Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Your Mom loves your mixes, but are they really up to scratch? Post your tracks here and get the community's feedback to help with the spit and polish. Impress us! We don't bite.
User avatar
Greg_L
Posts: 20668
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 1:07 pm
Location: Where the knuckle meets the poophole

Re: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Post by Greg_L »

paulman wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:54 am

Yeah, I definitely need to practice more. I go through spurts. I consider myself a good drummer for a guitarist, but I have a lot of work to do on basic technique. My sticking is inconsistent. I didn't play drums in high school band or anything, so I never had rudiments beat into me. I just practice them sporadically.

Thanks for the pep talk Greg. You're a lot nicer than my Navy chief guitar teacher was when it came to getting me to practice.
Ha, you're welcome. But listen, I too am a guitar player that drums. I've been drumming a long time, but mostly because everyone needs drums. I was a guitar player first. I've always considered myself a guitar player that just happens to be good enough on drums. I've never had lessons, don't know any rudiments. I just play. What I've learned though is that technique and posture goes a very long way to being solid and consistent...which are probably the two most important attributes of drumming. Watch some videos and work on your grip and posture. That will improve your sticking technique which will improve your meter and consistency and stamina. You'll be able to play steadier for longer and more consistently. If you have good meter and good stamina you can eventually play pretty much anything. Chops and fills come later. You can't get there without good basics though.
Rebel Yell
User avatar
Lt. Bob
Posts: 6575
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 3:02 pm

Re: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Post by Lt. Bob »

Greg_L wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:41 pm
But listen, I too am a guitar player that drums. I've been drumming a long time, but mostly because everyone needs drums. I was a guitar player first.
I did not know that ...... I always thought drumbs came first
User avatar
Greg_L
Posts: 20668
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 1:07 pm
Location: Where the knuckle meets the poophole

Re: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Post by Greg_L »

Lt. Bob wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:47 pm
I did not know that ...... I always thought drumbs came first
No way. I was already well into playing guitar by the time I stole my sister's drums and taught myself how to play them.
Rebel Yell
User avatar
Lt. Bob
Posts: 6575
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 3:02 pm

Re: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Post by Lt. Bob »

Greg_L wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 1:05 pm
Lt. Bob wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:47 pm
I did not know that ...... I always thought drumbs came first
No way. I was already well into playing guitar by the time I stole my sister's drums and taught myself how to play them.
well crap ..... that explains why you're such a good guitar player ...... :like:
User avatar
Tadpui
Posts: 3373
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2017 3:50 pm

Re: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Post by Tadpui »

This sounds pretty damn great to me, man. Performances are spot-on all around. This was actually the first Beatles song I ever heard, it was being blasted through a huge pair of Klipsch speakers at a campground at sunrise one day at a religious retreat in high school (long story...I'm not a religious guy). That moment was kind of pivotal for me, and this song has always had a special place in my heart. It's a solid choice for a cover, and a super solid job of playing it.

Mixwise, I can't say much because I'm recovering from a pretty nasty bout of influenza so my ears aren't exactly trustworthy (debatable if they're trustworthy even at peak health). The one thing I can say is that I think that the bass is totally fine. It fills out the low end just fine on my system, just enough and not too much. It's round and solid and stable. That's right up my alley.

The only couple of things that struck me up front were the snare drum, which lacks a little something that I can't quite define. Something in either the mids/mid-highs/highs, maybe? Or maybe the velocity of the hits is a little too low? The other is right up front I thought that the vocal compression threshold could be backed off by a couple dB, or maybe the ratio by one "click". By the end of the song I was used to it and didn't mind. It just jumped out at me at first.

Well done, man!
User avatar
paulman
Posts: 676
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2017 7:53 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

Re: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Post by paulman »

Tadpui wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 8:56 pm This sounds pretty damn great to me, man. Performances are spot-on all around. This was actually the first Beatles song I ever heard, it was being blasted through a huge pair of Klipsch speakers at a campground at sunrise one day at a religious retreat in high school (long story...I'm not a religious guy). That moment was kind of pivotal for me, and this song has always had a special place in my heart. It's a solid choice for a cover, and a super solid job of playing it.

Mixwise, I can't say much because I'm recovering from a pretty nasty bout of influenza so my ears aren't exactly trustworthy (debatable if they're trustworthy even at peak health). The one thing I can say is that I think that the bass is totally fine. It fills out the low end just fine on my system, just enough and not too much. It's round and solid and stable. That's right up my alley.

The only couple of things that struck me up front were the snare drum, which lacks a little something that I can't quite define. Something in either the mids/mid-highs/highs, maybe? Or maybe the velocity of the hits is a little too low? The other is right up front I thought that the vocal compression threshold could be backed off by a couple dB, or maybe the ratio by one "click". By the end of the song I was used to it and didn't mind. It just jumped out at me at first.

Well done, man!
Thanks man! Yeah, on most speakers the bass sounds right where I want it, but on a couple of systems it has sounded boomy. I’ve noticed that even when I’m going for a completely different sound than the original, people on here tend to judge the sound by the original. So it could be partly that, but I think it likely does need to be tweaked some more.
User avatar
JD01
Posts: 15855
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 1:11 pm
Location: Wales, UK

Re: Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

Post by JD01 »

Sounds pretty good to me on my AKG reference headphones, but they're designed to be very open sounding. I find them terrible for dialing in the bottom end. I'll listen again later on my Sonys. Not being able to crank monitors very often I tend to use different headphones for different things.

I'm also just getting over flu so my sinuses are full of dry blood and crusty snot.
Post Reply