Anyone doing this?

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zumbido
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Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2005 11:25 pm
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Anyone doing this?

Post by zumbido »

My latest 'memorized' method is this:

Start with multitracked drums, for best results.

Next, I optimize each of the Kick, Snare and Toms’ tracks to -0.1 dB. Since I'm replacing, I'm only interested in 'driving' Drumagog. This way, a sound/hit that tops off at -0.1 dB will be the equivalent to a MIDI velocity of 127 (or 126?).

I do not change the original Hihat, Cymbals/Overheads level! Well, sometimes I'll set the peak Hihat level at -6.0 dB. I get the best results utilizing the original Hihat but replacing EVERYTHING else. More on my cymbals’ replacing method later. I do need the headroom on the Hihat as I usually EQ and add a bit of ambiance.

Then, since I use Pro Tools, I'll tweak with Beat Detective. I prefer a very tight overall drum performance.

After I have made all my timing and level changes, I transfer these audio files over to my PC. Here I run Drumagog within Cubase.

What I have learned, is that since I have consistent drum levels from one project to the next, running Drumagog has become effortless. I often use BFD, so if a maximum MIDI velocity of 127 is too much, I'll change the incoming velocities to a prescribed maximum in BFD. I might set the parameters to a minimum of 64 and a maximum of 120. In other words, I can control the velocity effect within BFD and/or Drumagog.

With this method, going from one production to the next is very easy and very consistent.

As far as cymbals, I write the crashes with MIDI in Pro Tools. It’s very simple - find the start of the audio and insert a MIDI note. Once completed, I transfer the MIDI over to the PC/Cubase.

If the toms’ parts are relatively simple, I’ll write the MIDI and forgo utilizing Drumagog.

I open up all the audio and MIDI in Cubase and have a template for the drums’ set up (i.e., Drumagog, BFD, etc.) that I reuse. Changing out sounds is easy from production to production.

If I use gogs for the kick, snare and toms, I’ll in addition, mix in the ambiance channels from BFD. To do this I set up additional audio tracks (usually just kick and snare) insert Drumagog and send to BFD. I'll mute the Direct Kick and Snare but keep the ambiance channels on. This way I can keep the all important bleed sounds.

This works great for me. And I have NOT had any latency issues that can't be handled with a miniscule global offset. I sync the PC to the Mac running PT.

The audio tracks that are sent via Drumagog, Gogs and BFD line up with any MIDI tracks going directly to BFD.

My PC, running Cubase, Drumagog and BFD, is synched to my Mac, running ProTools. I advance Cubase 3-4 subrames and everything locks time and time again.

Consistency, consistency, consistency.

By the way, I run PT 5 on a Mac OS9 and Cubase 5 on a PC XP. Plus, a second Mac OS 9 with Logic that I do most of the MIDI sequencing that is sent to Cubase (RealGuitar, RealStrat) and Gigastudio. I have never been interested in learning the MIDI aspect of Cubase.
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