How to make VST drums sound REAL (Addictive Drums, EZ Drummer, Steven Slate)

►► The Free guide mentioned in the video has been UPDATED. It is now entitled "The 7 Steps to a KILLER Indie Song." Click below to get it for free: www.theindiemusiclab.com/7ste...
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Have you ever struggled with getting a realistic drum sound from your virtual (VST) midi drum software? (Addictive Drums, EZ Drummer, Steven Slate Drums, Superior Drummer, etc...)
If so, then today you're going to learn my top 4 tips for making virtual drums sound REAL.
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0:00 Intro
0:51 Tip #1: Record it... Don't draw it in
3:59 Tip #2: Never ever ever ever ever...
6:34 Tip #3: Think like a drummer
8:56 Tip #4: Use these 3 plugins

[@swangonzalez4797]

I always draw. You can get away using fingers on a pad if the song is simple 2 and 4 stuff. But I prefer drawing. Always. It takes more time definitely. But you can program more intricate and complex fills and beats that way. Given that you know how a real drummer plays. Ghost notes on a keyboard or pad might be too difficult to record live. So I draw. It gives me more control. If your'e not lazy. The real key in drawing however is the quantizing. I almost never quantize using the command. I do it by altering notes or group of notes. Nudging them by hairs off the gridline. It's tedious but well worth the effort. I randomize the timing in subtle ways. I also mess with the velocities. The trick is to keep everything subtle. That human feel is really just.... very subtle timing deviations from the grid and fluctuations in velocities. All very subtle. If you were a drummer you can use electronic drums. If you program techno or simple pop beats you can get away with a pad or keyboard. But if you want to simulate what a real drummer can do and are not a drummer......nothing beats drawing. You just have to understand how a real drummer plays. And believe me you can have killer drums if you learn how to draw.

[@sayid3987]

My lord, how unself aware are you, that you somehow repeated yourself 9 times in such a short burst.

[@swangonzalez4797]

@@sayid3987 ( Yawn )

[@no.mids.brando6458]

@@sayid3987 grammar wasn’t the best but he’s absolutely right. there’s damn near no way to get precise metal fills using this method

[@FranFuzz]

Totally agree! 🤝🏻… tho you have to know how to play drums or have a clear idea of how to do it.

[@linuspowers]

I tried a drum pad and very quickly realized I'm far more successful tabbing drums. It's absolutely necessary for intricate styles of music

[@marcoscortelazzo]

I use Reaper with ezDrummer. I often choose between the midi loops that the vst offers me, staying as close as possible to my idea. Then, before the ezDrummer vst, I put the reaper MIDI humanizer: it's a plug in that adds randomness to velocity and timing. the result is very good and time saving. thank you for your video #bbesoundstudio ❤

[@nicholasjensen1077]

That's really neat! I'll have to try using the midi humanizer to see the results.

[@improvewitherror]

Didn't know that existed in Reaper, I'm going to give that a try. Thanks!

[@MonsieurVersatile]

Your 'every plugin on' clip is about 15dB louder than without the plugins on so of course it sounds much better!

[@edisongarcia94]

Thanks for this awesome video. You really gave much helpful advice for improving sampled drums. Also I dig the recording it’s pretty good man!

[@theindiemusiclab]

Appreciate that! I’m so glad you found it helpful.

[@diegocazz8014]

I was waiting for this!!

[@Paulie1978100]

Excellent video bro!! This helps a lot!

[@spagloballegalconsultancy788]

This was a really good video. Really enjoyed this. There are dudes who charge for online courses that teach these exact steps and tips. Nice to see you opening this up for the community. Loosey Goosie baby :-D

[@deesee2008]

Thank you for your advice.Excellent

[@austinmurphy3933]

Excellent coverage of this subject.

[@GourlieRecords]

This is gold! Great video

[@broccoliking6668]

Very helpful, thank you so much!

[@sheLovesG]

I don’t draw it in or play. I either find existing midi files of pro session drummers or extract from the plugin. You can do this on most of them if not all but there are also many 3d party creators. I just find the most appropriate basic part to start, edit a little if needed but usually I don’t as there’s enough content available now to find the right basic groove and usually I just loop it and get started. I also will often find one alternative loop just to mark verse/chorus changes but no intros/outros or fills until I’ve got a robust structure going. Singers and musicians will give you more consistent performances without all the fills and changes. I know that sounds counterintuitive but musicians and singers react to the groove like anyone else and when it’s get hyped or drops to say just a hat and a kick they follow those cues and you don’t want that. Again it sounds weird but the final product will be of higher impact if the melodic performances stay really locked in while the groove varies underneath. So after all that you go back and add or edit the midi track and again you can find pro midi performances everywhere now. And I still do actually play things in too once in awhile.

[@catsofthestreet9547]

Do you recommend a specific cat for these pro midi drum loops?

[@av8tordonny398]

I’m brand new at this and trying to figure it all out. This is very helpful. Thank you!

[@theindiemusiclab]

Thank you! I’m so glad you found it helpful.

[@MoishHas]

Very good tips!!! Thanks

[@onimisilovesonmusic4548]

Nice content as usual..thanks

[@EqDior]

Very nice vid. love looking at others work flow and craft.

[@GeorgeAmodei21]

yeah, we all think to Quantize thinking it will be Accurate, but then found out soon that need to Play LIVE on the PADS or Keys to REC. like you said Kick/Snare CLosed/Open HH, Toms, Crashes. is the way that works best for me. Great Videos, Thank you for taking the time to so people this! George Amodei

[@omerktee9261]

That's was so informative and important. Thanks

[@specialbeat]

Hi. Great video. Quick question. Are the plugins you are using, are they on the drum master out? Thanks

[@xInfisphere]

So informative!!!

[@netuno_music]

Great tutorial. I just got the RC 20 and can't wait to use it on my drums

[@theindiemusiclab]

Love that! RC20 is 🔥

[@ShikariHybryd]

RC 20 is probably my most used plugin. Adding a little bit of noise and distortion (along with the stereo effects) makes digital stuff just sound analog and amazing.

[@burningstar3466]

Just got your guide. Great to meet likeminded people.

[@theindiemusiclab]

So glad you’re here! Thanks for watching :)

[@sword-and-shield]

Former drummer. You can grid it, then humanize it, kinda like you are already doing, just top down instead of bottom up like you do. Some workflows might be more efficient having it to the grid as the whole song is coming together, especially with other instruments. I get ya tho, and I prefer playing in the drums for the groove creation. Its just wrong to assume no grid its the best way to work. I can grid the drums, work, and then bring em right where they need to be feel wise quickly at the end. This makes editing, or comping parts, different fill ideas, bridges, pre chorus etc. far more efficient as the song is coming up. The groove creation part? Yeah gotta be played in. There is no loop chopping going to get me halfway satisfied to what I would create by playing as I listen....But hey this is Art ! work the tools as you need for you to produce your art for you, that is what matters.

[@ollonelycat]

Do you send your drums to individual channels, for instance to send reverb only to the snare... or do you just effect the entire kit with the same plugin?

[@theindiemusiclab]

It depends. I generally start with the entire kit but then if I end up wanting gated snare reverb, for example, I might isolate the snare that way. By default though, I prefer to start on the macro level before making adjustments to individual tracks.

[@Randuski]

I would add something else to "think like a drummer". Understanding how drummers play is important. Most drum plugins prevent you from certain things, like playing an open hi hat sound and a closed hi hat sound as the same time. But you have to keep in mind drummers have two feet, and two hands. You can't really hit 3 or 4 things at the same time. Usually you're not hitting the hi hat when you hit the crash cymbal, if you're doing rolls on the snare and toms, you don't have enough hands to also hit hats and cymbals. I've heard a lot of goofy things in tracks that don't make sense like these things haha

[@johnnyvishnevskiy8090]

Honestly I don't think it matters. I think it's cool that you can do something real drummers can't. Unless you are going for perfect realism, all that matters is that it complements your song well and it sounds good.

[@Randuski]

@@johnnyvishnevskiy8090 well yea. But the point of the video is how to make drums sound real. If you play something a drummer can't play it no longer sounds real haha

[@johnnyvishnevskiy8090]

@@Randuski oh I didn't watch the video, went straight to the comments section lmao

[@Randuski]

@@johnnyvishnevskiy8090 🤣🤣🤣

[@aether3395]

@@johnnyvishnevskiy8090 it matter if want to have a realistic sound and not something than even non musician will find weird, because they are not used to ear unrealistic drums

[@lickguitars1276]

love the song and thanks for sharing the tutorial

[@theindiemusiclab]

You got it. Thanks!

[@rodrigoreyes2392]

thanks for sharing!!!

[@ravigunslinger]

I was interested in this video, because I use “fake drums”. Personally, my top tips would be: 1) get ezdrummer or superior drummer - both of these sound way more realistic than anything else I’ve heard, and they have quite a few expansions - there’s even a steve albini one (nirvana, pj Harvey, pixies). The caveat to all of this being, I’ve been so happy with ezdrummer that I haven’t properly researched other samplers, so maybe there are better ones available? 2) use midi files that have been triggered by real drummers - again, ezdrummer is great for this. It’s worth paying £20 for a pack of midi files, it sounds far more realistic than triggering with pads and infinitely better than programming the drums yourself. You can then make small edits to make the midi recordings suit your song. 3) try to route the individual drum tracks to your daw. This way you get a lot more control when mixing. 4) don’t over process. Personally I feel that any processing you do should have a specific purpose and be solving a specific problem. There’s a very real risk of making something sound less natural. Definitely don’t over compress. Slamming the compressor will turn something dynamic into something very uniform and machine-like. I have the tiniest amount of compression on the drum bus for “glue”. It’s barely audible. A nice tape emulator is good for glue too. 5) take time to get your levels right. I love ezdrummer, but the crash cymbals don’t sound particularly realistic to me, so I have them quite low in the mix. Check out my soundcloud, all of the songs were done using ezdrummer. You can see my journey from over-compressed programmed drums to something that hopefully sounds more realistic. www.soundcloud.com/ravigunslinger

[@Legaceybeats]

Nice video. good knowladge

[@Rgdonaire_07]

I use midi packs. Recording myself playing pads only works on a very simple part. But for subtlety and complexity, midi packs from real drummers are by far the best. With addictive drums you can tweak them for more authenticity.

[@Hermiel]

Cool tune!

[@StratsRUs]

Logic X Drummer, following a rhythm track of my recorded guitar works a treat for me.Can still play in certain regions too.All adds up to a very rhythmic groove.

[@theindiemusiclab]

That is a GREAT strategy my friend. Glad you brought it up 💯

[@foxeguitar8020]

I currently use studio one but I can't wait to get back to using Logic. I really miss the AI in logic with creating drum beats. The quantize feature works SOO much better than any DAW I have ever used. It literally picks up on the groove and instead of putting the note at the closest point in the grid it actually seems to realize what you were going for and puts everything right where it should be.

[@sergeipiano54]

Very good!

[@salthedrummer1]

great tips

[@Sekihoho]

Did you have a video how to Set the addictive drum kit sound like the real accoustic drum?

[@burningstar3466]

good points bro

[@OHHnoYOUdidntMAN]

holy shit i wasn't expecting Cough Syrup hahahaha, great song to use for an example of acoustic human-played drums! Great video!

[@theindiemusiclab]

Cough Syrup is never a bad move haha. Appreciate it!

[@burningstar3466]

Great tips. Thanks for your video.

[@BillGraper]

I do write in my drum beats & then copy/paste, but then I'm constantly making small edits for weeks, while I'm adding other things. I do drum fills, raise & lower the volume of hits, etc... I'm guilty of having everything right on the grid. Reaper does have a feature where you can quantize everything & set a certain percentage to offset the hits, or "humanize" them. You can set the amount of offset, and even pick which percentage you want to come in early or late. It's actually a pretty neat feature. I'm about to lay down a drum track for my new rock song, and I'm going to make it as human as possible. I'm thinking about playing the whole thing live & then make subtle changes, because no matter how good I am at drumming, I know I'll have some beats that are a little too far off. Anyway, NICE video! Everything you said is pure gold. :)

[@theindiemusiclab]

Very well said my friend. I am familiar with the humanize feature as Studio One has that as well, but I’m not a huge fan of it currently simply because every song is different and certain drum grooves sound better when they are “off” in a more intuitive way rather than algorithmic. That’s why I prefer features like 50% quantize because it mantains the initial early and late hits, just makes them slightly tighter

[@BillGraper]

@@theindiemusiclab Great point!

[@ramspencer5492]

First off... You're tracks sound good! 😎I like to go way, way more in there in a drum by drum basis (and drum bus) with compression (lots of parallel, EQ, saturation.... And make complex fake room mics and spaces.... There's so much you can do to make the drum sound so much more lively! And then later you can really hone in the drum parts.... With so much variation to play to the song... Including getting inspiration from all your favorite drummers on songs that have similar parts. There's so much you can do with the hi-hat.... Or with Toms... Rim shots..... If you have the time for it.... Let's say you're working on your own material. You can go crazy in the good way... Really soft ghost notes.... Transient designers. Gates. A lot of this can be done after the song is already produced. So long as you have the right feel for laying your main tracks down..... Already.

[@stevenoweswho]

Great tips

[@theindiemusiclab]

Appreciate it!

[@ChrisMichaelsChicago]

Before I start gluing the drum group, I kind of need to hear how it sits in with the rest of the music. It's subjective on ones mixing methodology. Some mix on the fly while tracking, some times it's already in your head. Some nice tips

[@AndyCampbellMusic]

Look at Jamstix 4. Use that to play the sounds in SSD, AD or other drum software.

[@xPoisonDashx]

the trick is buying edrums with good sensitivity and trigger the vst with it 💙

[@shigeon2668]

not if my mpc has anything to say about it

[@xPoisonDashx]

@@shigeon2668 What's mpc?

[@mikesmith1290]

That’s what I did. Turns out I’m shit on the drums! I play as best as I can, and hand edit the midi notes.

[@maxj9588]

Bravissimo!

[@abeahmed2581]

The thing where you said it's hard to add in clicked drums with variety or that it isn't optimal is 100 percent untrue

[@linuspowers]

I tab out my drums in Guitar Pro and it sounds way better than anything I could do with a pad. I also play metal though, so it's a very different beast

[@DomBurgess]

Good video.

[@MM-tt3np]

took me 30 sec and I found all 3 for free, gotta love internet ;)

[@martinnolin2315]

2:30 Yes you can use a keyboard instead of a pad controller, but I would prefer using a pad control instead because it sounds even more realistic.

[@jasonshrestha]

how much latency do you record it in? 128 buffer, and I get around 5ms latency. I feel like dropping it to 32 samples rate gives the best result, but so many clips. how do you fix this? Just get a better mac ?

[@aether3395]

5ms latency is way enough. in real world there is more latency than that when you ear what your playing on instruments. for example 5ms is like playing 1,5 meter away from the amp of your electric guitar . so you can see that there is no need at all to reach 32 buffer size.

[@mackson72]

When I'm recording a Metallica cover song I use no quantizing at all and I get the best results.

[@CarboyXXX]

RC-20 is so hard for me to get right. Can never put just enough, always end up overprocessing.

[@KeenX72]

I gotta be real with you dude, I straight up couldn't hear a difference from that RC-20 plugin. Great video tho, got a lot of good pointers 👌

[@theindiemusiclab]

I may have used RC-20 a bit more subtly here than I generally do because that plug-in does make a big difference in most instances. Thanks for the kind words!

[@Sangejzer]

You said sidechained reverb is the same concept as gated reverb just different intensity. But isn't it actually something exactly opposite?

[@kukuhwiguna5431]

Do you have any recommend setting for best result humanizing in studio one?

[@theindiemusiclab]

No. I’ve tried the default settings tho and it seems like a solid place to start from.

[@kukuhwiguna5431]

@@theindiemusiclab ahh okay, thank's man👍🏻

[@jasoncruizer]

Cubase > Draw in drums > Logical editor (Randomise velocity between 60-100) = drums sound real. Also add groove/swing.

[@officialjoshdb]

great info bro! RIP my drumming career though haha

[@theindiemusiclab]

Appreciate it my guy!

[@Edis90Vienna]

the best is addictive xln drums ;-)

[@MasterKydis]

What DAW is that? New Cubase?

[@theindiemusiclab]

I use Studio One

[@HugoDaSilva7]

thats a cool video....it wouldn't be better to use the compressor attack at zero in order to preserve the first tranzients of the beat? that way it would clear the sound more, no? Thanks

[@theindiemusiclab]

Appreciate the comment! If what you’re after is to “preserve” the initial transient then you want a slower attack. If you want a bit more of a “squashed” or “punchy” sound, that’s when you want a faster attack. It’s all trial and error. Practice using different attack and release times and get a feel for how the different settings effect the drums

[@HugoDaSilva7]

@@theindiemusiclab Thanks for the reply, But you are talking about the reverb here, so its not the opposite?if you duck the reverb transients , you are leting the drum transients free of reverb, clering it up, no?

[@theindiemusiclab]

Oh I see what you’re saying. Yeah, you generally want a fast attack on a ducking reverb because like you said, it helps maintain the dry drum transients

[@Okamiiee]

When you are recording different takes, are you just doing on a duplicate channel?

[@mxss.12313]

rc 20 glitches like crazy on my computer. Shame because it sounds incredible

[@theindiemusiclab]

Yeah that’s a real pain when plugins do that :(

[@planetcorpus]

Only no3 is really useful, the rest depends on the style u produce. Lern the physics of drumming and u‘ll be fine

[@homecookinmusicAZ]

I watched a video showing how to make looped drums more humanized by using melodyne where you can add deviations to the pitch and timing. Its not as good as recording it yourself but maybe another option with some good acoustic drum loops

[@theindiemusiclab]

Hmm that’s an interesting move. I’ve used Melodyne to adjust timing sometimes with guitars and bass, but I’ve never really used it as a pitch adjusting plug-in outside of vocals. Thanks for the idea!

[@EgoShredder]

@@theindiemusiclab It's a very old method going back to the 1990s and MIDI sequencing. People would go into the settings of their synths / drum machines and pitch bend the snares etc with MIDI controller data. Infact some synths like my Yamaha MU100R have this builtin as an automated function, where it will respond to note velocity and raise the pitch of the note slightly with harder hits or open / close the filters to brighten or soften the sound based on velocity data.

[@anarchychicken69]

These drums sound like good drums but are a little fake for my kind of music. It's Punk and Metal so they need a real sh sounding distortion like done on tape sound. There is Crunch on some kits in EZ drummer but I think it's still a be too clean and well fake sounding in my mix. Maybe it's me back EQ or compression. Would Love a free plug in or low cost one for Dirty drums that still sound Studio Recorded. If anyone got any idea's love to hear them.

[@aether3395]

you can use the bleed in superior drummer to add realism

[@dougleydorite]

Why not put it to the grid and humanize, then go from there?

[@theindiemusiclab]

That’s definitely a valid approach. I just don’t like it, nor do I recommend it. As I mentioned in the video, I’m a believer in getting good at recording the midi with a pad or keyboard esp when you want to emulate a real drum kit. However, I will use the draw + humanize approach if I don’t have any of midi devices around, so like I said, it’s def a valid way of doing it.

[@CarboyXXX]

You can draw it in, but I know from experience that it just takes way too long to edit all of the velocities, quantizing, etc. If I could play drums well I could have a loop down in 10 minutes max. Being able to play an instrument is a cheat code for production.

[@joebryanproduction4908]

The quantize isnt that bad...still sounds humanized

[@guitarz99]

superior drums are real recorded drums how are they fake?

[@scottsmith4145]

The most important thing to getting real sounding drums is do NOT use the metal (cymbals, hats, rides) samples in vsts,, they all sound horrible. You absolutely must use the real thing in your studio which means extra work but its worth it. All the other sounds in the good vsts are fine. The metal is just too complex to sample and get a realistic sound.

[@tranceemerson8325]

sorry bud, but some of us are kinda terrible performers. if you do draw it in, putting your notes in a bit late or early sometimes.

[@randalscandal1588]

It doesn't sound natural at all. Get an edrum kit and drummer and actually play or have the part played.

[@RobertTeachesEnglish]

I'm glad I'm not the only one hearing that.

[@sheLovesG]

@@RobertTeachesEnglish that’s because he’s not a drummer. But I know you can create realistic drum parts with virtual drum instruments but you have to start with midi files of performances of actual pro drummers and then edit it to fit the arrangement of your songs. It can be done but he’s not really doing it lol!

[@jimsykes6843]

Or you could hire a real drummer....we're around...some of us even work for free, lol

[@henry4506]

Never buy Addictive Drums.....

[@vstkingdom8732]

6 years ago I recorded a song using an electronic midi drum , using ezdrummer , and after that i made the corrections manually, and the result was very reallistic🤘🏻😎✌🏻🎸🥁🎛🎙🎹