5 Tips On Creating Convincing Sequenced Drum Parts

Several readers would rightly dispute that the great advantage of sequenced, electronic drums is which they don't force you to utilize 'realistic' drum patterns or sounds. A lot of dance music, for instance, is created around incredibly quick, precise patterns and sounds which bear only the loosest relation to anything you can actually create by striking a stretched skin with a wooden stick. The ability to produce rhythms through programming, layer by layer and step by step, certainly offers great scope for the imagination and freedom from the technical and sonic limitations imposed by having to perform and record actual drumming.

Nevertheless, it's commonly the case that the sound and feel of a real drum part is needed, and circumstances - time, space, lack of facilities or lack of a drummer - force people who don't play the drums themselves to knock something up on a sequencer. And though a sequenced part will never be a perfect imitation, there are a variety of things you can do to make it sound more effective.

1. Keep in mind the physical limitations to which real drummers are subject. Obviously, individual drummers own only two arms and two legs, and are therefore only 'four-note polyphonic' in synth-speak - but there are also other restrictions on what is physically possible. Many popular rock
and pop rhythms combine a steady eight- or 16-to-the-bar hi-hat or cymbal rhythm. Above a certain tempo, this will necessarily involve using both hands, commonly playing alternate notes, so it's important to consider about which hand is doing what; you can't hit the hi-hat at the same time as the snare or crash cymbal, for instance, if you're using both hands to keep up a steady rhythm on the hi-hat.

2. For the same reason, there are specific sounds which can't be combined realistically inside the same pattern. You can't switch immediately among brushes and sticks, for instance, or between using a normal hi-hat and
one with a tambourine clipped to the top. Sticks can be used to produce rimshots, but brushes and beaters can't, so it might be unusual to mix rimshots and brushed snare. Nor is it popular to combine hi-hat and ride
cymbal in the same pattern - they are often set up on opposite sides of a drum kit. You wouldn't usually do loud crashes on the same cymbal in quick succession, either; if you want successive crashes, use two different
cymbal sounds.

3. Have in mind that the force with which drums are hit will not be constant. To a certain extent, there will be random variation in the velocity of each hit, but there will also be more expected variations. In pop and rock drumming, for instance, the first beat of the bar is typically emphasised, while reggae rhythms are characterized by a heavier third beat. There are also physical limitations on how hard you can strike a drum: beats played in speedy succession will are likely to be quiet, since you are unable to raise the sticks as high, or get so much travel with the bass drum pedal, in between hits.

4. Additionally, don't dismiss dynamics within the track. In dance music, the percussion are generally compressed to the point where they are completely even in volume throughout, and any dynamic changes are effected by purely dropping out parts of the rhythm. Real drummers, however, utilize crescendos and additional dynamic effects to include feel to a track; often, for instance, they will build up the volume going into a chorus.

5. Make use of sounds which are suitable to the dynamic level of a specific drum sequence. A few percussion instruments, like crash cymbals, are nearly impossible to play quietly, while others, like rimshots, bongos and handclaps, are inevitably relatively quiet. A sequenced full-on drum assault will hence sound a little false if it is based around large, reverberating rimshots or triangles.

By: James Deacon

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