Tag Archives: studio drummer

the Nashville “hand drum”

by on 07. Nov, 2011 in 5 Minute Monday

This technique is used a lot in modern recording in Nashville. It’s a great one to have in your bag ‘o’ tricks. Eddie Bayers used this technique in Wynonna’s Only Love.  Check it out and let me know any other songs you hear this on.

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Studio Etiquette

by on 11. Jul, 2011 in 5 Minute Monday

Wow, this is the 20th video! Hope these are getting better. This is one that I thought I would take advantage of a quiet dinner break at Oceanway A in Nashville and put some thoughts down on the computer. Since I recorded it, I’ve thought of a few other things I probably should have covered. So here we go.

1. If a engineer or a 2nd engineer comes into the room to adjust a mike or tweek something, for God sake, don’t slam the drums at 110db when his head is near the kit. Have mercy people, you’ve got headphones on! A really good friend of mine was adjusting the under snare mic, when the drummer, actually a very busy “A” team Nashville session drummer hauled off and smacked the living crap out of the snare. Oooooooooooh, 4k ring in the ear, for the rest of the day, that’s all he heard, the eardrum just shut down. Don’t be a creep and do that! I even go as far as when one of the other players walks into the room if I’m getting sounds, I’ll go immediately to a really quiet bossa groove, for a couple of reasons, 1. to not kill them, and 2. to give them a hint that they’d better get out of the line of fire!

2. I’d like to put an adjunct idea on the “screwing around” rule that I put out. If you ever come to a session that I’m on, there’s gonna be funny stuff happening, I’m gonna crack jokes, or do impressions, or anything to make people have fun. But here’s something to think about. If you do something at the beginning or end of the take, keep in mind that the engineer and the producer are gonna hear that about 6000 times. Don’t let it be something that by the time they mix it, they are gonna be saying, “Holy crap, I don’t want to ever hear this again!!!” Make them dig your playing and ask you back because you slammed the crap out of the tune. Don’t give them an excuse to not want you back!

Would love to hear some of your thoughts about stuff that has happened to you in the studio or on a gig, that you would consider bad “etiquette.”

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Welcome to my new Blog!!

by on 29. Jan, 2010 in Life

Hello blog world!! I’m just starting this page and I hope this finds you well! When I considered how I wanted to approach this blog page, I had to decide how to break up the subjects. I’ve always considered myself a renaissance man, I do a lot of things, some very well, some I dabble in. I’m a musician first and foremost. I play drums in the Nashville  “campus” studio scene, doing 400+ sessions a year.  I also play for Reba McEntire in her band.   I’m a songwriter,  currently writing for Tempotommy Publishing/Starstruck, and my wife and I write with a lot of Nashville’s top writers.   I love anything medieval, I’m into castles, swords, wrought iron, big oaken tables, candles, secret passages, yadayada. My wife says that I was born in the wrong country in the wrong century!

I’m a father of 6 rambunctious children, 3 boys and 3 girls ranging from age 2 to 15. Parenting is key in my life. I want to be an effective and loving role model. My wife and I are also late blooming aspiring artists. We’re both currently working on records and videos for each of us.

Thus, I decided to split up the blog page in categories of Road life, studio stuff, raising kidz, life, and writing. Currently we are on the George Strait tour with Reba, so I’ll blog about that. Any really cool studio stuff that happens, I’ll try and blog about that. Life will entail anything that doesn’t fall under the other categories. For instance, I built my own house pretty much by myself, so I’m gonna put stuff in about that. It’s actually really cool, it’s a timber frame house with a home theater, gym, recording studio, library, and office, and enough space for 8 of us, 2 cats, a yellow lab, and a ginormous 200lbs. mastiff named Angus.

So welcome to my page, I’m gonna be adding more stuff, so please be patient and welcome aboard!

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