ShortScale.org

been a minute since anyone posted in this forum...

we are ready to start sending some songs out for mixing, but they've all been done with sequenced drums. they sound awesome, but to do it truly right, having control over each individual element's properties in the final mixing process would be ideal. since we are using garageband (mostly) to design the patches, is there an effective way to export each element (kick, snare, hat, etc) to its own WAV/AIFF/M4A/etc. for import? if it is possible, does this mess with the AI's ability to produce the performances it creates to make the drums feel more real?

we've done stereo drum mixes on songs before, so it isn't like it's a deal-breaker or anything... just thought it would be worth a stab, and i have to imagine it's been done before by now.

Not in Garageband, as far as I know. You can't even export MIDI off the shelf.

The only way I know off the top of my head would be to soloing entire drum track, and then manually solo-ing each 'mic' (i.e. muting all the others in the Mix view.. this guy:



) one at a time and exporting it. Kinda long-winded, but it'll get you there.

You'll probably wanna make sure you turn-off any plugins to just get at the "raw" samples too; any master 'bus' FX will react differently to individual tracks vs the whole drum mix. Plus, you'll want as raw a sample as possible for your MIXER MAN.

yep, that's kinda what we have been running into, and i appreciate the explanation and insights.

any experience with Get Good Drums?

Doog wrote:The only way I know off the top of my head would be to soloing entire drum track, and then manually solo-ing each 'mic'

Yeah, that was pretty much my idea to try too. There are only to real pains in the ass about this:

1. The time it takes to dump each drum element individually as an export
2. The time it takes to set up each export, which means going into each drum sequence throughout the whole song and turning off all the elements we don't want on a particular export.

Do you have any experience with other drum plugins that do let you do this natively, by chance? I love a good experiment, so I'm down with trying to dump out of GB this way, but more options are ALWAYS nice to have lol

I think you're still gonna limited to what the DAW offers in the respect of exporting; the native drum plugin doesn't really work any different to anything else out there available as a non-standalone. Happy to be told otherwise, but I know how locked-down GB is from experience.

While it's not a sensible workflow, if it's just a one-shot job (and your album isn't several thousand tracks long), I'd personally just bite the bullet and export it like so, if the outcome is usable for your needs.

Either that, or just look further into exporting via MIDI (there are ways) and make sure your MIX-PERSON has the same drum plugin you're using, or even better. You'll probably get the absolute best outcome that way. Maybe MIX-PERSON has an even fancier drum plugin that can add more 'humanising' elements that your plugin doesn't?


[youtube][/youtube]

that's a good call... i'll ask carter to confirm that if we can get him the same plugin that he'll be able to mix drums as effectively as if they had been live.

Doog wrote:I think you're still gonna limited to what the DAW offers in the respect of exporting; the native drum plugin doesn't really work any different to anything else out there available as a non-standalone. Happy to be told otherwise, but I know how locked-down GB is from experience.

While it's not a sensible workflow, if it's just a one-shot job (and your album isn't several thousand tracks long), I'd personally just bite the bullet and export it like so, if the outcome is usable for your needs.

Either that, or just look further into exporting via MIDI (there are ways) and make sure your MIX-PERSON has the same drum plugin you're using, or even better. You'll probably get the absolute best outcome that way. Maybe MIX-PERSON has an even fancier drum plugin that can add more 'humanising' elements that your plugin doesn't?


[youtube][/youtube]

Oh dude! thank you for that video! I'll check that out. Not being able to export MIDI from garageband is such a pain the chooch sometimes! If nothing else, I'm glad we asked this question so you could get that video to me!

with so many drummers at home right now you could probably get a kick ass drummer to float tracks to for super cheap. I am sure you know some but I know a couple that would probably work well with what you do. May be the best way to get the feel you want.

that's actually a really cool idea... for the next round. the songs we have nearly in the can now have some really great patches jim cooked up and breathe an incredible amount of life into them, especially for being AI. that said, i do miss working with a human drummer, quirks and all. =]

he ended up buying Get Good Drums and is sorting it out that way for now. hoping to have a single out by the end of the month...

cool.