typical hit velocities for heavy music?

[basshole1979]

This may be kinda weird. Thing is. I dont actually play drums. I use EZD and SD by drawing the notes in, copying and pasting etc. from scratch.

So the the thing is, after a certain point, I dont know if a hit velocity is “realistic” in terms of how a real drummer a in typical heavy style would actually be hitting it. So in your punk/metal/hard rock genres, especially as a song kicks into high gear, where should those heavy hits be? in the 90s? 110s? Is everything a 127? I realize there is no “rightj” answer but there has to be some consistency across all the various bands and drummers out there. Not like every song by every band sounds completely different—they share common characteristics. Any insight?

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[Sonny Luciano]

It all depends on how they sound in the mix. You generally shouldn’t have all the hits the same velocity as that take away from the “human factor” and it will sound like a machine gun especially if it’s quantized to the grid.

[basshole1979]

I understand those things…I’m just wondering what velocity number represents, in real life how hard a heavy hitter is hitting. Think Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains, Guns n Roses…what “velocity” would those guys be hitting at when one of the heavier songs really gets cooking? There has to be some range with some consistency between them. Is 127 hitting so hard you’d injure your hand in real life if you did it more than a few times a night or is that just another day at the office for those guys? Is 100 a gentle tap for a hard rock drummer? That’s the kind of thing I’m trying to get at. Since I’m not a drummer and don’t have an e-kit to experiment with I’m kind of fumbling in the dark with this stuff.

[David George]

I agree with Ibex. And keep in mind that some hits when a drummer is going across the kit are more or less “passing tones”: The velocity of those won’t be nearly as high as say, on the snare.

And you might want to have a look at any of the EZD patterns in the MIDI editor view: You will see that they are all over the map.

I would not get caught up in the velocity numbers too much: Use your ears.

[Author]

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