Make a Custom MIDI Drum Kit In Pro Tools using Xpand!2 - Pro Tools Tutorial - Intermediate

[@bradsmiley4270]

Just wanted to say thank you for opening my eyes to another dimension of Xpand!2. Well done video!

[@HighRoadMusician]

Awesome, can't wait to see what you do with it :-)

[@CHIG5748]

Repeating other comments here, this is the best video I’ve found on this plugin. Very helpful, thank you! 👍

[@HighRoadMusician]

I really appreciate that. Thank you!

[@knowalternativetradingco.2545]

This is an extremely valuable video! Learning to edit drum sounds = edit all sounds available within Xpand!2. Also a workflow video and mix down video that is enough to get anyone started without being overwhelming. You are one of those rare teachers who explains things sequentially, at a good pace, and without giving a ton of confusing side notes. I appreciate your style and I am subscribing.

[@HighRoadMusician]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. My channel covers a lot of different areas (Guitar, Music DIY, Topics) but I will certainly continue to make more of these these pro tools walk through videos. Do you have any suggestions for Pro Tools videos you'd like to see in the future?

[@knowalternativetradingco.2545]

@@HighRoadMusician I am pretty new to Pro Tools but find it very intuitive! I haven't yet seen a list of all your videos so I don't know what I could suggest. In other news - what I am about to start researching is how to get great lo-fi/punk/jangle pop vocals! What effects to use, how to treat the vocal, and where to put it in the mix. I have been looking around and I am finding a lot of info for pop, hip hop, and processed vocals. But what if someone wants to sound like they are in a college rock band from early 80's? LOL. Do you have anything like that? In short: Vocals that sound great but don't sound too processed. It may seem obvious to someone with experience, but to a newb, I'm just confused. Like, how does one get the jangle pop Flying Nun Records sound? example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmqZlHmBmZmcqLs Death and the Maiden by Verlaines. I am trying to get the Flying Nun sound (Verlaines, the Clean, the Bats) and similar outings by other lo-fi/jangle pop/noise pop bands such as Sex Beat by the Gun Club. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lV6qcpR-bMyjiaM So. LOL. You're awesome. I don't know what to ask. I just know what I'm looking for.

[@HighRoadMusician]

@@knowalternativetradingco.2545 That sounds like fun! I'll put my mind to it and see if there's a video to be made... In the meantime, here's my Beginner Protools playlist so far: kzbin.info/aero/PLePMlYyLzdiGhgL55VQ1Ds6tQ3A1yewhf

[@mr.personman3660]

Thank you for making this amazing tutorial. This was the only one that I could find that spoke about HOW to scroll through the various selections within a drum selector menu.

[@azutillo]

Thank you so much for this! I created a MIDI drum track. And I dubbed to wave file. It works! Thank you for this tutorial. Trying to learn Pro Tools.

[@samarthgrover1996]

good stuff. you can also right click on the midi track and choose "commit" (or ctrl+c in windows) to automatically create an audio of the midi file

[@HighRoadMusician]

Really? I had no idea. What a great tip! I'll have to try it out. Thank you.

[@ChristianSchebitz]

Super Video! And I learned a lot more than just recording and tweaking drums. Thx a lot!

[@jessegonepostal]

Amazing, he had me going within the first hour after watching this! Thanks a ton!

[@HighRoadMusician]

You're welcome Jesse :-)

[@kernjames]

Thanks a bunch for showing this video! And you could always replace the drum sounds with imported sample files of snares, bass drum, etc., later once you have the beats down.

[@HighRoadMusician]

Very true!

[@LadyMaMaRazz]

Another great video.... THANKS !!

[@tonychiramel4372]

Nicely informed Thankyou. 🤝👍👌

[@alexlangford9928]

Thanks mate. Excellent and informative. Been wondering how to do this for a while.

[@HighRoadMusician]

Glad I was able to help :-)

[@tuari1352]

Great and very good explained like I never before watch im pro tools. Thanks

[@gusb-u6x]

this video is a gem

[@HighRoadMusician]

Thanks, I try to make videos that I would find useful myself :-)

[@aaronbyers4540]

Thanks for the video! Exactly what I was looking for

[@HighRoadMusician]

Glad you found it helpful. I was worried it was a bit too long but it seems people like yourself really love the detail and don't want anything left out. Let me know if there's any other topics that you'd like me to do a video on?

[@newgtguy]

Great video man! Very good info. Much appreciated!

[@HighRoadMusician]

Thanks mate. It's an old plugin now but still very useful and relevant.

[@johnnydswing]

Excellent video!!

[@ViglieroG]

Thank you, thank you and thank you again 😁🙏

[@guyguitarplayer11]

sayy how do you get the presets? When I open that tab it only says factory default which resets everything to the first sound when you open the plugin which is ocean waves or something like that.

[@pistoiaman]

Great video! Thanks a lot 👏🏼

[@HighRoadMusician]

You're welcome. It was a fun video to make :-)

[@pistoiaman]

High Road - Music Tutorials very easy to understand, one question; when the audio drums have been printed they obviously come in stereo as well. As opposed to a mono recording for kick/snare fex would you need to do some panning on the stereo audio drums?

[@phillipharrison7442]

Great video thank you! Is it possible to extract the overheads on their own or does anyone have any recommendations for creating a 'virtual' overhead track?

[@HighRoadMusician]

This is an interesting idea Phillip. Can you explain a little more about what you mean? If you want to be able to mute everything except the overhead channel, yes, I think that's possible. Or are you wanting to replace the overhead mic channels on a real drum kit recording with samples?

[@joecruz6237]

Great video, thanks. Is there anyway of splitting the hi hat, tom's and cymbals track so I can pan them differently?

[@HighRoadMusician]

Not with Xpand!2 I think no. The only way o can think to do it is to duplicate your finished drum track several times, then use the mouse to select and delete unwanted parts to leave only hihat, snare, kick on each track etc. Then you can mix each track separately. Time consuming but very effective.

[@joecruz6237]

@@HighRoadMusician Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.

[@xavierlx]

On Channel C Hats + Toms + Cymbals there does not seem to be a way to make the "Toms" louder and the Hats and Cymbals quieter?

[@HighRoadMusician]

I don’t think so no. However, there is a way to redraw the velocity of the hihat notes or tom notes manually. It’s too complex to explain here but basically, you select all the tom notes using the select tool. Then change the track view to “velocity” view which will allow you to see the velocity of those notes and slide them up or down. I would search for tutorials on how to change Protools MIDI Velocity.

[@xavierlx]

@@HighRoadMusician I found a better way, just duplicate the track and delete the other midi information basically you end up with cymbals on one track do what you want with them and toms on another track.

[@HighRoadMusician]

@@xavierlx yep, that will work too. Nice workaround.

[@BrickBlacktoe]

When you use Xpand!2, are you able to map the keys on your keyboard/controller to the specific parts of the drum kit? I have a midi-controller that places the kick on one of 8 pads; I want it on the keyboard. Can this be done? Anyone?

[@AlepouTV]

can i add my kicks and snares?

[@HighRoadMusician]

I don’t think Xpand!2 lets you do that no. You have to use the preloaded sounds.

[@AlepouTV]

@@HighRoadMusician thank you 💙

[@AlepouTV]

@@HighRoadMusician any good plugin to load kicks and snares?

[@stickster]

@@AlepouTV If you have an active Pro Tools subscription, you should check out UVI Falcon, which is included in your subscription. (It usually costs about US $350 on its own.) To be honest it's practically unlimited in what it can do, including being a full on sampler where you can load your own kicks, snares -- *any* sample. That's only the tiniest bit of what it can do. It's a little scary at first but if you look for tutorials online you'll find plenty of getting-started videos to help you learn how to add samples. So you can put a kick on C1, snare on D1, hats on F#1/G#1/A#1, and so on, to your heart's content. And it also can do everything like tuning, balancing level, adding FX, compression, reverb, and so much more.

[@stickster]

Also should have mentioned... if you need to keep it simple, Structure Free is part of the AIR Virtual Instruments which you should also be able to get free from your Avid account as a download. That's a much simpler sampler where you can load your own sounds.

[@pugonio4940]

For some reason it stops making sound in middle of my playing and makes sound again after some 5 seconds so it alternates between sound and no sound every 5 seconds or so. Am I doing something wrong?

[@HighRoadMusician]

Can you describe more about your setup? - What kind of keyboard - Is it connected via USB or 5 pin MIDI cable - What interface are you using? Here's some guesses you could start with: - Turn off Low Latency Monitoring (Options Menu) - Make sure you haven't accidentally enabled Pre-Roll or Post-Roll recording in the Transport Window. - Are you using demo software or plugins? Sometimes these are designed to cut in and out on purpose unless you buy the full version.