Hey Gents (& Ladies),
I've recently been in contact with UK drummer, Charlie Kenney, about the possible creation of some original Hi-Res 24/96 Drum & Percussion Demo Tracks for us DIYMA members. The tracks would be offered in 24-bit/96kHz resolution and in WAV and FLAC format...maybe ALAC as well. They would be made available for Download with a PayPal payment on a yet to be determined website, but most likely from Charlie's website.
I'm wanting to create a wide range of Styles and Genres, so if you have any interest, PLEASE feel free to post any special requests or ideas that you have for these tracks here!!!
I'm also looking into working with Gavin Harrison from Porcupine Tree on some tracks as well, but he's super busy ATM.
These guys both have home project studios, so they can stay at home to track (record) and mix their drums. :) I'm sure that even their practice/jam sessions would be amazing. :)
Here's Charlie's web site.
Charlie Kenny Professional Drummer
And Gavin's:
The Official Web Site of the Drummer Gavin Harrison
For reference, here's an abbreviated early email communication with Charlie regarding ideas for the tracks...
"Charlie,
Thank you for the speedy response. Really mate, it's greatly appreciated and I'm quite stoked that you're interested! Thanks also for the details regarding the Cymbals. :)
I can see how YouTube can be a beast in both good and bad ways...takes heaps of dedication to make a go of it if you're trying to make it your sole form of income. But it can also be a huge marketing tool for guys like yourself trying to get your skills and services out to the now global marketplace. I might not have ever discovered you otherwise. ;)
Regarding the Track Count, I would say that 8 to 10 would be a good number. It could be less, as we would value quality over quantity.
Side note before I forget...it would be great to have a PDF of "liner notes" listing the equipment that you used for each track and an overhead "napkin sketch" of the basic layout of the drum kit & cymbals...geek out stuff, haha. It could seriously be hand sketched on paper. ;)
As I mentioned in my previous email, the DIYMA site has a diverse group of members, so we would want a decent range of genres and styles represented...
- A Jazz Track with a mix of brushes and sticks with plenty of tom-tom riffs, snare side stick & brushes, ride cymbal sticking, and maybe some Hi-Hat open/closed riffs. Maybe a Tom-Tom "jungle" beat, etc.
- A Funk/Groove track. Just straight out funkiness, with some breaks...Think Stanton Moore/Galactic?
- A Jazz Fusion Track. More "technical" syncopated beats on the Hi-Hat, snare, kick, and ride cymbals...maybe some nice bell sticking here.
- A Kick @ss Rock n' Roll Track. With a SOLID KICK DRUM & TOMS sound! :) Classic big rock sound with a solid infectious beat, plenty of sweeping tom riffs, nice crash and splash/China cymbals, some bell/ride cymbal sticking, snare and tom flams, double-flams, and rimshots. Some cowbell of course. ;) Maybe a little bit John Bonham, a little bit Neil Peart, or whatever you're feeling, etc.
- A Free-Form Solo or two. Something similar to the Sheffield Drum Improvisation tracks that I linked to...A Mix of styles, soft pianissimo playing, to normal, to whatever. A nice exploration of all of the cymbals (a sort of cymbal "melody"). It would be REALLY nice to have some other percussion instruments in the mix...Triangles, Chimes, Bells, Gong, Wood Blocks, Cowbells, Tambourine, Timpani, etc. Any of these could be mixed in with the other tracks as well. We LOVE being able to hear the harmonics and micro-details in these types of instruments...such as the reverb tail of a triangle's or cymbal's ringing/decay, all of the individual "chinqs" of the tambourine, etc
- A Drum & Bass (DnB) Track. A fast, infectious beat, with the incorporation of some tom-toms, tambourine, cowbell, ride cymbal, rim sticking, etc...something to make it more "musical". Reference Jojo Mayer?
- Optional Heavy Metal Track. I'm not really keen on the double-bass craziness, and I don't think you are as well, so? Most of this style doesn't really translate well for me without the music, especially the guitars, to back it up. But if you can make it interesting, go for it. :p
Other Notes:
- A clean, realistic, and appropriate Kick Drum sound would be important for each track. :)
- We love to hear the detail in the snare drum and snare wires/buzz, side stick, edge-to-center drum rolls. Snares on & off.
- The many different sounds of cymbals, and the detail in the stick hits and the harmonics and decay of cymbals is important. Some felt mallet crescendos?
- The lovely sound of the rack & floor toms. I grew up when the Roto-Toms became popular, haha.
- DYNAMICS are Important! Details in very soft to very loud crescendos. We are not at all into the Heavy Wall Of Sound, Hot/Clipped signal levels. Explore a full range of touch on the kit. Transitions from very soft sticking to moderate are nice. Pianissimo to Mezzo Piano, to Fortissimo! ;)
- IMAGING/STAGING: It's one of our major goals to reproduce a very wide, even, and focused/defined soundstage in our vehicle from extreme Left to extreme Right. So things like huge, sweeping Left-to-Right Tom fills are nice. For reference in our typical music tracks, Lead Vocals are usually Centered just under the rear-view mirror on the windscreen, with the kick drum just below that and further back. Although there isn't a huge amount of Front-to-Back Depth in a typical drum kit, any added depth effect would be nice. Some of us have been able to reproduce specific tracks where the drum kit, upright double bass, and background vocals appear to be floating a good bit outside of the Car a foot or so over the bonnet, spread far left to right. The right ride cymbal and hi-hat, and left crash cymbals can also appear nearly a foot or so outside of the physical bounderies of the Car to the left and right. This kind of imaging, placement, and depth would be awesome sauce! FYI, typically, a standard "centered" vocal as produced in nearly all commercial recordings would be heard or "placed" at the forward center of the vehicle, over the forward portion of the dash, just under the rear-view mirror on the windscreen. The "stage" would extend equally to the left and right bounderies of the vehicle...typically the A-pillars. So you need not make any special imaging or stage placement adjustments for these tracks...mix as you normally would for any other project.
PAYMENT - Let me know what would be appropriate compensation for this project? It seems easy on the surface but I know that there's A LOT involved! There is no way for me to guarantee a set amount of orders (unless we go the "Kickstarter" route?) so it should be an amount that you're comfortable with that covers your basic costs and time. I know that I could do ~$500 USD upfront, but any more than that and I'd have to see if I could work out something with the other forum members. After the upfront fee, I was thinking that you would then charge a "per track" or "per album" Download Fee for each member that orders. Let me know what payment system works for you and the $ amounts. You might think about opening this up to a wider audience as well...
Just a thought, but maybe at the same time you would Video the sessions...perhaps you could recoup addition income from the project by producing a DVD that could be offered to a wider audience? However, I don't have any experience on how successful DVD projects like this would be these days, since YouTube seems "good enough" for most. So maybe make the videos available on YouTube, but also provide a Link to Purchase the individual tracks for various prices depending on the format & resolution, e.g. 16/44 MP3 & AAC, and then Hi-Res 24/96 in WAV & FLAC for a bit more $. Not sure what the best hosting site would be...your own website or iTunes/Bandcamp/SoundCloud, etc?
You should most definitely post the availability of these Hi-Res track downloads on the Head-Fi.org - Headphone forums and reviews for audiophiles website. This is a HUGE online forum of Audiophile Headphone enthusiasts who spend literally thousands of dollars annually on equipment and for Hi-Res Music Downloads from websites such as Homepage | HDtracks - The World's Greatest-Sounding Music Downloads ! The HDtracks site is blowing up! The owner of the site is David Chesky, a musician, recording engineer, and founder of Chesky Recordings.
I'm going to get some thoughts from the other members of the DIYMA Forum to see if they have any input on what they'd like and get back to you.
Sorry for the Giant Novel of an email, but I guess the details are important! ;)
Thanks again! Get back to me at your convenience.
Cheers,
Billy B.
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