This is kind of a follow-up to my blog entitled, 'My Simmons Drum Inspiration.' I’m going to do something that I rarely do, post an audio-stem of a song currently in recording production. More specifically, I’m posting the 'bed-tracking' to the drum part of this song (along with a scratch guitar and scratch vocal track). So one can get an idea of how I am utilizing the Simmons inspired electronic drum pads I hand-built. For those less acquainted with my drumming approach, I don’t use electronic drums in a song all by themselves. Rather, I trigger sampled percussion or synth drum sounds as part of a drum-set arrangement that corresponds with my acoustic drum part. I’m 'old school' (I guess) in the fact that I play all of these said parts at once when I record my drum-set. In other words, I don’t overdub the electronic drums separately from my acoustic drums. Not that there is anything wrong with overdubbing auxiliary electronic drum parts, it’s just not particularly what I’m after performance wise. I treat the electric drum pads (triggers) placed around my kit in the same manner that a drummer might place a cowbell; playing a syncopated line along with the drum beat. I do this simply because I find it a satisfying challenge, musicianship wise. I’m certainly not the only drummer who performs this way. There are many who do this sort of thing and do it very, very well. The song I am working on is titled, 'Alisoun.' It’s a song I wrote which uses characters from Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tales, as a muse. I’ll post the lyrics at the end of this blog for those who are interested in reading them. The acoustic drums I used are Gretsch® birch shelled drums in the following sizes: 18”x22” bass drum, 8”x10” tom, 14”x14” floor tom. I used a (now vintage) 5.5”x14” Tama, chrome over steel, snare drum. The snare is the same model used by Stewart Copland on most the albums he recorded with The Police. The Cymbals used are all Zildjian®: 17” K Custom Dark Crash, 16” K Custom Dark Crash, 8” K Splash, 8” A Splash, 9” K Custom Hybrid Splash, 13” K/Z Hi Hats, and a 22” Mini Cup Ride. I used four (4) hand-built Simmons SDS-V® inspired drum pads placed strategically around the acoustic kit. I fed the outputs of the electric drums to a Roland® TMC-6 trigger to MIDI interface. For those not familiar with MIDI, it stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a protocol invented by electronic engineer and synth designer Dave Smith and Chet Wood as a way for electronic instruments to directly communicate with one another. In this case, the MIDI signal was sent to the EXS24 digital sampler incorporated into Apple’s Logic Pro® digital audio workstation. The electronic drums trigger samples of sounds I custom programmed with my Prophet 08’ PE® analog synthesizer. Ironically, Dave Smith also designed this synth. This particular song doesn’t exhibit the 'fanciest' auxiliary electronic drum arrangement I’ve ever done. It rather demonstrates how I use electronic drum sounds to accent certain phrases in my acoustic drum-set part. This method gives a certain flare or 'ear candy' to the drum part as a whole. To reiterate my technique, I performed the electronic drum parts at the same time I played my acoustic drums. The audio-stem you will hear is the original drum part I performed and recorded; along with a 'scratch' guitar and vocal line I previously performed and recorded but in a haphazard manner. The scratch tracks provide a 'guide track' for the drum take. The drum take is the only thing I will keep for the eventual finished recording. The scratch guitar and vocal will be re-recorded at a later date when I turn my attention to vocal and guitar arrangements. Again this audio-stem is unprocessed. It is not mixed, edited, equalized, etc. It is raw and sounds exactly how it did when I recorded it. As such, you will be listening to something that is in the process of being produced, it is not a finished product. Please forgive me if I’m over emphasizing. The reason I don’t show 'works in progress' very often is because when I preview audio such as this, despite my disclaimers; there are those who still think I am showing a 'finished work.' They then complain about it sounding 'unfinished...' Am I going crazy here? Maybe so... I trust, however, that you, the reader, will understand. The following is the audio-stem drum-set take for 'Alisoun': So, there you have it. An example of how I’m utilizing the custom electric drum pads I hand-built. Hopefully, you have found this interesting, informative, or, at least, had a good time reading. For tech junkies out there, here is a small explanation and list of the recording equipment used on the drum-set... How I record drums at my private studio (Curia Studios): When I’m working in my personal studio, I usually operate, not only as a 'one-man-band' but as a 'one-man-recording engineer/producer' at the same time. In short, I’m on my own most the time... Since I don’t have the luxury to sit behind my drum-set to play and sit at the recording control/console tweaking sound at the same time; I focus my recording method on getting the best natural sound from the drums as I can first. This means selecting drum-heads that will give me the type of tonal response I’m after and properly tuning the drums. Which, by the way, is always a good idea no matter what recording situation you’re in. Secondly, I focus on mic selection, mic placement and preamp selection. Again, depending on the sound I’m after, these selections can change session to session. Since I can’t be in two places at once, I do not incorporate eq, compression, limiting, etc. coming into the recording system. I run my signals 'au natural.' Relying on the right mic placement, pattern selection and preamp gain staging to give me the closest to a flat frequency recording as I can get. The goal is to capture audio that can be 'tweaked', 'shaped', 'cut', or 'boosted' with little problems later at the mixing stage. {A little tip to those interested in becoming an audio engineer; it is better to record things 'darker' than 'brighter.' It is much easier to brighten things up with filters or e.q. after the initial recording than to tame overly 'hissy' or 'sharp' recorded transients... This is especially applicable for the mastering process... Mastering engineers DO NOT like overly bright mixes. To them, an overly bright mix means a session filled with fighting 'little monsters' in the frequency spectrum... If you're looking for some world-class mastering, I recommend Atomic Mastering™.} Now you know why the drum-set bed-track recording to this song sounds very 'neutral.' The character is in there, but will be brought out fully during the mixing process. Bass drum mic: AKG® D112 Bass drum preamp: UA™ 4-710 -15db pad on. Snare Drum mics: AT Pro37r – top, Shure® Sm57 – bottom. Snare Drum Preamp top: UA 4-710 -15db pad on. Snare drum preamp bottom: RME® Fireface 800 Tom mic: CAD® E100 -20 pad on. Tom preamp: UA 4-710 Floor tom mic: CAD E100 -20db pad on. Floor Tom preamp: UA 4-710 Room mic: AKG C414 B-uls – figure of eight pattern. Room mic preamp: Millennia™ TD-1 Drumheads: Snare batter – REMO™ “Vintage A” Coated Ambassador, Snare bottom – REMO Ambassador Snare, Tom – Evans™ EC2 clear, Tom bottom – REMO diplomat Clear, Floor Tom – Evans EC2 clear, Floor Tom bottom – REMO diplomat Clear, Bass drum batter – REMO Coated Ambassador, Bass drum front – Gretsch logo black with mic port hole. Drumsticks: VicFirth® SD10 'Swinger.' Bass drum pedal: DW™ 5000 Turbo double pedal. Alisoun
©Jeff Jewkes / ASCAP She is gone You will not find her Gone. . . Like a wisp in the wind Gone. . . You can't confine her And she's running in the wild again Alisoun has her desires Alisoun has long required her sovereignty She'll be who she wants to be. . . Na, na, na, na, na, na. . . Is your heart looking for answers. . . to a charm, all faded and grey? See, my friend, haven't I told you?. . . Haven't I?. . . She is one with whom you can't pretend Alisoun. . . Alisuon. . . Alisoun has her desires Alisoun has long inspired a lovely view But you'll be who she burns through What are you gonna do? Na, na, na, na, na, na. . . You spin in seasons You search for reasons Hoping that she might change Na, na, na, na, na. . . Alisoun. . . Alisoun. . . Has her desires. . . Alisoun. . .
1 Comment
|
Jeff JewkesProfessional musician / composer / audio engineer who also ventures into fine art photography, geometric design, lutherie, artisan bread baking, electrical engineering, blogging, charity drives, and other things that keep life crazy and amazing. . . Article Quick Links:
Boss SD-1 Super OverDrive Allédyne Modification
Hallucinogenic Dissociative Effects Pedal Disorder 'Pearls' Franklin's Instrument of Madness! 'Eurydice' 'Smoothie' or 'Calypso' What Ever My Preference... 'Little Wings' 'Kate' 'Wings' The Beat Goes On If It's Good Enough For Bootsy... Hello, Old Friend... The Uninvited Guest My Simmons Drum Inspiration |