Studio Drummer – More Thoughts on the Golden Rule

*THIS IS ANOTHER RULE THAT YOU MUST BEAR IN MIND.  THE ARTIST MAY HAVE TERRIBLE COMMUNICATION SKILLS BUT YOU ARE STILL REQUIRED TO HAVE THEM!*

You’re going to run into artists that have a lot of attitude.  It’s inevitable and just a matter of time.  A couple of buddies of mine were doing a gig with Kenny G and they walked into the rehearsal and there’s Kenny standing there with his saxophone playing away doing his circular breathing thing while he’s meeting all the players!  Circular breathing technique allows you to continuously play without stopping.  So he’s standing there blasting away on his horn while shaking hands with these guys.  And apparently that was just the beginning of the attitude!  At one point he yells at the drummer, “Drummer here’s your tempo!”

So there are times when you have to steel yourself against the negative vibes.  You truly put on your game face in these moments.

But back to a studio setting, artists still are the boss.  The artist is always right in the end!  It’s their product and they are footing the bill. This is a rule that you have to internalize.

You never want to disrupt the forward motion of a session and the creative atmosphere!

The artist or producer may also ask you to change or adjust your part or go in a completely different direction.  You may completely disagree!   I know of one session player who actually started debating with the producer about the merits of his change.  What a terrible mistake.  His overbearing position was the end for him.

The other thing to remember is that session players and producers are always a tight knit group of people!   You can go to any city or music center and the people that do the bulk of the session work are a relatively small group of professionals.   It literally only takes one infraction of the sort I’ve been talking about for it to be over for you.  And on the same token good news travels quickly.  Producers are intensively aware of a musicians’ ability to interact with artists and their handling of difficult communicative situations.  A musician who can deftly handle these relational situations and retain the positive energy in the room as well as bring their A game to the table as a player are gold to producers and good news travels!

But remember, an experienced producer will go with someone of slightly lesser talent but who has the ALL elements necessary!   People skills are absolutely the key essential!

On the flip side of this issue though is this. 

*DON’T BE PHONY EITHER* 

People can spot a phony from a mile away.  Don’t be gushing and overly complimentary for example.  Yet don’t be a doormat either.  There do arise moments, and for very good reason, when you have to be assertive. 

Here’s a good example of that from my experience;

I was working on a very good session for ‘the greatest outdoor show on earth’, the Calgary Stampede when I noticed there was a playback issue that was critical.  The session up to this point had been upbeat and very positive with great results.

The issue was that the playback of the tracks that we were recording was slightly delayed against the click track.  What that did was make everything that we were playing on the floor sound slightly out of time with the pre-existing recorded tracks that we were playing to.

In a very assertive way I had to enter the control room and insist that there was a software issue.  I could hear it.  But at the time the producer and

engineer were thinking, ‘it’s 10am in the morning and you guys all have to wake up and start playing in time’!  At least that was the general vibe coming from them.  Plus we happened to be recording at The Armory Studios which is a multi-million dollar world renowned studio.

Since what we were recording was pretty complex and busy I had the idea to ask the engineer to do a test with me.  I asked him to feed me a click track and I’d go in and play something dead simple, he’d record it and then we could compare the playback to the click track to see where the timing fell.

Sure enough they all could then hear that there certainly was a software issue and all systems were re-booted and the session was back on track again.  Also and equally important, I was not made to look bad as a player due to something that was not my fault!

There are definitive times when you have to stand up for something but as in this case it was something that was essential to the overall progress  that could have completely derailed the session as well as our reputations as players.

*THE BEST ADVICE I HAVE IS THIS:* 

Be ‘real’ but enter the environment with an attitude of humility, so as to enable others on all levels.  But also come with the intention to kick ass!  

When I say kick ass I’m even talking about if you’re playing a subtle ballad with a set of brushes.  You want to bring your utmost artistically to the situation along with unobstructed communication at every level!  Start here in an honest soul searching sense and then bring your arsenal.

Then you’ve greatly improved your chances of success!

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Studio Drummer – The Golden Rule!

THE GOLDEN RULE

Here is the golden rule of being a successful studio musician.  You can choose to heed it or you can choose to ignore it.  I’ll tell you this though, if you choose to ignore this rule it won’t really matter how great you are.

*YOU MUST BE A PERSON THAT GETS ALONG WELL WITH OTHERS AND BRINGS POSITIVE ENERGY TO A SESSION AND THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN A SESSION. YOU MUST BE AN ENABLER!*

I kid you not that all else is secondary.  You can have all the chops and talent in the world but if you’re disruptive, egotistical, arrogant, reactionary and if you generally diminish the flow and the energy in the room then you should start looking for another career!

The best session musicians are a hybrid of talent, tools and great people skills.  A studio setting is most often a tense environment to start with.  You have players who are on edge usually working with new material and unknown elements.  The same is often the case for the artist, producer and engineer.  There’s often a lot of money at stake and time is always of the essence.  The best session players are aware of the dynamic in the room at all times and are consistently working together with the artist, players and production staff to bring the most positive energy to the creative process.  Not only the above but this is also key. 

*THE BEST STUDIO MUSICIANS DIFFUSE NEGATIVE ENERGY* 

If something negative occurs or is introduced they will dissipate it through their communication skills.  This results in a ‘righting of the ship’ so to speak.

This is not some airy fairy psycho babble.  This key element is often overlooked by very great players who suddenly find that they’re no longer being called for sessions.  It happens all the time that musicians who may have great ability have completely overlooked the importance of human relations within the profession.  I know of great players directly in my circle where this has been the outcome for them and the situation was entirely created by them.

One situation that often arises and tests a player’s patience, humility and communication skills is one where the client doesn’t like what you’re doing and says so in front of  the players and staff, in a sense putting you on the hot seat.  Their intention may not be to do that at all!  It can be very testing as to how to respond in a way that is disarms the situation yet still retains the confidence in the eventual outcome and continues the forward motion and good vibes of a session.

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Studio Drummer – Optimize!

I remember reading some time ago an interview with a top world studio drummer who I prefer to remain nameless.  Reason being for that is not to get distracted by him but instead to focus on several pertinent comments that he offered.

He talked about how to optimize, moreover specifically about being analytical.  The process of self examination, not in a paranoid sense of always over scrutinizing one self or one’s performances but to be proactively engaged and positive about being self analytical.  That struck me as being very beneficial as an overall outlook on one’s playing and approach to playing.

He talked about learning to understand where each person’s own challenges lie such as learning to examine very carefully subdivision.   If you intend to lay a snare back in a way that is antithetical to pure subdividing then you have to understand how the relationship to the rest of the kit and the subdivisions that lie in those beats and those limbs are affected.

If something just doesn’t quite feel right, or better put, doesn’t feel the way that you intend it to feel then learn to be able to clearly and effectively break down where the problem lies without it affecting you emotionally or on an energy level.  Or more important still, a confidence level.

Being analytical in the most positive sense of the word will greatly increase your ability to not only correct aspects of your own playing but also increase your perception and ability to correct issues involving other players as they interact with you in a live or studio setting.

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Studio Drummer – A Jeff Porcaro Lesson

I had the opportunity years ago to meet Jeff Porcaro on a Toto show we were backing up.  And let me say straight out, that this is not a self-stroke in any sense… It was a lesson to me.
A lesson in person-hood.
We were backing up Toto for a couple of shows…we met after our set in a quiet dressing room and he was as clear and real a human as a human could be.  No hype, no bullshit at all.

We got talking and I was struck by some key things about him.  He had a true humility and deference about him.. but at the same time he had  a supreme quiet confidence about his truly massive strengths.  Yet intuitively, he still had that honest self defacing attitude about what he perceived to be his weaknesses. “Ah my hands are weak man!” .. he said to me.  And went on!

It was a bit weird to listen to because it was him…all the hits he’d played on that I’d grown up with and the beautiful deft subtleties (and strength of hands) of his playing.  And yet he was more than happy to share the foibles LOL!

Like I said though, it was like… dude… ‘you played on much of the soundtrack of my life!  There was a real disconnect there for me that I still understand to this day.

Yet at the same time he was genuinely complimentary and interested in my thoughts.. (you can spot the fakers.)   He liked my playing and gave me the ultimate whole hearted compliment I’ve ever had as a player.  Coming from him it still is very special.

the overall thing that struck me is this.

The people that contribute most to the art or instrument can often be the most humble of people.  They would rather listen to another player and dig them ( and as a result glean from them).  I read many an article of Jeff’s where he would defer anything he did to another great drummer, such as the Rosanna groove to Bernard Purdie.  ‘ I borrowed this from this guy, this from that guy.’

Like another musical hero once said… “The more you do know about music, the more you realize you don’t know anything”.

There’s a good lesson in that.

Jeff was a great studio drummer and by all reports a very cool human too.. Listen to his Steely Dan tracks, Toto or anything Jay Graydon produced, Dire Straits, Michael Jackson, etc… on and on…he played on hundreds of hits.

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