Teaching an Analog Man Digital Tricks

Technology has advanced substantially over the decades. It used to be that you would have to save up a ridiculous amount of money and book a studio to make a presentable record. Now, anyone with an ear and some gear and software can create an entire record in your bedroom. Drummers are faced with either roadblocks or a new creative workflow (depending on how you look at it) with the advent of drum software. Specifically - drum programming.

Personally, I believe that there are several benefits to technology with drums. To elaborate, most of the new electronic concoctions can 100% augment my creativity behind my cylindrical world. Electronic kits can get you sounds that you otherwise wouldn't have thought of. Also, for rehearsal, e-kits can be spectacular for picking through minute little details in a song. Who would've thought that you can hear better without a bunch of loud (yet beautiful) metal pancakes clanging around: shocking revelation!

Now. Onto the binary void. Most people seem to think drum programming is for the trendy djent guit-fiddler, alas, they are greatly mistaken. Matt Halpern, who happens to be the drummer in one of these trendy djent bands (Periphery), has said time and time again that programming parts can help in a myriad of ways. First, practical application: if you don't have money out the wazoo, then it can be extremely hard to track an acoustic set at home. It is also great for coming up with patterns you otherwise wouldn't have - if you are having a touch of block. Finally, you can create a decent sounding, detailed demo to listen to and dissect. With that, you can pick the track apart and make any changes, that need be, before committing it to the final product. With all of this maybe we can start to embrace programming little by little.

Although I believe that technology can be greatly beneficial to us cylinder smackers, I do think that some things should definitely be kept analog if you will. For example, programming should be used strictly for writing and demo purposes, and having programmed main drum parts on a record is unacceptable to me. The energy, rawness, and imperfections of a drummer and acoustic kit gives the album and mix character and humanity. Also, triggers are a big no. This has been debated on the interwebs so much, so I'm not going to elaborate further on that. Finally, if you are a drummer, don't become reliant on programming to write good drum parts. You are the one with the musical ear and the brain for the music, exercise it.

Cool, that's the end of my spiel, thanks for sticking around this far.