What if you don't have a band?

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mbuster

mbuster

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I do all my stuff alone for various reasons. There's not many people where I live who can actually play, and the few I know who CAN have conflicting schedules and/or refuse to ever be in a band with me again. ( I'm kind of a control freak you see). So all my recordings have programmed drums. It's not prefabbed loops or anything, but it's not a real drummer either. I guess what I'm asking is, on a demo recording, would the presence of a drum machine in rock music automatically label the demo as "amatuer"?
Do the songs have to exponentially better than if there was a real drummer just to get over the hump? I would love to have a real drummer, but everybody knows they're more high maintenance than a woman.
 
I think you can get away with it if you are using the drum machine creatively or doing music where it's appropriate (pop/industrial/dance). If you are doing rock or country type stuff then it will detract from the demo.

There are two ways to work with people. Make them like you and want to help or just pay them so it doesn't matter if they like you or not. Most drummers would gladly record some tracks for $50-100.
 
When recording my own songs I'm a bit picky too, after all I am the one who knows what I want the song to sound like. Often I will pull the basic drum track off my keyboard then go back and dub in some rolls and additional cymbal work (primaraly I play guitar but am fair on drums) this way I get consistant rythm with a few extras to create the effect of a live drummer. I can't guarantee this will work in all cases but most of the time it works for me.
 
It really depends on how the drum machine is used in the context of a particular song. I have some old stuff I've done with drum machines where one particular tune sounds pretty damn good and credible and others with the same machine sound like tone def robots.
 
mbuster said:
I do all my stuff alone for various reasons. There's not many people where I live who can actually play, and the few I know who CAN have conflicting schedules and/or refuse to ever be in a band with me again. ( I'm kind of a control freak you see). So all my recordings have programmed drums. It's not prefabbed loops or anything, but it's not a real drummer either. I guess what I'm asking is, on a demo recording, would the presence of a drum machine in rock music automatically label the demo as "amatuer"?
Do the songs have to exponentially better than if there was a real drummer just to get over the hump? I would love to have a real drummer, but everybody knows they're more high maintenance than a woman.
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It also depends on why you are recording. I record for my own enjoyment and can get away with a drum machine or a loop so it doesn't bother me. If you were trying to put out a "sellable" product it would probably be wise to get a real drummer to put the tracks down.
 
Well, mostly my stuff amounts to just being for my own personal enjoyment. 90% of what I do never gets heard by anyone else. I've noticed on these boards, though, that tons of guys use "canned" drums in some way shape or form (some better than others of course) I've become so accustomed to what "fake" drums sound like, I can't tell what it sounds like to Joe Listener (as opposed to Joe Musician). I work hard to try to create a realistc drum sound, with as natural a feel as I can, but how do you get an honest opinion from someone who won't just say "It Rocks!" because they're your friend. You know what I mean?
 
mbuster said:
, but how do you get an honest opinion from someone who won't just say "It Rocks!" because they're your friend. You know what I mean?
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Well that's what these forums are about. You post the stuff here for strangers to hear and then ask for a full and frank opinion on it. If you're lucky you'll get it! Scarey stuff - what if you think its great and the truth is it stinks - now how would THAT feel.

When I read this post I thought you were going to ask about live performance without a band, I guess that would involve hiring people or using backing music and playing along to it?

For demo purposes, I have heard some 'loops' used by guys who record on PCs that sound just like a 'real' drummer - I mean you just can't tell. If you use a cheep rhytm unit on the other hand it sticks out like a sore thumb, depends what you want to achieve.
 
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