How to make MIDI Drums Sound More Real

Drum programming is more common in bigger productions and I don’t think a lot of people realize it. It’s actually super easy and there’s no real “secret” other than understanding the basics. Some genres, like metal, you can just get away with 127 velocity on almost every hit and it just works. Other genres, it sounds like total garbage and everything sounds a bit “smacky” and unrealistic. So I wanted to discuss the three main things that get programmed drums sounding good.

Let me just say upfront if you do not know how drums are played or have some surface level knowledge of a drum kit, you might have a tough time and it will sound a bit obvious. If you don’t, I highly recommend at the minimum doing a YouTube search of how to play drums, and learn what each part of the drum kit is doing and what each instrument sounds like. 

Velocity and MIDI Edits 

The first thing to discuss is having good velocity edits. If you’re new and don’t know what that is, it’s basically how hard or how soft something is hitting. MIDI has “velocity” values ranging from 0-127, 0 being the softest/quietest hit and 127 being the hardest (speaking in terms of drums). In the case of snare rolls or fills, you want to have the hits at different velocities. Maybe the first hit comes in really hard and then the following three or five in the fill are 5-15 lower. This goes for toms and snares. If there’s two consecutive kick hits, the second one might not be as hard as the first. 

You can also do things like move hits just a little bit off the grid in your daw. Don’t move it excessively, I’m talking like minimal moves. A 1/256th note kind of thing. A tight drummer will play on the grid (and the edits will be moved closer) but nothing is perfectly on the grid. Also snare flams, or tom flams, will have one hit either a little forward or maybe one hit is a different velocity than the other. It just depends on how in depth you want to be here.

You can feel free to get as detailed as you’d like with this, as long as it sounds good and you are being mindful of how a drummer would play dynamically. The reason you might want to do this is because these drums can sound robotic if you don’t. Kind of like a machine gun snare. Unless that's the sound you want. 

Writing Good Parts

At the end of the day, your drums will sound like drums if the parts can be played how a drummer would play. Remember, a drummer has two arms and two legs. The legs are going to be on the kicks or the hi hats, so the arms are free to hit two things at once. (i.e a snare and a tom, or a snare and a cymbal) So it’s wise not to add 4 tom hits with a snare at the same time because, well, that would sound ridiculous. 

If you’re unsure about this, as sometimes I am too, send what you write to a drummer you know or even a producer who might be experienced with drums. Someone like that will definitely let you know if you’re in the right ballpark, or if something sounds weird. Another thing to practice is grab a song that you like, and write midi drums over what they’re doing like a little virtual cover. Try to match the hits where they would go and recognize patterns of where these hits normally come in.

Mixing and Mixing in Context

Okay so this is a huge part of the process because compression and EQ can add so much life to the drums. To be fair this is true with real drums as well as anything else you mix. There’s just something about programmed drums that if mixed right the average listener wouldn’t be able to tell you if they just listened to a real kit or not. 

Having good compression on the kick and snare can make these two instruments sound more dynamic and offer better movement than if you had it just on it’s own. Having bad compression moves on these elements can also give the impression that they’re fake, regardless of a real kit or programmed drums. It can make things sound unnatural from what we are used to hearing in professional productions. 

Having a good balance of the drums as well as processing the right amount will go a long way. Make sure your kit sounds cohesive, with the relationship between cymbals and shells and pick the right samples to go along with your song. Remember to use your ears!

Now you Know!

Hopefully you found this helpful and if there is anything I can do to help feel free to reach out. I truly believe if you follow these three key steps you will have great results with programmed drums. Don’t feel discouraged if in only a week things aren’t sounding good, this might take some time to get used to and learn to do right. With anything practice makes perfect. Have fun and happy producing!