5 Tricks to Make MIDI DRUMS Sound Real (Even with Cheap Gear)
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
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Want your MIDI drums to sound like the real deal? In this video, I’m sharing 5 essential tips to make your MIDI drums sound realistic, professional, and full of life. From using multi-sample rotation to adding reverb, humanizing beats, and more, these tricks will take your drum programming to the next level. Whether you're a beginner or experienced producer, these tips will help you create pro-quality drum tracks from your home studio.
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What I'm trying out recently is programming everything except hi hats and keeping a pair of real hats next to my desk. I think the hats are the hardest to emulate because of how many different ways there are to hit them and how the opening and closing mechanic interacts with the sound. I guess it depends on what the part is too.
Interesting idea! Might give that a go
I agree! Nice idea 👍
Very true! EZ Drummer has a bunch of different hi-hat hits at different velocities, so if you're using an E-kit you can take advantage of those, and it sounds pretty damn real. Recording a real hi-hat over midi drums is pretty genius, I'll have to give it a try!
I’ve always wanted to try that. Adds a lot of nice randomness and it’s a great apartment instruments because no low end
@@MarsCapone There are some recordings where Stuart Copeland is credited just for playing hi hats. It's a whole world of its own.
I partially agree to what you said:
- I know you don't like it, but quantized drums are an industry standard nowadays; the regular beat should be on the grid, with the exception being when multiple shells are played at the same time;
- Randomizing the velocity is good, but the best way is to go by hand on every fill or roll. There are many ways to do it, the important is you have intention in that (I like your approach on the hi hat);
- Another dead giveaway you're using programmed drums is using only those sounds that everybody uses. I always blend a kick sample and 2/3 snare samples: those samples I blend always change depending on the song. And also: commit to those sounds! Don't get 3 hours into your mix and change the drum sounds because it'll mess you up!
- Many drum sample libraries have room sounds with the close mics: use those instead of reverb! It'll sound less plasticky and more real! Especially a super underrated track is the mono room: a good mono room, if heavily compressed, EQed and saturated, can add a lot of character to the snare!
Let me know what you think: as always I'm open to discussion 🙃
Thank you. I was a drummer before when I had free time. Now I have about one hour after work before I must go to sleep. I like your videos in my short free time.
Your continued support is always appreciated. You've been there since the beginning- and I'll never forget that!
Your channel is amazing. I'm a drummer, I record with triggers, and this post-production tutorial is perfect for me.
Cheers from Italy
Awesome, thank you!
Great explanation and demos. Loved the before and after. Easy to hear the difference. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching! The support is always appreciated.
This is an incredibly well laid out and informative video. Thank you so much man
I really appreciate you taking the time to watch!
Wow, your channel grew fast. Last time I was here you had less than 10k. Well deserved
It's been a wild 3 months! I was at 9500 in October- and I got lucky with a couple videos. Since then I've been working extremely hard to maintain the momentum and give people valuable content they can use. So far so good!
The next big milestone goal is 100k. I wanna get that plaque LOL
Amazingly valuable! Thank you!!
I'm glad you found it useful!
This video helps a ton, thanks Spencer 🔥
So glad to help!
Incredible!
Thanks so much for watching!
Good stuff Spencer! Really thought out and well presented. I think keyboard drumming is a real art form, and If you can get good at that, you're doing most of the heavy lifting whilst you're playing (like a real drummer obvs)
Totally agree! It's a super niche skill but it's insanely valuable. I'm glad I was able to get it down.
Great advice. I've been using EZ Drummer since it first came out and it took years to learn some of these things. Love what you're doing!
Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad to here you're using EZ Drummer- it's one of my favorite plugins.
super simple to understand, thanks
Thanks for watching! Glad to help
Thanks Spencer, another great video as always. I am loving your channel. I come away every time inspired to try new things out. I do play drums, but I often don't have access to a kit for recording. I will give this a go. Thank you sir.
I'm so glad you're enjoying the content! I hope these tips help
Wowwww!!!!
Thanks, dude!
Excellent advice!
Thanks! I hope it's helpful
Helpful. Thank you.
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful
From a sound perspective even programmed drums can be made to sound vastly different by adding channel compression, EQ, reverb, or other effects (try a guitar flanger on a cymbal) or multiple sounds (add a live mic'd snare or kick or whatever or other snare/drum sound from a different library).
From a performance perspective while mostly everything is ON THE GRID these days when I write/record a song and start with drums, I will live play pads that trigger the Superior Drummer, etc. that helps me get a real vibe groove. I can quantize if I need it more "modern" or leave if I want more loose drums. Then I play bass, guitars, keys, etc. pretty much to the "live" drum tracks. BUT WAIT... my secret weapon is tempo.
Let's say the song has a base of 125 BPMs. Taking the drum tracks (before any other instruments tracks are added or recorded), slow the temp 1-2 BPMs on the verse, and speed them up again on a chorus or outro - you might even get an outro that is 126 BPM's but the slight push gives it a real live feel. While the end result will not be ON THE GRID, the feel of the song will be more real and live. I do that on about half of the songs I record. Try it out next time you record.
Or leave everything on the grid and sound like a drum machine. Whatever the song calls for.
I'll have to give this a try! I've never adjusted the tempo slightly during different parts of the song but that makes a lot of sense. Great idea!
Great video! Very informative and well-presented, as all of your vids are. I've been largely using Logic Drummer kits for making my beats, and am currently on a trial of EZ Drummer with plans to purchase. I was pretty happy with LD, but have found EZ to be night and day better. The sounds are amazing, at least to my ears. The one thing I can't seem to figure out is how to get the drum names to appear on the piano roll the way they do with LD. It's greyed out and nothing I've tried has been able to remedy that. Any insights? Appreciate any advice you can offer.
Wow great tutorial 👍🏾💯🔥
Thanks for watching!
Great video! I'm surprised you didn't mention superior drummer!
Superior Drummer is awesome. It's just a more complex version of EZ Drummer (both are made by Toon Track). If you can afford it, Superior Drummer is the way to go- but EZ Drummer is absolutely incredible in it's own right. I have no complaints!
Very helpful 😊👍
Thanks for watching!
Love it, drum programming always stops my process because it always feels mechanical.
It definitely can be. Learning to play drums on a midi controller is an absolutely game changer- but it's obviously pretty complicated. Maybe I'll do a video on it someday!
Wish I could afford that. Always wanted to make some oldschool breaks like Amen Break, Apache etc by myself.
..... I adopted an idea from Phil Spector, and make a big pile of kicks, snares and hi hats using Superior Drummer, BFD, Addictive Drums or some Kontakt libraries (watch out the mapping!). I render everyone separately, then I import, we say, the snares, with some automation you can give "a starring role" each one here and there and voila!. Drumagog is very good too, but sometimes had strange behaviours and tends to displace some hits. The results are not 100 % human but not bad at all.
I'd be interested to hear what it sounds like!
@songsbyspencer many pieces are uploaded to my UA-cam channel.
I am waiting for a video on strings from you. Do you teach strings in your course?
I do not- but that would be a cool idea for a future video!
Hot stuff here, thanks for sharing
You bet
Does EZDrummer also have that multiple sound for each hit kind of thing? or no? never even knew drumkits had that
Yes! EZ drummer has a ton of samples for every hit, AND at every single possible velocity. I can't even imagine the work that goes into recording all those samples. They have like 15 different hit types for high hats. Every possible hit from fully closed to fully open, it's wild!
@songsbyspencer okay! Good to know, thx for ya reply
It depends on the genre. Your techniques are great for many genres of handmade music. However, in some EDM genres drums have to be quantised. I also feel like modern metalcore and post metal has almost non-human sounds.
You are correct! Pop and Dance music needs to have drums aligned very tightly to the grid cause it's what the genre calls for. However, for genres where you want your midi drums to sound realistic, you gotta make them less perfect.
I really don't like the drums in most modern metal. They sound so lifeless and devoid of soul because they're far too perfect.
@songsbyspencer I completely agree. Though I love metal I really wished they came back to the hardcore punk kind of playing style and real drumkits
Multi sample rotation!? It's just round robins! 😊😊 drums sounded very good tho! Well done
I wasn't sure which phrasing I should use, so I asked ChatGPT. It sound Round Robins and Multi-Sample Rotation. The latter sounded a bit more descriptive so I went with it!
Thanks for watching and the kind words. It means more than you know!
Does it make sense to humanize the kick, snare, and toms? Professional recordings actually align them to the grid, right?
If you're programming them so they're perfectly to the grid, they'll likely sound too perfect. In this case, I recommend humanizing them so they're slightly off the grid.
@MichaelDeane-i9n has a good point, typically if you want to nudge the kick/snare before, after, or around the grid is dependent on the groove going
in general, if you have the rest of the rhythm section (bass etc) keeping time straight, you can change the feel by having the kick/snare be “ahead” or “behind” the beat. not easy to pull off but yeah
Nothing against this dude but man these videos are all the same. I've been programming drums for over 20 years and I click on these vids sometimes just to see what they say. Get midi played by a drummer that isn't quantized and tight on the grid, cause humanize functions sound dodgy at best
Ezdrummer is overpriced.
Just buy yourself some plastic tubs and hit those to achieve the same quality shell samples.
I usually bang on pots and pans- sounds SICK
where did you get the term 'multi-sample rotation'...in the industry its known as 'round robins'. who cares about drums anyways....to my way of thinking, if the success of your music revolves are the believability of the drum sample...ur song writing is shit. drums are like drop in for me....write to a click, works out the guts of everything, drums and bass are like icing on the cake to play around with at the end. The song needs to be really solid with all the harmonies, keys, guitars.I think people spend way too much time on beatz...@#$% thatr. I use roland kit, it doesn't really matter...its all fun...and realistically noone really paying attention or caring...music is disposable media, cheapened by over saturation and AI. Emphasis is on having fun, creating something you like...its addictive. i've had a home studio longer than most here have been alive...i turn 60 next year..had daws since logic 3 on win 98 haha....i never made a cent.....just enjoy the process..music is a gift in ur life that you enjoy a long time...don't sweat the details or worry about success.
I totally agree that the song needs to stand on its own. A lot of people use different production tools as a crutch to fool people into thinking a bad song is a good one. That being said, the importance of the drums and bass really depends on the genre. If you're making simple folk music, it's not all that important. But if you're making funk or modern pop, the beat is extremely important.