Producing a Virtual Drum Track
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
In most popular modern music genres, drums are the backbone of the instrumentation. They provide the foundation for the tempo and groove of the piece. For recording sessions in which the instruments are not tracked at the same time, drums are usually recorded or programmed first so that the other musicians can record while listening to their rhythmic reference.
To meet today’s high production standards, producing drum tracks usually involves using several techniques, including live recording, programming, sampling, audio quantizing, and sound replacement. In Logic Pro X, you can speed up the process by taking advantage of the Drummer feature along with its companion software instruments, Drum Kit Designer and Drum Machine Designer.
In this lesson, you will produce virtual indie-rock, hip-hop, and electro-house drum tracks. After selecting a genre and choosing the best drummer for your project, you will adjust the drummer’s performance, making her play busier patterns or simpler ones, louder or softer, and changing the feel, almost like a producer would communicate with a real drummer in a recording session.
Creating a Drummer Track
Drummer is a Logic Pro X feature that allows you to produce drum tracks using a virtual drummer with its own personal playing style. Its performance is placed in Drummer regions on a Drummer track. Using the Drummer Editor, you can edit the performance data contained in a Drummer region. Each virtual drummer also comes with its own drum kit software instrument plug-ins: Drum Kit Designer or Drum Machine Designer (which controls Ultrabeat in the background).
First, let’s open a new project, add a Drummer track, and examine the display of the drum performance in the Drummer region.
Choose File > New (or press Command-Shift-N).
A new project opens along with the New Tracks dialog.
In the New Tracks dialog, select Drummer, make sure the Genre pop-up menu is set to Rock, and click Create.
A Drummer track is created along with an eight-bar Drummer region. At the bottom of the main window, the Drummer Editor opens, allowing you to edit the performance in the Drummer region that is selected in the workspace. The track is named SoCal (Kyle), which is the name of the default drum kit and default virtual drummer in the Rock category. The project tempo is set to 110 bpm, which suits the selected music genre.
Press the Spacebar to listen to the Drummer region.
The drummer starts with a crash cymbal and plays a straightforward rock pattern. At the end of the Drummer region, a drum fill leads into the next section, which you will add later.
Let’s take a closer look at the Drummer region.
Control-Option-drag over the first bar of the Drummer region. If necessary, continue zooming vertically by dragging the vertical zoom slider (or pressing Command-Down Arrow) until you can see two lanes in the Drummer region.
The Drummer region displays drum hits as triangles on lanes, roughly emulating the look of drum hits on an audio waveform. Kicks and snares are shown on the bottom lane; cymbals, toms, and hand percussions are on the top lane.
In the upper half of the ruler, drag a one-measure cycle area at bar 1.
Listen to the first bar a few times while looking at the drum hits in the Drummer region.
Although you cannot edit individual drum hits in the Drummer region, the region display gives you a quick glance at the drummer’s performance.
Turn off Cycle mode.
In the workspace, click the background and press Z to zoom out and see the entire drummer region.
)
)
)
)
Now you can read the Drummer region. In the next exercise, you will listen to multiple drummers and several performance presets. Later, you will zoom in again to see the Drummer region update as you adjust its settings in the Drummer Editor.
Choosing a Drummer and a Style
Each drummer has his own playing style and drum kit, and those combine to create a unique drum sound. Before you start fine-tuning the drummer’s performance, you need to choose the right drummer for the song.
In the Library, drummers are categorized by music genres. By default, choosing a new drummer means loading a new virtual drum kit and updating Drummer region settings. But sometimes you may want to keep the same drum kit while changing the drummer, which you will do in this exercise.
In the Control bar, click the Library button.
The Library lets you access drummers and drum kit patches.
Place the mouse pointer over Anders.
A help tag describes that drummer’s playing style and the sound of his drum kit. Let’s get to know the other drummers.
Continue by placing the pointer over other rock drummers to read their descriptions. When you’re through, click the drummer named Jesse.
In the Library, Jesse’s drum kit Smash is selected. In the workspace, the Drummer region updates to display Jesse’s performance.
In the workspace, click the Drummer region to select it.
The Drummer Editor shows the settings for the selected Drummer region. A yellow ruler allows you to position the playhead anywhere within the region, and you can click the Play button to the left of the ruler to preview the Drummer region. As in the Tracks area, you can also double-click the ruler to start and stop playback.
In the Drummer Editor, click the Play button.
The selected region plays in Cycle mode, and the cycle area automatically matches the region position and length. The selected region is soloed—indicated by a thin yellow frame. Soloing the region helps you focus on the drums when you have other tracks in the project.
Although you will later fine-tune the drummer’s performance, Jesse’s busy, syncopated drum patterns are not a good fit for this indie-rock song. You are looking for a drummer with a simple, straightforward style that more appropriately serves the song.
Stop playback.
In the Tracks area, Cycle mode is automatically turned off, the dimmed cycle area returns to its original position and length, and the selected region is no longer soloed.
In the Library, click the Alternative category and click the first drummer, Aidan.
In the Drummer Editor, click the Play button.
While the region is playing back in Cycle mode, you can try selecting other region settings presets to explore Aidan’s full range of playing style.
In the Presets column, click a few different presets while the region plays back.
When you click a preset, the region settings update and you can hear another performance from the same drummer.
Without stopping playback, in the Library, choose the Rock category.
Click the fourth drummer, Max – Punk Rock. If a dialog explaining how to keep region settings when changing the drummer appears, select “do not show this message again,” and click Change Drummer. Listen to a few of Max’s presets.
Although Max’s hyperactive performance is not what you’re looking for, the drum kit sounds punchy. Let’s assign the first drummer, Kyle, to play on Max’s drum kit, East Bay.
In the Library, click the padlock icon in the Sounds section.
The current patch is locked, and changing the drummer will no longer load a new drum kit.
In the Library, click Kyle.
Kyle is now playing Max’s East Bay drum kit. Let’s make him play a bit faster.
In the control bar, set the tempo to 142 bpm.
Stop playback.
)
)
)
)
)
)
You have found a drummer that plays the straightforward style you’re seeking for this project, paired a punchy-sounding drum kit, and set a tempo that will drive your indie-rock song. You are now ready to customize the performance.
Editing the Drum Performance
In a recording session with a live drummer, the artist, the producer, or the musical director must communicate their vision of the completed song. They may ask the drummer to play behind or ahead of the beat to change the feel of the groove, switch from the hi-hat to the ride cymbal during the chorus, or play a drum fill in a specific location.
In Logic Pro X, editing a drummer performance is almost like giving instructions to a real drummer. In this exercise, you will play a drum region in Cycle mode as you adjust the drummer settings.
In the workspace, make sure the Drummer region is still selected, and in the Drummer Editor, click the Play button.
Next to the presets, an XY pad with a yellow puck lets you adjust both the loudness and the complexity of the drum pattern.
As the region plays, drag the puck, or click different locations inside the pad to reposition it.
After positioning the puck, you must wait for the region to update (update time varies depending on your computer). If you drag the puck constantly, the region will not update.
As you position the puck farther to the right, the drum pattern becomes more complex, and as you move the puck toward the top of the pad, the drummer plays louder. Try placing the puck in the pad’s corners for extreme settings, such as soft and simple or loud and complex.
As the drummer plays softer, he closes the hi-hat and switches from hitting the snare drum on the skin to playing rim clicks (hitting only the rim of the drum). As he plays louder, he opens the hi-hat and start playing rim shots (hitting the skin and the rim simultaneously for accent).
Let’s make the drummer play a solid, straightforward beat in the Drummer region, which will be used for the first verse of the song.
Settle for a puck position where the drummer plays a rather simple and fairly loud pattern.
The kick drum is still playing a pattern that’s a bit too busy. To the right of the XY pad, you can choose from several Kick & Snare pattern variations.
Drag the Kick & Snare slider to position 2 (or click the second increment on the slider).
The drummer now simply alternates kick and snare on every beat. If you don’t hear the drummer play the snare on beats 2 and 4, slightly readjust the horizontal position of the puck in the XY pad so it’s in the same position as in the figure following step 3.
Listen to the hi-hat. It is currently playing eighth notes.
Click the first increment on the Hi-Hat slider.
The hi-hat now plays only on the beat (quarter notes), which works well for up-tempo songs.
The drummer is playing a fill in the middle of the region (before bar 5) and another at the end (before bar 9). Let’s get rid of the first fill and keep only one at the end.
Look at the region in the workspace while trying different positions for the Fills knob, and drag the Fills knob down until you see the fill before bar 5 disappear. You should still see a fill at the end of the region.
You now have a very straightforward beat. Because the drummer plays less now, he can make the hi-hat ring a bit more.
In the Drummer Editor, click the Details button to display three knobs.
Below the Hi-Hat knob, deselect the Automatic option.
Drag the Hi-Hat knob up to open it a little bit.
This verse’s drum pattern now sounds great, so let’s add a new Drummer region, which you’ll use for the chorus.
Stop playback.
In the Tracks area, adjust your zoom level to see some empty space after the Drummer region, position the mouse cursor over the Drummer track, and click the + sign that appears to the right of the Drummer region.
A new eight-bar Drummer region is created at bar 9. The new region is selected, and the Drummer Editor displays its region settings, the same as the original Drummer region on the track. Let’s make the drummer switch from playing the hi-hat to playing a cymbal during the chorus.
In the Drummer Editor, click the Play button.
You can hear the second region in Cycle mode.
In the Drummer editor, click the Details button to go back to the basic view.
On the drum kit, click a cymbal.
The hi-hat is dimmed, the cymbals are yellow, and you can hear the drummer play a ride cymbal instead of the hi-hat. The drummer is playing the ride cymbal on every eighth note. For a more powerful chorus, you instead want it to play crash cymbals on every beat.
Click the first increment of the Cymbals slider.
You now hear crash cymbals on every beat and the beat has more impact.
Let’s listen to the verse going into the chorus.
Stop playback.
Go to the beginning of the song and listen to both Drummer regions.
You now have a simple, straightforward beat for the verse, and then the drummer switches to the crash cymbal for the busier chorus pattern.
)
)
)
)
)
You have carefully crafted two eight-measure drum grooves: one for the verse and one for the chorus. They are the two most important building blocks of the song you will now start arranging.
