Drumagog is a rock steady drum replacer

By Steve Langer, added September 23, 2003

Drum replacing? I never thought about drum replacing until I got into mixing. I got into mixing by accident when I bought a pair of nearfields for the house and discovered I possessed the mixing knack.

Soon after I discovered that I possessed the mixing knack I made another discovery: Tracking issues. Tracking issues are those things that did not get recorded correctly or played correctly originally. It can range from too high of a noise floor to sloppy musicianship to anything else that leaves a track lacking. I also discovered that a track can appear perfect but not fit into a mix no matter how much I tweaked it.

Drums seem to be the most problematic. In my little mix studio at home, I can replace guitars, bass, keyboards and even vocals on the fly while doing a mix. I cannot replace drums. And, drums seem to always be the most problematic of tracks to replace, especially the kick and snare.

Rim Buntinas, the author of Drumagog, knows about tracking issues. According to Rim, "A few years back I was recording a band with an awful sounding kit. I got tired of replacing the drums by hand, and there was nothing else out there to make life easier, so I wrote Drumagog. Of course, I didn't finish it in time to help that project."

The first time I put Drumagog to good use was to replace the kick in a song recorded about four years ago. While the beat always seemed right, the sound never provided a tight bottom. I tried placing beats by hand at one point. This approach sounded better sonically but lost all the feel. I put Drumagog into the DX chain. I solo'd the track. I dialed through some samples in Drumagog.

Drumagog listens to the drum on the track you put it on. It plays a sample when the audio volume reaches a certain level. Everytime the volume reaches the threshold, a sample is triggered. With the new kick in place, the song suddenly possessed a tight low end it lacked before. I got the feel that the drummer intended but I also got a drum sound that fit into the mix.

I've used the program off and on now for nine months. It's a quality plugin worthy of consideration by anyone mixing or editing in the digital domain.

The Bottom Line: I found the program to work remarkably well. I like the price, which runs $149 for the basic version and $269 for the pro version. Highly recommended.

Link relating to this review: Drumagog