Commons > Sight & Sound
couple of covers with my DM10X
AlanK:
Alright, I'm starting to delve back into recording some covers on my kit.. thought I'd share a couple recent attempts and chime into a conversation that was going on a while ago about how we record ourselves. I'm still learning, not too good at it and need better equipment.
So first of all, I've got the DM10X kit, which I've put on some salmon sparkle wraps on the pad sides (actually bedroom wall borders from Walmart, cut to size). I've got a pair of extra Pearl cymbal pads which are the same as the Alesis but have the Pearl emblem on them. I've got a Laurin snare and kick drum in brown woodgrain. I'm using Addictive Drums 2 exclusively for the last few years, incredible kit sounds although sadly these recordings don't reproduce the true beauty of their sound and response. My first test recordings I listened to the song tracks with my earbuds (headphone pads are shredding, if not I would have used them) but my buds cord was starting to fall when I turned my body or head and would fall out of my ears so I've been trying with the music and my drums coming out of a pair of Simons monitors on stands (they're great for the price btw, and really kick ass).
The room was a teen's bedroom before I bought the place, has some insulated ceiling and I've put curtains up on both sides of my drumsets for soundproofing and when I play (or guys come to jam) it has a pretty nice studio sound.. lots of carpets strewn around. I'm using Ableton Live 10 Lite, I import/record my backing song on an audio track and then create an AD2 plugin midi track so when I hit record the midi track is armed and the backing song plays. For some reason I was only getting one channel of the song playing and then my drums coming through and it was throwing me off.. you'll see my facial expressions and looking down at my screen thinking wtf?? and trying to get my timing back on by switching my downstroke or pausing or speeding up or slowing down my playing til I got back on.. happened often enough to piss me off but then there's still 2/3 or each tune where I was ok at least or on time.. I'm an ok player, sometimes impress but also a lot to learn and a lot of hinderances.. age.. carpal tunnel, hate my left hand grip (working on it), problems with my feet tingling (not diabetes btw) and my pedal needs work so I find some of my kick work is pitiful or my foot/feet just don't do what my brain thinks I wanna do lol.. ok ok, excuses.. anyhow, at least I'm trying and having a blast with the hobby anyways right?
Also, sorry for the differences in volume.. be careful in case, don't wanna be responsible for your speakers or hearing damage. oh.. did I mention I have permanent tinitis that friggs with my head as well? So, anyhoo, I've tried a couple different kit voicings.. some have much more compression or room ambience so are more forgiving with timing screwups (at least when I'm blasting it during the recordings, it sounds incredible in the room cranked up!).. then I use some tighter snappier kit sounds in some vids or attempts. For some reason with all the digitizing and processing, in Ableton, then when I sync the video and audio in MS Moviemaker (I know, I need a better program), then uploading to Youtube, I'm sure it's clipping the low and high end.. have to learn more on that aspect too.. these two vids are the side view using my Samsung Galaxy S7's camera which gives a nice HD result.. Ive also done angles in front and higher side with my HP videocam and they're pretty grainy so I'm showing the cellphone captures here but you can check out other vids of mine on the channel to see other angles, cams and drum sounds.. again, some are not too bad, some suck.. there's others with buds I'm jamming with using my Yamaha Stage Custom Advantage if you care to see more..we're no pros, just having fun in our 50's.
Comments welcome, tips, cutdowns.. I have to work on smiling more, hahahaha, and lose some weight.. oh, the Johnny Winter tune is an old fave that I used to play in a band with my bro back in the late 70s and early 80s, and the Simple Plan song was suggested by one of my stepkids I think.. I love rock but am cool with pop and r&b etc.. sorry for all this leadup..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w3QZWKJTbU (I Don't Wanna Go To Bed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmlZEiTZhHE (Jumpin Jack Flash)
Alan
tmk21315:
Nicely done. Love that fill just before the end of I Don't Wanna Go To Bed.
We're always going to be our worst critic. I think I look like I'm on the toilet when I'm playing.
I actually used my Galaxy S7 as well to shoot my first cover. The only extra lighting I was using was coming from the phone's flash. I was really surprised at the video quality.
I also have a basic Canon that I've had a few years, it does shoot 1080 but without some additional lighting it is also too grainy and doesn't match my phone's quality. It would be cool to use that as a main camera then set up my phone as a kick cam.
I'm enjoying learning some video editing skills along the way.
Filming the covers is just plain old fun! I was on the couch last night writing out the notation to a song I want to learn. My wife was mocking me as I air drummed what I had written out every 5 minutes.
Iggford:
Very nice! I enjoyed watching those, two great songs, and I thought you sounded great also!
I ALMOST recorded one over the weekend, but I just ran out of time. Worked on some tweaks in my module for next Saturday's gig, and I still need to do a couple more things.
I'll get one recorded at some point!
--
Shawn
AlanK:
--- Quote from: tmk21315 on January 24, 2020, 04:25:19 PM ---Nicely done. Love that fill just before the end of I Don't Wanna Go To Bed.
We're always going to be our worst critic. I think I look like I'm on the toilet when I'm playing.
I actually used my Galaxy S7 as well to shoot my first cover. The only extra lighting I was using was coming from the phone's flash. I was really surprised at the video quality.
I also have a basic Canon that I've had a few years, it does shoot 1080 but without some additional lighting it is also too grainy and doesn't match my phone's quality. It would be cool to use that as a main camera then set up my phone as a kick cam.
I'm enjoying learning some video editing skills along the way.
Filming the covers is just plain old fun! I was on the couch last night writing out the notation to a song I want to learn. My wife was mocking me as I air drummed what I had written out every 5 minutes.
--- End quote ---
Thanks! I laughed pretty hard at your looking like you're on the toilet comment.. ya last night I rewatched these and I look like an old tortoise most of the time..hahahaha.. and so damned serious! I need to loosen up.. these vids are so good to watch of yourself though, you see all your mistakes, some good stuff too, but also how awkward I/we can seem.. I've got a long list now of things to try to change in my playing and just how I look when I'm at my drums :)
I uploaded two more that I recorded Saturday afternoon. I had issues hearing the backing song so I've addressed that, and tried to keep time a bit better and then even the syncing of the audio to the video is a challenge. I need a better "free" editor.. recommendations gladly accepted.
AlanK:
--- Quote from: Iggford on January 27, 2020, 11:38:54 AM ---Very nice! I enjoyed watching those, two great songs, and I thought you sounded great also!
I ALMOST recorded one over the weekend, but I just ran out of time. Worked on some tweaks in my module for next Saturday's gig, and I still need to do a couple more things.
I'll get one recorded at some point!
--
Shawn
--- End quote ---
Hi Shawn, thanks for the compliments!
Ya it really does take a ton of time and effort.. I think each song from start of setting up the song track and my midi track down to the putting it all together in a video editor and syncing the audio track and processing to uploading to Youtube is like 4 hrs apiece.. it's insane. Now I understand why people with major youtube channels put so much work into their videos. And I still don't have an editor that allows multiple angles, esp in free software.. suppose I'll have to fork out some cash someday to do a good pro video, I can imagine the extra 3 hrs trying to align 2 or 3 angles so I can fade from one to another, or even just have a 2nd angle as an insert in one corner.. but it'll all have to be so carefully synced or spliced I think it must be a nightmare!
I generally take 2 or even 3 angles in each video but my phone is so far the best quality. And because I can't splice the various views I sometimes just make a second video with another view all of its own. I did two videos on Saturday and the first song my first take the audio was ok, then I noticed I didn't properly hit the record button on the cellcam so I got no video! DOHHHHH hahahaha I ended up doing two takes, which I did for the second song as well.
I've uploaded them so I'll put the links in a new thread.
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