Kontakt, Studio Drummer and Mixing with Native Instruments

If you have Studio Drummer, you obviously have Kontakt and probably Komplete. This helpful in-depth tutorial shares how to get the most out of all of them!

This in-depth lesson spans more than one hour and touches on just about every aspect you are bound to run into while using Studio Drummer in Kontakt, as well as countless tips, tricks and workflow best practices. It also focuses on how to mix all of your elements using only Native Instruments tools that are included in the Komplete bundle so you can see, and hear, first hand the impressive results that are possible when using this incredible bundle of software. With years of experience being one of the most beloved and highly regarded developers of software for music and audio production, Native Instruments has done an amazing job of putting together a full arsenal of sounds and tools for us to bring our ideas to life with. And in just the last couple years, they have really elevated their game.

If you happen to only have Studio Drummer and Kontakt, don’t worry. You can still follow along with this awesome tutorial and simply use other plugins and effects that are in-line with the plugins being showcased in this video. There are benefits to using all of these tools that were designed and engineered to work well together, but there are is nothing lost in going a different route. From basic interface navigation, sample auditioning, groove selection and MIDI placement it starts right from the very beginning of a workflow. Starting out with velocity settings and mic placements, you begin to get the feeling that you are working with real drums in a real studio environment. So many of the common choices and tasks that exist in the real world scenarios are also presented here.

Studio Drummer has quickly become one of the hallmark features of the Native Instrument line-up, and the fact that ir runs in Kontakt provides you with that much more instant access to the tools you need to make your recording even more lifelike and believable. Once you move beyond the basics of selecting and programming your drums in Studio Drummer and have everything arranged the way you like it in your DAW, you can finish the mixing and start on the processing. Although Kontakt has many wonderful features, there is still room to employ the amazing tools designed for Native Instrument’s Guitar Rig and Maschine, too. In fact, several of the new additions to Kontakt actually got their start in Guitar Rig, so it’s a natural choice to turn to for more options. And when it comes to compression, NI has released some really great plugins that emulate popular units that have found great success over the years in some of the best studios. Hopefully this lesson helps to shed some light on how you can use all of the things that come in Komplete to elevate your sounds and projects to a whole new level of professional quality.