Recording Drums - Last...... Will this work?

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Qwerty

Qwerty

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G'Day,

About three years ago my drummer decided that it would REALLY help his playing ability if he took up a large speed and heroine habit. About two and a half years ago, we kicked him out of the band.

Now, apparently he is married and back on the straight and narrow and hasn't been into anything for about a year. I believe him and am willing to give him a go for old time's sake.

In the meantime since he left, the dregs of the band have been using Sonar to capture a bunch of tracks which we then were creating MIDI drum parts against.

Anyway, it turns out that the ex-drummer will be in Sydney for a little while in October and I am seriously thinking about getting him into a studio to record "real" drum tracks.

Apart from the whole drug thing, do you think this would work -

1. Take PC into recording studio
2. Use four mics, (all the inputs my PC can handle), to record the kit
3. Drummer will play against the replay of the tracks, (gtr, bass and vox), that we have already laid down.
4. I can then edit and remix to my hearts content later.

To my mind this is going to be cheaper than going the whole hog and getting an engineer to record the whole thing into their console and then dumping it into Pro Tools and exporting the individual .WAV files back to my PC.

Questions -

1. Am I crazy?
2. Will headphones playing the original tracks be loud enough while he is playing drums, (rock music=-ish style)
3. If I have four inputs, how am I best off using them to capture the kit, (standard 5pc)
4. How long should I book? (to record 12 songs)

Thanks a lot!

Q.
 
That should work. I played all the instruments at my studio along to midi tracks, then got a (good) drummer to play along to it. Seemed to work alright.
I also used a 4 mic set-up. 1 snare, 1 kick, 2 overheads. Pretty classic drum recording technique.
Best find out what the pro's like Tex, etc say though.........
 
I don't see why this can't be done as long as the drummer has good time and is able to play to a click...

as long as everything is already 'synced' up to a midi drum track - you can just strip that out and drop in a click (which, to me (as a drummer), would be a bit easier to play over than a full midi drum track....that's just personal preference, though

as far as headphones - they should be loud enough as long as you have the 'closed' variety (and not 'open' ones)
 
sure...if

Yea it should work.. as long as the guitars and bass are a steady constant tempo. Otherwise it might sound wierd, and off, and can make the music sound amateur. But if you have the midi drums it should work.
 
I would run a check on your machine and make sure that you can record 4 tracks simultaneously while playing back other multiple tracks.... that might tax some machines or soundcards.

I would also bounce down everything the drummer is going to play along with to a stereo file, just a "quick & dirty mix", so the computer is only playing 2 tracks out while it's taking 4 in (reduce the load on the processor).

let us know how it goes!

good luck.

- housepig
 
Yes it works fine...Drummers don't like it.LOL..But it works



Don
 
As for how long...For 12 songs...It depends on pre production that you do with him and how much studio experience he has...I'd say a average of a song a hour..Some will be faster some will be longer..Also how ready his drum kit{tuneing ect.} is.but it is hard to say really...Good luck..sounds like a fun project!


Don
 
Thank you all

The project is set up for October 13th so the drummer should have enough time to familiarise themselves with the tracks.

Thanks for all your input and I will let you know how it goes!

Ciao,

Q.
 
I've done this quite a bit (about half a dozen times)....with mixed results. Your drummer needs to be on his game for this to work, though.
Be open-minded about the click track too. It may take too much of his concentration away from "playing" with the other instruments, so don't get married to the idea. If he's more comfortable playing without it, let him.
You may also find that redoing the bass afterwards will help you recover the groove if it gets a bit lost.

The song I'm working on right now was one where I laid down a midi drum track, then added guitars & bass. I had the drummer come in and track afterwards.
I have about 6 takes I can't really use. So tonight we're just going to jam. When I feel we all know our parts, I'm gonna track bass or guitar with him & go from there.

Good luck
 
as a drummer I prefer playing last. I just play better that way.

and if you already have the rest of the music don't even bother with a click as long as he has a way to reference when to start.
 
Last edited:
It would really depend on the drummer's ability. If he can't do it, maybe you can have him lay down all his parts and the rest of the band can re-record their parts around it. A local band here has done it that way and it works. Of course, this would be a last resort sort of thing but it's good to have a backup plan.
 
CHECK IT OUT...

This is fact from Mix Magazine.

Rush just released their latest album. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson recorded their parts with a click. This was in part due to the fact that they were writing as they recorded.

Neil Peart then came in and payed drums to their tracks.

Geddy and Alex went back to tweak certain tracks to tie in better with the drums.

I don't think an average drummer would be excluded from being able to do this, it would just take him a little longer.


This is recollection if correct:
Joe Perry and Steve Perry have Protools studios in their homes. If I am not mistaken, their drummer comes in behind them and lays tracks as well.
 
RSMITH123 said:
This is recollection if correct:
Joe Perry and Steve Perry have Protools studios in their homes. If I am not mistaken, their drummer comes in behind them and lays tracks as well.
Click to expand...

Let's hope he's not laying some pipe also.

It should work if the drummers decent. Unfortunately most rock drummers really seem to suck.
 
RSMITH123 said:
Joe Perry and Steve Perry have Protools studios in their homes. If I am not mistaken, their drummer comes in behind them and lays tracks as well.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize Joe and Steve Perry had a band. Wow, that's pretty cool. I want to see these guys do old Journey and Aerosmith tunes live. :D :D
 
Ha... got me. Oh shshshshshsh....sherry!

I meant Tyler, of course.
 
I think it can be done relatively easily with a click track... Without one though, it can be nearly impossible sometimes, and only moderately difficult if the other players have good time.

Scott
 
TexRoadkill said:

Unfortunately most rock drummers really seem to suck.
Click to expand...

Well thats an interesting thought... Im gonna have to slide on the disagreement side of that statement...

My take is... If a drummer doesn't like playing to a click track, but can physically do it, then he is just being a drummer...

If a drummer can't play to a click track at all... Well then I would think that he is either new, or that he doesn't have a good sense of steady beat, which is sort of a requirement in being a good drummer..

I respect clicks and can play to them, but at the same time there are songs where I like to be able to flow back and forth a bit off of the straight and narrow...

I can do either method... whichever the moment calls for.

A good drummer should be able to follow a click, or an outside metronome (ie. bandmember)


In my view a drummer isn't always the one that is keeping the beat (yeah I know that sound backwards..)... In my band (im the drummer), and I watch the bass player and the guitar player and sometimes go off of them depending on the call of the moment......

Same thing with concert bands or symphony.... You are going off of a conductor, which is basically a click track with arms...


So why am I rambling on.... Well, if a drummer CAN'T play to a click.. tell him that he sucks, and he will get mad and start doing it.

:D
 
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