waltertore
74 posts
Jan 08, 2010
7:23 PM
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Hi All: Here is my first experiment with playing drums in the traditional way- with my hands and feet and with sticks in hand. I am experimenting with overdubbing and learning more about getting good drum recording sound. I started with playing the rhytm guitar, then went back and recorded the drums, then lead guitar and last harp/vocals at the same time. This is the first time I have played the drums the "real way". I am not one to woodshed. I just do it to a song. Walter
goodbye old friend
sinking ship
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walter tore's sponotbeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=157137
http://www.youtube.com/user/waltertore
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MichaelAndrewLo
103 posts
Jan 08, 2010
8:44 PM
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My first instrument was drums and I recorded two CD's in my younger teen years. Good acoustic drum sounds are very hard to control and achieve compared to digital sampling from a eletronic kit, or even electronic triggers on a drums head. I recommend electronic triggering. Basically every real sound has been recorded and can be manipulated with samples. Since you are overdubbing, I assume you are using a click track. Playing drums to a click track is no easy skill to master. With electronic samples, you can certainly quantize the beat :) playing a simple rock beat with conviction takes years to learn and master. Hope this helps.
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djm3801
305 posts
Jan 09, 2010
4:11 AM
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Hey Waltertore, did not want to hijack the Job thread... Newark has always bee a nutty place. Walking down south Orange Avenue in Newark, Eh? When I was a kid in the 1950's, m mother used to take us shopping out on Springfield Ave. Clothes, meats and vegetables, toys. There was a big open front store there with the vegetables out front. Riots came while I was in the Army. If you know So Orange Ave you know Jimmy Buff's and Sams hot dogs. Can't get italian hot dogs outside of NJ. My uncle ran one of those - Sams. The mob was all over in the 50's and 60's. Do not care if you are black or white, it is a shame what happened to many areas of the town. But good memories for sure. A town where a mother could take a couple of little kids and let them go alone to the toy store while she shopped for groceries.
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waltertore
76 posts
Jan 09, 2010
6:00 AM
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MichaelAndrewLo: thanks for responding. I do not use a click track. In fact I hardly ever overdub. I play all the instruments at once as one man band. I have modified kick pedals and stands to be able to play the bass drum, snare, and ride cymbals with my feet. I use a harp rack, guitar, and keys. My sense of time and chord changes is not near the metrodome. I am doing these overdubs to get better at recording the drums. I appreciate your input, but I am old school with things. I need to have real drums.
djm3801: Yes I love Jimmy buffs. We use to take the trolly downtown on saturday mornings and go to the slaughter house where my grandfather worked. I remember it being cold, sawdust on the floor and white aprons with blood on them. We would cut our meat and my mother and aunt Mildred would set up the hand crank meat grinder and we would make sausage and meatballs. Then the big sunday Italian feast would follow.
Newark use to be a great town for sure. I remember Branchbrook Park every spring to see the cherry blossoms. My aunt worked at bamburgers or hanes (can't remember). That use to be a vibrant downtown. After the riots I use to go in the abandonded building stairways for echo while playing the harp. My first band I named the stairway blues band. The riots were scary. I was 10 years old. I did a video about them did you see it? It is at the youtube link below.
I miss NJ but don't think I could handle the pace/stress level/cost of living that exists today. My parents and siblings are all still there. I go back a couple times a year to visit. I get flooded with memories everytime I go back. Walter
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walter tore's sponotbeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=157137
http://www.youtube.com/user/waltertore
Last Edited by on Jan 09, 2010 6:02 AM
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djm3801
306 posts
Jan 09, 2010
8:53 AM
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I was going overseas - US Army - on the day they started - July 12th or something, 1967. Heard about them when i got back. Unreal. I worked in Newark for many years and it was never the same. Left Pru in 1984 - a good move for me. I went back in 1999 as part of a community help thing to paint St Rocco's school in Newark near Jimmy Buff's. When lunch break came, which was catered by my employer who sponsored it, i said i was going to walk to Buff's about 4 blocks away cause I knew Jimmy Buff as a kid - he wanted to marry my cousin, but he could not get near her as she was going with one of the mob guys. The lady who was principle said she would not advise it as chances were good i would get rousted up in the trip and the only reason she gets on is cause she lived in that neighborhood all her life. Said the first thing the janitor does in the morning when he arrives was to check the grounds of the school for syringes and other contraband before the kids arrive. When we left at 4;00 via a bus that took us, the folks who never saw Springfield Ave got a nice view. Drug deal went down right in front of them while we were at a light. I go back to Orange from time to time and the main street area where I went as a 10 year old alone with my birthday money to spend is not a place I like. My old bakery - Couqelle's where they made the best cannoli on the planet - was sold several times and closed due to rat infestation. So goes the neighborhood. I only go back for funerals of the old timers at Ippolitos, and there are not many of them left anyway. I am very concerned over our cities. it is not a color issue - it is a class issue. Low lifes of all races are really corrupting them and there are more of them than there are of decent people. I live in PA and do not miss NJ. Exceot when I need really good ingredients for Italian food.
Last Edited by on Jan 09, 2010 8:55 AM
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tookatooka
975 posts
Jan 09, 2010
9:04 AM
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Walter I've been meaning to tell you that your signature has an error. It says sponotbeat when I think you mean spontobeat.
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waltertore
78 posts
Jan 09, 2010
9:09 AM
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thanks tookatooka! I have always struggled with spelling. It looks fine to me until someone points it out, and then I go- wow how come I didn't see that. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=157137
http://www.youtube.com/user/waltertore
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djm3801
307 posts
Jan 09, 2010
3:52 PM
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How many instruments do you play anyway?
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waltertore
81 posts
Jan 09, 2010
4:06 PM
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harmonica, guitar, bass, keyboard, accordian, bass, drums, lap steel, sing. Basically I got tired of waiting on other musicans. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=157137
http://www.youtube.com/user/waltertore
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MichaelAndrewLo
104 posts
Jan 09, 2010
4:12 PM
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Your OP said that your were experimenting with overdubbing.. But, that's great if you can just play it all at once. Saves time!
And by "real drums" I assume you mean acoustic drums. Just take into account that now, when recording, the samples actually ARE real drums just recorded by someone else and triggered by you. It is seriously amazing how GOOD drums can sound with a triggered kit.
Last Edited by on Jan 09, 2010 4:14 PM
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waltertore
82 posts
Jan 09, 2010
4:23 PM
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MichaelAndrewLo: They are real drums. I was grown up before the computer boom and have nevered warmed to machines that sound like the real things. I also started out playing with the old blues guys like Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Terry, etc. They were as simple as it comes with gear and gizmos. That made a lifelong impression on me. I am sure that those drums you talk about sound good, but I like the feel of real sticks and drum heads, and real drums. My kit was given to me by one of my old drummers (when I had a trio). It is her fathers 1950's ludwig set.
Normally I play the drums on my feet(via modified kick pedals for the snare, bass drum and ride cymbal), the guitar, harp on rack, and keyboard, all at once. I also make up all my words and music as I go along- thus the name Spontobeat. I record about 300 full lenght cds a year in my studio.
The overdubbing I am doing these past couple of days has sort of been in my mind for awhile. I want to see if I can record a decent sounding bunch of songs playing all the instruments in isolation. The 1 man band set up results in not being able to do alot things on the instruments that I can do playing them on their own. Mic bleeding is my biggest problem with the one man band set up. All my instruments are within inches to a couple feet of each other. Also using the same mic for the harp and vocal is a challenge. The overdubbing is allowing me to learn more about how to get good sounds off the drum kit that I hope will somehow transfer to my 1 man band set up. I hate to say never, but I doubt I will ever go for the trigger drums, or amp simulator stuff. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=157137
http://www.youtube.com/user/waltertore
Last Edited by on Jan 09, 2010 4:28 PM
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