Stealing Grooves but not Stealing Grooves

It occurs to me that I need to start working on the finer details when making music. I spent the weekend really listening to drums and grooves, and I think there are some simple changes I can make to figure out how to program better grooves. And it will take a lot of work, as I've always just gotten by with drums. And, doing electronic music—even retro-inspired music like I do—if you go straight ’80s, the drums are going to sound hokey. What I think needs to happen is that those chubby, warm, fuzzy hip-hop drums somehow need to mix with the more period drums, which is what flows naturally for me. I spent all last month making tracks. This month has been a little lighter on that front, but I’ve been retooling some things and building my next-generation setup, especially considering the upcoming DJ gigs and the use of the SP-404 in those sets. Research is heavy. Finding sample packs takes a lot of time. What I’ve found, though, is that classes and YouTube videos are far less useful than…