Are there fewer demands for a drummer now, than before?

... I'm thinking mostly of in the way of recording. You can step record, drum replace, trigger, time-flex and edit/quantize. On the other hand, you have to play to loops, trigger effects live, metronome, time is money and all that....


Too broad.

First of all, there's live drumming. Just as much skill is required as at any other time. There's no real short cut to paying your dues.
I think there's less call for live drumming (as in bands) than there was in the past.

Then there's studio drumming, as opposed to 'producer' drumming.
Studio drumming requires skills, but can allow for re-takes, if there's a mess up.

Producer drumming (beat production), using the DAW techniques and tricks you describe is more like data or word processing than drumming.
It's possible to take a single recorded snare and bass drum hit and make a useable beat from it with enough tedious manipulation.

Too broad.
 
From a live playing angle, drummers are definitely less in demand because clubs are infested with solo, duo and trio outfits which use drum/backing tracks.
As a club drummer, I regularly hear audience members telling me how good it is to see a band with a real drummer!
 
The kids these days who grew up listening to drum machine tracks play tighter than folks back in the day. It's a different thing. But the good folks can groove and play clean and tight. Hard to do unless you really put in the time with a metronome and get your chops clean.
 
Too broad.

First of all, there's live drumming. Just as much skill is required as at any other time. There's no real short cut to paying your dues.
I think there's less call for live drumming (as in bands) than there was in the past.

Then there's studio drumming, as opposed to 'producer' drumming.
Studio drumming requires skills, but can allow for re-takes, if there's a mess up.

Producer drumming (beat production), using the DAW techniques and tricks you describe is more like data or word processing than drumming.
It's possible to take a single recorded snare and bass drum hit and make a useable beat from it with enough tedious manipulation.

Too broad.
Read my second comment dude
 
Just looking on the musician ads website & these are the numbers of people wanted.

Drummers: 78
bass: 55
guitar: 44
keys: 47
vocal: 74

From what i've experienced myself the drummer is generally the first to quit. usually this is due to the horrible playing conditions. Ie, being minimum or pay to play. little to not time to set up your drumkit. share it with asshats the will fuck you your batter heads. And the list just goes on & on like that ...

I always had the problem of the stage being too damn small (tama hyperdrive 6 piece, 8 cybals & drumrack) so i ended up cramped in the corner. All that put together kinda puts you off of playing live in general.

10 years ago the band i played for as a guitarist got 300$ per show. even more depending on the distance. Present day getting transport cost alone is pushing it hardcore. Even been a decent facebook discussion recently where a guy delivers his demo cd to the club & they hand it back since they don't do transport cost...

I love playing the instrument (guitar, bass or drums for that matter) and writing music when i stumble upon anything good. but when it comes to playing live my reaction over the past years more tends to be: "here we go again..."
 
Read my second comment dude

Sorry, english is my second language, so it's a bit lost in translation'y. What I mean is that it's easier to be a drummer and record in the studio than it was before. For example that you had to know all the parts and if you effed up, it would be like that forever, because you had to cut into the tape. Now you have all this technology that can make your drumming perfect.


This ^^^^ is your second comment.

I think I addressed it fairly well in my post.
If not, I either misunderstood, or you need to state your question more clearly, dude.
 
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