Post
by dannyvocal » Thu Mar 07, 2024 2:59 pm
I agree with those saying you should copy the midi drum kit track to other midi tracks (and when you do, don't forget like I once did that those notes won't sound until you've also added the same kit to those tracks - midi notes are only triggers of synths, so no sound without the synth you are triggering). But I would add another artistic recommendation. In my view, the most "critical" drum parts around which all drum and non-drum instruments are going to revolve are the kick (also known as a bass drum typically) and the snare. When you sit on a drum throne (seat) you will find the kick right in front of you but furthest away and the snare also in front of you (not perfectly, it might be a touch to the left, but close enough to the middle). If the midi information is triggering an entire grouping of drum instruments (and this recommendation is for a more traditional rock song - obviously, you might decide to only use one or two percussion instruments for rhythm) I will always copy that midi track three times. On two of them I have deleted all drum instruments INSTEAD of the kick and snare which will then rest individually on separate tracks, because of how important in my mind the snare and the kick are. You want to process those very carefully. They are often in the roughly 95 Hz sound range. It is important to process those in particular individually - you'll want to use some combination of compression if needed, or EQ, to make those two instruments stand out particularly strongly. Those will be the only drum instruments to pan right in the middle at 0 (along with the voice and the bass guitar) since those instruments are always roughly in the middle. After processing the sounds of those two, the remaining two tracks you copied of drum midi information can be panned to the left and the right. I don't think one's average rock listener (or anyone else) has the ears to distinguish if you have properly panned the toms, cymbals, or hi-hats sufficiently to the right or left, or if the correct instrument is to the left when it is normally on the right, etc. For those remaining instruments (not kick or snare) I just delete the remaining instruments so that some are panned to the right, and some to the left. You'll also want the voice (if this is a sung song) and the bass guitar right in the middle. Everything else can normally be panned around voice and two critical drum instruments. So this splitting of midi tracks has been useful for an artistic, sonic, reason.
