How to add drums or bass to a song you recorded

The quickest way to add drums or bass to a song you recorded is to have a session player play along with it. Daydream Studio is a browser-based studio for hybrid music production: bring a track you started (a guitar riff, a voice memo of a full song), tell it the tempo, name the chords, and book a drummer or a bassist. They play along with your part, in its key and its groove, and you change any part as it goes. Every part comes out as its own stem, on every plan. Studio runs in your browser and is free to start: twenty minutes a day with no account, and about 40 minutes a month on the Free plan.

What you need

• A recording of your part. One instrument or a rough mix; no click track needed, but a steady tempo helps the player lock in. No recording yet? Hum it or record it into Studio.
• A browser on a desktop or laptop. Nothing to install.
• Headphones, if you want to hear the low end of a bass part properly.

Add drums or bass to a song, step by step

1. Start your way. Open Studio's upload start and bring the track you started, then tell Studio its tempo.
2. Hand them the chords. Write the progression and every player follows it.
3. Book a player. Studio books drums, bass, keys, strings or horns; for this job, pick a drummer or a bassist. Each one is described by how they play.
4. Listen while they play. The player starts over your track straight away; turn your recording down to hear them.
5. Direct them. Describe the part in words ("half-time, mostly kick and rim", "short staccato plucks") or nudge it busier or simpler, while it plays.
6. Keep the take you like, then add the other instrument: keep the drum take, book a bassist, and layer them.
7. Export. Download the mix, or every part as its own stem for your DAW. A free account has 3 downloads a month, as MP3.

What the player follows

• The chords you give it. A bassist plays roots, walks and fills under your harmony, not a loop in one key.
• Your tempo and groove. A drummer locks to the tempo you set; push the rhythm lock looser and the takes vary more.
• Your direction. How busy, how loud, how dark: all changeable while the song plays.

Use your own sounds and parts

Studio also has regions, a mixer, automation and recording, and instrument lanes you play from a MIDI keyboard or write in a piano roll (they import and export MIDI). On a Mac, a small helper called Studio Bridge runs your own VST3 and AU instruments and effects on any lane, in the browser: put the bass through your usual amp plugin.

What to expect, honestly

• You build it part by part. Drums first, keep the take, then bass.
• A steady recording works best. Rubato playing or big tempo swings make it harder for a player to lock in.
• Players make audio, not MIDI. To edit a part note by note, play or write it on an instrument lane.
• Instrumental only. Studio adds instruments, not singing, and it won't imitate a named artist: artist names in a description are refused.
• It's a research preview. Studio is shared early and changes often. What you make is still yours under the terms, with no royalties and no credit owed.

Other ways to add drums or bass

• Program it yourself. A drum machine or your DAW's drum rack, with MIDI. The most control, note by note.
• Loops and sample packs. Well-recorded, but a loop doesn't follow your chord changes and won't play a fill where your song needs one.
• Ask a musician. Still the best answer for a record you care about. A player who knows the song will hear things nobody can describe in a sentence.

The difference with a player that follows your recording is that the part is written to your song, and you shape it by listening rather than by editing notes.

If you don't have a recording yet

Start from a description or a hum instead. Studio can make the first part from words ("a sparse but funky bassline at 96 BPM"), and you book players around it. Or, if you only need a finished instrumental with its stems, the Daydream Music Generator makes one from a sentence; see which music generators give you stems.

On Pro and Max you can also train a Style on your own tracks. Plans are on pricing.