Studio Drummer – The Music Comes First … Always!

April 1, 2014

THE MUSIC COMES FIRST

 

 

I feel I need to be very straightforward here and say flat out that drummers tend to have a problem in general with this concept.  But it is at the very core of being a successful studio drummer. 

 

*THE MUSIC COMES FIRST… ALWAYS!*

 

Drummers unfortunately spend a great deal of their development as players disconnected from music.  They are concerned with technical issues and prowess.  This is one disadvantage that we have to work to overcome.  The music has to be integral to the drummer.

 

I highly recommend playing a melodic instrument as well to develop your musicality and sensitivity.  In my case I played brass for 10 years prior to playing drums and also sang and that has been foundational for me.  I was also raised being exposed to many types of music.  I feel that one of the best influences on me was a large exposure to classical music, which gave me a great appreciation for melody and harmony.  There’s almost no musical style that I can’t appreciate in a very real way.

 

If you want to be a successful studio drummer you need to be listening and emotionally connected to all types and styles of music including music that you may not initially be attracted to.  Look for the good in all music as a general rule. For example if you’re a rock drummer and hate country you’re doing yourself a disservice.  If you are an R&B drummer and you hate blues you are doing yourself a disservice etc.

 

stay tuned for more on this topic…

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Studio Drummer – DAW Recording – Beware of Editors

March 31, 2014

*YOU’LL RUN INTO EDITORS THAT ‘KNOW JUST ENOUGH TO BE DANGEROUS’ WHEN IT COMES TO DRUM EDITING.*

 

 I’ve had songs and performances sent back to me that were slaughtered by someone editing the drum performance who didn’t know enough about what they were doing. 

 

Drum editing is almost an art form. There are many ‘ins and outs’ pertaining to it.   I’ve had engineers or editors edit my tracks that have slightly shifted things out of time and made entire performances sound stilted and awkward if not just plain terrible at times. 

 

Other common mistakes that occur in editing are cymbal decays being cut off, bass drums being cut off or lost because they often fall just a fraction before the downbeat of the click.  These are most common since editors

   edit drum performances on ‘a grid’ so that the tracks align to a certain  beats per minute or bpm.

 

These editing mistakes were committed by professional people quite often too.  I’ve even had them come back at me afterwards saying that it was my fault in my performance!

That’s a terribly frustrating situation since it is completely out of your hands at that point.  A bad editor has the ability to destroy your performance and sully your reputation at the same time.

 

*SO TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO GUARD YOUR PERFORMANCES.*

 

I would recommend a couple of things here.  If you’re going into an unfamiliar studio to record bed tracks bring with you one or all of these things.  A blank CD, a blank DVD, a cassette and a hand held recording device.  Once the song is recorded ask the engineer or producer if they’d mind if you had a rough mix copy of the bed tracks. 

 

One of these formats they are bound to have.  And if they don’t have that capability use your hand held recording device.  That way you have a record, you have evidence if you will, of the track and your performance as you left it.

 

I always keep rough copies of the tracks I do for people these days for this very reason!   I’ve had a number of occasions where this has not only saved my reputation but has helped to narrow down the cause of the problem. 

One very memorable occasion of this happening was the result of a very good musician who happened to be a really bad editor. He was skewing my tracks without realizing it.

 

FINALLY…

 

I would recommend that if it’s a performance that you really care about or if you have concerns about then ask if the engineer/producer/ artist would mind if you sat in on the editing session. 

 

Often times they won’t have a problem with it if you’ve shown yourself to be respectful and low maintenance and your concern is for the ultimate good of the material.

 

Either way these approaches give you some insurance against the editing sabotage that can unwittingly occur.

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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 – Final thought regarding Chart Reading!

March 30, 2014

*FINALLY…*

 

 

This skill is one that just cannot be overlooked.  Decide to dedicate a percentage of your practice and attention to it. 

 

*REMEMBER*

 

If you can read competently as a drummer it puts you immediately into different league and will open up many new avenues of work!

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