once mixed every bit as good as the analog recordings I made of real kits
Good for you, but I have to say there is absolutely no way in general
Here comes my day off Rant & Roll! haha
I get utilizing drum programs as writing tools(me too sometimes).
But I gotta come out strong for my drumming brethren. I'm a drummer since 16 years old, I studied at Dick Grove college of music back in the day, I read music, I studied under the tutelage of Dave Garibaldi, Simon Phillips(learned space boogie from the man himself 8), Peter Erskine, Louis Conti and others blah, blah, blah 🧨🧨🧨🥁(LA name drop qualifier disease😂)
I despise 80% of modern drum sounds since the early 90's when STP turned a kick drum into a klick drum, the super gated/sampled/triggered/replaced/superior, BFD etc all sound like they have little to do with nuanced musicianship or musicality imv.
IMO It's very hard to argue against getting a real drummer and chasing the gold standard of Bonham, Copeland, AVH, and a whole bunch of yesteryear dudes, different styles of course, but those first 3 captured performances that helped sell 1/2 a billion legendary records while sounding exciting and down right dangerous, far from safe, adrenaline generators while still possessing that pop sensibility, none of the programs available could come even close to generating that kind of energy or vibe.
A great drummer in a great room unshackled by someone telling him to "boom tap" to a click is unmatched today as well, unless a mechanical creative decision is desired, a drum track should sound like a human being on a drum kit communicating with other musicians and not like a rigid "boom/tap" grid aligned click track amplified wall clock, there is no danger or excitement in that whatsoever and it is about all I hear these days. All those sampled sounds are fabulous captures, but i've NEVER heard any of them come close to the real deal in execution, i've also never played an electronic kit(including the new Alesis) that hasn't had me jump off it within 30 seconds smh, they always turn me off.
I don't comprehend why anyone with the option of a real drummer would voluntarily cut them out and settle for that STERILE program sound considering the sheer ubiquity of it already in existence, it's been beaten to death and its BORING AF IMO. Don't people want to stand out from the crowd?
Hire a great drummer if you can afford one or really care about achieving premium results, because the band goes as the drummer goes..... of course this is jmo, imo, ime, ymmv, fwiw, noi
Here are some lousy sound quality cell phone vids of me sitting in playing drums with a band about 10-15 or so years ago, not my circus not my clowns(not my drums or gig), no prep flying by the seat of the pants for sure, lets see a drum program or electronic kit come even a little bit close to matching this "nothing special" energy level? It's just not going to happen
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hvlaulxwprez97axebfll/Jeff-Ruiz-Kraken-102407-3.MPG?rlkey=zhzq4d54cz3zfyi972r2cd4ig&dl=0www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7iitfbnehyfec9e0zhxh2/Jeff-Ruiz-Kraken-102407-4.MPG?rlkey=eqfr81ftj2zfapmx42304l6fk&dl=0
