SteveRatz
Member
Let me start with two observations: 1) I watched a recording of me playing with a recent band and noticed most of the (un-mic'd) fast cymbal and hi hat work I was putting so much effort into, was largely unheard by the audience. 2) a number of gigs by pro bands where by accident or design you could barely hear cymbals but toms were high in the mix, and sounded great.
So, ignoring certain genres (eg funk/disco, loud rock/metal, jazz), and appreciating drums should be hit louder than cymbals, should maintaining fast and complex hi hat or ride work take second priority to tom fills? That's not been my usual approach, but I'm increasingly thinking I'm wrong, and possibly I'm wasting effort on fast/complex cymbalwork. I'm not talking crashes or other accent effects.
Example: currently working on a cover of Boys of Summer. The original has loads of percussion effects, echo, synthetic sounds (and I'm assuming drum machine at least for the hihat?) which is a very distinctive part of the song's sound. But, I'm just not good enough to both maintain that hihat rhythm and also add tom fills, eg in the instrumental section. So which do I choose to take priority? Keep a basic pedalled hihat stomp going while I'm adding fills? I don't want to use backing tracks.
So, ignoring certain genres (eg funk/disco, loud rock/metal, jazz), and appreciating drums should be hit louder than cymbals, should maintaining fast and complex hi hat or ride work take second priority to tom fills? That's not been my usual approach, but I'm increasingly thinking I'm wrong, and possibly I'm wasting effort on fast/complex cymbalwork. I'm not talking crashes or other accent effects.
Example: currently working on a cover of Boys of Summer. The original has loads of percussion effects, echo, synthetic sounds (and I'm assuming drum machine at least for the hihat?) which is a very distinctive part of the song's sound. But, I'm just not good enough to both maintain that hihat rhythm and also add tom fills, eg in the instrumental section. So which do I choose to take priority? Keep a basic pedalled hihat stomp going while I'm adding fills? I don't want to use backing tracks.