Writing Music for Television and Radio Commercials (and more): A Manual for Composers and Students

Arranging and Orchestration Concepts !! 105

Range:Drum parts are written in the bass clef, with the lowest space
indicating the bass drum, the third space from the bottom indicating the
snare drum, Xs above the top line indicating the hi-hat, and other spaces
indicating tom-toms, which are usually marked ‘‘tom-toms’’ above the
notes; additional cymbals are usually marked with the name of the instru-
ment next to the note (see example 6-6).

Example 6-6 Drum pattern.

Drum Kit

An acoustic drum part can be recorded and then used as a triggering
device to generate electric drum samples that can either replace the origi-
nal part or simultaneously play with the original part. (This technique is
frequently utilized in country music.)
Since the groove is of utmost importance in popular music, it is crucial
that arrangers be aware of current trends in both rhythmic grooves and
sounds. Some genres of music, such as rock, use primarily live drummers;
other genres, such as hip-hop, use primarily drum programmers. Many
tracks include a combination of a live drummer and synthesized drums
and percussion.
It is not unusual for arrangers or music producers to record live drums
onto analog tape and transfer them to a computer audio program (e.g.,
Pro-Tools or Digital Performer) for editing. This is done because they favor
what they perceive to be the warm sound of analog tape as opposed to the
sound of digital audio.

!!Some engineers think

that transferring analog re-

cording to digital audio (for

mixing and editing) defeats

the purpose of analog re-

cording because the origi-

nal recorded sound

changes when it is trans-

ferred. This is a matter of

personal preference.

The advantage of transferring tape to
a digital computer program is the ability
to manipulate and edit the sounds, using
afast,nondestructiveeditingprocess.
This enables music producers to present
numerous variations of a recording and
also to make changes quickly. They have
the ability to revert back to the original
program since even though the program
can be edited numerous times, the origi-
nal waveforms are never erased. (The
waveforms will be permanently erased only if the programmer chooses to
erase the parent [original] file.)