DRUMMER CAFE

Well folks in my studio, I don't do anything or ask anyone to do things different than when they play out.

I am a drummer and own a small studio.  I feel that some drummers hold back because they feel that they are on the clock and don't want to screw up the music .  They sometimes try too hard.........then they screw up.  Felix is right in stating to play as usual, but just listen to the producer, or the engineer,(which I'm both in my case) for additional advice.  Sometimes these guys/gals want too much from a drummer, set-ups, where to play on the drum(there's a new one).  In my studio the drummer gets attention because he's the one that takes up more time in setup and getting ready.  This is not bad because these people like myself is the timepiece for the songs.

My advice to you would be  to be yourself, ask questions to the engineer or producer that will make you feel comfortable in the sessions.  Don't be afraid to ask questions about the set up, the headphones that you will be using, how the mix will come together, if a mistake is made how will the studio fix it.  Will the studio allow for a little warm up period for you and the group.

Set up an appointment with the studio to visit ahead of time and talk to those folks to feel comfortable with the studio team, if possible.

The drums will be miked, and the engineer would have a good idea that things are set up properly.  You shouldn't need to worry.

What bothers me is some of these people are really asking the drummer to do things out of the ordinary.  This is a bunch of crap.  Your set up should be the same for you not the engineer.  You should not have to re adjust your set or your playing to accomodate the producer or the engineer.  The engineer is getting paid to engineer the sound.  You produce it, it is up to the engineer to capture it.  You shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get a good sound in a controlled environment.

It is really amazing to here some of these comments.  I guess some studios have different agendas to take to the table, but it should be in sound reinforcement and not your playing and setup of the drum field.

The other drummers that come into my studio seem to be holding back, I sense this being a drummer and tell them to let it happen.  If the drummer is to tense I tell the group to practice a little to allow the drummer to get warmed up.

But that is the way I do business.  Some studios have different ideas and work differently with the bands in which I cannot attest to.

My opinion and take on this issue.

Jazzman

For whatever it's worth ... here's my thoughts and approach.

I don't really treat playing live or the studio that much differently. Everytime I play, regardless of the setting, I try to play strong, with conviction ... and balance the kit accordingly. For example, when playing a standard Rock groove ... my snare is the loudest, with the kick drum about the same (maybe 5 dB less depending on the sound I want) and the hihat at almost half of what the snare drum is. If I were to give a decibel rating it would be as follows:

• Snare - 85 dB
• Kick - 80 dB
• HiHat - 45 dB

This is just to give a visual picture only and is not necessarily a rule of thumb.

People tend to comment that I sound like I am a trained musician. I don't take this as a negative comment because I WANT to sound like I know how to control  the kit. I feel that I can play loose or tight ... it all depends on what the music calls for. I think it's a misconception by some people that because you are trained you are going to sound stiff; or non-trained means more looseness or feeling. I personally think that's just crazy. The only reason someone would fit that stereotype is if they are unable to get their head where it needs to be in order to play the music. It's like the whole playing on top, on back, or right on the beat. I used to analyze that to death ... and know what I need to do technically to make each on of those happen ... but just FEELING the music is a much easier approach. Studio greats such as J. R. Robinson would totally agree with my last statement.

I always approach playing the drums STRONG ... both live and studio. If the venue is small and can not handle this much energy, then I back off ... bringing it down to the level it needs to be for the gig ... but being sure to maintain the proper balance in the kit.

As far as playing more simply ... I would just say that I am more selective of my musical vocabulary. I take just as many risks when I'm in the studio as I would live ... but then again, I'm an average drummer who is not into flash. I just play the music and do what is necessary to make it feel good.

Producers higher musicians because of what they bring to the table. They WANT you to be creative! I rarely run into someone that doesn't want me to be creative. Most producers don't really know what they want ... specifically. They just know that they want to invoke some sort of mood or vibe ... and typically don't know how to get there. That's where the creative musician comes into play. They need you to take their ideas and words ... and put it on the drums. I always leave myself some creative room when I play. If I'm playing a simple two-beat groove, and the producer says "Bart, can you make that sound more funky?", I don't play my slickest, most difficult funk groove I know. I add a little more, then a little more (if needed). If the chef says "needs more salt" you don't dump the whole canister of Morton Salt in the stew do you?

One thing I try to make a point of doing is to find out what the BIG picture is for the tune I'm tracking. If it's a trio, I've got lots of room to stretch out; if it's an orchestra session, then I play more open or less busy. It's like driving a sports car versus a semi-tractor trailer. A sports car can take fast turns and stop on a dime, a semi can not ... in fact, you must make your turns very wide and deliberate. The more instruments or voices in the mix, the more room you have to leave; otherwise it just gets cluttered and sounds terrible. All those 32nd-note fills are just going to get lost in a big session ... and tend to not print well to tape ... so keep that in mind.

So in summary, my philosophy is as follows ......

• Same what you mean, and mean what you say. If you play something, play it with conviction like you mean it. Don't noodle around or play something half heartedly.
• Play the music and what is needed to make the music feel good. Get into the song and know what it's about.
• Practice enough so that you naturally balance the kit when you play. If you are uncomfortable it WILL show up on tape.
• Make sure you equipment is in good working condition, and sounds good BEFORE you show up to the session.
• Be easy to get along with, open-minded, bathe regularly, and just be an overall great human-being. Typically you'll get the call back because it's 90% relationship.

To me, if there's a big difference between playing live and playing in the studio ... then something isn't going right on my part. It may be that, of course, the producer or engineer don't really know what they are doing ... or perhaps they are just very green. For me, I try to refine my playing and have a goal of truly mastering the drums. I have such a LONG way to go, but hey, that's what life is all about. If you refine your LIVE playing, you'll have no problems in the studio.

If some of you haven't already done so, I would encourage you to check out my 5-Minute Lesson on Studio / Session Drumming. I still have more to write, but Parts 1 and 2 are finished.

_{As always, this is just my opinion and approach ... which works for me.}

depends on the situation.  sometimes yeah, if theres a perfectionist involved.  but when im engineering I usually tell people ahead of time that if they screw up, keep going and ignore it.  if theres the right "vibe" on that track despite an error it could well be the best take.  also, ive found that most "errors" are totally unoticable to anyone other than the musician playing it  the problem arises when a musician feels they screwed up and then dwell on it.  theyll inevitably make more mistakes then.  thats why I try and make the situation as comfy and friendly and painless as possible so the musicians can relax.  

matt chamberlain is a great example of a killer studio drummer.  his general philsophy is to just play.  hes even said that if on a snare shot he hits the rim more than the head its no biggie.  its the nature of things and those little mistakes make everything feel real and organic.  

felix, it's only "good" music, if the band sounds as good live, as they do on CD.  For example, Rush.

I am surprised by the number of close minded people with poor attitudes in this particular forum.  Processing, technology, quantization, these sound like complaints from people who have had their playing critiqued in the studio or worse, been replaced on sessions.  There are two types of studio playing; hired as a session player or playing on your own project.  If you're hired as a session player, you are there to serve a purpose.  What difference should it make to you if the artist (who is paying for you, the studio time and the production) chooses to have your parts quantized, or to cut and paste pieces of your tracks to serve their purposes?  It's what they hired you for.  If you can't handle this, don't strive to be a session player.  

However, if you are paying for the time, and it is a project you have creative input (ie. your band), then you should get what you want.  Engineers and producers in any studio are there to provide you, the client, with a product you are happy with.  If you are unhappy with the way your project came out, you either didn't convey your thoughts to the studio personnel, or they didn't have the knowledge or expertise to give you what you envisioned, or you allowed yourself to be bullied into accepting an inferior sound.  

I am a session player and also own a succesful commercial studio in the South.  We are succesful because we have a professional staff that know their equipment, and realize that the artist or client knows their music better than anyone else.  Never trade in your artistic values because some producer says so.  A producer is there to enhance your creative ability through their experience, but if it doesn't feel right, you should have the final say so in your project. By combining these attitudes, we have succesfully produced several records that have brought major label deals and one single that has been on Billboard's R+B Top 10 in the last year.  

As far as the difference in playing live vs. in the studio, I have found consistency is the key.  Keeping your levels even for the entire song across the entire kit is ideal.  I don't mean dynamics should suffer, but you would be surprised at how the levels jump from backbeat to backbeat. You should play your level checks with the same attitude and attack you are going to play the song, and try to remain as true to that level as possible.  Lastly, remember that your purpose as a musician is to play for the song.  The studio isn't really the place to show that you are the most technicaly proficient palyer in the city.  Read this month's Modern Drummer look back at Jeff Porcaro if you want some excellent advice on session playing.  I realize I will upset some people with my response, but I have made a living as a session player and studio owner.  

"Keeping your levels even for the entire song across the entire kit is ideal.  I don't mean dynamics should suffer, but you would be surprised at how the levels jump from backbeat to backbeat. You should play your level checks with the same attitude and attack you are going to play the song, and try to remain as true to that level as possible."


man, that drives me nuts.  I have a small studio and when im recording people and we're getting levels and whatnot I always keep my levels a couple notches below what I want them at because I KNOW the musicians will inevitably be just a little louder once they get going. like singers who think that when they get louder they should lean INTO the mic as opposed to away from it ... oh my.

here here jim.  

the way I see it, a good session musician is hired because of how they play.  granted im sure there are many smaller time musicians and producers both who in an effort to get work and save cash (respectively) make the kind of concessions agsa6079 is talking about. (we cant afford vinnie, can you play like him? ... ill try ... great, we'll fix what we have to later ... etc)  and I agree with him in the general sense that you are the hired gun.  but regardless of that any producer worth his salt should be allowing the musician THEY chose to be the musician they are.  

I agree with you on this point, and realized after reading my post that I did leave this element out of the equation.  However, to reiterate and expand on your comment, Vinnie Colaiuta is a first call, in demand around the world type player.  Artists and producers hire him for his uniqueness; they know what they are getting.  I was mainly referring to the topic at hand, and keeping my thoughts limited to the 95% of the music industry who can't afford to hire $650/hour session aces like Vinnie or Kenny Arnoff(sp?), etc. and don't have the luxury of living in LA or Nashville.  In most cities around the country, there are small and medium size studios that have their "stable" of musicians.  Most times, local and regional artists have no idea what they are looking for in a musician.  They don't know the difference between Jeff Porcaro's shuffles and Kenny Arnoff's huge backbeat.  They just want live players to transfer their ideas from the sequencer to tape.  They usually have no clue about the players, other then they were recommended by the studio.  Often times, I have been called to replace drummers from bands (either backing or "regular type") because the drummer can't play to a click and is wasting valuable ($$$$) time.  From a business standpoint as a studio owner, I should wish for this all the time, right?  But I don't because I am doing a disservice to the client due to the cost they incur and the quality of the music they are tracking.  I am not a coldhearted bastard who doesn't care about the music or the players.  I know the importance of keeping a band 's cohesiveness and psyche together to get the best performance.  If that means taking bits and pieces from 10 takes of the same song, and cutting and pasting them together to form one really great song, I'll do it.  But sometimes, it's easier and cheaper to bring in a session player and replace the parts.  The sad reality is that while music is a true art form, it is also a BIG business. The trick is to find a balance between the two.  I am certainly open to any suggestions, which is one of the reasons I joined this site.  I strive to learn something new everyday, and hope I can put that knowledge to use.  

And furthermore...

There are so many different styles of music, played and recorded in so many different ways, and yet everywhere you encounter someone telling you there is only one right way to play.  It's like dealing with religious fanatics.  Each one has the ONLY right answer.

When a technician tells me there's only one way to play a back beat, (loudly and with no dynamic variation) it's difficult to believe this person has anything like normal intelligence.

The notion that you can make a blanket statement about something should be played and it's going to be valid for every single band playing every single style of music...  Just think about that for a minute and give your head a shake.

For crying out loud, if I go to my CD collection I pull out recording after recording that was made without the shiny plastic Britney Spears production values, recordings where the drums are all over the place, and they sound fabulous.  But, according to technicians, those recording are no good.  Substandard.  

"A record like that would never be made today."  Not by a major label it wouldn't.  That's the whole problem.

Many very good recordings have been made where the drums were not perfectly consistent, each drum was not isolated from the others, and the microphones were not ridiculously close to the drums.

It seems although I clarified the difference between consistency and dynamics, my statements were still misconstrued.  Of course dynamics are important.  What I meant with consistentency in the studio is in regards to how you approach the drums.  From an engineering standpoint, if a drummer does level checks at a steady, consistent volume, the engineer usually has that as the "ideal" peak setting, allowing for subtleties to shine through.  But often times, with studio inexperienced drummers, once they start to play the song, they hit much harder then they do during the checks, and peak the trim out, causing distorted sounds.   This is also true during tom fills or when a beat is played on the bass drum, and then a cymbal crash/bass drum hit comes in at a much hotter level on the bass, again causing peak and distortion.  Maybe I should clarify and state that you should try to remain consistent to the dynamic levels of the song.  If it is a loud, aggresive section, play loud, aggresive and consistent.  If it a subtle passage with ghost notes and hi-hat work, then remain consistent in your levels.  

I agree that the same sound and level over and over is stale.  Why have a drummer when it can just be programmed?  As a drummer, I strive to get the best quality sound out of any drummer.  The original question posed was tips on playing in the studio.  The level consistency issue is a problem I have encountered as an engineer and a player.