Chris Vrenna talks about Born Villain.

[Cringeon]

Chris has only said there were no live drums on BV. It's quite possible he programmed some by playing an ekit and using the live performance with samples. I think this idea that people assume what the drums are or not, somehow means its lacking or MM forcing it one way or the other. MM has been a band with programmed drums from its birth, and at this point probably has more programmed drums than actual live in the whole catalog.

Chris drum work on BV is pretty awesome, a big step up from EMDM and THEOL. I really like the use of multiple kits blended and the placement of the drum machine samples which really push the dance beat.

[Atom]

The programmed drums sound decent on BV. Some of them sound really robotic and stiff at times though (especially the hilarious drums fills and snare rolls). The drum fill after the bridge of "The Gardener" is fucking awful. It really does not fit well at all.

I personally think BV would have been a lot better if it had some live drums on certain tracks.

[JT_]

The programmed drums sound decent on BV. Some of them sound really robotic and stiff at times though (especially the hilarious drums fills and snare rolls). The drum fill after the bridge of "The Gardener" is fucking awful. It really does not fit well at all.

I personally think BV would have been a lot better if it had some live drums on certain tracks.

I don't mind that one actually, but it's kinda fancy considering how boring the rest of the drum tracks are.
The worst one is the 'boom boom' before the 2nd chorus of Hey Cruel World, that's just horribly amateur and the toms sound like a crappy basement kit.

[A Better Messiah]

I have no problem with programmed drums, being that Manson has had them from the start, but I think that I speak for us all when I say "Let's hope that Sutter sticks around to record drums on the next album!!"

[Atom]

Manson has had a decent mix of live and programmed drums from the start. Only recently did he really attempt to imitate live drums with programmed ones. Typically, but not always, it was an 808 or something or an electronic 80s sounding kit. It sounds fine most of the time but as JT_ mentioned there's some parts that just sound weird and are a bit jarring for me.

[Cringeon]

Portrait is primarily programmed, and it all tries to sound like a live kit.

[Atom]

There's some stuff that is clearly live drumming and quite a bit of programmed drums layered over it on Portrait. Still it's not as stiff sounding as the past few albums.

[Esotericdreamer]

I think that lately with most artist the programming drums that sounded great and not too crisp in the 90's sound overprocessed these days.

[kleiner352]

I really love Vrenna, he's always brought a lot to the projects he's been involved in. Looking forward to the new Tweaker album; his drums on Overneath really define that song for me.

[The Empirical Guy]

Chris has only said there were no live drums on BV. It's quite possible he programmed some by playing an ekit and using the live performance with samples. I think this idea that people assume what the drums are or not, somehow means its lacking or MM forcing it one way or the other. MM has been a band with programmed drums from its birth, and at this point probably has more programmed drums than actual live in the whole catalog.

Chris drum work on BV is pretty awesome, a big step up from EMDM and THEOL. I really like the use of multiple kits blended and the placement of the drum machine samples which really push the dance beat.

Agreed on that point, that when it gets it really pumping (like Overneath) the blending of kits and different sounds is awesome. Unfortunately I just don't think this carried through the entire album and, when using a straight up acoustic sound, the sound choice was sometimes a bit odd (someone else already mentioned very tight closed hats where a half-open one could have rocked it a bit better). Not to argue his ability as a programmer. Quite the opposite in fact, that's what I mean when I say he was more interested in that element (blending kits and sounds and so on) rather than coming up with a cool, fitting drum part that served the song.

Portrait is primarily programmed, and it all tries to sound like a live kit.

True that, but the parts are quite interesting, they were programmed based on the parts that had been played by a live drummer for some time previous.

Manson has always used drum machines - indeed, they started with one as opposed to a live drummer - and I'm certainly not against them. I think it's great and encourage it. Some of the loops and feels on Holy Wood are some of my favourite Manson drum parts. However, I just think that the complete take over by the machine has been a factor of ease of recording rather than an artistic choice over sound, and that's where things have suffered. As always, some things sound great with a machine - but others, not so much.