The song “Haunted” is from an RCA release by Charlotte Martin, “On Your Shore”. Session drummer and eDrumSessions founder Shay Godwin played drums on this track. Other songs on the album feature drum tracks by Joey Waronker. Rights to this song belong to RCA Records and Charlotte Martin.

Drum tracks for this song were not recorded at Bell Sound, the studio in which eDrumSessions operates. Bell Sound is a state-of-the-art recording studio, and this song was recorded before eDrumSessions existed.

Bell Sound boasts a Neve 8232 console, Bill Putnam-designed rooms, a microphone selection most only dream of, tons of vintage and cutting-edge outboard gear, a Yamaha C7 grand piano, Hammond B3 organ with Leslie, and more. Add to that access to the best session musicians in Los Angeles, and you have an opportunity to bring your musical vision to stunning fruition.

Drum tracks at Bell Sound exhibit stunning clarity when captured by eDrumSessions recording engineer Thai Long Ly. Ly is equally adept at capturing string sections, horns, piano, and anything else.

This ad for GoCompare insurance made use of drum tracks from eDrumSessions. Session drummer Shay Godwin and engineer Thai Long Ly recorded these drum tracks while the clients in London listened live via NiceCast and communicated via Skype.

eDrumSessions.com now operates at Bell Sound Los Angeles, an amazing commercial recording studio. These drum tracks for this commercial were recorded in the previous facility used by eDrumSessions.

Many services are offered here, including drum tracks, grand piano tracks, pedal steel, guitar, strings, horns, and more.

Session drummer Shay Godwin, founder of eDrumSessions.com, tracking brushes at Bell Sound Los Angeles. These were recorded for a client in Australia, while he listened in real time via NiceCast. Real time communication was done via Skype, making the producer feel as if he was sitting in the control room with engineer Thai Long Ly.

Bell Sound, the recording studio where eDrumSessions operates, is a spectacular facility. The Bill Putnam-designed rooms, dream microphone locker, amazing outboard gear, and Neve 8232 console conspire with engineer Ly’s golden ears to capture the most amazing tones you have heard.

The most amazing session musicians in Los Angeles are in and out of Bell Sound every day, and eDrumSessions offers drum tracks, grand piano (Yamaha C7) tracks, pedal steel, Hammond B3, guitar, bass, strings, horns and any other instrument you could possibly need.

eDrumSessions.com, an online recording studio, has been going strong since 2008. Founded by session drummer Shay Godwin and recording engineer Thai Long Ly, the website was thrown up on a whim and immediately began gaining clients around the globe. The demand for online drum tracks and other online recording studio services has only increased since the time eDrumSessions.com started.

eDrumSessions.com began in a small home studio with high-end gear, upgraded to a large house with the same gear, and is now permanently in commercial facility Bell Sound in Hollywood.

Bell Sound is an amazing recording studio, starting with the rooms designed by Bill Putnam. (This man was a genius — Google him.) The microphone locker is full of dream mics, modern and vintage. For example there are eight Neumann U87s, a bunch of 47s, a pair of 48s, and more modern fare such as Royer M121s, Baby Blue Bottle, and of course AKG 414s, Shure KSM44s, etc. See our gear page for a full list of gear.

Thai Long Ly is one of the top recording engineers in Los Angeles. This engineer gets stunning drum tracks wherever he records, especially at Bell Sound. He also will beautifully capture the grand piano (Yamaha C7) at Bell, Hammond B3, pedal steel, strings, harp, vibraphone, horns, vocals, or anything else we offer at eDrumSessions.

All drum tracks are recorded in Room A at Bell Sound, designed by the late great Bill Putnam. The design of both the tracking room and the control room is immaculate. The live room brings drum tracks with amazing clarity, warmth, and separation. The control room allows for excellent perspective on what is being heard. This translates to great drum tones, and great mixes. Indeed, the state-of-the-art gear in the control room is secondary to the physical design of the room itself.

Started by session drummer Shay Godwin in 2008 as an online drum tracks service, eDrumSessions is now a full service online recording studio available for tracking of all instruments. Mixing services are also available.

Bell Sound has two rooms: Room A designed by Bill Putnam and Room B designed by Vincent Van Haaf. Most tracking at eDrumSessions takes place in room A, including all drum tracks.

First, let me say that I am an extremely picky musician and audio engineer. I’ve been a part of many professional recording situations over the years and have high expectations of musicians and recordings. Shay and Thai blew those expectations away!!

I absolutely plan to use their services again on future demos and recordings. If you need drums for your project you have found the right place and people for the job. If you can’t tell, I am one happy customer! Worth every cent and more to make the drums in your song really shine.
-Aaron brown, Recording engineer/musician/songwriter/sound designer

Aaronbrownsound.com

Session drummer Shay Godwin and engineer Thai Long Ly have been providing custom drum tracks online to clients worldwide since 2008. Now a full online recording studio, drum tracks are not the only offering. Pedal steel, grand piano, strings, acoustic guitar, and anything anyone could need are available from this online recording studio.

eDrumSessions was founded in 2008 by Shay Godwin, a Los Angeles session drummer. Originally, eDrumSessions was strictly an online drum tracks service. In recent months eDrumSessions has expanded its scope, emerging as a full-service online recording studio, offering all recording studio-related services a client could want.

eDrumSessions offers the following services and more: mixing, drum tracks, pedal steel tracks, string tracks, grand piano tracks, Hammond B3 organ tracks, guitar tracks, bass tracks, keyboard tracks, you get the picture.

The recording studio that eDrumSessions uses is Bell Sound in Los Angeles. This is a state-of-the-art facility equipped with high-end outboard gear of all kinds, a Neve 8232 console, a dream microphone locker (complete with vintage FETs, Neumann ribbon and tube mics), and a tracking room designed by the world-famous Vincent Van Haaf. The control room was designed by the equally famous and respected Bill Putnam.

Drum tracks have arresting clarity and separation, sting tracks have amazing articulation and warmth. At eDrumSessions you get access to Bell Sound — and the world-class musicians in and out of Bell daily — for flat fees, not for the high hourly prices their big-budget clients pay daily.

And of course if you want to keep it real and just have session drummer Shay Godwin lay down drum tracks for your project old school, Thai and Shay are ready to deliver the mind-blowing online drum tracks that eDrumSessions has become known for.

eDrumSessions.com, founded by session drummer Shay Godwin, has a proven track record of bringing radio-ready drum tracks to clients worldwide. Originally strictly an online drum tracks service, eDrumSessions is now a full-service online recording studio. You can now access the best session musicians in Los Angeles, as Bell Sound has the best session musicians in and out of the recording studio every day. The difference with eDrumSessions is, no hourly fees that the big clients are paying! You pay flat fees for drum tracks, mixing, vocals, pedal steel, guitar, and any recording studio service.

Session drummer Shay Godwin and engineer Thai Long Ly have provided drum tracks for songwriters, composers, and arrangers worldwide since 2008. Clients have included national commercial campaigns in the U.S. and overseas, independent songwriters, and even a Platinum-selling artist.

Bell Sound of Los Angeles is a state-of-the-art recording studio. All drum tracks are recorded in room A, designed by Vincent Van Haaf.
eDrumSessions gives you access to this amazing recording studio for a flat fee, freeing you from the high hourly fees that the big budget clients pay here every day.
You can count on eDrumSessions.com for the best drum tracks, guitar tracks, string tracks, grand piano tracks, B3 tracks, or anything you could need.

The music video featured a stunt double for session drummer Godwin, fire dancing, amazing scenery, professionally trained dogs, and unreal sunsets.

Session drummer Godwin has been in The Dirty Diamond for several years. His entrenchment was accidental, starting with a recording session call from a producer. Godwin performed most of the drum tracks on the recent album from The Dirty Diamond, “Our Divine And Sovereign Mother”. The drum tracks for one song, “Limit Is The Sky”, were recorded at eDrumSessions.com.

The video included stunt driving, a stunt double for session drummer Shay Godwin, fire dancers, picturesque scenery, a professionally trained dog, and stunning sunsets.

Session drummer Godwin has played with The Dirty Diamond for several years. His association with them started with a session call from a producer Godwin worked with regularly. What started off as a recording session ended up with entrenchment in the band as a member. Drum tracks for one recording from the recent release “Our Divine And Sovereign Mother” was done at eDrumSessions.com. The rest were done elsewhere.

It is rare for session drummer Godwin to become involved with a band after being hired for a recording session. “The Dirty Diamond gets me out of the studio and in front totally amped audiences”, the session drummer says.

Here are a couple of pics of session drummer Shay Godwin with Parton:

Session drummer Shay Godwin provides drum tracks online to clients worldwide. For his online drum tracks and for all recording sessions he has control over, Bell Sound in Hollywood is the place to go. Session drummer and string quartet alike enjoy the large, Vincent Van Haaf-designed tracking room. Drum tracks exhibit separation and clarity. eDrumSessions is a full service online recording studio, ready for online drum tracks, guitar tracks, bass tracks, string tracks, pedal steel tracks, lap steel tracks, horn tracks, vocal tracks, mixing, mastering, and anything else you could need. We have top quality session drummers available, as well as session guitarists and any other instrument you need. Let eDrumSessions.com give your music the life you envision. It starts with the drum tracks!

In order to ensure master quality drum sounds from an online drum tracks service, it really helps to have some understanding of the facility they are using.

In terms of tracking a session drummer, a live room should ideally be large. This allows sound waves to mature and early reflections to be minimized. Smaller rooms can benefit from creative absorption and diffusion, but there’s nothing like the sound of real drums in a large live room for maximum clarity and impact (as long as the design of the room is sound).

The reason for this is that smaller rooms force you to compensate with acoustic devices that yield boxy, small-sounding drum tracks. The kit never gets to “breathe”, because the air around the kit is literally being absorbed and controlled. This “boxiness” is most easily heard in the Overhead and Room microphones.

Smaller rooms also emphasizes lower midrange frequencies — the ones that that produce those nasty nasal tones that are nearly impossible to dial out once recorded. The low end also has no room to naturally expand, making your kick sound anemic.

Size aside, a live room must have a decent balance of hard surfaces (reflection) and soft surfaces (absorption). Reflective surfaces should be broken up as much as possible, meaning few parallel surfaces. This produces the most natural recordings, as a whole and amongst the many individual elements of a close mic’d drum kit. It is a revelation to hear the separation and clarity the drums tracks will exhibit in a properly designed space. Be warned, you will not be able to stand anything less once you have a custom drum recording done this way.

The control room is equally important as the live room, because an engineer must be able to hear accurately to get good drum sounds. Simply placing good equipment in a sub standard room doesn’t cut it. A chef doesn’t cook a fancy meal in a dirty kitchen, yet engineers choose this route regularly. Why?? Because properly designed rooms aren’t cheap to rent, let alone design, build and implement.

It is nice to have good speakers, but they are subject to the room they are in. High-end speakers were designed and manufactured under strict tolerances and in well-tuned environments. They are made to be used in proper spaces that won’t skew the acoustic frequency response and dynamic output, much like a Ferrari is designed to be driven on a race track. Putting high-end speakers in a sub-par room compromise their performance characteristics, and skew the engineer’s judgement of what he is hearing. This compromises the quality of tone!

Performance speakers in a poor room ends up with the same results. Every day, recording engineers make poor EQ and mic placement choices as a result of having their expensive speakers in flawed rooms. The room is lying to them, but they don’t realize it because, hey, nice speakers. The result is that your drum tracks are incorrectly balanced – preventing you from producing sonically beautiful mixes of your precious material.

There are quite a few online session drummer services, thus many different types of room being used. You may be dealing with a closets in a bedrooms or a large, professionally designed room in a commercial recording studio.

Of course, using rooms designed professionally for the purpose of recording will usually be the best idea. These rooms have the geometric properties previously discussed, and have been tuned “flat”. The geometric design of these rooms dictates that no frequencies are boosted or attenuated.

Before we look at professionally designed rooms, lets take at home studio situations, as many online session drummers operate this way.

It is possible to get great drum sounds in a house. I have been session drummer on recordings done in houses that sound amazing. Famous recordings have been made in houses with excellent results, such as The Rolling Stones’ “Exile On Main Street”.

However, session drummers operating out of home studios often have huge acoustical issues they are not even be aware of. In many cases neither their tracking room nor control room have been tuned. The frequent approach is to just “deaden” the room with foam everywhere, controlling some high-frequency issues but doing nothing for low-frequency control.

Now let us examine the other end of the spectrum: professionally designed tracking and control rooms in a commercial recording studio.

Vincent Van Haaf, designer of many famous rooms (including the world-famous Conway Studios of Los Angeles), provides a template for the modern standard in studio design. The essence of the Van Haaf approach involves the use of geometry and space. There are no parallel surfaces. For purposes of exact stereo imaging, a control room should be symmetrical from a central line.

Van Haaf prefers air to be the absorber and diffuser of sound as opposed to relying on soft, materials (or as he puts it, “absorption by cotton ball”). That means a room big enough to achieve this! This applies to both the control room and live room.

Clearly the design of the control room and tracking room of a studio has as much to do with sound quality of your drum tracks as anything. It is probably the most important factor after the expertise of the recording engineer.

The best advice is to ask an online session drummer about the room he uses if no info is given on the site. No need to assume the worst if the session drummer records in a house, but you ought to find out some info on the rooms.

Ask about room dimensions. Request pictures of the facility if none are published on the site. If you like what you see on the site, that is a good start.

eDrumSessions is a full online recording studio offering a wide range of services.

These services include drum tracks, grand piano tracks, vocal tracks, guitar, keys, strings, horns, pedal steel, lap steel, mixing, mastering, everything you could need.

Since this client is in Los Angeles, he came to our recording studio to produce this session. However, even if you are on the other side of the planet you can produce sessions in real time at eDrumSessions. Through the use of NiceCast, our clients can listen in on the recording session live from anywhere in the world (no extra fee for this sevice) and communicate via Skype, iChat, or phone. This is like being in the control room with engineer Thai Long Ly; you can produce the recording session in real time. We encourage this as it keeps the communication high and ensures total satisfaction. Most online recording studios do not offer this option, usually going for a “keep the client at arm’s length” approach.

For clients who do not wish to or cannot schedule a remote recording session, we usually do three takes of a song to give the composer some options. Of course if a chart is sent that is adhered to. This online recording studio is full of professionals of all flavors, and we have musicians that can read fly paper.

The eDrumSessions recording studio is outfitted with top notch gear all around. Vintage Neve 8232 console, modern outboard pres such as the brilliant Geoff Daking models, the most amazing mic locker you could imagine. The tracking room is a masterpiece, designed by the masterful Bill Putnam.

This place has a vintage Neve 8232 console, and super high-end outboard gear. You won’t find another online recording studio with this kind of gear.

The microphone locker is a dream. We’re talking multiple vintage FETs and tube mics! RCA 77s, Neumann U87s, not to mention a whole bunch of Royers, Coles, Gefells, on and on. There simply are no other online recording studios that have these kind of mics available for use.

The perfectly tuned rooms were designed by a top studio designer whose name cannot be mentioned here to prevent anyone from figuring which studio eDrumSessions is now using.

Why is the name of the new eDrumSessions online recording studio facility confidential?

Because the owner understandably doesn’t want these low prices associated with his recording studio!

People pay *top dollar* at this studio. You are fortunate enough to have found online access to this studio at a fraction of the price you would pay to be there.

Combine all this with access to L.A.’s finest studio musicians, any instrument you need whatsoever, and you have a winning combination. Let eDrumSessions.com take care of all of your online recording studio needs.

Drums are recorded either first or last most of the time, so I want to address these two options specifically.

There are arguments for both choices, and I think either can be a good one. The point is to understand the options so you can decide what is best for your music.

Why not just record all of the instruments at the same time?

In a perfect world, many composers and songwriters would prefer to rent a studio capable of recording multiple instruments (think inputs, separation, etc.) live, with thoroughly rehearsed musicians ready to record as an ensemble.

In the real world, this process is too expensive and impractical for today’s budgets.

The intimidating prospect of paying and organizing the schedules of multiple session musicians (for rehearsals as well as recording), and paying by the minute for a for a well-equipped studio, leads many to record instruments separately.

Let’s explore the option of recording the drum tracks first.

If your arrangement has been worked out, you can provide the session drummer with MIDI drums to base their playing on, or provide a chart to read.

However, some have a more “organic” process, composing as they track. In this case it is important to have the session drummer play with space. Taking this approach leaves the sonic room to let the other session musicians come up with their parts.

You certainly don’t want an overly-busy drum part to hinder the creative flow of the other session players.

Recording drums first has its advantages. Most session musicians will find tracking to real drum tracks more inspiring than programmed drums. Performances tend to have more energy when recorded to custom drum tracks.

Feel can be positively affected when drums are recorded first. Every session drummer has his own pocket, so the music can be more in the groove if all instruments are tracked to a real drum performance.

Recording drums last can also be advantageous in its own way.

The main advantage is that the session drummer can be more informed in terms of forming actual parts.

A great session drummer can really shape your composition and accentuate subtleties. When the session drummer tracks to the finished product, it makes it possible for him to do this.

When tracking last, the drummer can match kick drum with bass, accentuate big guitar hits that were not present earlier in the process, or add some nice subtle interplay to vocal riffs during an outro.

When listeners hear these types of subtleties, they associate them with tight, well-rehearsed musicians. Recording drum tracks last can give the listener the feel of a live recording with musicians who have played the material many times.

Basically, the session drummer can be musical as opposed to strictly functional with this approach.

You can decide for yourself what is best for your music. Good luck and enjoy the process either way, that’s what its all about.

Drum samples are good for composing and pre-production work.  As for using them for final drum tracks, this is not advisable.  Certain styles of music can use drum samples without suffering badly, but most musical situations require real, custom drum tracks.

Read the full article.

NME has intimated that Morrissey is racist repeatedly since he wrapped himself in the Union flag at a show in Finsbury Park.  It is  baffling that this w as viewed

as racist imagery.

Now Morrissey is taking NME’s publisher, IPC Media, and former editor Conor McNicholas to court for libel.

I’m taking sides on this one.  Go Morrissey, sue their pants off and get them to shut up.  He probably won’t win, but at least he will make a point.

Read more here.

The ad, for GoCompare (UK auto insurance company), is comedic in nature and references the movie “One Million Years B.C.” The feel of the music is shuffle, ironically sounding more like an American shuffle than a Brit-pop shuffle.

Online recording studio eDrumSessions.com is increasingly called upon for studio services by overseas production houses writing commercial music.

Session drummer Godwin recorded the drum tracks online for client Yellow Boat Music, a U.K. commercial production house. These sessions are done remotely, with producer Paul Cartledge communicating in real time via Skype, and listening in on the drum tracks recording session live via NiceCast.

Most commercial recording sessions involve two to three versions of the same song. This is done for different edits of the commercial. Only two edits were done for this session.

This commercial features opera star Gio Compario.

It is becoming common in these modern times for musical collaborations to take place between different nations because of the internet. Online recording studios are becoming an industry mainstay, due to cost-effectiveness of international collaboration that was once extremely expensive due to travel costs.

Here is a press release about the commercial, in which both session drummer Godwin and Yellow Boat Music are mentioned.

In this installment, I will discuss Texture Coated with Power Dot heads, Jack DeJohnette Signature heads, and Super Kick 1 heads.

Texture Coated with Power Dot heads feature a reinforcement dot on the bottom side of the head. On heavy-hitting online drum tracks, I can wail on backbeats with full confidence it the durability of the head, yet sensitivity is not sacrificed one bit. This is a great achievement. Often, reinforcement dots can completely kill the responsiveness of the drum, to the point of “choking” the sound. This is not so with Power Dot heads from Aquarian, which respond to even light orchestral-style playing.

I don’t always hit hard enough to reach for these, but I keep some in my arsenal for certain online drum tracks. If I am doing a hard rock thing, I’m gonna beat the drums hard. With the Power-dot reinforced Texture Coated heads, I can confidently do so. Some would use a double-ply head in this situation. That is fine, I just am personally not into double-ply heads.

The Jack DeJohnette signature heads have the best combination of warmth and clarity I have ever experienced. They are actually black in color, and have a dark tone to them. They are very articulate, despite their dark tone. I have used them for quite a few online drum tracks.

Lastly, I will address the Super Kick bass drum heads I use. These feature a brilliantly designed internal muffling ring that keeps the sound in control. I often will play with nothing inside my kick drum for a nice open sound. The Super Kick heads take extra ring away without killing the tone. The most I ever use is a towel inside the kick. This is often simply so that a mic can be placed inside the bass drum for online drum tracks. The Super Kick allows just enough control of the bass drum overtones, while still leaving it open-sounding.

Hopefully this article helped explain my basic approach to head selection when recording your online drum tracks. Read more articles on this site on the subject of online drum tracks.

In this two-part article series I will describe some of the Aquarian products I use when recording online drum tracks at eDrumSessions. I am not being compensated by Aquarian for this article. However, in the interest of full disclosure I will mention that I am an endorser of Aquarian products. I use Aquarian drumheads in any situation which I have control to do so, and that would certainly would apply to online drum tracks I do through eDrumSessions.

In this first installment, the following products I use for online drum tracks will be covered: Texture Coated, Classic Clear, American Vintage, Modern Vintage, Texture Coated with Power Dot, Jack DeJohnette signature, and Super Kick 1. All of these are one-ply models I use for online drum tracks.

Lets begin with good old Texture Coated heads. Texture Coated heads are my first choice for general playing. The Aquarian coating process has become the industry leader. Chipping almost never happens, and the sound of brush “sweeps” remain nicely even-sounding through many recordings of online drum tracks. It is advantageous to have the surface not get too smooth too fast from brush playing.

I also use Classic Clear heads. Using them as bottom tom heads is a given. If I need more articulation out of my toms, I go to the Classic Clear heads as batter heads as well. I tend to favor the warmth of coated heads in general, but some online drum tracks may call for intricate tom work. One can always tune coated heads tighter to achieve more articulation, but that may not be the best option depending on the style of music. The Classic Clear heads are very useful if I need to tune the toms low but still need a lot of articulation. Again, I default to coated heads. “Tribal” tom work, for instance, can lose some of its weight with clear heads. This is applicable to all clear heads from any manufacturer, not just Aquarian.

The last time I used Classic Clear heads for online drum tracks was on a song for a client from Azerbaijan. The song was an up-tempo, fusion-esque song that called for a lot of articulate tom work, as well as some soloing on my part. I went for the Classic Clears to get that articulation. Although some warmth was sacrificed, for that particular piece of music it was a wise choice.

I have also gotten good results using them on my Ludwigs for a Bonham-esque sound for with of my online drum tracks clients.

American Vintage heads are slightly larger in diameter to fit vintage drums. They have a special coating that is different than the Texture Coated heads. The coating is more textured, which means louder brush sweeps. This is not usually a concern for online drum tracks, but it is helpful live.

The coating on the American Vintage model sounds warmer than Texture Coated heads. Of course some of the attack is minimized, unless they are tuned really tightly. They sound great tuned tightly for straight-ahead jazz music. These heads also sound amazing on my vintage Ludwigs, tuned in any range. They sound beautifully warm and “squishy” when tuned down low, and are a great choice for online drum tracks that require few but dramatic tom hits.

Modern Vintage heads have the same general properties as American Vintage, but are made to fit modern drums. This enables me to get a vintage sound out of a modern kit for online drum tracks.

In Part 2 of this series, I will discuss my use of Texture Coated with Power Dot heads, Jack DeJohnette Signature heads, and Super Kick 1 heads on online drum tracks.

Read more on the Aquarian website.

Bln.kr is highly useful on a time management level, as artists need to be active on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.  Managing multiple platforms takes time, and Bln.kr saves you a lot of time by consolidating everything on to one dashboard.

Another advantage is the real-time display of plays, downloads, ratings, comments, etc.  That way artists can monitor fan reactions to new material.  Also, one does not have to toggle between windows (Twitter, YouTube, FB, etc) when interacting with fans as it is all on one dashboard. 

Some of my online drum track clients have used this service to promote their music, with success.  Check it out!

The new “Full-Range” film has added more clarity and brightness to the Aquarian drumhead sound.  This has been accomplished without losing any of the amazing low end “beef” that Godwin appreciates.  The eDrumSessions online drum tracks sound has just gotten even more mega than it already was.

“Heroes Are Human” is available on iTunes.

Author Frederick has had quite a career.  She has written hundreds of songs that have been placed in television shows and ads, was Director of A&R for Rhino Records, and is currently Director of A&R for TAXI music.  In the book, Frederick recommends online drum tracks from eDrumSessions as a way to increase odds of getting music placed on television and film.

If you would like more info on the show, check out the Facebook event page.