Drum transcription from any recording
Upload audio or paste a link. We chart the drum part — even out of a full mix — and email you PDF notation, MIDI, and MusicXML.
Drop an audio file, or click to browse
mp3, wav, or m4a — drums-only or a full mix, up to 50MB
Curious what a finished chart looks like? Browse sample drum notation.
How drum transcription works here
Three steps. No account required — just audio and an email.
Send the audio
Upload a file, or paste a YouTube / song URL.
We find the kit
Even under vocals and guitars, we isolate the drums and write what’s played — kick, snare, hats, toms, cymbals.
You get the chart
PDF to print, MIDI for your DAW or e-kit, MusicXML to edit. Straight to your inbox.
Sample drum notation
A handful of well-known grooves — open a page, read the chart, download the PDF. Placeholders for now; real transcriptions replace them under the same links.
In the Air Tonight
Phil Collins
That gated-reverb fill in the last third — the one everyone waits for. The rest of the song is mostly atmosphere until it isn’t.
Open drum chart →
Tom Sawyer
Rush
Peart in 7 — tight accents, a fill that shows up in every drum cover, and zero room to coast.
Open drum chart →
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana
Grohl’s four-bar intro: loud, simple, and easy to rush. The pocket is the whole joke.
Open drum chart →
Rosanna
Toto
Porcaro’s half-time shuffle — the “Rosanna shuffle.” Ghost notes, ride pattern, and a pocket you can study for years.
Open drum chart →
Moby Dick
Led Zeppelin
Bonham’s showcase — a riff on either side of a long solo. Power, space, and that right foot.
Open drum chart →
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Paul Simon
Gadd’s military-style intro groove — stickings everyone has tried to steal by ear at least once.
Open drum chart →
Who this is for
Learners
You worked out a groove by ear and don’t want it to evaporate by Thursday. Get a chart you can sit with at the kit.
Teachers
A student sends a reference track. You need practice pages, not an afternoon of pause-rewind-write.
Arrangers & chart writers
Use the output as a first pass. You still own the final listen — this just saves the blank-page grind.
Ready when you are — upload a recording or ask us anything.
FAQ
- Does the recording need to be drums-only?
- No. A full mix is fine. We pull the kit out first — kick, snare, hats, toms, cymbals — then write the chart. Solo drum stems work too, and they’re usually cleaner.
- How accurate is the transcription?
- Clean studio tracks and clear live recordings come out best. Dense fills, washed-out cymbals, quiet ghost notes in funk, and phone videos from the back of a room are harder — same as if a human were charting them. Expect to fix a bar or two by ear on the tough stuff. We’ll say that before we claim otherwise.
- What files do I get?
- PDF for the stand, MIDI for a DAW or e-kit, and MusicXML if you want to edit in MuseScore, Guitar Pro, or Sibelius. All three go to the email you type in.
- How long does it take?
- Usually a few minutes. You’ll get an email when the files are ready.
- Is it free?
- For now, while we’re still settling pricing. We won’t charge you without saying so first.
Still stuck? Contact us. For legal detail, see the terms.