NOOB HOME RECORDING (004) - Adding Drum Fills

A drum VST's preset patterns repeating over and over through several bars can quickly become boring and will scream fake. So taking the time programming from scratch or tweaking presets can go a long way.  Adding drum fills can even take the song further and break the monotony.


The Metro doesn't have any significant drum fills and in fact keeps the drum patterns pretty much the same all throughout the song. It works for the synth 80's feel but won't work with what I'm doing so I have to locate a good place to add a drum fill. I think a couple of them would be adequate.

I located the first fill just before the synth lead section. Here's that section without the drum fill.

I added a slightly tweaked preset fill. Notice the difference in  the midi notes between bar 86 in the picture above and the zoomed in section of the drum fill pictured below.

You will also notice that I've started working on the bass track. It has a "subsonic" effect, a bass preset on the POD Farm VST. (EDIT: If you're listening on small desktop speakers, you might not hear it!)

While I was working on the bass track, a light bulb lit up. I just thought of something to change the song a bit, but that's for another post.

NEXT: NHR (005) - Recording Bass Tracks