Periphery’s Misha Mansoor Offers Drum Programming Tips & Tricks

If ever there was one guy from a modern metal band to teach you how to program drums, that guy is Periphery’s Misha Mansoor. Misha’s been programming drums for nearly a decade (remember Bulb’s Soundclick profile?) and continues to do so for Periphery demos and for other bands: those drums on the first Animals as Leaders album? All his work.

Now Misha’s teamed up with Top Secret Audio to produce a two-part video series in which he outlines some of his own tips and tricks for programming drums. In part one, released a couple of weeks back, he goes over the basics, and he gets a little deeper into the nuances in part two, which just came out.

I have no practical interest in programming drums — my recording days have long since passed — but I still find the process fascinating, and I think it’s interesting to see how these beats come together from a technological standpoint. As a “retired” musician I can also appreciate some of what he’s talking about here with ghost notes, varied kick and snare placement for a different groove, etc. Check ’em out.