Dan Bailey
Drummer/recordist. Music director for Father John Misty. Californian.
Let's talk about recording "medium rare" rock.
So much rock playing I see feels like a drummer's gas pedal is mashed to the ground and they're hitting as hard as they physically can.
Thats great for a live show, and it's great for heavier contexts (foo fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Rage, etc etc).
But for most recording situations, playing as hard as you can has a couple drawbacks.
It makes it really hard to play consistently over the course of a 6 hour session. You'll eventually burn yourself out no matter your level of fitness. Being able to comp between take 1 and take 15 seamlessly if you needed to is THE underrated skill for a recording drummer. Replicating the same dynamic level over and over again is a top tier skill.
The other thing heavy playing does, is that it over saturates the cymbals (especially in room mics). In a live context, it's cool to feel like you're projecting the crash cymbal to the very last row from stage, but in a studio room that's just going to make the kit feel unbalanced.
And then thirdly, genre matters. The vast majority of "rock" playing in the studio is going to happen in kind of medium dynamic americana way. It's important to get used to playing semi-aggressively, but on like an 8 out of 10 dynamic. Forte rock playing for you schooled folks.
Play too light and it lacks conviction, play too hard and it suffers sonically. Don't let people ever tell you this instrument is easy.
It's fun to hit record on the last sounds I had up before leaving for a tour leg first thing back.
I've got some studio time next week before leaving for 3 weeks, hit me if you need me.
This won't make much sense with phone speakers but here we go. I threw a lot of paint on the wall for this one. Maximalism.
One last tune before going on the road through the weekend.
I'll be back in the studio on Monday for a couple weeks if anybody needs me. 🤙
The streets are saying the low thuddy snare in an aggressive context is coming to an end.
The sound of the space is really accentuated here. A full take from a song for @dave_w_swanson
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