If you are needing acoustic drums on your songs please consider a couple of things...
It doesn't matter if you're an experienced drummer or just starting out, it's very hard to play drums to a track that has timing problems, best to start with a tight foundation, use a click and try and get it really accurate. If your song is tricky because of a technical guitar lick or whatever, err on the side of caution and record a simpler version, play the complex version later when you have the drums in your mix finished, it needs to be tight, that's first priority.
Bass works best recorded after drums, as do most instruments. This is because in a live scenario the band follows the drummer, and following this practise will yield a tighter, more believeable mix. So u may waana treat your first tracking session for your song as 'beds', re-record gt, keys, bass later, it will sound more cohesive.
Drums are a loud instrument, keep it that way in your mix, or it will sound weak and not believable. Listen to other mixes of the same genre and check where your levels are. Close your eyes, listen to your mix, imagine you are listening to it as a live band in a club, would the sound engineer really have the guitar that loud??? Probably not, let the rhythm section and vocals be clearly heard in your mixes, but not a karaoke mix with all vocals and no band.
Use a sync tone...best one for drummers is 2 bars of a click at the songs tempo, 2 bars of silence (for a possible drum fill intro)
Make a drumless mix before you invite said players, put it in the drum section clearly labeled 'drumless' so it's easy to find, instead of listening to 5 or 6 mixes to find the right one.
Don't have a click going throughout your whole mix, we need to be able to listen back to what we record without the click.
Keep the vocals and less important elements of your mix down in volume, mix the 'drumless' so the rhythm sections drives the track, then the drummer can lock in with those elements much easier. We only need a quietly mixed vocal as a guide, we monitor thru our cans really really loud and a lot of the times the vocal become very sibilant.
My favourite drummers are Vinnie Colaiuto, Steve gadd, Keith carlock, Andy Fisenden, Weckl, Chambers and the other usual suspects. I enjoy playing funk/jazz/fusion type arrangements, but will give almost anything a go..(maybe not Polka). I play in an original band called 'Astro', CD 'Headfirst' to be released on itunes October 2010. And I'm in a covers band called 'Velvet' we play covers by the likes of.... Foo Fighters, Chili peppers, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Living Colour, U2, Powderfinger,etc. I use Pro Tools recording software with 002 rack and windows XP.
About Me:
I am currently using a Pearl Session Series drum kit with Remo Emperors. My tom sizes are 10, 12, 14, 16, kick 20",snare is a 13 inch maple piccolo by Mapex, or I use a 14 inch chrome pearl world series, both with Remo coated heads or Evans G1 coated.
My cymbals are...
Zildjian K Custom 18" Dark crash Zildjian K Custom 16" Dark crash
Zildjian K Custom 20" Flat Ride Zildjian A Custom 12" splash Zildjian AA 8" splash Zildjian 14" New Beat hats
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