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Ok so I'v been working on 2 step garage and deep stuff a lot more lately but I can't get my drum beats sounding the way I want them to. They sound way to upbeat and happy and in my head I want more of a hollow, deep, sad sound. Pitching everything down, adding small reverb, and slowing the tempo from 136-140 to 130-134 helps a little bit but it just doesn't seem to work the way I want it to. I thought I might be focusing to much with the swing on the hats, but if I make the hats more simple it doesn't have the garage sound. Here is how I have been making my beats. I start with the kick on the 1, 3, 5, and 7, and snare on 2, 4, 6, and 8. Then the strong hats on the 1 and 3 of each number ( if that makes sense? so the way i look at its 1234 is 1 (in 16ths) so the hats go on the 1 and 3 of 1) Then i take out a couple strong hats and shift a couple over and move them off grid because they are on the (offbeat)? Then i add in all the other hats randomly and shift them around while the grid is off and change the snares and kicks around to. So im not sure if it is still a 2 step beat at the end but w/e. I have been reading as much about drum programming as i can here, on future garage forum, and anywhere else. But i still can't get a beat that i like and can work with. So if any of you can help or teach me something that would be great

Low pass hats and snares a bit

You won't find much shit on my soundcloud to serve as an example but I get sad vibes with large and dark plate reverbs low passed at 5khz~6khz. Try using cold sounds like darabukas and metallic snares, sparse claps heavily reverberated and white noise going through a resonator / sound generators bandpassed with shit tons of reverb. So yeah, it's more sample choice, reverb and ambience than the progamming per se.

I maybe wrong though, I'm sleepy as fuck.

Thanks guys im going to sleep so il try those in the morning and tell you guys if it improved anything. But heres a simple thing i can't figure out.
If this is at 140 bpm and 16ths is it 2 beats long or 4 beats long? b = bass drum. s = snare. o = open hat. h = closed hat.



Edit: typing it didn't work so took a screen shot and posted it sorry if its too tiny.

this is what i think of when you say sad drums, this tune is fucking amazing, and vaccine is a girl! and a frequent poster on this forum! well at least she used to be

Find some happy drums and flip them upside down

Not too bad of an idea actually. Not sure how it would sound, but you can convert sound to images (representation of the frequency spectrum over time) and images to sound. If you could convert the sound to image, flip the image vertically, and then back to sound...that could be interesting.

You want something that portrays the constituents of sadness. Reluctance, lack of motivation, brooding, apathy, pessimism. Try and think of how you would play a drum kit if you were in the depths of depression. Lazily tapping the cymbals, sparse percussion, apathy to your very act of drumming, maybe the occasional attack of aggression on the snare or kick, dropping the drums out all together for certain stretches. Try to balance these elements with carrying the rhythm of a track, not the easiest task but definitely doable. Vaccine's track has excellent percussion for what you're after from what I gather.

Also samples, like previously mentioned, are a huge part of this vibe. You'll probably want samples that aren't so clean and crisp, but have some grit and character to them. Reverb is an easy way to get some darker sounds into drums too.

Understated is a good word for the drum track here.

All of you guys have been a big help thanks. Think i got almost all the info i need.

Try layering rimshots with snares too

follow objekt's advice: besides the volume, link velocity to a low pass filter cuttof and to the envelope decay to obtain a more fluid and expressive sound.

Soundcloud the drums in this sound pretty sad. i think its the old samples/ vinyl distortion in combination with the pattern

Those drums are nice...but I don't think it's the drums giving it the sad sound. Either way, awesome tune.

its a shame hes wasting his talent making generic techno tunes under his new alais "space laces"

jrisreal wrote:Those drums are nice...but I don't think it's the drums giving it the sad sound. Either way, awesome tune.

my thoughts, too.

kick and snare are always present, use hats only occasionally. the rest comes from the surrounding instruments.

Most emotional drums I know. In fact, whole album is a masterpiece. To me, glitchyness can be really sad.



I've been told I have sad drums in a lot of my tunes. Though not the one in my sig

any excuse to post this

Hircine wrote:follow objekt's advice: besides the volume, link velocity to a low pass filter cuttof and to the envelope decay to obtain a more fluid and expressive sound.

Probably one of the best 'tips' I've ever read on here.