Adding drums to a recording seems to be the biggest nightmare for most musicians and songwriters. What should they use? What can they use?

Approach your recording as a rhythmic recording, rather than drum recording, and ask yourself what each instrument could bring to the table. The best instrument might not be the one you first thought of.

A drum kit will make your rhythm track sound like many other rhythm tracks you have heard on those rock records you grew up with,  while a drum machine will tighten up the track and make the recording more dance-floor friendly.

A drum kit has many limitations in terms of the rhythm you can play (this of course depends on the drummer you use but no drummer can chain quirky rhythms in a way a drum machine does). A drum machine is limited to using a constant tempo throughout the track with no natural shift between the verse and the chorus for example.

A drum kit will bring interaction with a human being, eg the drummer, and all the richness and frustration that socialising can bring to you. A drum machine will do what you tell it to do and will not tell you if it thinks it’s a bad idea - perhaps both good and bad.

Instruments are only a mean to convey a musical idea so weight the pros and cons of each rhythmic instrument. Listen to what your peers use. Do you want to sound the same or different? Perhaps using creatively a different rhythmic instrument than what is expected in your genre will set you apart?