[KeithMoonwannabe]

seriously if you don't like something YOU NEED TO COMMUNICATE IT. Yeah maybe sampling is an option and what have you but if you are friends with this drummer and/or group and you're being paid to mix/master their recording you need to do what THEY want done to their recording. I think just brushing them aside and never communicating anything to them is going to do far more HARM than good.

Your job is to record their music not to change it. Who cares if they have egos or what have you. It's their material and it isn't your place to decide what to do with it unless they give you permission.

And they will know whether or not you tell them that you sampled the drums because they will hear the difference. I'd say avoid the confrontation and talk to them. A mutual agreement will be far more beneficial on a personal and business level. That is just providing poor service and inappropriate all the way around if you are just changing stuff without telling anyone. If I was paying the bucks for a studio and they did that to me without involving me I'd be pretty pissed off and probably wouldn't want to pay.