This is my (very) rough balance, no fancy stuff, but with one major difference: I re-tracked the drums for fun, as I am a major Jamiroquai fan and felt like I could bring a fresh perspective. No offense intended to the original drummer, who did a fantastic job.
I tracked the drums in my home studio (as both the engineer & drummer) using an iPad to run the takes so I didn't have to run back and forth. Quite surprised at the results, given my environment is not perfect, but not terrible.
What do you think? Do you like it? Let me know in the comments below :-)
To me, your part is a bit busy at times and somehow looses the "disco" feel of the track, but it sure sounds great. The original drum part needed some edits anyway as I suspect that some copy/paste stuff was not very accurate and kinda killed the groove. The full stop to let the vocals get more attention is excellent, as is the ending that I also found problematic on the original.
The one thing that would be great now is a more polished mix, the new drums certainly deserve it ;-)
(14-07-2018, 05:10 AM)Daniel Jason Booth Wrote: This is my (very) rough balance, no fancy stuff, but with one major difference: I re-tracked the drums for fun, as I am a major Jamiroquai fan and felt like I could bring a fresh perspective. No offense intended to the original drummer, who did a fantastic job.
I tracked the drums in my home studio (as both the engineer & drummer) using an iPad to run the takes so I didn't have to run back and forth. Quite surprised at the results, given my environment is not perfect, but not terrible.
What do you think? Do you like it? Let me know in the comments below :-)
Imo you're a better drummer period. But yes maybe the drum arrangement could be more in line with how drums were done in the disco era.
Thanks for the excellent feedback guys. From your perspective, it's now encouraged me to take a good look at specific areas and see what I can dial back a bit on the drums. I'm sure I've got some takes that aren't quite as busy in the same areas. When I get around to the mix, I'll post it up for sure. I'm starting to wonder if it might be worth me starting up an online drum recording business I do enjoy recording and drumming.
Ha! Very cool. It's not easy to record drums to the band since the natural thing to do is the other way around. Definitely on the busy side. The snare off beat doesn't seem to work and maybe save any fills (tasty ones) for just the main part transitions rather than midway between them too, saving an epic one for to final push towards the end. Restraint is one of the hardest things when you wanna start flailing away, and disco is probably the OG four on the floor genre. I thought the little ghostie section around 1:40(??I think) fit well and the fills were great, just too many. I'd love to hear where you go with this one.
If I had to say anything it's this: your ideas are good and the playing as well. Really excellent !!
But I do think it's always a question of context, and this song, even if it is reminiscent of a certain era, is not the right context for this kind of busy drum playing.
I think disco and funk aren't quite the same as there are lots of "funky" stuff in many genres but disco is disco, and as TNS said it's very four on the floor based. Just think The Whispers, Kool and The Gang, Shalamar, Georges Duke, etc
I do enjoy recording and drumming.