How Notre Dame uses Battery to shape drum-driven emotion in his tracks

Notre Dame’s new single “Do For Your Love” is built around emotional friction – the kind that doesn’t fully resolve, and isn’t supposed to. Released as the debut on his new imprint Paranormal Society, the track moves between intimacy and unease, driven by drums that feel more like internal dialogue than club percussion.

That tension is all part of how he writes, and part of why Battery has become such a central tool in his process.

In this interview, Notre Dame breaks down how he uses Battery to shape emotionally weighted grooves, how subtle tweaks to pitch and transients can shift the energy of a mix, and why he starts with feel before he touches anything technical.

The conversation also touches on why he keeps everything centralized in one instance of Battery, how he avoids overengineering his swing, and how a single snare can either break the mood or lock the whole track into place.

Jump to these sections:

• Why rhythm shows up early when Notre Dame writes emotionally charged tracks
• How Battery helps translate subtle mood shifts into percussive detail
• The importance of tuning and envelopes when shaping kick and snare tone
• Why centralized drum programming leads to more focused grooves
• Workflow tips to avoid overthinking and keep the emotion intact
• The launch of Paranormal Society and the vision behind Do For Your Love

Stick around for insight into a production style that’s less about complexity and more about how a groove feels in the moment you hit play.

Demo Battery free

When you’re writing something as emotionally weighted as “Do For Your Love,” how early do the drums come into the picture?

Drums usually come in fairly early for me, even when I’m writing something deeply emotional like “Do For Your Love.” I’ll often sketch out a rhythmic idea as soon as I’ve found a harmonic or melodic loop that hits me emotionally.

For this track, the groove was essential in setting the emotional tone. I wanted the drums to feel both intimate and unresolved, almost like a heartbeat that doesn’t quite settle.

That tension, that subtle push-and-pull, became a reflection of the internal conflict in the song’s theme

Why Battery? What makes it the right tool for how you build and manage drums?

Battery gives me this rare combination of surgical control and speed. I don’t want a plugin that slows down my creativity with too many layers of complexity, but I do want depth, and Battery hits that sweet spot. I can drag and drop samples, tweak envelopes and pitch on the fly, and quickly swap elements without losing momentum. That fluidity is crucial, especially when I’m emotionally “in it.”

Plus, the way it organizes samples visually is really helpful for how I think about rhythm: not as isolated sounds, but as a dynamic interplay of textures. Each cell is like a little emotional character, and Battery gives me the tools to shape each one precisely without overcomplicating my process.

Pro tips from Notre Dame: Treat each drum sound like a character in your story, not just a sound.

Do you separate drums into multiple Battery instances or keep them centralized?

I usually keep things centralized.

That helps me stay focused on the relationship between each percussive element, almost like I’m working with a single cohesive kit. It makes it easier to balance levels, dynamics, and feel in context rather than jumping between instances and losing the groove.

That said, if I’m working on something more layered, such as incorporating found sounds, Foley, or off-grid percussion, I might open a second instance to keep those more experimental elements separate.

But 90% of the time, I prefer everything talking to each other in one place.

Pro tips from Notre Dame: Don’t overlook the envelope controls: a softer transient can shift the whole vibe.

What makes a kick or snare “feel right” to you emotionally, not just sonically? How does Battery help you lock that in?

Emotionally, a kick or snare has to speak the same language as the rest of the track. A snare that’s too clean or too bright can pull you out of the atmosphere.

For me, a good kick has a weight that sits in the chest, not just the ears, and a snare has to carry some kind of attitude or vulnerability, depending on the vibe. It’s more about what the sound evokes than what frequency it hits.

The battery lets me fine-tune those emotional cues quickly, whether it’s softening a transient to make a snare feel more worn-in or pitching a kick just a few cents to match the key and color of the track. Sometimes the smallest tweaks are what make a drum feel right, and Battery’s editing tools make that intuitive.

Pro tips from Notre Dame: Let at least one element stay raw, imperfection adds soul.

How do you keep yourself from overthinking drum programming when you’re chasing a specific feeling?

I try to stay connected to the initial impulse, the reason I started the track in the first place. If I catch myself layering 12 hi-hats and micro-adjusting swing values for an hour, that’s usually a sign I’ve disconnected from the emotion and gone into technical mode.

So I often work quickly at first, building a groove based on instinct, then refine only what needs it.

Also, I try to keep at least one element a bit raw or unpredictable. It’s easy to “quantize the soul” out of something. Leaving a slightly off-grid clap or a textured rimshot untouched can keep the emotion alive in a way that perfect programming can’t.

Pro tips from Notre Dame: Use pitch and fine-tuning to match your drums to the key of your track emotionally.

For a producer just getting into Battery, what’s one workflow habit you’d recommend from day one?

Create your own go-to kit as soon as possible.

Load up a blank instance of Battery with 16 to 32 sounds you love and save it as a preset.

That way, you’re not starting from zero every time. You can always replace or tweak elements, but having a familiar starting point speeds everything up and keeps you in the creative zone.

Also, learn how to use the “velocity layer” and envelope section early on. That’s where a lot of the emotional nuance lives. Even just adjusting the attack or decay slightly can completely change the feel of a groove.

Pro tips from Notre Dame: Build a personal starter kit in Battery to save time and stay inspired.

Start programming your drums

Appreciate Notre Dame for breaking down the emotional mechanics behind “Do For Your Love.” The track hits because everything is intentional – from the heartbeat-like groove to the tiny pitch shifts that let each hit land just right. Battery is the tool that helps him translate tension and release into something you can actually feel in the rhythm.

The launch of Paranormal Society feels like a natural next step for him. The sound is cinematic, personal, and grounded in real emotion – exactly the kind of space where a track like this makes sense. And if this release sets the tone for what’s coming next, the label’s going to be one worth keeping an eye on.

For anyone chasing more than just functional drums, this is the reminder: start with the feeling.

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