funny thing is i have thought about this before...but i always considered it cheating for some reason..i dont know why - my knowledge on history and compositions is weak but on my preference i kinda take pride in the drums and always want them to be 100% me. but thats just me
i feel what you talking upon ma nigg, layering your own drums is not only handy when it comes to defining your own "sound" but it helps to think outside the box...look what
BLACK MILK has done, DILLA, PREMO, AGALLAH,
ILL MIND...all these cats are hailed as
DRUM PHENOMS..but little do people know they sample a HELLA LOTTA drum Breaks...this is where they really excel:
sample entire breaks, fit them into the song without changing anything then mute the drum loop, create a drum pattern of your own around the rest of the melody, make sure everything is quantized and fits the beat well...then un mute the previous drum loop, solo that with the new pattern they made and MERGE the two sounds...the rest of course is common sence...chop where u feel like u need to chop & leave where u feel u need to leave...but at the end of the day u have a song with like 2 or even more drum lines...SUPER LAYERING in my opinion...the technique is popular in
ROCK MUSIC, where u find someone like
METALLICA's drummer playing on two separate drum kits at once on a revolving chair in the middle of them both...BONKERS!