A Tiny Introduction To Drums
Drums will come in two varieties,
synthesized, and as a recording of a real drum.
I think the rule of thumb is,
the less computer like a drum is the better.
Here is an example of a synthetic kick drum,
followed by a recording of one.
*DRUMS*
There are enough filters and knobs in computer world,
to make a synthetic drum sound real, and vice versa.
But musicians care about the history of their instruments,
even though things may sound the same, it is better to do it right.
I once saw a music producer take some drum recordings into a tunnel,
re-record them with the echo of a tunnel and call it his own version.
I think that is the correct way to approach instruments,
customize, make your own, or just go out into a construct site and smash some things.
Take care of your drums, make a little audio or video tutorial about how they came into being,
people who will enjoy your music will appreciate the story behind it.
There are four types of drums that stick out in modern music,
a kick, a bass drum, a snare, and a tom.
Here is what a kick sounds like,
that is the drum we used before.
* KICKER *
Here is a bass drum,
note that it is a little bit softer.
* BASS DRUM *
This is a snare drum,
* SNARE *
and here is a tom,
* TOM *
Drums most often play a melody so simple,
that it is not even called a melody, but referred to as a pattern.
The most common drum pattern is called four-on-the-floor,
and that is playing a drum on every beat in a song.
The four-on-the-floor has an extra feature that can be applied to it,
it is called the backbeat, it is an additional drum that plays every other beat.
Here is an example showing the power of the backbeat,
in the first half you will hear four on the floor alone which will sound a little boring.
In the second half, I add the backbeat (an additional drum every other beat),
and the simple beat becomes more sophisticated and more pleasant to the ear
* BACK BEAT*
To create something more complex,
we mix drums together, and add additions features like clapping of hands.
A musician playing drums will often sit at a drum kit,
and a drum kit includes hi-hats, which is a kind of cymbal.
Here is the sound that hats make,
* HATS PLAY *
And here is an example of mixing drums together to create something interesting: