How to Get Good BFD Drum Sounds
- 1). Customize your kit. BFD drums have 10 full kit presets. Although this is convenient, the manufacturer's choice of kit configurations isn't necessarily best for you. Assemble a kit that reflects your taste. For example, if you want an authentic, vintage drum sound, use the "Gretsch Dixieland" kick sample. Click the"Kit" button, located in the top left corner. Select "Kit Pieces" and then scroll through the menu. Click on a kit piece name to hear the dry, unprocessed sound. If you like it, double-click to add it to your customized kit.
- 2). Increase microphone bleed levels. Microphone bleed is typically an undesirable side-effect of live drum recording, where the sound of one drum spills into the microphone of another drum. It's normally undesirable because it reduces the amount of control the mix engineer has over each sound. However, microphone bleed does add a "live" feel to a kit recording. In the digital environment, you can increase and reduce microphone bleed to your preference, so you get the live feel of traditional recording with the control of programming. Click on the "Bleed" dial at the bottom of the interface. Drag your cursor up to increase the bleed.
- 3). Route each drum separately. Each kit piece has a dedicated channel. On the channel strip, double-click the name of the drum. This brings up a dialog box with mixing options. Select "Send" and then pick a channel. For example, "Aux 1," "Aux 3" or "Aux 13." You can add auxiliary channels to accommodate larger kits. By routing each drum to a separate auxiliary channel, you can mix each drum individually. For example, add reverb and delay to the cymbal, but not to the kick. Add compression and gating to the kick -- and gating and reverb to the snare.
- 4). Add humanization. This is a post-production effect, rather than a pre-production effect. Once you've programmed a beat, select "Grooves." Three virtual dials will appear, entitled "Quantize," "Hum. Time," and "Simplify." Click on the "Hum. Time" button and drag the cursor up to increase the intensity of the effect. "Hum. Time" denotes "human time." The program adjusts the volumes and timing of each individual drum sound to emulate the feel of a human drummer. Programming is very exact, which can make the finished drum track sound rigid and robotic. Humans can't play perfectly at a precisely consistent volume. These limitations are what give human drummers their distinct groove. Adding the humanization effect gives the groove a natural feel.