One of my go-to snare drums is my Worldmax Black Dawg. It is inspired by the Ludwig Black Beauty, a legendary drum. Though the Black Dawg is about $150 less expensive than a Black Beauty, I find that my Black Dawg sounds just as good and sometimes better than any Black Beauty I have played. Additionally, the specs on the Black Dawg are of higher quality these days than Black Beauty.
Mine was actually put together by Lee from Drum Paradise, one of the drum cartage businesses to die in Los Angeles in recent years. Drum Paradise was such a cool resource back in the day, but they couldn’t survive with all the studio closings. One must adapt, that is why online drum tracks and eDrumSessions exist.
I found a review of the Black Dawg from a reviewer that apparently felt similarly about this drum. Below are some excerpts, and a link to the full article. Enjoy!
Read review
My lead engineer Thai Long Ly and I use the Royer M121, which we have two of, extensively. We use them as room mics, for one. They capture a very realistic image of sound. The full spectrum of sound is relayed well by this mic. Here is a link to a good review of the Royer M121, which I agree with for the most part.
http://mixguides.com/microphones/reviews/audio_royer_labs_april/
Why do I say for the most part? Well I hate to knit-pick, but check out this statement: “Using two Royers as drum overheads provided a warmer sound than I am used to but worked fine for the softer ballad I was recording. However, for that popular overbright sound du jour drum overhead sound, I would probably go with my Milabs.”
Mr. Rudolph is right, the Royers do get a very warm sound. But they will do the trick if you are going for a bright sound as well. Again, the Royer M121 beautifully captures the full spectrum of sound, so believe that they are capturing the highs of the cymbals. They just won’t sound nasally like some condensers! The only problem with the Royer m121 as far as eDrumSessions is concerned is choosing whether they will be overheads or room mics.
Here is part of a write-up about Roy Burns. He is a great guy who happens to be a legendary drummer and the founder of Aquarian Drumheads. I endorse Aquarian products, and they are an indispensible part of my quality control.
I love the quality of Aquarian, and the amazing variety to their heads. I’ll get more into it in another post, but I use many of their lines including American Vintage, Modern Vintage, Jack DeJohnette signature, good ol’ Classic Coated, Super Kick, and Hi-Velocity.
Roy Burns is a huge reason I value my relationship with Aquarian, all gear talk aside. Aquarian’s attentiveness to my needs (and that of their other endorsers) is spectacular and it starts from the top: Roy Burns! And my clients benefit from my great relationship with Aquarian, because they get me anything I need quickly if I don’t have it already.
If I have a very rootsy project coming up in a couple days and I realize I am out of American Vintage (they fit my vintage Ludwigs so well) heads, I just let Roy and his team know and they get them to me the next day. Thanks to Roy Burns, I always have fresh heads just right for your music. So read up on Roy below!
http://www.drummerszone.com/brands/merk.php?merkNR=5
For years professional recordings were made only by those who had a large budget. Artists signed to major labels and those with investors were predominately the privileged ones who got record professionally.
The difference in sound between recordings made in a professional studio and demos made otherwise was always as chasmic as it is now.
However, with the advent of online recording studios has come a real “power to the people” type of situation. Now artists that don’t have huge budgets can get the professional studio recordings they need to make their music really stand out. This goes especially for drum tracks, as recording drums is the most complicated procedure requiring the most expertise.
Now artists don’t have to rent a room to record in, nor do most of the other work that used to be involved in obtaining pro drum tracks. One can now simply pay on online recording studio to track drums or other instruments, with no logistical fuss and huge budgetary requirements. Welcome to the revolution.
If you are reading this you are probably aware of the benefits of getting drum tracks from an online studio drummer. You are presumably familiar with the fact that your drum tracks will cost you much less from an online studio drummer than from a session drummer in a conventional setting.
In a nutshell, the reason getting drum tracks from an online studio drummer is cheaper is because there are fewer people to pay than when using conventional methods. You know the drill: you have to pay the owner of the studio for the studio time, the producer, engineer(s) on the job, cartage to transport the drums to the studio, and of course the drummer.
When choosing an online studio drummer for getting drum tracks, it is important to consider the level of communication that will be involved. This is especially true if you have specific ideas to convey about what you want in your drum tracks.
Despite all of the benefits of getting drum tracks form an online studio drummer, some are hesitant about doing so because they feel or know they would miss the interaction of being physically in the studio with the studio drummer.
This is indeed a legitimate concern. In fact there are studio drummers who themselves miss the creative interaction of traditional studio work.
Unfortunately, many online studio drummers have policies that hinder communication. Many online studio drummers allow only email communication through their websites. This is a big turnoff for people who would feel more confident about getting the right drum tracks if they could talk directly to the studio drummer.
In fact many online studio drummer sites limit communication about your drum tracks to a form that you fill out at the beginning of the process asking silly, generic questions such as “Should the approach be simple or complex?” Your drum tracks and your music deserve a higher level of interaction with the online studio drummer than that.
Most online studio drummers have a policy of charging extra for additional “takes” beyond the alloted number. This is fair in general, but not so much if the client is not able to discuss the drum tracks with the online studio drummer. Not being able to discuss the drum tracks prior to the studio drummer recording them increases the likelihood that you will have to shell out more money for additional takes because you didn’t get what you wanted in the drum tracks.
The best way to avoid this problem is to use an online studio drummer who offers a way to communicate verbally, whether by phone or by Skype (or a similar internet conference program). If you can discuss your drum tracks with the online studio drummer prior to the drum tracks being recorded the likelihood of getting what you want in your drum tracks is increased.
It is worth mentioning that Skype is a great program. If an online studio drummer uses Skype to communicate with clients, it is certainly the next-best thing to being in the room with them…and is sometimes very much like being in the same room with them, even if they are in Australia!
So, while there are many factors to consider regarding getting drum tracks from an online studio drummer, the level of communication offered is going to be very important.
Good luck on your search for drum tracks using an online studio drummer.
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