Studio Drummer – Be Industrious and Creative

*GO ON CRAIGSLIST AND KIJIJI FOR EXAMPLE AND ADVERTISE IN YOUR GEOGRAPHIC AREA OFFERING TO BE INVOLVED IN RECORDING SESSIONS FOR FREE.*

 

A bass player that I’ve done sessions with, Brian Manato got the Sarah McLachlan gig and still has it to this day by posting and answering an ad in a local music rag.  He’s ALSO played on all of her records.

 

Buy yourself 2 microphones and get a hold of a free version of an audio platform.  Pro-Tools offer a free version of their software on the net as do numerous other platforms.  With 2 microphones you can place one in the kick and the other on the snare drum or use it as an overhead mic so it’s picking up the entire kit.  Use this setup to practice all the studio abilities that we’re discussing here.

 

If you have no experience or very little experience the one thing that you absolutely don’t want to do at this point in your development is to stay isolated.  It’s very easy to stay isolated in this internet age.  You have to get in the same room as other players.  Preferably, this would be two other players that would normally comprise a rhythm section: a guitarist and a bass player, or a keyboardist and a bass player.

 

You need to record together even if it is only you who is being benefiting from the experience.  You need to start to understand the interplay and the cause and effect of what other players and their sense of time and interpretation can do to your sense of time and your interpretation, both in a positive and negative sense.  There are many effects that other players can have on your own playing.

 

For example these players may ask you to play something that you’re not comfortable with.