Think like a drummer
Programming drums with adherence to the limitations of a real drummer and their drum kit is a subject we’ve covered a few times before in , and it’s every bit as important in relation to fills as it is beats.
First and foremost, with only four limbs, a drummer can only hit a maximum four things at a time, and with two of those limbs being their feet, two of said things have to be the kick drum and hi-hat pedal. So, if you ever hear more than two drums (excluding the kick) and/or cymbals being struck at the same time in your fill, you need to delete all but two of them.
Although a skilled drummer might sound as temporally tight as a drum machine, in actuality, their strokes will rarely land perfectly on the beat – much like the world’s greatest
COMPUTER MUSIC
archer will hit the bullseye every time but only very occasionally in its absolute centre. It’s this subtle deviation from perfectly ‘on the nail’ that gives a live drum track its rhythmic feel, and to emulate it, all you have to do is shift the notes of your fill away from the sequencer’s quantise grid. The same applies to dynamics: no two consecutive hits will land with the exact same force, so be sure to subtly fluctuate MIDI velocity from note to note.
Then there are the timbral variations that also occur from stroke to stroke – particularly with regard to the snare. Your sampled drum kit needs to offer at least two snare articulations – regular hit and rimshot – and by combining these with the aforementioned velocity variations, you should be able to coax convincing fills from this most vital element of the kit. Some virtual drum instruments even facilitate differentiation of left and right hand strokes – surely the most subtle of details – automatically switching between separately sampled left/right hits on the one note, or offer independent left/right samples on separate notes.
Finally, to really earn your virtual drummer stripes, you’ll want to familiarise yourself with drum rudiments. These are specific sticking patterns that constitute a sort of vocabulary of drumming, and while you don’t need to know all of them, becoming au fait with the essentials – flams, drags, ruffs, rolls and paradiddles – will greatly expand your fillprogramming horizons. Google ‘drum rudiments’ to find plenty of websites dedicated to the subject.