Authentic Drums?

[davekershaw]

Dec 1, 2008, 5:17am, billg wrote:Thanks again for listening (again!)Dave, glad you could learn something at my expense If I had to venture a quess (and that's all this is) I would say that "bad drums" have to be a major factor for returns, I know that early on that was the case with me. I thought I had gone beyond that but as usual I'm a slow learner!Hey Bill. That you using an emoticon!Well I never!! Yeah, not being a drummer I tend to put in what I think sounds ok.They do seem to be one of the main faults pointed out when folk post tracks.I'm learning to take more care.

[wrdsnmuzik]

this isn't related to the drum issue, but something that might be worth considering:the harmony vocals are clearly done by one person, and altho they're the 'right' harmonies, the lack of variation in the voices takes away from the effect. (i.e., the byrds had three distinct voices at work)in this instance, having a couple of different singers harmonizing could've made the track sound even more 'right'.(I deal with this myself since I do multi-harmonies myself, and I even submitted my song 'unforgiven' for that 60s listing)

[zoom]

Hey Bill!The drums sound a lot better here... I'll chime in along with the others here. One thing to consider is the size of the cymbals you're using. The hat sounds a little too crisp IMO to be "in the era".... I always think of a little deader sound without as much happening in the upper frequencies. Not sure which EZ sets you have, but you may want to adjust the size of the cymbals in general to the bigger, clunkier sounding ones and see if that helps.Cheers!Oh.... and they're having a 2-for-1 sale on all the EZDrummer sets right now... get 'em while they're hot!

[billg]

"Oh.... and they're having a 2-for-1 sale on all the EZDrummer sets right now... get 'em while they're hot! "I saw that!!! Guess I'll have to write my letter to Santa . . . wait, I forgot . . . I 'AM SANTA!Thanks for the cymbal tip too. I'm making notes from all of these posts & will dive back in tomorrow.wrdsnmuzik, I know what you're saying. Unfotunately sometimes it's just too much hassle to get others to help when there are deadlines. heck, I couldn't get my 12 string buddy to get over hear & play the guitar part and he owes me money! (Mmmm, as I was typing that it dawned on me why he didn't show up . . . man am I slow)

[wta]

I think Bill if you had of posted something from that album you cut from 1972 not only would your friend have helped with that 12 string work but this tune would have been forwarded, licenced and bonused you in time for Christmas turkey... Mmmm, if only you would post just one song all would be as it should...

[ideascapes]

bill, I'm late to this as I have been traveling. Congrats on this--I can definitely hear the care that put into it--especially on the playing of the drums--to make it a super soundalike. Reading the previous posts, I think you've gotten some great advice already.I'm not in a position where I can A/B this with the Byrds, but one other thing you might want to listen for is in the mix of the vocals. gw mentioned about the same sounding singers (all your voice?); did you EQ or process them differently? That could help. My comment pertains more to which voice is/should be dominant. I'm listening on my laptop speakers, so this might not even be a valid observation, but I couldn't always tell which voice was the lead/melody. That also could be a characteristic of the Byrds sound, but I'm pretty sure the melody on "Turn, Turn" and Tambourine Man is very recognizable. Another way to address this would be to not have all the vocalists singing all the time. That would allow the listener to capture the lead vocal easier and hold onto it as the ensemble sings.Great stuff!Vince