JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Bass and Drum Forum The human rhythm section: Man vs machine.

There's a big difference in programmed drums verses performed drums. Dynamics! Pure and simple. You cannot program dynamics with realtime performance by tapping, moving quantizing or anything the like. Like any other instrument, there are the finer points that can't replace human emotion, feel, elements of style and uniqueness. When you are swinging drum sticks against the drum head, cymbals or anything on the set, there is a feel, know-how, and an enegy handling the sticks that all gets invested into the entire drumset as a whole instrument. You can use the tip of a nylon tipped stick to play the top of the Hi Hats or the wood against the side of the Hi Hats. if you breath the hi hat, you might want to watch and play the hi hat where it counts when breathing it. On a ride cymbal, you can use the tip of a nylon stick to ride on top of the cymbal or more on the wood to play the cone to get a different sound. See, we don't just bang at one velocity on one spot of our instruments. Even if we have the fanciest of drum machines their variables will never add up to all the variables that a human player can give. True there are players that are at different ends of the spectrum when it comes to this point, but thats just the difference between a good drummer and a great drummer. If I decide to change velocity on an instrument it is done in realtime not as an afterthought or forethought. A drummer has the unique ability to let his or her mind go while playing and slow down time so to speak and allow for variables in realtime that cannot be programmed. When you program drum machines, you tend to think of each individual instrument (which is fine) but to make the next leap and treat the individual intruments as a whole entity working together to create a feel and movement, is not something you cannot program. One very tall tale sign that drums are programmed is that there are certain beats, fills or patterns that are un-natural by the very basic natur of playing. I have a guitar player friend that told me once, that he knows when drums are programmed right away because after years of playing with drummers, he knows what a natural fill will be and a very unatural one. He tells me "there is no way a real drummer would do that". That usually means it is outside the realm of normal to the listener. It is bas enough when a drummer programs drums, it is even worse when someone who doesn't play drums tries to program them. I do drum tracks for artists over internet collaborations. My favorite thing to do is listen to a song idea from someone and break down the parts on paper. I write my drum parts based on the song's parts and what the song lends itself to. Which brings up another thing. If you cannot provide a drum chart or a drum beat of some sort, then you did not write the entire song. Writing drum rhythms is part of song writing. There is an exception to this. I have had songs that have such a strong bass pattern, that I was fornced into certain rhythm patterns. I believe this gave me enough idea where I knew where to go with the drums.
For whatever its worth.
Tommy