Hi guys hope you're doing well,

as you read I'm getting into live drums to spice up my productions and I'd like to know if you can recommend me any tutorials or books I could read to get good at it.
Mostly rock subgenres such as Tycho so nothing prog or super complex.

 

You mean programmed acoustic drums, right? Because live drums would be... well, live drums.

 

cant recommend any guides, but try dragging something acoustic into your DAW that you like and match your drums up to that. the timing imperfections and the variations in timing and velocity (amp/filters/etc) count for a lot. you might not create anything great like this but you can learn a lot about how live drums are performed.

 

And maybe an obvious one but people miss it- learn what can actually be physically hit at the same time. Like, You can't hit the snare, hihat and a crash all together unless you grow an extra arm. Although you could pedal the hats shut. Little things make a big difference- if you play a big fill and end on the floor tom on a standard right-handed kit; that is to say, the toms go left to right from your perspective sitting behind them- you will almost certainly hit a crash also on the right side where you ended up. Not ALWAYS... but ending a fill on the right and crashing on the left will sound wonky to most people without them really knowing why. Even if you can't really drum trying to air drum a part will help you a lot in thinking about what's really natural and possible.

 

I can't play drums, but I'm a great air drummer. If you can master air drumming you will learn valuable lessons like, when you're playing the air hi hats, you have to stop playing them to play an air tom fill. The biggest mistake I see in acoustic drum programming is programmers think drummers have 12 arms and legs and you see the piano roll and nothing ever stops. A 16th hi hat pattern just is looped and forgotten about. Doesn't work that way, so think like a drummer, play like an air drummer and you'll know when you're playing a tom fill, you're not playing the snare and hats. And while harping on about hats, vary the velocities and timing and usually throw in an open hat a few beats before each 8th or 16th bar. You'll find the place for it. It's like a singer taking a breath before the next verse.

 

Hey! Foul!!! I just said that. Umpire!!

 

Ezdrummer and Superior Drummer has a huge library of midi Files mostly played by professional drummers , you can skim through them try to understand the groove and how to play with the grid and when to slightly swing your hats and how to randomize your velocity and stuff like that

 

Thanks for the moment guys, I'll make treasure of your tips.

 

agree with this 100%, but i cheat a little in my music :D i make electronic music so a human feel is not necessary, but i do sometimes try to aim for a more human groove for certain parts, like swing sections etc, but i never worry about playing physically impossible sequences. i just tell myself there are two or more drummers