tracking live with a sub-par drummer

[JalenRawley]

Originally Posted by SK1

Life is too short to put up with bad drummers. That goes for percussion too.

I'd take this one step farther and say life is too short to put up with bad timing. All instruments, all genres!

I recorded an acoustic college rock kinda album for a friend a couple years back. The singer/songwriter of the band had been playing music for six months and he was pretty darn green. Everyone else in the band had been playing quite a while and had really good timing. The singer/songwriter really put time in the woodshed practicing to a drum machine and it really paid off for him. I only had to do minimal editing of his guitar parts. Unfortunately, he still sang like someone who had only been singing for six months... was my first (and last) experience -having- to use autotune.

[CREAMY WILLIAMS]

If the band are that good, then the drummer needs to go.

Find a good drummer and start a coup. The rest of the band will thank you for it in the end.

You don't need Dennis Chambers, but someone with a vibe and a groove will make everything sweet.

[aecio]

if youre not in the position of changing the drummer, i think youre out of luck.

if the drummer has those rare moments where he gets it right, record a lot of takes and comp all the instruments and voice together to a cohesive song.

if he doesnt, just record it and forget it.

the drums are the foundation of a song. if it doesnt sound right, nothing will fit.

recently i convinced a band about editing the last part of the last song on their demo, because the drummer was a bit sloppy. it was a huge work for a 10-second part, but it made a great difference at the end.

i wish you luck in this session.

[SK1]

Originally Posted by dbbubba

..............If the band wants to do it live and they only have the budget to do it live and they intend to pay you..... record it live warts and all and be done with it.

Short of hiring a different drummer, there is no solution.... period......


...... If the drums suck... it ALL sucks.

Bubba is right too ...... you could take the money and run. AND, it could still be a good experience for the band and not cost them too much money. Especially since they are not ready for more in depth production.

[T.H.Reid]

This is a 3 year old thread. Hopefully they've finished.