I hate a session drummer I hired for a rock album I'm producing. Up till that point we had used my friend, who is a solid drummer who puts an incredible amount of emotion and feel into a song, although his timing is at times just a tad off the grid. He really takes a song and puts himself in it, and often does things you'd never expect while he's at it. I don't mind having a few timing issues to fix when you have great feel to begin with.
Well for one session my buddy couldn't make it so I hired this professional guy who was recommended to me. Well, it turns out he's a funk drummer with amazing chops and impeccable timing, but he's got no rock sense at all. I basically have to tell him exactly what to play for every single bar, including exactly how to do a simple build (start with the ride here, then switch to the crash here, start doing more fills here, stop doing funk fills, etc.). So we finally get a track with all the notes played properly, but it sounds exactly like it was recorded, without any feel whatsoever. Sucks.
Anyways, long story just to say, I hate that guy as a drummer.
