i kinda suck at drum programming.the problem is that i don't drum. the drums are the odd man out when it comes to music. if you can play guitar, you can learn to write for any other instrument. it's all just simple conversion: strings to keys, keys to strings, strings to brass or wind or reed. it's still just a melody.
but drums, wtf, i don't get it. this is not the case of the white man not understanding the boogie. i can program basic rhythms, and sometimes i get lucky by accident, but i don't anything but mimic.
of course, it's not like you need complicated drum patterns to be successful. in fact, with a few exceptions, the majority of popular music relies on the boom-boom-pow.
i don't know enough about electronic music to philosophize about the 4 on the floor drum beat. but i know enough about hip hop drums, and i've boiled it down to five general schools of thought, represented in name by the producer (imo) most associated with that approach.
a dr. dre drum:
hard-hitting, crisp and clean sound. incredibly basic pattern. almost non existent. rarely adds something new to the production, opting instead to just emphasize what's already there.
a dj premier drum:
always sampling a classic breakbeat of some type, and always invoking the golden age of that boom-bap.
a timbaland drum:
influenced by world music, somtimes indian. usually has some type of unusual (to hip hop) percussive instrument playing and some screeching or squawking vocal sample.
a danger mouse drum:
more complicated patterns (i'm not saying garth couldn't play them, i'm saying soulja boy can't). the project probably has some sort of backpacker, underground stamp on it.
a j. dilla beat:
free-flowing, non-quantized; jumpy in layman's terms. a lot of dilla beats (and he's kinda in a class by himself, even though a lot of people say they're influenced by him) are right on the verge of sounding off beat. that's because he's ill on the mpc like that.
i think i'm pretty much always doing preemo beats. let's see if i can branch out a little. anybody got any others? who am i missing?
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