Process:
During the process of recording drums, we ran into a few problems. All audio was fine, the desk was receiving input and so was logic and everything was sounding great as can be.
However, I spent a good two hours with short breaks in-between trying to get a good take, and ended up barely getting anything. In fact, I gradually became worse and became less confident. I think this may be because recording for the first time was intimidating, or because all of my work built up to succeeding in that amount of time. I even tried slowing it down to 121 bpm because I knew that I was 100% comfortable at that speed and it still wasn’t consistent.
After consistently trying to record and ultimately deciding that I’m running out of studio time, I asked Cody to have a go at it after learning the structure. We got just before the first chorus and then we couldn’t get past that. We had half an hour left after 4 or 5 attempts, and then Lewis and Evan checked up on us, which lead to Evan recording a take for me.
Finally, that take was good enough for me to use as it was tight and clean. I need to loop the end from somewhere because we’re a few bars short but because the recording is tight and clean, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
Personal Evaluation
Areas of improvement:
I kept coming in with a kick too early on each time I mess up the pattern, this is what makes me mess up. I didn’t realise that coming in with drums is half a beat later than I thought, so I had to draw out the space between that first part when i started playing early and then it looks like i speed up right after.
I felt general nervousness with it being the first time I’m recording drums and knowing that I had to do this or I won’t get a good grade, and on a related note, I made myself stressed the morning of this recording with unrelated huge life choices to do with university, which got me thinking about needing to get a merit in this course and panicking. While this could have waited until after college, I felt the need to get it done as soon as possible. Lastly, the hi-hat was inconsistent even with click and backing track during my takes.
Positives:
I didn’t give up immediately and persevered for two hours, which is because I took breaks and gave myself time to listen and figure out what was going wrong.
I have improved my drumming since the start of showing an interest in it (this January) and while I have only really practiced for this and some other basic songs and techniques, I’m proud of myself for dedicating my time to something like this.
Peer feedback:
Cody states that my playing sounds controlled in the sense of how tight it is and the dynamic range I work in, since I don’t play particularly loudly nor quietly for this recording. I agree with this, I am playing consistently tight in the places that I’m confident in and don’t mess up in and I agree that my dynamic range doesn’t change all that much, but I also acknowledge that I need to work on dynamic control so that in future I can play comfortably in different styles and balance parts of a kit.