It’s never been easier to program drum parts. Nearly every DAW will let you draw a part directly on a musical grid or you can use tracks generated by an awesome instrument such as Toontrack EZdrummer 2.
Just remember, if you’re going after realistic drum tracks, real drummers don’t play exactly on the beat every time. Sometimes they “push” the beat, which means they play slightly ahead of the beat to drive the rhythm forward. Other times they “pull” the beat, meaning they play ever so slightly behind the beat, in order to create a more laid back “pocket” groove. Sometimes the entire kit or drum part is pushed or pulled, other times, just certain components, such as the snare or hi-hat are played with a different push/pull.
Adding such variation into your drum parts — even in electronic genres — can add a whole new “human” element to your tracks.
No matter what software you’re using, pushing and pulling MIDI drum parts won’t be difficult. Nearly every DAW allows you to select your MIDI data and apply a MIDI delay or time-shift process; you can apply a negative amount of milliseconds (or MIDI ticks, depending on the software) if you want to push or drive the beat ahead, or a positive amount if you wish to pull the beat back. Experiment with pushing/pulling the entire drum kit or just certain elements. And remember, a real drummer doesn’t push/pull the same throughout an entire song; the verse may be laid back, while the chorus pushes, and the bridge and/or solo sections may have another feel.
Most DAWs also include humanization/randomization features, so rather than applying a steady 10ms delay, for example, you could apply a delay between 15ms-5ms. Give it a try — it might automatically give you what you want, though in our experience, real drummers aren’t random — there is a small random element where each hit varies a tiny amount — but as far as pushing/pulling, they’re consistent with how much they’re naturally adding as they play within each section of a song.
This type of tiny, simple groove adjustment might just give your MIDI drums that human touch you’ve been looking for, and help propel your drums — and your song — a big step forward!