Hi.

Have a look through some of the multitrack tutorials on my lesson pages.

I've done quite a few lessons doing exactly what you're talking about and explaining how you take a cheezy midi file and make it sound like an actual band.

In most cases I'm using plug-ins that I've purchased but there are tons of free VST synths and plug-ins on the market that will do the same type of thing.

Basically what you can do is take a midi file of a drum track (be it either a short midi drum track that can be cut and pasted or even a copyrighted song *that you tweak around so you aren't just blatantly copying somebody... just import something you like and remove everything but the drums then go in and manually edit things)

Next step is to use either a drum machine or drum samples in place of any cheezy built in sounds on your computer.
With some audio software you'll get drum machines with the package or you can buy something like Battery that lets you use any sound file on your hard drive.
Then you go through and replace everything with new sounds.

Next step is to go in and tweak it manually by adding slight timing adjust to make it sound like a real player... and adjusting the volumes of each part of the kit.

Then add some decent compression and reverb to things like the snare and kick.

Another thing you can do is use Loops to flesh out your drum tracks.
There's all kinds of freebies available or royalty free CD's available.
You just drop it in over your drum track and mix it low in the mix.

MIdi files by the way... are a hit and miss affair if you're looking for just backup stuff.
A lot of them are done by amateurs and they sound like it.
Others are very professionally done and can sometimes sound better than the original recordings.
It's just a matter of searching them out.

Anyways, like I said... try checking out some of the multitrack tutorials on my lessons pages. Every song I've ever recorded was done using midi and some variation of the method above. And a lot of the tutorials start with the basic midi drum track and show you how the sound improves as you tweak around with it and start adding other instruments.

Just a fer instance, this song is completely MIDI, except for the guitar parts.
To get a good idea of the various sounds, try using headphones rather than small computer speakers. (and hey... turn out the lights so you can really concentrate or put on a groovy blacklight and do the stoner mello out thing :cool:

This song is just the free drum machine that came with Cubase with some royalty free loops I got from various web sites: (just to let ya know... I used a MIDI drum file I got off Usenet that was originally a Nine-In-Nails tune....
All I did was copy it, then tweak it and copy and paste various sections, then alter the bpm and provide my own sounds)
I also bought a Yamaha DD-65 drum pad... basically a unit with a bunch of round pads that you can go nuts on using your hands or drum sticks to tricker either the built in sounds or any midi drums you want.
(just turn up your song, go nuts on it and then use the built in quantize function of Cubase to fix any mistakes... it definitely gives a more human feel to your drum rolls)

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/GameIsOver_Schmange.mp3

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/GameIsOverInst_Schmange.mp3


.... or you could do something like this using a drum machine, drum loops and samples:

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/Maya_Schmange_320.mp3


Here's a showreel of a bunch of songs I did using MIDI and Cubase just to give you an idea of the variety you can get too:

x

http://s93744050.onlinehome.us/SchmangeShowReel_1.mp3

A lot of these tunes are on my lesson pages and in the next couple of months I'll also be adding Hi-Def videos showing the whole process.