What is the Drummer Cafe Community Drum Solo?
Would you like to participate in this year's community groove / solo? If so, here's what you need to do:
1. Download the following MP3 accompaniment track to play-along to. This is what you'll listen to while playing your groove/solo. Not only does the accompaniment provide a rhythmic-bed for you to play over, but it helps get everyone in the right tempo and makes the finished composition more cohesive. This year the loop is in 4/4 at 95
bpm to the quarter-note. The track is 10 measures long; two-bar count-off with cowbell, then eight bars of full loop for grooving and/or soloing over.
2. Record yourself playing to the groove loop accompaniment track. The accompaniment starts with a two-bar count-off (cowbell) with a portion of the loop, followed by an 8-bar funky bass type groove. You only groove/solo for 8 bars/measures. Record only yourself, we don't need to hear the accompaniment track; we will add that to the final mix in post-production. It's best to listen to the accompaniment track via headphones while recording your performance. This helps to insure that only your solo is heard and picked-up on your recording.
Feel free to just groove and add a few solo licks here and there if you want; you don't have to solo the entire time or even at all. An interesting groove is far better than a bunch of out-of-
pocket pyrotechnics. Don't allow yourself to be pigeonholed by the loop track. You can play in a wide variety of styles and feels, so be creative and challenge yourself to do something unique and different.
The instrument set-up you use is completely up to you. You can use a drumkit or a percussion set-up; one instrument to everything including the kitchen sink!
3. We prefer that participants video tape their solo performance. If you don't own a camera, try borrowing one! If you can't video tape your performance, record yourself and submit the audio along with a photo of yourself behind your set-up.
4. Email your solo (video or audio and photo) to solo@drummercafe.com. Be sure to include your real name as well as your Drummer Cafe forum username (if you have one), and a you are sending audio only (don't own a video camera) be sure to include a photo of yourself.
The entire project will be mixed and released sometime in May; it all depends on how many participants we have this year.
NOTE: When it's time to send in your portion of the solo, please use one of the following formats:
- Video - MOV, WMV, MPG, MPEG, etc. The higher the resolution the better; HDV is great!
- Audio - WAV or AIFF; stereo 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz (16 or 24 bit).
MORE INFORMATION
First of all ... this is NOT a contest, it's only an exhibition, so please ... no wagering! Seriously, this is going to be a Community Solo recording for everyone to participate in. You don't have to have professional recording gear, nor do you have to be an incredible soloist. Have fun, experiment and come up with some interesting things to say on your instrument. We want to hear you play, even if you just groove and keep time with the loop track.
We suggest that each person start by landing right on the downbeat of ONE at the beginning of their groove/solo, beginning with a cymbal crash. The bass grooves for eight measures, although there is some groove in the two-bar count-off. End your groove/solo on the downbeat of 1 on the ninth bar. This "release measure" is where the next soloist will begin. Also, there's no need to do any cropping or editing with your solo; we'll take care of all of that and prefer that you leave it alone, giving us a full 11 measures ... 2 bar count-off, 8 bars of groove/solo and 1 full bar of release, letting your cymbal crash ring out.
Again, we prefer that you not record the loop to your tracks; just record your drums or percussion part. We'd like everyone to groove, solo or a mix of the two for 8 full measures. Longer solos will not be used! The loop is long enough so that you'll have some time to get into the groove before you actually play. Bart Elliott reserve the right to cut the solo down or throw the solo out if need be. The eight measures at this tempo is close to 30 seconds for each individual.
In case you missed it earlier ... we will NOT be editing solos! What you send me is what will appear in the final mix. Also, let's not Pro Tool or "fix" the solos to death. Play it the best you can ... and leave it alone. We want to hear you just as you are!
We'd like everyone to have their solo recorded by May 30, 2009. Late entries will not be accepted ... so again, don't delay in recording your solo.
