ShortScale.org

I've been recording some songs in my bedroom on my cassette 4track and using a drum machine is the weak link (aside from my nasally voice). I can get O.K. results by adding a little reverb and overdrive in reaper but I would prefer a more real sound.

So this is just a hypothetical soundboard but would it be worth in the future getting a floor tom and a snare to make a simple drumkit like Bobby G used to do in the Jesus and Mary Chain.

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I was thinking I could stick a tambourine on the snare (somehow?) to add a but more life.

Has anyone else done this or is there a better option, besides learning to play an actual kit.

Well, he's using beaters, which is automatically going to sound smoother.

If you're using a drum machine, pitch the snare sound down, and use a lower tom sound, perhaps pitched down some. Or maybe a bass drum pitched a bit up instead to give the smoother attack. It would also help if you put the snare (or both drums) through a low pass filter, preferably a hardware one, maybe if you have a synth with an input, the reason being to reduce the sharp edge of the snare mechanism on a regular snare sample. They sound a bit compressed too, so add a compressor after the filter for both drum sounds.

yeah getting the drum machine samples to sound more real will involve probably a low pass filter on the drums, getting the reverb just right (try really short reverbs) and play the drum machine by hand to get more human timing. also you can easily overdub tracks with real instruments, like small percussion instruments like tambourine or shakers.