Is a hard-hitting drummer really wasting effort in the recording studio?

[C JoGo]

I play very lightly --never wear myself out ...just turn up the sampler

 

It's not how you loud you play...it is in the setting of your parameters. Take the BONHAM samples from your Kurweil ..a feather lite drop of the stick & >> WHAM

 

It took many years ... to learn to play quietly..lot easier to just bang loudly ..but tasteful dynamics was necessary for the gigs I play.

 

 

 

With a standard kit, in the studio --it was always the mics & engineer/mixer that controlled the volume

 

 

From a drummer who picked up his first sticks~~ in '62:cool:

[Tim Mayock]

Hard hitting is never a problem for me, but a drummer that can play with the right balance is more important. I hate to try to compensate for a wimpy kick drum where the snare comes through the kick channel so much you find yourself trying chop it out 200 times in editing.

[Funkwave]

Well, speaking as a session drummer, if you hit too hard, and use all of your enrgy, you will have nowhere else to go with dynamics.

 

A huge part of having a "real" drummer is experiancing the nuances and dynamics that a pro and his kit can accomplish.

 

If you go hard all of the way, you reached the max dynamic level.

 

IOW if you scream at someone, you've used all of your options already. The only thing more to do is hit him.

 

You could have started out in a persuasive voice then escalated to a louder level but you can't start with the end...

[UstadKhanAli]

Originally posted by Funkwave Well, speaking as a session drummer, if you hit too hard, and use all of your enrgy, you will have nowhere else to go with dynamics. A huge part of having a "real" drummer is experiancing the nuances and dynamics that a pro and his kit can accomplish.

 

That's exactly right.

 

And that's exactly what Bonham did. Sure, he played loud, but also played with a great deal of nuance. Go rent (or buy) the LZ DVD and see for yourself. He uses a lot of his wrists, coaxing a lot of sounds out of the drum kit.

 

The best drummers will get as much tone of the kit as possible, and not just simply take giant monkey swings at the drum set.

 

So to answer the subject header...NO.

[Funkwave]

Originally posted by UstadKhanAli That's exactly right. The best drummers will get as much tone of the kit as possible, and not just simply take giant monkey swings at the drum set. So to answer the subject header...NO.

 

Any drummer who just takes monkey swings is untrained in my book. Just my opinion.

[Funkwave]

Look at any awesome jazz/fusion drummer like Steve Gadd and you will see tons of dynamics, accents ghost notes, etc.

[C JoGo]

...Just turn up the mics ! --use that comp on the kick --- any studio can control your volume. Why work so hard ? When the electronics are there for you

[UstadKhanAli]

Originally posted by Funkwave Any drummer who just takes monkey swings is untrained in my book. Just my opinion.

 

Yeah, well, there's that. I used to record a lot of 19 year old guys and their hardcore bands, and a few drummers like that would take full monkey swings at their drums (especially the crash cymbals). And I would keep saying that while that may look really cool live, it just doesn't translate into anything cool on recordings, and to try and use their wrists more to snap, etc. etc. to make it have lots of impact. But most of the time, my advice would fall on deaf ears (hopefully only figuratively, but who knows when people are playing hardcore! ).

 

A funny session I heard about involved a punk band. The drummer had AstroTurf wrapped around all of his drums. And while that looks really funny live, the engineer finally convinced the drummer that this wouldn't help his recording any!

 

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Steve Gadd is an awesome drummer - I completely agree with your assessment.