now, I realise this is an older topic, but since I'm a drummer, and therefore pay extra attention to my drum tracks, I thought I'd share how I do it:
In regular 4/4 pop music the snare always comes on the 2nd and 4th beat, and a kick drum on the first (what you do with your kick after the first beat is entirely up to you). The hihats fill every count, or the eights. That's a basic pop drum pattern, which I'll try to show:
|: one and two and three and four and :| (beat)
|: H h H h H h H h :| (hihat)
|: K :| (kick)
|: S S :| (Snare)
A standard pop/rock rhythm that has been copied millions of times (in fact I've played it about 100x tonight) is
|: one and two and three and four and :| (beat)
|: H h H h H h H h :| (hihat)
|: K K K :| (kick)
|: S s s S :| (Snare)
I always imagine how I'd be playing it in real life. A realistic drum never sounds the same twice. Tone and volume vary constantly. That's what I try to put in my drum tracks (of course I'm too lazy to tweak every note to my liking, but you can do it per pattern)
One mistake I often see/hear in tracker music is the fact that hihats and cymbals are severely underestimated. You have to see it this way: if they really were of lesser use, then why haven't drummers all over the world expelled the cymbals from their kits a long time ago? Why do orchestras still use that 'ridiculous' instrument called the Triangle? because it adds that little extra. It is the cream on your cake. The nipple on a breast
.
I do not even like the sound of my own drum kit, because the cymbals sound ugly. They spoil my playing pleasure. Your choice of cymbal affects the overall sound of your song. A Crash gives extra impact, a Ride gives a smooth edge, etc. I'm not going into all the musical stuff because that list is endless...
