Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Customizing Sounds of Drum Loops, by DianaDee Osborne

Drum loops are an easy way to get an "approximate sound" as you create your song, before hiring a professional drummer. Problem is -- often they end "abruptly" because loops end on the last count of a measure: 
      Easy fix so you can    sound more realistic:    

1.  Under your drum loop track, pull in a MIDI loop of drum beats -- does not matter what it sounds like.  
2.  Begin the track at count 1 and extend past to where your loop ended abruptly.
3.  Do NOT delete all MIDI notes (yet); in GarageBand, a track with no notes often causes a problem.
4.  At the place where the original drum loop track ends abruptly, add a MIDI sound on the MIDI track.  I like to use crashes or other 'ending' sounds that will blend with the sound of the original. This MIDI sound will extend the drum sound to be more natural, tapering off as live drums do.
5.  Now delete the unwanted imported MIDI notes.
6.  Remember to adjust the volume of the MIDI note(s) 
to match the sound of the original loop.  

This easy customizing of canned loops works for any type of loop! --

Much joy to you creating new music with good sounding drums 'til you get live drummin'!
©2013 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved