Tom rolls

Martyr

I've no drumming experience at all, but the music i'm making focuses alot on drumming..so anyone any tips for creating realistic sounding drumrolls? mainly on the toms.

here is a picture of the track sequencer in reason, what should i change?
there are 4 different toms here, where 2 are very similar in sound..one
being a little brighter than the other.



here is the sound, its about 5 seconds in you here the roll..does it sound real?

http://www.thesmith.ca/weiss/tom_roll.mp3

david

The timing is off, it skips a bar or something.

Actually looking at the sequencer screenshot, it seems as if it should have twice the amount of beats in the tom fill.

markyboy

I'd say slow it down alot, tap along with it on a desk and try again. You're also missing a major bit at the very end of the attached clip. Keep up the good work!

Anima

I take it the break is for a drum and bass or similar type song? Sounds ok to me, maybe add in a few more hits here and there.

jtsuited

Play the midi data in using a midi device. Quantized toms sound silly and lifeless. You'll get much more human and nicer sounding piece.

Martyr

Thanks for the response.
I'm not using the loop for anything, i was just practicing on the tom rolls.
Messed about with the velocity again last night & that seems to help alot.
It still doesn't sound right, but it might pass most listeners as being realistic with some bass in the background

Ardent

Average Joe wrote:

Thanks for the response.
I'm not using the loop for anything, i was just practicing on the tom rolls.
Messed about with the velocity again last night & that seems to help alot.
It still doesn't sound right, but it might pass most listeners as being realistic with some bass in the background

This is it. The more you listen the more you'll convince yourself there are flaws in it. First time I listened to it, it sounded fine. I'm sure it would sound even better in a mix.

If you really wanted to get a realistic, non-quantized roll, I'd record at a fairly slow tempo and tap out the notes on a midi controller. Doesn't matter if you're tapping just the same note, you can move the notes to the relevant tom sounds after you're done recording.