Studio Drummer – DAW Recording – Increase Your Studio Ability

March 30, 2014

*AS A RULE, RECORDING FULL TAKES WILL INCREASE YOUR STUDIO ABILITY.*

 

I find that most producers today, given the ease and the speed tend to record in sections instead of entire takes.  As a result there are a whole generations of players, studio players included that have never been subject to one of the toughest skills that a session player was once required to have and still should possess.

 

This of course means your utmost execution and musicality throughout the entire piece of music. It also means precision against a click track and correct reading and interpretation of the chart in front of you.  And on top of this it means that bringing the fifth element, the quintessential element being your outstanding style and interpretation.

 

And don’t forget that tape has not gone away completely especially on very high end productions. 

 

*THERE ARE PRODUCERS AND ENGINEERS THAT STILL SWEAR BY THE SOUND OF TAPE.*

 

 They swear by it because of what’s called tape distortion, a certain tape compression and distortion that happens with analog tape that sounds sonically huge to the ear.  So as a studio drummer you should have the skills needed to play entire takes if you’re called for one of these sessions!

 

*LET’S TALK ABOUT DRUM EDITING.*

 

Of course with the advent of extremely powerful digital recording platforms many borderline performance issues can be adjusted or rescued with time shifting and quantization.  This can work well in your favor although as I was saying earlier you wouldn’t have had that luxury 20 years ago and nor would you if you were called into an analog recording situation today!

 

Digital editing, as well as having many advantages also has large and inherently dangerous disadvantages to you as a player that you need to be aware of.  This is something I’ve encountered many times in my business.

 

See coming post with more on this topic…

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Studio Drummer – DAW Recording – ‘What You Played Is What You Played’

March 30, 2014

*WHAT YOU PLAYED IS WHAT YOU PLAYED.*

 

In fact, on most formats of tape machine, especially the highest end of multi tracking tape machines, you couldn’t ‘punch in’ either or there were very limited areas where one could punch in to a track.  It would have to involve silence or an actual pause in the music.  It was often a very pressure filled setting.

 

I was working with Bob Rock the famous producer/engineer, recording drums for the second Idle Eyes record at the infamous Little Mountain Sound studios in Vancouver.  It was the center of the world for rock recording in the 80’s.  Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, David Lee Roth, the Cult etc recorded huge albums there.

 

 

It was also a world famous studio for drum sounds.  Fantastic drum sounds, so much so that artists would come from around the world just for that sound.  But Bob didn’t like to punch at all.  It had to be full takes for him.  That shows you just how much things have changed in the world of recording.

 

A funny little story there – we were just finishing up that record when a bunch of very rock and roll looking dudes show up at the studio and Bob says to us “Yea that’s this band Bon Jovi, I have to record their record next week and I just feel burned out right now.”  That ‘album’ was Slippery When Wet which sold about 10 million copies and launched Bon Jovi and Bob Rock into the stratosphere.
 

On this topic of full takes, I remember on an album for WEA records we were having trouble with a certain tune that just wasn’t feeling the way the producer wanted.  Again it was entire takes of the song over and over. 

 

Today it would just be done in sections and edited together or by punching in on sections, but not in those days.

 

It was an added dimension of pressure that the session musician had to learn how to handle.  The anxiety at times could be literally overwhelming.  However, it is a very good exercise even today to at least practice playing songs as entire takes.  If you’re in a recording situation I would strongly recommend that you push to record this way as well. You may very well be expected on a recording session to be able to read down and play an entire take.

 

Of course the producer and the artist are going to ultimately dictate how things get laid down.  But if you are given a say in the matter and are comfortable with it then I would recommend doing it this way.

 

Stay tuned for more posts on this topic!

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Studio Drummer – Introduction to DAW Recording

March 30, 2014

DAW DRUMS AND EDITING

 

 

For those uninitiated in the term, DAW refers to ‘digital audio workstation’: the short-form terminology commonly used these days.  Modern recording has moved almost entirely away from linear analog tape to computer-based systems of numerous varieties.  Of course the most common, and considered by most to be the industry standard is Pro Tools.  But there are many platforms these days, some of which are considered superior sonically to Pro Tools.

Platforms such as Radar and Saw for example are considered superior in sonic quality.  There are many other fine platforms such as Logic Audio, Sonar, Cubase, Nuendo, Digital Performer and the list grows daily!

 

Having said what I have about platforms this is not intended to be a recording seminar and I’d advise you to dig deep into the many source materials that exist about recording platforms and techniques.  If your intent is to also develop engineering capabilities so you can effectively record yourself, then again I would recommend separate studies in this area.

However it is good, as I will show, to have a general knowledge of platforms and the way that drum-editing takes place on these platforms as well as some of the pitfalls that can befall your performances along with the advantages that they create!

 

The move away from analog tape recording, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere is unfortunate for the modern day studio musician in general.  What is unfortunate is that less than 15 years ago you as a session player you would be required to play an entire ‘take’ (terminology used meaning an entire pass of the piece of music.)  There was no time shifting or repairing. 

 

Stay tuned for more on DAW and home studio recording…

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Studio Drummer – Chart Reading – First things First!

March 29, 2014

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

 

When I get a chart on a session I do the following;

 

I figure out the ‘road map’ so to speak. 

 

Are there repeats? Is there a DS, is there a DC, is there a DS al coda?


What are the dynamic markings, are there tacits, are there rals or rits, first and second endings etc?

 

By the way, never feel bad about clearing up issues around a chart and the way it’s ‘reading down’ so to speak.  What often happens is that you’re actually noticing a chart error on a session before the other musicians.  This happens very frequently since producers and writers are often cramming to finish a chart for a session.  At the very least it shows that you have a reading awareness and producers take note and appreciate this fact.

 

Then I move to tricky rhythmical phrases, ones that I don’t immediately recognize and I take a moment to interpret them.

 

 

*ONCE I’VE ESTABLISHED THAT I MOVE TO A PERSONAL TRICK THAT I USE THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO INCORPORATE.* 

 

A lot of chart writers put a different amount of bars on each stave.  This can be annoying and confusing if you’re looking away from the chart constantly.  What I do is I mark 4 and 8 bar sections all the way down the chart with a pencil.  Being that we normally feel western music in 4 and 8 bar phrases this is something you should try.  I’ve found it to be a very helpful navigational tool.

 

This way if I have a poorly written, hard to decipher chart that has different bar amounts on each line (and perhaps no chord changes written so it’s just a bar chart)  I can look away from the chart and look back and immediately know where I am.  This little trick has been invaluable to me over the years.

 

Since we have the unenviable task of playing such a physical instrument as well as not being able to look directly at the chart as well as having to so constantly divert our eyes away from the chart, every little helper we can discover for ourselves will be most helpful!

tune in for the next installment regarding reading tips!

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Studio Drummer – Chart Reading – Practical Advantages

March 29, 2014

*HERE IS A GREAT EXAMPLE FROM MY EXPERIENCE WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO WRITE YOUR OWN CHARTS.*

 

Previously, I mentioned having to work with long charts and in one particular situation I was confronted with exactly that on a pressure-packed live gig. 

 

There was a book for this gig, in other words the show had a book of charts that were in plastic sleeves whereby the drummer could flip the pages and move through the voluminous individual charts, which were up to 8 to 10 pages long.  The previous drummer had handled this issue by putting one stick in his mouth while turning pages which can be a common way to handle this.  The problem was that the groove was suffering at the point of page turning. 

Being that this gig was one that I wanted to nail I took the time to write my own charts.

 

The reason why the charts are often so long is that the musical pieces are constantly changing key so the writer can’t use repeat signs.  However we are able to since we’re not a chordal instrument. 

 

I was able to reduce 8 page charts down to very accurate 3 or 4 page charts that involved no page turning.  Plus as you experienced folk know, a 3 to 4 page chart will be readable on a single music stand instead of 2.  If a chart is just too long you can also have one stand on one side and one on the other.  There were some songs on the Calgary Stampede that I decided to use the show’s charts for and they were a little more than 4 pages in length, so I used that trick.    


And best of all regarding this added work and preparation, I could paste the entire performance to the wall the entire time with no physical interruptions!

 

 check out the final installment coming!

 

 

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