Subject:enhancing the beat vs. melody

Posted by: Kur_rider

Date:9/4/2006 6:20:45 PM

Hi,

I'm new to this, and NOT a musician! I have a track of latin guitar music and I want to enhance or make more clear the underlying beat. Is it better to add a loop as a second track with a single drum beat or to use some other feature, like the soft synth? and how would I go about that?

Thanks,
Kur_rider

Subject:RE: enhancing the beat vs. melody

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:9/5/2006 10:56:45 AM

Hi Kur_rider,

You could do either.

Each poses its own set of problems: You have to find the right drum Loop to enhance the Latin guitar track. But it's the easiest task to do in your case.

You could also use One-shots, but you'd have to know some music theory, or at least get a handle on the Latin guitar track and drop the One-shots to accent the parts of the Latin guitar you feel need stressing.

Using a soft synth is a bit more complicated as it requires you not only know the interface of the soft synth being used, but you'd also have to create the drum beat from scratch. (And since you're not a musician, that presents a hurdle.) But it's the more customizable of the options.

You can either enter the beats manually (using your mouse) or using a MIDI controller (which is preferred). Configuring and using a MIDI controller is another ballgame. They typically use traditional MIDI connections but many also support USB now.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: enhancing the beat vs. melody

Reply by: Kur_rider

Date:9/5/2006 10:25:17 PM

Thanks,

I'm going with the one-shots placed on a separate track and using the beat ruler to help with placement. I found a good piece of percussion that sounds identical to one in the music. However, when i put the one-shot onto the beat ruler sometimes it comes out exactly in sync with the music an other times its off slightly? Why is that?

Could it be that the music is not in 4/4 time? How would I figure out what it is? Can the program tell me?

Subject:RE: enhancing the beat vs. melody

Reply by: randygo

Date:9/5/2006 11:12:08 PM

Are you certain the beat ruler corresponds to your track? Is your track beatmapped, or have you mapped the tempo so the beat ruler is in sync with the track?

Cheers,

Randy

Subject:RE: enhancing the beat vs. melody

Reply by: Kur_rider

Date:9/5/2006 11:27:07 PM

No, I'm not certain. The track is beatmapped. How do I make sure its in sync with the beat ruler?

Subject:RE: enhancing the beat vs. melody

Reply by: thenoizzbox

Date:9/6/2006 4:59:04 AM

Personally I would go the Soft Synth route with a dedicated drum sampler driven by MIDI tracks because it's a much quicker workflow (IMO) that is also more flexible down the line when you want to change things around (individual instrument sounds, the beat/groove itself, etc).

There are a lot of options when time comes to choose drum generation softwre. There are "simple" drum samplers like Battery and DR-008 and more "complete" solutions that also give you pre-made grooves/beats like Jamstix, EZDrummer, Guru or BFD.

Personally I user FXpansion's DR-008 for 2 main reasons. First is because I love DR-008 itself. Even if it's an older program (last updated in 2004) it works very well on my not so state-of-the-art computer and its interface and features just feel right to me (it's both a multiple velocities drums sampler and a dedicated drum synth that sounds amazing).

The second reason is that, I was actually a drummer early in my career (I played both guitar and drums for several years before concentrating on guitar) and I know how to build realistic drum tracks. I can program drums in MIDI easily and I'm always aware of the "limitations" of a real drummer. For example, a real drummer will never play more than 4 notes/hits at once (a human just has 4 limbs!) and the hi-hats do not keep on playing when the drummer is playing a fill just to point out 2 virtual drummers' beginners mistakes. I prefer to keep control over what is played exactly instead of relying on automated beat generation algorythms like in EZDrummer or Jamstix and DR-008 fits the bill perfectly for me. It's a very efficient piece of audio software (low CPU usage) and will sound as good (or as bad) as the samples you load into it or the syhtesized drums you program. There are many great drum samples collections around (both free and commercial) so finding good sounds is not very hard.

If you are not very musically inclined (yet!) then a more automated solution like Jamstix, EZDrummer or BFD may be better suited to your workflow.

My $0.02

Subject:RE: enhancing the beat vs. melody

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:9/6/2006 6:24:00 AM

> The track is beatmapped. How do I make sure its in sync with the beat ruler?

Just because the track is beatmapped doesn’t mean the tempo doesn’t drift. The beatmapper is only capable of mapping one measure. If all the measures aren’t at a constant tempo, the song will drift as it’s played. You may have to alter the tempo of the project every so often to get it back in sync with the music.

~jr