,
this is a time-consuming mess. Each and every “hit” of the drums must be considered.
Velocities must be varied to simulate what a real drummer would do. The timing of each “hit”
must be considered. Things that a drummer does subconsciously like pushing the snare in
the fast-sounding parts and pulling the snare in the slow-sounding parts needs to be
compensated for. I do recommend everyone serious about getting into producing take the

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time to program a song by hand at least once. Put in the ten hours it takes to come close to a
realistic drum performance with real groove and a natural, human vibe. It'll teach you more
than you ever wanted to know about drums, groove, and the rhythmic foundation of the song.

MIDI Keyboard

We can record MIDI drums with a MIDI keyboard (imagine that!). I could never get the feel for
this one. No matter how much I practice the drums Tone Loc's “Wild Thing” on my MIDI
controller, I never get it to sound right. It could be because I'm a terrible piano player. It could
be that keyboards are an awkward way of dealing with drums. I don't know. With that said,
I've seen people who are killer “drummers” on their MIDI keyboards. One advantage of the
MIDI keyboard is you can put the basic groove down in a way that is fairly natural, human
way. From there, you can go into the sequencer and add fills, adjust velocities and things of
that sort.

Real drums with triggers

We can use triggers with a real drum set. Many drummers feel more manly beating on the
big round things as opposed to beating on smaller mesh/rubber round things. (I'm aware that
there are legitimate issues with the feel of rubber.) Still, you have to figure out the cymbal
situation and deal with the volume. It's much easier to convince a drummer to play on a real
kit and then use trigger to blend in or replace much of the sounds. Of course, if you are
recording real drums with real cymbals, you are miking those cymbals and you will be
blending in tracks recorded in your room with the sound of the samples themselves.

Note: I've not been overly impressed with triggers as of this writing. Instead, I track as always
and during the mixing process I use a plugin called KtDrumTrigger to create MIDI data from a
soloed drum track. I like this method much better.

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So which method of drum programming should you
use?

This is a very tricky question so I'm going to break the answer down into sections.

Real Drummers Recording MIDI

If you are looking for the most real drum performance possible with the least amount of
headaches in MIDI land, I think the only way to go is a real drummer on an edrum kit. When
I yell “Crazier!!” at a drummer, he beats on his drums like an animal and I’m a genius record
producer. When I yell “Crazier!!” at my computer screen, I get hauled off to the nut house.

Some drummers do fine with the rubber looking electronic drum kits. Other drummers hate
them. A big reason for this hatred is the feel of the drum changes specifically in the way the
stick bounces off the drum. This may sound strange to a non-drummer, but it is a big deal. I
could only imagine what it would be like to play a rubber guitar with rubber strings.

It takes a drummer some time to adapt to the feel of the rubber pads. (It needs to be said that
feel is a big part of drum head selection for real drums). There are also the fancier mesh
pads. Most drummers tend to favor these mesh things, but not all. Unfortunately, the mesh
pads are not cheap. If you've got a drummer buddy you can rely on for drum recording, go
with whatever style edrum kit he prefers.

That brings up the issue of finding a drummer. A great drummer may not be cheap either. If
you are recording a song that the drummer really has no vested interest in, you'll probably
need to motivate him to skip Monday Night Football to come down and record drums at your
place. You can usually find somebody to play drums on your project, but not all drummers
are as versatile as you think. Sometimes progressive rock drummers who do well playing
crazy stuff simply cannot play AC/DC. That always has to be a factor too.

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Note: One trick to save cash is to tell Mr. Drummer that he'll have to bring his entire drum kit
down and then, at the last second, say “You know what: I really want to try out my new,
incredible drum samples. We'll just use my electronic drum kit. Don't bother bringing
anything but sticks!”. There is no better way to motivate a drummer to play for free than this.
It works better than beer and it works better than promises of wild women. Drummers are so
sick of hauling around enormous drum kits that they'll literally jump for the chance to play
drums without hauling 200 pounds and 600 pieces of gear around.

The biggest advantage, in my opinion, of working with a real drummer is the extreme realism
and extremely little time required when compared to the life-sucking experience known as
drum programming with a mouse. If you are working with a skilled drummer who can play,
then I'm sure it would be easy to come out with an awesome drum track in less than an hour
or two. For a band just blasting through a demo, they could easily get their drums done in a
few hours. Note: I'm of the opinion that if the technology saves time, put that leftover time into
making something great!

MIDI has incredible editing abilities and this makes putting together a killer drum performance
way easier and way faster. Editing together different drums with a razor blade and analog
tape had to be a total nightmare. Editing drum parts seamlessly in recording software can be
challenging as the cymbals ringing out in the background make a huge effect on the drums
playing on top of them.

Let's say the drummer hit a gigantically loud pair of crash cymbals and then a snare drum.
Let's say that snare drum is off time and we want to edit it out. When we record a second
take, lets just assume that the drummer only hit one crash cymbal at about half the intensity
he did on the first take and then played his snare on time. (Drummers never play the same
way twice in my experience). If we were to edit in our new take with the cut being
immediately before the snare drum, the old powerhouse cymbal crash sound would be cut off

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and the new weeny-sounding cymbal decay would come in. It would sound unnatural, at
best.

Now, let's assume that the first take's snare drum was way early and we replace it with the
our second take with the snare on time. We will have a gap that needs to be filled where we
cut off the early snare drum. Maybe our second take will have what I call an “edit point”
somewhere where it matches seamlessly with the first take, but maybe it won't. This is a pain
in the neck for most drum editing with real drums. Note: Higher end software out there has
time-stretching features to solve this (to a point).

For every drummer who insists that everything must be totally natural (no electronic drums,
no MIDI, no sample replacement, etc), there is a drummer who is throwing headphones
across the room because he's just spent an hour trying to fix a difficult section and the take
where he nailed it has no edit points.

With MIDI, there are no edit points. Actually, scratch that. With MIDI there are infinite editing
points. All cymbals will decay naturally. You don't have to worry about if the first snare drum
was too early because you simply remove that hit. It's almost like having a time machine.

One of the most enticing things about using MIDI recording with a real drummer is you can
push a drummer to go over the top and do things they normally wouldn't do. If it doesn't work
out. No big deal. We'll just overdub that part. If a take is great, but he missed a cymbal, no
big deal. We move one dot one time. I do want a real performance but I'm paying this
drummer by the hour and fixing one little thing isn't that big of a deal. When I record a drum
performance, I'm looking for an exciting feel. The little slip-ups can be fixed.

Instead of overextending my brain listening to the way tom fill pushes slightly wondering if it
sounds real enough, I can just let a real drummer deal with it. The cool thing is with a great

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drummer you can do four or five takes in 30 minutes, edit them together, change anything you
don't like, and call it a day. You can have a great sounding, killer drum track in the time it
takes to plug in the cables and put the mics on the stands when tracking real drums. I like this
because I have no insecurity about sounding “real”. Instead of focusing on whether the
programming sounds real, I instead focus on if the performance is “good”. In other words, I
can really focus on musical intensity.

When the band doesn't have the budget for a $2,000 per day room, I can't think of a better
way to track drums. The editing abilities alone make it dramatically easier to realize the
band's vision in a much shorter amount of time. While a person could certainly quantize and
use all the stereotypical MIDI tricks utilized in techno and hip hop, I just like being able to
adjust the velocity of a snare. If the groove is a little rushed, we can get in there and tweak it
a hair. If we screw it up, no big deal. We have our good pal, Undo.

To The Purists

Doing it the real way has its merits. In fact, the real way is usually preferred when we have
access to the zillion dollars worth of resources it takes to pull that off a truly pro level. Just
keep in mind that no classic albums that I'm aware of were done without label support of
some kind. Please, no arguments about whose money was being used. If you don't have a
label, you technically aren't doing it the “real way”, in my opinion. So let's scrap the idea of
“real way” right now and see if we can't make the best recording possible with the most
intense music possible with the resources we have at our disposal.

I think the reasons electronic drums received a bad name (cheesy sounds, weird feel, etc.)
have diminished significantly. With a well setup e-drum kit, there are few engineers who can
rival the sounds included in the kick butt samples these days. There are zero engineers who
can get the sounds of the modern killer samples on a piece of junk drum kit in your bedroom.
ZERO! (Unless your specific music calls for the bedroom drum sound.)

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When you factor in how easy it is to save a tremendous performance with just one little flub
versus having to scrap the whole take, it's very possible the music can improve with these
new “cheesy” tools. It’s possible that your fans will have a more exciting experience listening
to your music done with electronic drums and never know the difference.

I'm of the opinion that in my studio (where we still have gravity and other laws of the land
which I'll get into later) the electronic drum approach with modern samples (not synth drum!)
is the way to go for 90% of the bands I work with. We have to balance the possible
expressive benefits of a real kit with all its downfalls.

Drum Programming With A Mouse

For those of us on a budget, we may not have the cash to jump into an electronic drum kit or
we may not have access to great drummers. If we don't feel comfortable on a MIDI
keyboard, the best route is the mouse. Of course, there is no “performance” per say with a
mouse. I look at it more like I'm painting or something. (Ironically, I'm a terrible painter.) It
really isn't that big deal to click on beat 1 and beat 3 for the kick drum, beat 2 and beat 4 for
the snare, and beats 1 through 4 for the hi-hat for your standard “straight” beat (I call it a
“straight” beat because I'm a total idiot in regard to musical terms.) However, the use for this
level of simplicity is almost zero if we are wanting anything resembling “natural” or “real” in
our drum performance.

Good, Real Drummers:

- Never hit the same drum with the same velocity/intensity....EVER!
It's important to note that this isn't exactly random. Drummers tend to play random AND
harder when they are excited or the song is peaking and random and softer at times when the
song is chilling out. When drummers are chilling out they are more inclined to sneak a hard,

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aggressive hit in there at certain times. There will be certain beats that will always be hit the
hardest and some will vary randomly from take to take.

- Never hit the same exact spot on the drum.

Take a look at a drum head. It's clear that even experts don't hit the center too often. This
isn't exactly random either. I'm sure there is a correlation between how hard a drummer is
playing and what that drummer is playing that will determine where he is striking the drum.
For example, a drummer using the hi-hat will strike the snare differently than when that
drummer is using the ride cymbal. On certain fills, a drummer may use their other hand for
their snare and that may hit a different portion of the snare.

- Will naturally push and pull during the song.

This is an entire book in itself, but pay attention to any great recording with a real drummer.
The snare will be a bit early in parts that are supposed to be more intense or feel “faster”.
(Note: Before the people that measure music with a ruler jump out and say this is a sign of
bad playing, think again. This is the way it's been done for as long as music has been
around. This notion of music on a grid is the new, weird thing). Getting this part right with a
mouse is a time consuming mess. This groove stuff is tricky business and there are no great
ways to automate it. Simply “randomizing” the MIDI data is not the same thing because
drummers don't play completely randomly. Not if they are human. Maybe a monkey would
just hit stuff, but there is some kind of method to this drummer madness .

- Automatically have the right velocity/intensity for each drum when doing a fill. I've wasted
entire days trying to make fills not sound like the drums on an early 80s New Order recording.
It probably would have been more productive to just meditate or something. This is when it
occurred to me that I would rather just pay a real drummer and buy an electronic drum kit
than have to waste my limited time on earth trying mimic what a real drummer is doing.

- Automatically add ghost notes and other little do-dads without any thought. This ghost note
business can really add a bit of realism to a song. I generally take the “run over it with a tank”
approach to recording as opposed to digging for ancient artifacts with a paint brush. I tend to
take the sledgehammer to the face approach like in some kind of make-you-puke Oliver
Stone movie (Savior). This approach is great for making bold, intense statements but subtle

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little drum things get lost. I'd rather Mr. I-Beat-Round-Things take care of this necessary
busywork so I don't have to think of the subtle stuff.
- Really know how to play drums. It's one thing to think you've got the concepts down for how
a drum beat really works. I think I fit into this category. It's another thing when a real
drummer says “a hi-hat click should go there”. I'd say “there?”. They say “Oh yeah!” as if it's
just a given to hit a hi-hat during a tom fill. It turned out that I had only scratched the surface
and had no idea what I was really doing.

So, as you can see, there are tons of little drum intricacies to think about when trying to mimic
a real drum performance with a mouse. I'm of the opinion that you will never get a drum track
perfect with a mouse. You could literally spend your entire life working on an entire drum
track. I'm not talking about for a complicated drum song either. I'm not speaking of jazz or
death metal. I'm speaking of simple pop music drumming. You could spend your entire life
programming the drums for a Goo Goo Dolls song! In fact, it may even be easier to program
death metal. Granted, there will be more notes to hit, but the emphasis on groove is
dramatically reduced. The tolerance for robotic playing is much higher.

Personally, I didn't get into recording/producing music so that I could become the world's
greatest simulator of real drums with a mouse. Note: No one throws panties at the world's
greatest simulator of real drums with a mouse. I got into this ridiculous craft because I
wanted to make cool music (and possibly the panties thing). So, you can take this whole drum
programming as far as you want to in regard to simulating the real thing or you can do
whatever makes the song exciting. It's amazing just how powerful you can make a drum
performance with a mouse in ten hours. Then again, I think I'll just give the drummer a case
of beer to beat on plastic things!

My Basic Approach To Mouse Drum Programming

Let me explain my basic approach to drum programming in the attempt to simulate a real

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drummer's natural performance. I am, by no means, an expert.

I like to sit down with the songwriter and come up with the drum beats for the intro, verse,
chorus, bridge, outro, and all other parts of the song. I'll program these drums in very quickly.
These parts will all be quantized and I'll copy and paste any parts that appear more than once
for a song. Before you jump me for copying and pasting, please remember that the end
result had better not sound like it was copied and pasted. I'm very much against copying and
pasting in music. In this case, I'm simply trying to get the basic framework of the drum part
complete. The songwriter dude/chick and I will work on this until we get all the basic parts
down for the song. The drums will sound stiff, but all creative elements (minus fills) should be
present. Once we are happy with a stiff, boring drum performance, I could add some fill and
we'd be done. Unfortunately, we are only beginning.

Note: If we were doing hip hop or dance music, the drums would be finished.

After we have the drum framework laid out, I then highlight the entire drum MIDI track and
randomize the velocities. This is just step 1. I do this simply to break up the monotonous feel
of MIDI drums and so my brain doesn't adapt too much to the sound of the robotic drumming.
This still sounds bad, but it at least adds a random element to the process.

I make the possible range of drum velocities fairly wide. In fact, I want it wide enough that I
sometimes say “where did that snare go?” and then I manually have to raise the velocity of
that snare hit a little to make it work. I've found that using a very wide range of drum
velocities is the only way to keep the drums from sounding fake. This will, of course, depend
on the samples you are using. Real drummers vary the intensity of each strike much more
than I initially realized. So now I go overboard with it right from the start. I can always change
it later.

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Once we have randomized velocities and have all the major parts of the song programmed, I
now look at this track as one single performance. There will be no more cutting and pasting.
Each chorus will be programmed differently from the one before it. The same goes with the
versus. I think that cutting and pasting has a way of killing the vibe of a song even if it's
subconscious for songs that require a natural, human performance.

Now it's time to listen. It's pretty much a given that there will be certain sections of the song
where a real drummer would play harder than others. Generally speaking, a drummer
pounds more aggressively in the choruses than he would in the versus. I would immediately
go in and highlight the louder sections and boost the velocity of those parts that need to be
louder. How much? I don't know. I can't hear the song. It depends. Just try to make the
part fit the song. You figure it out. Play with it. Make sure you are using a function that does
not remove the randomness of the velocities we applied earlier. The velocities should still be
random, but should be louder.

Cubase has a “logical editor” that allows us to add X amount of velocity to each note. This
keeps our randomized sound, but allows us to maybe crank up the chorus by 10 or 20
velocity units. Sometimes these functions work very well. Other times, they do not feel right
or the original randomization is just wrong for the song. There are probably specific snare
hits that the drummer will always hit harder than other times. Again, the velocity that
drummers strike the drum with is not exactly random. Software cannot pick up on this.
Regardless, I want the velocity of the song to sound good throughout the song.

About this time, I usually find that I need my snare drum and kick drum to fit into a specific
range of random velocities and I need my cymbals and hi-hats to fit into another range of
random velocities. I can't recall ever triggering a cymbal or hi-hat with a velocity as high as
127! That's total death for the metal round things and for my ears! I can't recall ever using a
kick drum with a velocity as low as 42 except for maybe ghost notes. I would totally make fun
of a drummer who hit a kick drum that hard in real life during a loud section. The range it

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works will depend on how the samples are set up. With the samples I'm used to working with,
I generally keep the snare in the 100-127 region for loud sections. The hi-hat and cymbals
tend to be quite a bit lower than that, usually in the 60-80 region, but it's depends on if we are
dealing with open hi-hats or closed hi-hats and how those fit into the song.

Note: This is entirely dependent on the samples you are triggering.

At this point in time, I go through each part of the song to make sure the velocities sound
good. I need the drums to change quite a bit. I want to hear the tone of the snare vary a little
bit with each hit. If there are drastic differences in level, we'll use compression to even these
out. I need to hear the more intense parts of the song in the drums. I need to hear the drums
sounding a little bit reserved in the quiet parts of the song.

Once the velocities are in order, it's time to screw up the timing. At the moment, the drums
are stiff and boring. We can drastically improve the feel of the song by getting those drums to
push and pull. We also want to add a hint of randomness in regard to the timing of each
drum just to make the track more human. I always struggle with this because there is a fine
line between too stiff and too loose. I always felt like I would be the biggest idiot in the world
if my sequenced drums sounded sloppy!

It's very important to understand that we aren't just randomizing the timing of the drums for
the sake of randomization. This won't do us much good. In fact, I'm positive that it would
sound worse than the stiff drumming. We are working on the timing of the song to increase
the emotional intensity of those drums.

Theoretically, the quantized sound should be perfect, right? This depends on how you define
perfect. I've probably already beat the topic of musical perfection to death, so I won't go into
too much depth here. If you measure musical perfection with a ruler, then the quantized

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sound is technically “perfect”. If you measure musical perfection with goosebump meter
(WAY more accurate than any stupid ruler) then you may find that this quantized sound isn't
all that perfect at all. In fact it's holding back our music. This is not how “perfect” drummers
play.

You can see that clearly illustrated here.

So, the sound of quantized drums sucks and the sound of just blindly hitting the timing
randomizer sucks also. What does a person do? It's called hard labor. If I'm super serious
about a song, I'll go in, turn off the snapping-to-grid in Cubase, and literally adjust each and
every drum hit by hand. These are the days where I consider maybe going back to school
and getting a degree in accounting! (What's the difference!)

In order to preserve my sanity and also to keep music recording ranking higher than
accounting on my “fun” list, I seldom do this “by hand” stuff. (Note: If there is anything about
music recording that makes the idea of being raped in prison, or even worse, being an
accountant, higher on the fun list, find a way to eliminate this. Music recording should be
fairly sacred. If it's not fun to record music, you are better off doing lawn work or something.
Go out of your way to make recording fun, when possible. Granted, not every moment of
music recording is going to mimic the end of the movie “Major League” or “Goonies” but if
there is something that makes you not want to go back to your recording room, eliminate it!)

I have made the decision that doing this “by hand” is only going to happen if I'm really
motivated. I'm motivated by promises of world domination, free food, and one more thing.
What was it? Oh yeah! MONEY! If I'm doing a song just for fun and I don't get a chance to
rule Earth, get a free meal out of the deal, or don't get about $1,000,000 transferred to the
Swiss bank account I just imagined, I avoid this like the plague.

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Let's get to it. The most important thing is the snare. The snare controls way more of the feel
of the song than I had ever realized previously. I just never took notice of the way that the
snare takes a song that stays locked at 140bpm and transforms it into a song that feels faster
in some parts and slower in others. For all practical purposes, the kick drum stays fairly tight
with the downbeat, but the snare can vary quite a bit.

Say we are working with an intense chorus that we want to sound exciting and “fast” as
possible. In this case, I want the snare out front. I definitely do not want it landing on exactly
beat 2 and beat 4. I want it ahead. How far ahead? How should I know? I'm not
programming your song! Experiment. Listen. You'll figure it out. Try extreme settings and
see what happens.

As mentioned above in the prison rape analogy, I need a little extra motivation to program
each individual drum by hand. Luckily, the really good MIDI sequencers (like the one in
Cubase SX3) have functions that really help with this. They have included tools to help with
groove. I'm not sure if I just skipped the manual on those or what, but I've had better luck
with “logical functions”. It basically just means “smart MIDI thing” to me.

I set Mr. Logical Function Accountant (Cubase Logical Editor) to take all the snare hits and
randomly push them ahead in the song by X range. What range? How should I know? I
haven't heard your song! Experiment. I'm not sure if Cubase uses the same units as
everyone else or not, but they are called “ticks” in Cubase. These are PPQ or “parts per
quarter note”. I can't remember ever pushing more than 10 ticks. So now the snare is going
to be ahead by 1-10 ticks. In this case, it NEVER comes in late enough to actually land
perfectly on beat 2 and beat 4. Never! If we want this part of the song to push, there is no
reason to let it slip into neutral territory.

If you have never noticed this “pushed snare” phenomenon, pull up 20 of your favorite drum
songs that you believe were played by a real drummer. Really pay attention and tap out the

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timing. If you don't notice the snare moving early in the driving parts of the song, you
probably aren't listening with enough detail. When you train your brain to listen at this level of
detail, it's blatantly obvious. If you don't hear it now, wait until you program a few songs. You
can really hear it on punk stuff because the guitars and bass are usually pushing ahead of the
beat too. If you were to fire a song like this up in your recording software and look at the grid,
you'd see that on 2 and 4 the snare and guitars are ahead but not so much on 1 and 3.

Now I like to highlight the kick drum section. The kick drum hits can't push nearly as far as
the snare drum The kick really needs to stay fairly anchored to the the downbeat. If we were
to push the kick and snare ahead by the same amount, the two would sort of cancel each
other out. There would be no noticeable change in “feel”. With that said, I don't want the kick
drum locked on beat 1 and beat 3 perfectly. I want to vary it some. So maybe I'll use Mr.
Logical Function again and move the kick drum with a range of +2 to -2. This means that the
kick drum could be moved ahead by 2 ticks or moved behind by 2 ticks. This is a fairly subtle
setting. For all I know, no one will hear it, but it makes me feel better knowing that all the kick
drums aren't on 0. There is no drummer ever in the history of the universe who would land on
zero every time.

Now that the kick and snare sound pretty fun, I’ll bet our hi-hats and cymbals sound strange,
at best. They are still locked to the quantized grid. The hi-hats and cymbals should be pretty
close in time with kick and snare. I find it distracting to hear a snare and a hi-hat immediately
behind when the two should be struck simultaneously. So, I go in by hand and just sort of
quickly drag each hi-hat hit to more or less match that of the snare and kick drum. I don't
measure. I don't look at numbers. I don't try too hard. I want a chaotic element in the hi-
hats. I'm just trying to reduce the “distraction factor”. When I play the track back the drums
should sound fairly real. They should be dynamic. Elements should change. It should sound
fairly human. If the drum track is dynamic, fairly real, and fairly human, that part is done for
now.

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I repeat this process for each individual section of the song. I decide if I want a given part to
push aggressively, push lightly, stay neutral, pull just a bit, or pull heavily. There are times for
all of these in any typical song I record. A good, real drummer does this automatically with
zero brain power. (You can bet on it!) A good drum programmer must do this with tons of brain
power, unfortunately.

The final step is making sure that our dynamics work. If our random dynamics aren't working,
change them. There will be snare hits where you say “that sounds weird” because it is too
loud or too soft for the given section in the song. It's no big deal to adjust them even if the
programming ends up being not-so-random.

In the end, it doesn't really matter what settings you used. The only thing that matters is the
intensity of the song. If you can excite the listener or make them feel something, you win.
Only you can figure out exactly what this means to you in this particular song. I hesitate to
give too many specific values because there is tremendous variety from song to song and
part to part. This stuff, like just about everything in this dumb book, it trying to make sense
about a subject that is mostly trial and error. It's extremely important to be able to adjust to
whatever the song calls for. Don't ever hesitate to use extreme values and push the limits to
what you can get away with. Just make sure you have the “taste” to know when what you are
doing is good or bad.

Q: Drum Samples: Are you worried about songs
losing their individuality?

There is some concern, I guess, that when everyone starts using the same samples that the
world of drums loses its individuality. Up to this point, no two albums sound the same for me.
No band ever sounds exactly the same from album number one to album number two even if
the sound of the band hasn't changed. I guess if a band used the same drum samples for
two consecutive albums those albums could lose their individuality a bit. Am I worried? Not

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really. If a band can stick around long enough to make a second album I'll be surprised.
Even with the same samples, drummers themselves still sound uniquely different. It has
much to do with how hard they hit the drums and their playing style in general, and how all
that playing combines with all the other playing. If the modern, ultra-realistic drum samples
have done their job the subtleties of the drummer should come out.

Even with the same exact drum samples, is anyone really going to notice that the Slipknot-
style song has the same drum sound as John Coltrane-style song? Who is to say? I guess
in the long run, songs could lose their individuality, but I think it is human nature to ditch
individuality anyway. We travel in herds. I guess we are all still fighting off the lions and the
bears. When one revolutionary album comes out fifteen clones are out in the next three
months anyway. In the end, what difference does it make? Bottom line. I can record robo
pro-sounding drums using samples or I can fight my room, drum tuning, and a billion other
things. I can use great-sounding samples or make a trip to a nearby studio and rent out a
great-sounding room and an engineer for $1,000 per day, if I can get a deal. It's simply more
economical to record with the samples.

With that in mind, the samples are tools. They help with the process, but I'm still gonna do
stuff to the drums. Why? I'm not sure. I have problems. I actually think the bigger issue is
when this hi-fi sounding drum track from mega sounding samples is combined with not-so-
mega sounding guitars, vocals, etc. This is the real dilemma! When all of that stuff finds a
way to combine with the samples in a way that really works, then we can worry about
sounding like everyone else.

I do want to mention that there will always be bands who insist on using their real drums and
even when we layer the same old samples on top of them the individual sound of the player
always comes out. (At least it does for me.) The work I've done using the same samples is
practically impossible to pick out.

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Q: Do you have to think like a drummer to program
great MIDI drums?

A: I don't think so, but it can’t hurt. I think it's more important to think like a great songwriter
or a great producer. In other words, you simply need the ability to realize your own vision in
regard to the music as a whole. There is no magical drummer logic. (It's often quite the
opposite).

There is no rule that says that just because a person has been beating on round things for
years, he/she will be able to come up with “better” drum parts than you. I've certainly had
problems with session drummers over the years who needed to play straight beats and
instead wanted to play weird, dumb polyrhythms. I'm not implying that polyrhythms are weird
and dumb all the time, but they certainly were in the sessions I'm talking about. So, in that
situation, sometimes being a drummer is a bad thing.

Then again, a drummer has been hitting round things a long time and has probably already
been in this situation before. That drummer has probably already thought of possibilities in
this situation and may have a better idea what will work and what won't work. However, I
usually find that when I produce, I need to push a drummer this way or that way to get the
most out of the song. So, I personally believe that most powerful way to get a great drum
performance is with a great drummer and a great producer working together for the sake of
the song.

When it comes to programming, however, I'm not exactly sure how much benefit there is to
being a drummer. I guess it's possible for a non-drummer to have a boring drum track and
not know why that drum track is boring. That is certainly a possibility and a drummer would
be able to solve it immediately by saying “Oh, switch to your ride here and do a fill there”.
Then again, there could be some creative benefit from not having a clue what you are doing
and simply making music.

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I think it's all in how you approach it. If you go into a recording scared that it won't sound
natural, you will probably make a recording that sounds like you were scared that it wouldn't
sound natural. If you go into a record with the mentality that you are going to make
something that is musically intense and powerful, the end result will be musically intense and
powerful. You don't lose points because you hit a snare and two cymbals at the same time
regardless if this would require a three-armed drummer.

Much of this discussion depends on your needs. I'm of the opinion that a person who needs
real sounding drums should just use a drummer. There is a huge difference between
programming drums for jazz music and programming drums for Nine Inch Nails or Madonna.
How important is the “real” factor? The more “real” you require your performance to sound,
the more you need to think like a real drummer. There are many great songs out there that
don't utilize real drums or real drum thinking and are better for it. However, when the song
calls for the sound, energy, and feeling that only a human being is capable of, nothing beats
recording a real drummer.

When you toss the rules out, there could definitely be instances where a real drummer
couldn't hope to compete with programming. Regardless of what you decide, do it for the
power of the music and make sure to make a bold statement when you do it.

Q: How Do I "Convert" MIDI To Wav

I've probably gotten 150 emails this month alone from people needing help "converting" MIDI
to Wav. I'm glad people are understanding that MIDI is just data, but that's only the half of it.

I think "converting" may be a little off base. It's like wife beaters calling what they do
"teaching". We don't run our MIDI through some little utility that spits out a wav file like
converting a wav file to mp3 or something. That's not what is going on.

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What is going is you run this MIDI data to a synth or sampler. Then the synth or sampler spits
out audio. I guess some of you could call this process "converting" but that's a stretch in my
book. (Get it? This is my book! Sorry, that's not very funny.) Anyhow, we now have sound
spitting out the outputs of our synth/sampler.

When people ask about converting MIDI to wav, they are really asking what to do with audio
coming out of their synth/sampler. Let's get to it.

Hardware

We are assuming you already have the MIDI track recorded.

When you hit record, the MIDI track is "played" and the stream of MIDI data hits the
synth/sampler, triggers the noise, and spits it out to outputs.

To record this audio using hardware, the outputs of the synth/sampler need to be sent to
inputs 1/2 (for stereo) of your audio interface. You record it just like you would vocals or a
microphone.

Virtual Instruments (Software)

In you are using virtual instruments within your recording software, "converting" is easy. The
audio output of the synth is already directly routed to a channel in your software's mixer. All
you need to do is render the output of just that channel the synth is using. It's super easy in
most recording software.

If that isn't an option (yuck!) you can simply solo the channel and render the stereo output just
like you would a full mix. You probably want to turn off any processing you may be doing on
the 2bus (see glossary).

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You'll want to import the wav file into your project then and ditch the virtual instrument to save
CPU power. (I usually hang on to the MIDI track just in case I screw something up.)

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Glossary

A/D Converter

(See Converter)

Absorption Coefficients

This is a complicated way of saying the frequency response of material used as sound
absorbers when applying acoustic treatment to your room. By looking at the absorption
coefficients, we can tell if our targeted frequencies will actually be absorbed by this material.
The most obvious issue with acoustical absorption is the fact that the low end is not absorbed
by most of the urban legend recommendations (carpet, egg crates, etc.). By looking at the
absorption coefficients we can immediately tell if the product is going to absorb low end. If
the product absorbs high end and midrange reflections but ignores low end, our room will
begin to sound boomy, or worse; room modes will run rampant.

Analog Inputs

In layman’s terms, analog means a physical wave. An A/C (alternating current) electrical
signal is analog. Sound in the air is analog. A speaker is an analog device that creates sound
waves. In the modern recording world, where digital is king, analog signals must be converted
to digital signals to be used by the digital device.

Analog inputs are found in an audio interface. Audio interfaces with built in preamps only
need an XLR or 1/4” input plugged into their analog inputs. Audio interfaces that do not have
built in preamps require that you plug your mics and instruments into a preamp connected to

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