Great Comments from a Great drummer on Music Recordings

  • Thread starter Thread starter 4406cuda
  • Start date Start date
4406cuda

4406cuda

Well-known member
Jim Keltner may be his generation's equivalent of Hal Blaine. After working in the early 1970s with Joe Cocker, he quickly reached the stratum of star session player. He would go on to sit with stars ranging from Pink Floyd to B.B. King, Jackson Browne to the Bee Gees, Elvis Costello to Willie Nelson, Barbra Streisand to Fiona Apple.

Keltner remembers a fellow drummer who told him in the 1970s that he was leaving the L.A. scene because the drum machines were gobbling up work. "I told him that instead of going back to Tulsa, he should get one of those machines," Keltner recalls. The technology of today does not alarm or offend Keltner but it occasionally disappoints him. He says he hears a steady stream of new albums that are so filtered and finessed that he can almost see the numbers inside the digital sound.

"You suddenly realize: These albums have real likable songs, they have likable performances from everybody, all the singing is good and very in tune, all the playing is good and the guitars are in tune," Keltner says. "But then you realize maybe that's what is wrong. That's why I don't like it. It's more like a mannequin. From a distance it looks like a really beautiful human being, but you get up close and it's not alive. It's standing there with painted-on features. That is the technology being abused."
 
How can anyone argue with this. Technology and perfection has been the death of music and musical identity. I hate the sound of drums on most recordings nowadays. I refuse to be an ezdrummer 2 sheep. It is good for demos or to use in place of a metronome but it sure stands out like a sore thumb.
 
yup.....and that is why most new music just doesn't appeal to most of us who we raised in the 70's and 80's. It's not that we are living in the past, its just most everything new is clinical and sterile and indigestible.
 
There is still plenty of good music to be found. You just can no longer rely on the radio to feed it to you. Now you have to do your own homework and scour the vast emptiness of the Internet. I have found a ton of bands that I really enjoy in the past few years by doing this. Bands, and live music in general, are on the decline because we have dropped the ball. We have not demanded that record companies issue good music by quality bands. Instead, we have allowed them to force feed us homogenized water down crappy pop songs. If the consumers were really interested and good music, then record companies worldwide would delived it because they would have to. Technology has allowed every musician – regardless of talent level – the ability to have a worldwide voice. In some instances this is a good thing, and some not so much.
 
On many great songs the tempo fluctuates, not because of the band not being able to keep time, but because it felt right to speed up or slow down.
 
SFW":2m6tqo4f said:
There is still plenty of good music to be found. You just can no longer rely on the radio to feed it to you. Now you have to do your own homework and scour the vast emptiness of the Internet. I have found a ton of bands that I really enjoy in the past few years by doing this. Bands, and live music in general, are on the decline because we have dropped the ball. We have not demanded that record companies issue good music by quality bands. Instead, we have allowed them to force feed us homogenized water down crappy pop songs. If the consumers were really interested and good music, then record companies worldwide would delived it because they would have to. Technology has allowed every musician – regardless of talent level – the ability to have a worldwide voice. In some instances this is a good thing, and some not so much.
Click to expand...

I still seek out music and spend money on it, it just isn't new music for the most part. I'm finding a lot of joy in re-purchasing my vinyl collection that I actually threw in the garbage about 20-25 years ago. I do dig some of the new-ish Swedish/European bands doing melodic rock, but I still find most of the recordings to be sterile sounding due to the way in which they record things nowadays. If they still wanted to get in the room together and really play and not fix everything and make it perfect, they could do it and thats what I would like to hear. Something thats got some life in it.
 
gtrwun":2dhf46fx said:
I still seek out music and spend money on it, it just isn't new music for the most part. I'm finding a lot of joy in re-purchasing my vinyl collection that I actually threw in the garbage about 20-25 years ago. I do dig some of the new-ish Swedish/European bands doing melodic rock, but I still find most of the recordings to be sterile sounding due to the way in which they record things nowadays. If they still wanted to get in the room together and really play and not fix everything and make it perfect, they could do it and thats what I would like to hear. Something thats got some life in it.
Click to expand...

Well, in that case... you're welcomed to look up my band on iTunes (Straight Jacket Theory) and listen away. Recorded live warts and all! lol.

There are still good bands out there. Big Wreck immediately come to mind. Farmikos and The Dead Daisies as well
 
One of the reasons I always liked Rage's first album was because it sounded like the whole thing was recorded in one room as a live performance. Years later I found out it pretty much was, with their friends sitting there partying along with them. Pretty cool.
 
Agree but times change, people change the industry changed. Now anyone with a computer can make music and gets a chance for people to listen to their music. I do the same, for me Superior drummer is a blessing but if i would make an album all instruments would have to be the real deal.

Not always but most of the time youll here when its a drum computer, loops used etc. I understand that everyone wants exact plagying in time exact tuning etc, that can result in a sterille sound.

For house techno etc its fine but for other types of music i hope people will start to use real instruments more often.

I believe music has its basis in the dynamics between the intruments and the players and have hope that those days will return.
 
While I do agree with what has been said, its not all bad. Those of us who spent lots of time with the old 4 track cassette decks can appreciate the fact that the technology has enabled us to do stuff we would have never been able to afford to do otherwise.
Better to at least let the technology enable you to achieve a means than become a slave to it ;)
 
A good drummer is fairly rare. A great one is very rare. Then add drum mics and a good room to record them in. Good compressors and gates. GRRRRR!!!

Thank the maker for drum machines. The best thing about them is the will not make a sound unless you want them to. And they don't drink and are never late. And no obnoxious girlfriends.
 
I'd love to find a real drummer, but unfortunately I'm stuck using EZD2.

Fortunately, my mediocre singing, guitar and bass playing more than make up for the sterile beats.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top