Sooooooo tired of fake drum threads.

All of this depends on the priority of the person doing it. If they are primarily a songwriter, how the song gets done isn't the focus, and they will use the most convenient way to get it done.
If being a musician or engineer is the priority, that is when people start dragging equipment around town and renting a bunch of gear.
 
You can also colab with someone here if you have something you REALLY want live drums on. It never hurts to have friends and contacts that you can work with. :)

Tried to get a great guitarist friend of mine to do some guitar lines for me while he was in town, but he had family obligations and other things and we only spent a couple hours together and never got around to more than catching up. Never even listened to my music, just talked and played a bit.

Me, I'm just a songwriter. If it gets the point across, it gets the point across. I'm not trying to release to radio play...I'm writing for my own amusement and amazement. I'm certainly not going to spend $100s on rental space/gear to record one of my drum lines. But I suppose that means I really don't have the will. Even if I have the means. Honestly, I've thought of taking my equipment to my church and recording my own drum kit. Maybe if I get a few more mikes...
 
Farview said:
All of this depends on the priority of the person doing it. If they are primarily a songwriter, how the song gets done isn't the focus, and they will use the most convenient way to get it done.
If being a musician or engineer is the priority, that is when people start dragging equipment around town and renting a bunch of gear.
Click to expand...

I think this is part of the greater problem with current music in general. It used to be that people with their shit somewhat together went to a studio and recorded their music. The current shift in focus for people to just get their garbage "out there" because they can has resulted in an explosion of suck and mediocrity from the actual songwriting to the recording process. People don't care about recording drums. People don't care about recording anything. They make their garbage music without so much as making a sound louder than a TV. They "record" an entire song without making a sound until it comes to vocals. Fuck that and fuck them. If this were a songwriting site, I couldn't complain about it. But this is a RECORDING site, so I hate it.
 
Like i said in my earlier post live drums can be done even if you live and record in your bedroom of mama's house.

Its about comittment.


I can totally see someone using samples, e drums whatever. I got no problem with that.

However, if someone "says" they want real drums, or "I wish I could" and doesn't..... well, thats just lack of comittment.

Like I said earlier, if you want real drums it can be done.

Long ago I got sick of machine drums. I got a rehearsal space. That ended up with me taking ownership of the whole facility. That ended up in building a studio and just doing real drums.

All in a years time. So it CAN be done, given the desire.

People talk about the cost of renting a rehearsal space being too much yet will spend money on a stupid lava lamp.
There's an hour rehearsal time.


Hmmmm. Priorities
 
If you can't make any money selling recorded music, it stands to reason that no one would spend much producing it.

That's the reason I no longer own a studio. The work dried up, the money dried up, I was out of business.
 
Farview said:
If you can't make any money selling recorded music, it stands to reason that no one would spend much producing it.

That's the reason I no longer own a studio. The work dried up, the money dried up, I was out of business.
Click to expand...

Few made money back in the day when people were making money. The few that achieved success propelled the hopes if others.
This made pay to play work in La. There was always the hope of being discovered and becoming the next GnR.

Point is; the only place to make money in music is in the service industry. (For the little guy)

The reason so many studios failed has everything to do with the computer, the interface and the daw. Home recordist types have ruined it.
Not the lack of money in the industry, but because with the exception of a few, it was never there to begin with.

What has changed is the hope of getting signed. The 80s and 90s are over.

Cheap home recording and a surplus of mostly lousy and some good music has killed it.

Why pay for recording studio time when
a) you won't get a deal anyway
b) no one will hear your stuff
c) most likely youll never even be in or have a band
and d) you can put together your own studio for under a thousand bucks.

So youll never see a stage and will spend your time jerking off in your bedroom with a sapphire, asking people to listen to your mixes, and maybe try to get others to mix and master your crap for free.

Pretty dismal state of affairs.

:D
 
RFR said:
Few made money back in the day when people were making money. The few that achieved success propelled the hopes if others.
This made pay to play work in La. There was always the hope of being discovered and becoming the next GnR.

Point is; the only place to make money in music is in the service industry. (For the little guy)

The reason so many studios failed has everything to do with the computer, the interface and the daw. Home recordist types have ruined it.
Not the lack of money in the industry, but because with the exception of a few, it was never there to begin with.

What has changed is the hope of getting signed. The 80s and 90s are over.

Cheap home recording and a surplus of mostly lousy and some good music has killed it.

Why pay for recording studio time when
a) you won't get a deal anyway
b) no one will hear your stuff
c) most likely youll never even be in or have a band
and d) you can put together your own studio for under a thousand bucks.

So youll never see a stage and will spend your time jerking off in your bedroom with a sapphire, asking people to listen to your mixes, and maybe try to get others to mix and master your crap for free.

Pretty dismal state of affairs.

:D
Click to expand...

Nailed it.
 
RFR said:
Few made money back in the day when people were making money. The few that achieved success propelled the hopes if others.
This made pay to play work in La. There was always the hope of being discovered and becoming the next GnR.

Point is; the only place to make money in music is in the service industry. (For the little guy)

The reason so many studios failed has everything to do with the computer, the interface and the daw. Home recordist types have ruined it.
Not the lack of money in the industry, but because with the exception of a few, it was never there to begin with.

What has changed is the hope of getting signed. The 80s and 90s are over.

Cheap home recording and a surplus of mostly lousy and some good music has killed it.

Why pay for recording studio time when
a) you won't get a deal anyway
b) no one will hear your stuff
c) most likely youll never even be in or have a band
and d) you can put together your own studio for under a thousand bucks.

So youll never see a stage and will spend your time jerking off in your bedroom with a sapphire, asking people to listen to your mixes, and maybe try to get others to mix and master your crap for free.

Pretty dismal state of affairs.

:D
Click to expand...

I completely agree that this is the way things are now. But there are still those who wish to have something recorded well that is a value to themselves. Fuck becoming the next 'American Idol' or any of that bullshit.

There are still those who do not have the desire or means to invest thousands/nor have the home/space to build a recording studio, that still wish to have something recorded that gives them something to share and/or be proud of. I tend to cater to those type of musicians who only wish to hear themselves as they envisioned.
I enjoy working with them as long as there is something there that inspires me. If not, then I just ignore them...

I am either lucky or stupid enough to have invested a shitload of money into my basement studio so that I can be able to produce something cool. I lost my desire to play in bands and deal with the individual members personal drama years ago. Now I mostly just record other peoples broken dreams (ha!) and hopefully add some inspiration and direction to the recordings that make them feel like they accomplished something. There is a market for that, though I will never come close to paying off the gear that I purchased to do such. I do not expect to. I just enjoy the experience for the most part. And no, I am no hippy/peace freak. I seem to have an addiction for making the most of a project. I have donated countless hours playing on and producing songs for kids just because I want to. Keeps me sane maybe? I am not even sure myself.

I mostly record local bands that I have been friends with or are friends with someone I have known for decades. Sometimes collaborations with people I met via this site in other countries. I will on occasion program a drum track as basic track for a friend/clients song, but I also have the means and decent room to record 'real' drums myself. I do that for more serious projects but sometimes it just isn't needed or worth the time for some. I could play myself a much better drum track live, but for $20 per hour, at 4 am, for a pop tune,...it is much easier to just program a beat. It is really fucking easy if you have drumming experience and are familiar with the drum software.


After my rant/bio here I suppose I should say that I also get really sick of hearing threads about fake drums. Nothing beats a real drummer ever, but nothing makes a mockery of what drums are all about than a completely redundant/repetitive drum track programmed by someone who has no clue as to what playing drums even means. Shitty programmed drums sound like shit when done shittily.

Did I just type all of that? Ugh...
 
A hundred years ago almost everybody played and instrument. Pianos, parlor guitars, mandolins were everywhere. People played instruments for their own amusement and recreation. Home recording is the same thing but with technology. Well, maybe the part about spending hours alone in your bedroom making drum tracks with a mouse instead of interacting with other humans is different, but otherwise...
 
I think a lot of what is coming out of this post is the reason why we are "hobbyists" and not "professionals". There are a few here who are still running their studios as cash cows, but for the most part, as was said earlier, the 80s and 90s are over. Even being the next "idol" or "voice" isn't a guarantee. You get a year's touring as "The Next Big Thing" and everyone moves on. The industry has become too easy. Anybody can make a song or a beat. Anyone can market it to 100 websites where it can sit and be ignored by the masses. The paradigm has changed, and we need to change with it, stagnate or give up.

I choose to stagnate :)
 
jimmys69 said:
...there are still those who wish to have something recorded well that is a value to themselves.
Click to expand...

Right.
Some people find pleasure and a level of personal satisfaction...collecting stamps, or whatever. We do it recording music.
Having just a tiny bit of "dream" or "hope" is good to keep the creative juices flowing, even if we realistically know there's little to no chance of "making it" on any commercial level.

While there are those who post their half-assed shit all over the Internet because they think that's some sort of "marketing" that will get them noticed and maybe signed...I think the majority of the home-rec crowd posts shit just because....they can, and because it pleases them. It's the musician's version of Facebook/Twitter.
I don't think they are expecting anything more than a momentary bit of personal glory...even if to the more advanced studio guys, that stuff all sounds lame.

IOW...I don't think all that home-brewed, demo grade stuff floating around the Internet is any real impediment to the guys who have the top-level talent and product. I mean, the odds of making it and making money are just as crappy as they ever were...but some of the talented go-getters find a way to break out. A few will always break out. It's like there are a thousand great new acts at any given moment...but only 5 get to break out at any one time...or some such thing. Like there just isn't enough room to accommodate a thousand great new acts all at any one time...so people gripe.
 
miroslav said:
While there are those who post their half-assed shit all over the Internet because they think that's some sort of "marketing" that will get them noticed and maybe signed...I think the majority of the home-rec crowd posts shit just because....they can, and because it pleases them. It's the musician's version of Facebook/Twitter.
I don't think they are expecting anything more than a momentary bit of personal glory...even if to the more advanced studio guys, that stuff all sounds lame.
Click to expand...

The Facebook/Twitter comment is hitting it pretty close to the mark.
 
I don't care about getting noticed or breaking out of anything. I usually laugh at people that waste their time promoting their garbage to no avail. The extent of my own "promotion" are the two little links in my sig. That's it. Many of the meat-world people I know very well have never heard one second of my music. My own bandmates hear very little of my own self-made music, unless I have a song that I think we can pull off as a unit. I just don't care.

I do care about the skill and art of capturing actual sounds with actual microphones. I care about the time and focus it takes to do something well. Even if I don't like the person or their music, I can respect the fact they RECORDED it...if they actually recorded it. It takes little to no skill or intelligence to fire up a guitar sim and drum program and release canned garbage to the world. I constantly remind people in my rants that I know not everyone can record real drums or loud amps. I get it. Most people can't even play drums well enough to record them even if they wanted to, so I really do get it. But I'm not one of those "if it sounds good it is good" guys. I don't care about your fraudulent finished product. I want to know how you got there because this is a RECORDING site, and if you did it with a bunch of fakery, then I'm generally not interested.
 
Well...to those of us who are very recording/studio focused...the process of recording is equally important as the sound of the product.
IOW...it's more than just the "sound"...it's also how you got there.

That said...the younger/newer generation of home-rec guys seems to be just focused on the product.
IOW...they don't give a shit if they tracked a sim through their iPhone and used one of those "master me" plugs that makes all the adjustments for you....etc....they're just focused on churning out what they consider "good music"...and the tools and the processes have become an afterthought. I bet a lot of their stuff happens purely by accident...like they just grab plugs and presets, and go with what comes out....there's not an actual detailed thought process about why they are selecting Mic A and why it's getting put in a particular position, or why they need 8 plugs-ins daisy chained on a track in order to make it sound right.
It's just the end-result...and even for that, the bar is lowered to meet their ability and motivation.

There's no getting away from that. It's about quick-n-easy, without having to learn to much or work too hard...just click on a few buttons with the mouse and see what comes out.
It's like....reactionary recording/mixing to the max. Let's just fuck with it and see what comes out...and go with that. :)
 
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