So I have previously posted pros and cons on using acoustic drums and on using sampled drums… now it’s time to mix it up. Using a mix of both acoustic drums and triggered (sampled) drums is one of my favorite ways to produce drum tracks. Here are a couple things to consider…

One of the most common complaints about using triggered drums is the cymbal sound. If you don’t play drums, then you may not understand… but there is a lot of feel that goes into a good drummers cymbal work. Cymbals are really more of an art form than most other percussive instruments. That is why I typically like to record acoustic… “real” cymbals along with triggered drums. It is almost impossible to recreate the nuances of a hihat or ride cymbal. Sample libraries sound great, they really do… but cymbals are best served with the full artistic expression of the musician.

On the other hand; Most of the time the drums (kick, snare, toms) are far less expressive. This will really be determined by the player, music, and genre. However, for the most part these drums are typically squashed with compression to give the track consistent dynamics. This makes these kinds of drums great for triggering. Triggering your drum tracks will give you the control over consistency that is typically desired. Additionally, you can utilize a great selection of drum libraries for your drum tones.

There are, however, a couple things to keep in mind while mixing your acoustic and triggered drums. One thing to consider is the drum room you are tracking in. If you are using microphones for your cymbals then you will need to consider the room you are tracking in. Room sound and having the appropriate space is paramount in getting great cymbal recordings. If this is the route you are considering; then you will need to have some great microphones, in phase, with preamps and converters, in a room that sounds great… that may be a tall order to fill.

Additionally, consider how you plan on capturing the triggered drum sounds. Most drummers are not too excited about how bouncy mess pads are, and hard drum pads will bleed into your overhead mics. Although this presents a bit of a problem… it can be easier to overcome these issues than properly setting up microphones, purchasing preamps and converters, checking phase, getting drum tone, and all the other hassle that goes along with recording acoustic drums.

In the end, mixing acoustic drums and triggered drums has always been my favorite way to produce drum tracks. All the issues brought up in this post can be hashed out with a conversation with your musicians before they get to the session. The most important thing is to make sure you musician is comfortable enough to give you a great performance. Even the best engineering can’t make up for an uncomfortable performance from a struggling musician.  

Let’s start off with just saying; there are some real amazing drum libraries out there now! I do remember trying to use electronic drums, back in the 80s, to record my drum parts at home… and wow has this technology come a long way. There are some really great advantages electronic drums have, but there are also some drawbacks that need to be considered. Let’s take a brief look at some pros & cons of tracking sampled drums.

If you are looking for realistic sounding natural drums; one of my favorite programs is Superior Drummer from ToonTrack. As an engineer; I love the flexibility they give. As a drummer; I love the awesome selection of great sounding drums that are available. However, as with most sampled libraries, there are some drawbacks. One commonly forgotten drawback to using most sample libraries is called “Repetition Suppression”. This is a studied condition, that exists for all animals, where the neurons in the brain will actually stop firing as the brain detects repetition… in other words; our brains are wired to ignore repetition. I have talked about this before, with noise filtering, and now I bring it up with using sampled drums… in particular drum loops. Repetitive drum hits and especially loops can fall victim to repetition suppression.

One of the best ways to avoid this from happening to your drum tracks is also one of the coolest parts of using drum samples. Many times when drum samples are used, they are triggered from MIDI signals. If this is how you are using your drum samples; then time to get dynamic. Although you may not have control over using multiple samples for each drum, you may have control over making changes in the velocities of each hit. Going into your MIDI performance and changing the velocities of the drums is a great way to humanize your sampled drum sounds and to avoid repetition suppression.

Now that you have taken an even drum track, with all the same velocities, and totally messed it up… it is time to bring it back to a usable state. Send those drum hits, with the varied velocities, into your compressors. You may even want to set up a sidechain compressor and keep some of the original tone. As your velocities change your compressor will react differently while evening out the performance (depending on your ratio setting). Now you have variations with your sample library.

There are some sample libraries that utilize several sample of the same drums. These are great because they help to avoid this entire issue. However, if you are stuck with one sample per drum… then try out this trick. It will bring new life into your sampled tracks.