Actually recording stuff instead of stalling... MORE AUDIO!

stickyfiddle

So in December 2018 I started some drum lessons partly because I'd always fancied it, and partly because not wanting programmed drums felt like a good excuse, and also some epic procrastination to not record anything. In November 2021 I got a new MacBook in the name of recording stuff. 

Finally... today I actually gave my likely-ADHD a kicking and finally recorded some drums. Roland TD-17 into Logic via USB. Actually very simple and sounding great. 

More to come as part of the Poopot M challenge. 

blobb

Kit sounds or midi/VST? 

stickyfiddle

blobb said:

Kit sounds or midi/VST? 

Midi into logic and using inbuilt kit sounds so far. Sounds better than I was expecting tbh so haven’t gone further than that yet. But I’m sure I will  

blobb

First time I hooked up to Superior Drummer my jaw dropped. Incredible.

stickyfiddle

blobb said:

First time I hooked up to Superior Drummer my jaw dropped. Incredible.

lol I'm happy with Logic so far but I'll look it up. Or maybe I shouldn't!! How much $$$...?  


What I do like about MIDI drums is it's super easy to just nudge a miss hit into the right place. Out of a full 4-minute song my timing is only fluffs on literally about 4 hits, which I'm happy with, but there's the odd stray snare rim tap that I can just delete, which make life very easy. 

I'm happy to fix that sort of thing but I won't quantise - that's for losers and people who are dead inside  

Whistler

@stickyfiddle , Superior Drummer works in Logic as a plug-in. It comes with its own standalone program in case. Then you fall down the $ hole by wanting other drumkit sounds than the default.

stickyfiddle

Whistler said:

@stickyfiddle , Superior Drummer works in Logic as a plug-in. It comes with its own standalone program in case. Then you fall down the $ hole by wanting other drumkit sounds than the default.

Yeah I can imagine. I doubt I would ever need the add ons at home but the classic & vintage and Eddie Kramer packs are tempting just because I know I love that stuff but I'm sure the base packs would be plenty right now. 

Cranky

How was it sorting out the midi interface in Logic?

I have an Alesis kit and Logic but I haven’t really gotten into Logic yet.  I have used my kit in EZ Drummer (meh) and in Presonus Studio One, which sounds nice but is tedious sorting out the channels for each drum/cymbal.  But I’m also not great with DAWs.

Stratavarious

+1 for beating the procrastination and making some progress. Reward yourself and keep it up.

Been there, but keep falling back into just gigging and left with dozens of half finished ideas.  I’m missing the trick to complete them.

stickyfiddle

Cranky said:

How was it sorting out the midi interface in Logic?

I have an Alesis kit and Logic but I haven’t really gotten into Logic yet.  I have used my kit in EZ Drummer (meh) and in Presonus Studio One, which sounds nice but is tedious sorting out the channels for each drum/cymbal.  But I’m also not great with DAWs.

Actually super easy. USB-B to USB-C cable between the TD17 brain and the laptop. Logic immediately recognised it as a drum kit, found the right setting to put it into "Roland TD mode" (thanks YouTube!) and I had drum sounds recordable in literally about 5 minutes. #itjustworks 

Obviously I then spent ages tweaking drum sounds themselves to get it about where I wanted but overall I'm very happy with the process. 

stickyfiddle

Stratavarious said:

+1 for beating the procrastination and making some progress. Reward yourself and keep it up.

Been there, but keep falling back into just gigging and left with dozens of half finished ideas.  I’m missing the trick to complete them.

Cheers. As I say it has taken years... A chunk of it is primal fears (failure & rejection yay!) getting in the way, so I've picked something extremely low-importance and not remotely serious to get started. Thankfully that will help the band and also enter into the M challenge, so feels good. 

And having something un-serious is actually great because I don't actually need to "succeed" at anything here except getting something recorded and mixed and finished. That's the only real goal. 

I think I'll make a list of what parts & processes need doing to keep me focussed. 

thecolourbox

You'll be right at home with the cover challenges I think, it's a really positive space where we all just try and get stuff done. Enjoying the process snd actually finishing stuff is extremely satisfying.

stickyfiddle

Aaand of course now I'm listening again and want to redo the whole thing...   

blobb

What I do like about MIDI drums is it's super easy to just nudge a miss hit into the right place.

I would spend far more time editing than playing if I did that!

stickyfiddle

blobb said:

What I do like about MIDI drums is it's super easy to just nudge a miss hit into the right place.

I would spend far more time editing than playing if I did that!

Yeah, it's certainly tempting. I have recorded the same part again and got it much better today, so I think I'm happy subject to the odd side-snare nudging across to regular snare hits. 

hollywoodrox

Absolutely well done on beating procrastination , lovely setup you have there .well done look forward to hearing stuff in the future

Snags

If you want to experiment with different kit sounds without dropping £££ check out BFD Player - the base stuff is all free, and more than enough to get going before you get to expansion packs etc.

stickyfiddle

I did some bass last night. Not happy with it yet. Sound is there and timing was fine while recording but playback it feels way behind the beat. Need to work out whether that's a me problem or a software thing

Bod

As an e-kit drummer myself and an owner of both Superior Drummer and EZDrummer 3, I think I'd recommend EZD3 over SD3 if you decide to go that route. 

I'm sure we'll see SD4 before much longer, which will bring it up to date and include some of the newer features seen in the more recent EZD3, but for now EZDrummer is the better option for the average user in my opinion.  I found that the more advanced options offered by SD3 just didn't get used.

stickyfiddle

Bod said:

As an e-kit drummer myself and an owner of both Superior Drummer and EZDrummer 3, I think I'd recommend EZD3 over SD3 if you decide to go that route. 

I'm sure we'll see SD4 before much longer, which will bring it up to date and include some of the newer features seen in the more recent EZD3, but for now EZDrummer is the better option for the average user in my opinion.  I found that the more advanced options offered by SD3 just didn't get used.

Ta. I'm not really planning on looking until I find the Logic sounds aren't good enough, which might be a week or might be year from now! But good to know both are good with different pros & cons

stickyfiddle

Ok so I've done most of one track then realised the key is way too high so I need to drop it fucking loads which means re-recording most of it or getting one of the girls to come record vocals, so that’s on hold. 

Then the other day I did some drums for something else and then bass, guitar & vocals tonight on that (also down a couple of tones from the original) 

The mix is just a rough sketch and vocals aren’t done properly yet but I'm happy with what I have already got done in the space of about 90 minutes work.

I’ll share an early mix in the morning because progress is better than perfection, and I’d love some thoughts on next steps. 

Also our bassist quit this eve so I’m glad I have something else to do…