Drummer's curse

Listen, I don't need your useless passive-aggressive commentary, putting the worst possible interpretation on my posts.

You've done this before. If you don't like what I say, put me on ignore. Or stop being a punk and say what you want to say.

I believe I did say what I wanted to say. I won't put you on ignore, because I enjoy reading what you post, but I will refrain from quoting you.
 
Regardless of whoever's concept of balance, the engineer should be able to create a mix that favors the better output without having to be a drummer or a drum fan themselves.

Correct. Having a player's bias can be harmful to a mix by either favoring the instrument, or over-compensating and keeping it too low in the mix. Well, "too low" being subjective as well. There are certainly engineers and producers who play, and also get a great mix (meaning, the artist is happy with it.) And that's their value. It's not unusual to see separate credits for recording engineer and mixing engineer. Some people specialize in mixing, just as some specialize in mastering (without having been involved with the sessions to begin with.)
 
Cure for that is to hit the singer hard with your stick every time he places his foot or anything of his on any of your drums or slaps your cymbals, slap him back in front of everyone, he'll learn. And yes the cowbell skit was not funny to me even the first time....

well...this particular guy took care of himself by getting arrested for beating on his GF and like 10 years of back child support...
 
We are far from cursed.

Blessings are sheep in wolf's clothing many times.

But I get the intent of the thread. I have a few personal gripes, but it's probably all my issues.

Anymore I just shut my mouth, let everyone else do their thing, and enjoy playing for me. I'll get out if I don't like it anymore.

But I won't try and change it anymore. It doesn't go well for me.

I try and not create drama. I used to care too much, was vocal about it, and it never benefitted me.

So now, I just try and be like water.

Thanks Bruce
 
One is that your musicianship is often targeted by mediocre non-drummers-- and mediocre drummers occasionally. You have to know you're doing the right thing-- timewise, volumewise, knowing where you are in the music-wise, etc-- and it's their perceptions that are screwed up. All good things to have your stuff extra-together on anyway...

There's also the general sense of inferiority bc other musicians speak a different language than I do, and the feeling I'm doing something easy while they're doing something hard-- again, mediocre players are the ones who vibe that.
Just to clarify, since someone helpfully framed this as me saying I'm great and everyone else sucks, or whatever nonsense:

These are things that happen to drummers in particular. Bad players will be happy to blame you for whatever is happening that they don't like. They'll blame you for their own failings. If the other musicians aren't real confident and weren't thinking about it, they'll think maybe the guy's right, and they lose confidence in you.

It happens more among amateurs and students than among professionals, and more when you're an assertive player. It's a "curse" in the sense that it would be nice if people would just play and not be like that, but it does give you a strong impetus to get your stuff together and really know what's going on, esp with those easy topics for complainers.
 
Just to clarify, since someone helpfully framed this as me saying I'm great and everyone else sucks, or whatever nonsense:

These are things that happen to drummers in particular. Bad players will be happy to blame you for whatever is happening that they don't like. They'll blame you for their own failings. If the other musicians aren't real confident and weren't thinking about it, they'll think maybe the guy's right, and they lose confidence in you.

It happens more among amateurs and students than among professionals, and more when you're an assertive player. It's a "curse" in the sense that it would be nice if people would just play and not be like that, but it does give you a strong impetus to get your stuff together and really know what's going on, esp with those easy topics for complainers.

church

this pretty much explains the "world" of every blues/open jam session I ever was a part of back in the day...and why I quickly left that scene

it also happens in the world of church gigs; community choir/band gigs etc....

there is a WHOLE LOT of judgement and "advice" coming from a demographic of people who should NOT be making that kind of commentary

It would be like me making ANY kind of commentary at a basketball game...I know that there are 2 hoops on the court and that Micheal Jordan played it....
 
church

this pretty much explains the "world" of every blues/open jam session I ever was a part of back in the day...and why I quickly left that scene

it also happens in the world of church gigs; community choir/band gigs etc....

there is a WHOLE LOT of judgement and "advice" coming from a demographic of people who should NOT be making that kind of commentary

It would be like me making ANY kind of commentary at a basketball game...I know that there are 2 hoops on the court and that Micheal Jordan played it....
The EGO quotient is off the charts. too! I gigged in one Blues band for less than a year and that was too much for me. I met too many rank musicians who thought they were the shit! Musicially, never has so little been done by so many. The attitude towards drummers was demeaning. "Anybody can play drums; all they gotta do is just keep time." I loved playing out doing Jazz, Classic Rock, Reggae, and Funk. Blues? Pass the Ibuprofen please.
 
well...this particular guy took care of himself by getting arrested for beating on his GF and like 10 years of back child support...
I don't condone hitting a woman, my own mother was abused until (at 5 years old) I took my father's gun and held it against him told him that if he hit my mother one more time I was going to kill him... that was the last time he ever hit her... that said, women abuse that fact because they know that a guy will get arrested if he so much as raises his hand , but there are ways to correct bad behaviour without violence...but either way if you have to get to that you are in the wrong relationship anyway. my wife and I have not had a single argument in the 7 years that we have been married, my prior wife (of 14 years) we had some bad arguments and I hate to argue so I just walk away. but I am by no means a pushover, I stand my ground if I need to.
 
I'll go clean my room.
According to Jordan Peterson, that's the entire key to getting your life together. <looks about for the sarcastic font underlined in facetiousness>
The man is hack and completely full of it, this was a joke
 
There several curses that come to mind; first being ton of gear to always lug around
A number of years ago I happened to sit next to Joe Locke on an airplane flight (he was reading an issue of Downbeat BTW).
If we think drums are a pain to lug here and there, he was telling me about hauling his vibraphone around in the early days just to jam. Whew!

 
I don't condone hitting a woman, my own mother was abused until (at 5 years old) I took my father's gun and held it against him told him that if he hit my mother one more time I was going to kill him... that was the last time he ever hit her... that said, women abuse that fact because they know that a guy will get arrested if he so much as raises his hand , but there are ways to correct bad behaviour without violence...but either way if you have to get to that you are in the wrong relationship anyway. my wife and I have not had a single argument in the 7 years that we have been married, my prior wife (of 14 years) we had some bad arguments and I hate to argue so I just walk away. but I am by no means a pushover, I stand my ground if I need to.

yep...i have only been in 3 fights...ever...in my life, and they have all been while playing hockey...and all of those were after getting "jumped" basically

and I definitely don't see how anyone can attack in any situation other than self defense. I think fighting is the ultimate admittance of selfish weakness...it proves nothing, and in domestic situations, when has it ever had a positive outcome...


A number of years ago I happened to sit next to Joe Locke on an airplane flight (he was reading an issue of Downbeat BTW).
If we think drums are a pain to lug here and there, he was telling me about hauling his vibraphone around in the early days just to jam. Whew!


ugh...I have had to haul both vibes and marimbas to gigs/recording sessions...as well as tympani. Would not be fun in downtown city streets/hallway/stairwells
 
Volume is The Curse.

I have stopped playing multiple times over the years because of noise issues. Even now that I own a detached single family home I’m still very conscious of my family and neighbors. Very few of us get to noodle away on our drum kits late into the night like our guitar playing friends. Other instruments share this curse to some degree (brass?) but drums take it to the next level of frustration.

We also need to protect ourselves from the volume. So we take a beautiful sounding instrument, one in which we argue the nuisances of wood, heads, sustain, what cymbal so and so played on that one recording etc etc and then, if we’re smart, we muffle the crap out of it with industrial hearing protection. My guilty pleasure is when I sneak in playtime without my headphones. That my friends is a curse.
 
Volume is The Curse.

I have stopped playing multiple times over the years because of noise issues. Even now that I own a detached single family home I’m still very conscious of my family and neighbors. Very few of us get to noodle away on our drum kits late into the night like our guitar playing friends. Other instruments share this curse to some degree (brass?) but drums take it to the next level of frustration.

We also need to protect ourselves from the volume. So we take a beautiful sounding instrument, one in which we argue the nuisances of wood, heads, sustain, what cymbal so and so played on that one recording etc etc and then, if we’re smart, we muffle the crap out of it with industrial hearing protection. My guilty pleasure is when I sneak in playtime without my headphones. That my friends is a curse.
I tend to agree with this. There have been numerous times I wished I'd fallen in love with a quieter instrument.

But I didn't.
 
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