Simple Drums Done Well - a series of drum lessons looking at the simple things the best drummers do to sound great.

CYP

Senior Member
Hey Drummerworld fam!

I've been posting various compositions and drumming on here for awhile now, but here's something a little different! Simple Drums Done Well is my new Youtube channel, where I'll be looking at the simple things the best drummers do to sound great, and dropping new episodes every Monday. Check out the welcome video and episode one below!

I would super appreciate some help from you all getting the channel off the ground, so any subscribes, likes, shares, etc would mean the world! I won't be begging for those on a regular basis I promise
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Thanks in advance Drummerworld fam, and hope you enjoy!

Episode 1 feat. Corey Fonville:

Welcome video:
 
That's cool, looking forward to some more videos!
You didn't ask for feedback, but I hope you see the following as positive criticism. I found the twichty editing and effects distracting and it made me pause several times to understand what you just said or to read what popped onto the screen for a second. When switching to another video, I'd appreciate it, if it was in time and if the sounds didn't collide with your voice. You know what you're about to present but for a first time listener it's a bit too much at times. I feel like less would be more but everyone is different, so just my opinion. Best of luck with the channel!
 
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That's cool, looking forward to some more videos!
You didn't ask for feedback, but I hope you see the following as positive criticism. I found the twichty editing and effects distracting and it made me pause several times to understand what you just said or to read what popped onto the screen for a second. When switching to another video, I'd appreciate it, if it was in time and if the sounds didn't collide with your voice. You know what you're about to present but for a first time listener it's a bit too much at times. I feel like less would be more but everyone is different, so just my opinion. Best of luck with the channel!

super appreciate the feedback, Swissward! Exactly what I was looking for. This is my first time trying this jump cut kind of vlog-style editing, so I can definitely see if it’s over done or distracting. Similar to the pop-ups, though those are mainly meant to be fun, for entertainment purposes. Would you mind expounding on your last point? As far as I can tell most of the video cuts are in time and the sound is usually meant to transition in to
the next clip or be backdrop. That tuning section is a definitely a (jarring) exception ?

Thanks again for the feedback and well wishes! ✌?
 
The foundation idea and content direction seem interesting, but the constant barrage of popups & "enhancements" is a real turnoff for me. The whole comes across as being embellished to add a cool vibe at the expense of quality content presented clearly.

I'm an older guy, & maybe not your target demographic, so please take my comments in context, and in the spirit of encouragement.
 
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The foundation idea and content direction seem interesting, but the constant barrage of popups & "enhancements" is a real turnoff for me. The whole comes across as being embellished to add a cool vibe at the expense of quality content presented clearly.

I'm an older guy, & maybe not your target demographic, so please take my comments in context, and in the spirit of encouragement.

Thanks for the feedback! I definitely don't have a target demo, just trying to make the content entertaining.

I would like to think the presentation is still clear in the moments that matter, but I'll definitely consider this in editing the next vid, thanks for the encouragement!
 
The foundation idea and content direction seem interesting, but the constant barrage of popups & "enhancements" is a real turnoff for me. The whole comes across as being embellished to add a cool vibe at the expense of quality content presented clearly.

I'm an older guy, & maybe not your target demographic, so please take my comments in context, and in the spirit of encouragement.

I agree with this. When there are too many "gimmicks" it ceases to become entertaining and becomes distracting. I too am an old fart. But I found Episode 1 to be excellent and plan on trying to work that lick into my playing. Thanks for this and I look forward to seeing more.
 
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I agree with this. When there are too many "gimmicks" it ceases to become entertaining and becomes distracting. I too am an old fart. But I found Episode 1 to be excellent and plan on trying to work that lick into my playing. Thanks for this and I look forward to seeing more.

excellent feedback, thank you both! Definitely will try to find a balance here, don’t want to alienate any of you distinguished gentleman (No old farting here ?)!!
 
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As far as I can tell most of the video cuts are in time and the sound is usually meant to transition in to the next clip or be backdrop
I was mainly talking about Episode 1 from 3:20 to 4:35. You have a different click sound on beat 1 which I think is a good idea but to me it's distracting when that sound moves around - staying in 4/4 would be better to me than transitioning after say 6 beats. In other cases, the click was shifted to off beats(?). Aside from making the video less hectic , keeping everything strictly in 4/4 would also help your viewers to play along with you.
Sorry, I'm a stickler for such things - It even bugs me a bit in Chris Smith's excellent Jazz Hang videos when he presents a short clip and it's not looped in time, even though that's just 1% of the total video. :D
 
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I was mainly talking about Episode 1 from 3:20 to 4:35. You have a different click sound on beat 1 which I think is a good idea but to me it's distracting when that sound moves around - staying in 4/4 would be better to me than transitioning after say 6 beats. In other cases, the click was shifted to off beats(?). Aside from making the video less hectic , keeping everything strictly in 4/4 would also help your viewers to play along with you.
Sorry, I'm a stickler for such things - It even bugs me a bit in Chris Smith's excellent Jazz Hang videos when he presents a short clip and it's not looped in time, even though that's just 1% of the total video. :D

Ah gotcha! Yeah the "1" never changes technically, and it is all in 4/4. I just didn't do a very good job of cutting the clips together in time so that the time and meter is uninterrupted, therefore it sounds like the click is on the "+" sometimes, etc. I'll likely do some lessons about how to use the click in different places, but didn't mean to here. That's really good feedback though, thanks! I'll try and edit seamlessly in the next one, and I appreciate your attention to detail!

Also, CRAZY small world you mention Chris— I've studied with him and see him around NYC sometimes!
 
That's cool, looking forward to some more videos!
You didn't ask for feedback, but I hope you see the following as positive criticism. I found the twichty editing and effects distracting and it made me pause several times to understand what you just said or to read what popped onto the screen for a second. When switching to another video, I'd appreciate it, if it was in time and if the sounds didn't collide with your voice. You know what you're about to present but for a first time listener it's a bit too much at times. I feel like less would be more but everyone is different, so just my opinion. Best of luck with the channel!

Second this feedback. I subscribed.
 
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Second this feedback. I subscribed.

I appreciate that! Duly noted. I do have a rebuttal, just because people keep mentioning this and I think it's interesting to talk about:

1) Making content is VERY time consuming. For any video you see on YT, chances are the prep, execution, branding, and especially editing of that video took more hours than you might expect (for context and full disclosure the video in question took me roughly 12-15 hours just to edit... lost practice time darn!!). Therefore it can sometimes be hard to see these things in the context of a first time watcher, hence why the feedback and external perspective is so appreciated, truly! In this case I was legitimately just trying to make the video goofy/light-hearted, and didn't expect those things would even be payed attention to much less bother so many people.

2) As consumers online, I think we tend to notice negatives more than positives. I'm guilty of this for sure. And the feedback is important though it can be a fine line between constructive and trolling (obviously everything above is completely constructive). Most creators deal with this by developing a sense of apathy/thick skin for trolls, though I personally prefer discourse. After I consume content (esp youtube), I'm much more likely to think about a couple things that rubbed me the wrong way, and might forget about some of the things I personally liked and took for granted. Just a personal observation and reminder to myself to give creators a break, but I guess also something that I wish I would see more of in various internet spheres (forums/social media) is trying to spread more positivity, have more meaningful discussions.

3) The onus is is obviously on the creator to provide value/quality content, and it makes sense that if that's not happening consumers will help them become better by mentioning ways to improve (if they wish to take others perspectives into account, it could just be content they make for their own sake). In Swissward's case, I really appreciated the feedback and am definitely taking it into consideration (even if it's a matter of taste), though all of their specific feedback was in regards to things they didn't like, and the couple positives were vague. Again, as somebody who personally consumes ALOT of drum content, I try to abide by the "If you don't have anything nice rule," or at least provide some specific positives if I am going to provide feedback, just as a matter of understanding how much work likely went into whatever it is I'm consuming.

Sorry for the verbosity. I don't know if this is interesting to anybody else, and I REALLY hope it doesn’t come across as whiny or ungrateful (ufff did it sound whiny?? ?), it's just something I think is worth talking about and have been thinking about lately, including prior to the start of this new venture. Again I REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciate the great feedback from everyone!

Always learning,
C
 
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I read first the replies before looking the video and i was expecting the worst..

But, to me nothing was really that much disturbing and i thought all those little “pop-ups” were pretty smart and giving a fresh vibe (and additional info) to the whole thing..

The only thing that bothered me (a little), is the volume of the beat in the first minute, which for my taste is a little too loud and distracts from what you are saying..

Other than that, i would change nothing at all..
 
Double Yes to the last two posts - of course it's nit-picking but since you plan to make this a series, I wanted to focus on things that could be improved in my opinion. And I know that video editing is very time consuming, so I guess that "less is more" would save you some time. I've seen a few of your other posts and I always enjoyed the content, so maybe it's time to give some praise as well. I also think that you have a pleasant way of presenting things and I'd rather listen to you talking about something without all the voice effects and pop-ups if those effects don't add to the content. Probably, it has to do with me having had to do lots of presentations in the past and it was stressed to introduce one thing at a time so that the audience doesn't get distracted too much. Funny pop-up messages aren't a bad thing per se, I'd just show them a bit longer. I'm a rather fast reader but it made the video a bit stressful when there were only two seconds to read something. At those moments, I could no longer listen to what you were actually saying and that would be a shame.
 
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@oldskoolsoul Thanks for the feedback and kind words! That is super helpful too. The drumming backing-track was a last minute addition so good to hear it could be lower.

@Swissward Flamtacles And to be clear you've been nothing but supportive and constructive in your feedback, which I genuinely appreciate. Hope it didn't sound like I was asking for handouts but I really appreciate the kind words too!

That backstory re: minimalism in your presentations is really interesting and helps with context here too! I standby the above generally speaking, and find the topic to be worthwhile (internet trolls be damned)!

More than anything, and I can't stress this enough: How cool is it that I could post some early attempts on this forum and get SO much supportive and constructive criticism/feedback. I know for a fact the series will be better as a result so lest my above post sounded at all negative— to the contrary— I am super grateful! THANKS! :)
 
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