Anemic Drum Machines

[WeHuntKings]

So we are recording the new record with an Alesis SR-16. It sounds good and clear, but they are coming across a little too...lean? Not enough punch and too much high end. We are just going straight into the board, I think there's a few preamps and other doohickeys. What are some tips to get some really fat drum machine sounds? I want them to sound like Godflesh.

[fever606]

Compress, compress, compress...

Overdrive / distortion and EQ are your friends, too...

[neonblack]

I'll have to find it, but there's a message board post somewhere where one of the guys from the Austerity Program talks about how they make their drum machine sound so huge.

I'll find it.

[Derelict78]

God flesh layered drums with an HR-16.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ju ... d=13015316

[DRodriguez]

Layering, eq, compression, harmonic distortion, add low end via plugins like bark of dog (free). The beauty of drum machines is that they are not realistic necessarily, so you can mess with them to hell and back. If you want to send me a sample and give an idea of what your aim is, I can give you more specific advice.

[tuj]

compress, squash the fuck out of that thing.

Alesis Microlimiters are a good cheap way of doing this. So are the Tapco SQUEEZ compressor.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

what u really want is parallel compression (dry/wet blend)
the blend is nice on different fx too w/ drums.

also, amp / cab sims. gain-y stuff w/ EQs. crappy multifx.

[Faldoe]

I'll have to find it, but there's a message board post somewhere where one of the guys from the Austerity Program talks about how they make their drum machine sound so huge.

I'll find it.

They use a Boss DR-660. They have their own PA they bring with them to shows and (IIRC) they record the drums through the PA for the records.

[kbit]

You do recall correctly, Justin mentioned they always recorded yhe drums out of speakers in a live room to make them sound less flat or whatever.

[neonblack]

And reverb on the drums.

Also, never use toms on drum machine. Bass, snare, cymbals

[BoatRich]

And reverb on the drums.

Also, never use toms on drum machine. Bass, snare, cymbals

Any reason? I double the bass drum/floor tom for accents when using punk beats (also is there anyway to get a drum machine to actually play a punk beat..? Like is that too dependent on human error to work or something?)

[neonblack]

I dunno actually, that was just advice from Austerity Program.

I think it's just because those three sounds are the most jarring/cutting/punchy and they make more effective drum lines. Of course, that's probably if you're going for the scary robot drums like Austerity Program do.

I'm not really sure about the punk beat thing. Maybe if there was a way to program some variation or swing or something.

Lately I've just been really interested in crazy robotic beats. Stuff that a human couldn't physically play

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

u can make punk beats on a drum machine. double up your tempo, get into that 200+ range. layer up and use different hats, cymbals, toms etc to get it more authentic. even tho the base beat is pretty simple, theres a lot of intricacies in the percussion. also, theres usually a lot of fills, switches and changes in these types of drums so you're prob gunna want to make a few patterns and chain them or make longer patterns too depending on your drum machine.

i always find it easier to start at a normal tempo and make a beat, then turn up the BPM way up and you'll start to get into that territory.

also toms are great. esp those laser e.toms

[Faldoe]

You do recall correctly, Justin mentioned they always recorded yhe drums out of speakers in a live room to make them sound less flat or whatever.

Maybe they used to do that? In this blerp on their blog, Justin said the PA method was the worst sounding for recording the drums:

http://www.austerityprogram.com/studio/ ... 040709.htm

And reverb on the drums.

Also, never use toms on drum machine. Bass, snare, cymbals

I'm putting a PA together for drum machine stuff, so I haven't tried it yet, but I've got some stuff written that has a kind of tribal tom thing akin to Neurosis and it sounds pretty sick with the can headphones. May not translate well with the PA, though. I'll have to wait and try it. It's mostly toms, kick and snare with the toms being a floor and lower tom. The higher toms, at least with the SR-16 and HR-16 (I'm using them both) don't sound that great.

[DRodriguez]

One trick with amped drum machines is to blend it with the direct signal, but use mostly the direct.