

Sampled and programmed drums always come with a ceiling and are often hard, complicated and time-consuming to edit, program and comp.Īdditionally, recording and tracking your own drums is one of the most difficult aspects of recording.Īn expert drummer will often bring technical know-how to your project and can even provide tools like overhead mics, suitable spaces for recording drums, and cleaner overall recordings you’d never be able to achieve on your own. So why is hiring a session drummer useful? Especially when programmed drums and drum samples dominate popular music?įirst of all, recording and tracking your drum parts with a session drummer gives you unparalleled freedom to do whatever you want creatively and collaboratively. However, while an album or project may include several drummers that vary across songs, a backing or touring drummer will typically play many or all of the drum parts for a performance. In many cases, a player who provides all or some of the drum recordings for a studio session or album will double as the backing drummer. Backing or touring drummersīacking drummers, also known as touring drummers depending on the project, provide services as part of a backing band or ensemble that typically plays in a live setting. However, remote collaboration has allowed session drummers to work remotely on these types of gigs. Traditionally drummers would spend time in the studio with the producers or artists to track their drummers. Studio drummers provide specific drum recordings for a whole song, parts of a song, or across a whole album.Īs the name studio drummer suggests, this type of session drummer gig is often needed during the studio recording process of musicians, producers or bands who need drum accompaniment during studio sessions. Some of the more common roles of session drummers include: Studio drummers

Session drummers can fill many different roles depending on the needs of a project. Traditionally, session drummer gigs like these comprise a large amount of what session drummers do, but the rise of online gig platforms for musicians have helped expand what types of projects session drummers work on, and where they can collaborate from. Session drummer gigs can include drumming in a backing band on tour, or recording drum tracks for single songs or albums. Session drummers are drummers for hire contracted on a short-term basis by bands, artists, and producers. In this article, you’ll learn all about the ins and outs of session drummers and how they can give your projects the drummer's touch.Ī real drummer gives you access to no-compromise drum tracks that fit exactly what you’re hearing in your head.

You already know the myth and the lore of session drummers…īut what are session drummers and what do they really do?Īnd more importantly, how do they work, how can they fit into your projects and how can you hire them to give you the crispy drum tracks of your dreams? And some of the best real drums on some of the best albums ever were played by session drummers-laying down iconic drum recordings one project at a time.
