In this Blog I explain the process of everything involved in making a drum cover for YouTube, from the very first step of deciding a piece to the final stage of uploading it to YouTube.
Choosing/Learning/Practicing:
The first step in producing a drum cover is obviously choosing a song. I like to play music that has challenging and interesting drum parts. Once I’ve decided on a song to cover, I transcribe the drum part out note for note in a music writing software program called Sibelius. This is the quickest and easiest way for me to properly learn a song from start to finish. Transcribing material is a relatively quick process for me, compared to listening, learning and remembering the material all by ear only.
After transcribing the parts, it’s then just a matter of reading and practicing what I’ve written until I am happy with it before filming and recording it. Learning songs this way ensures I play everything correctly right from the start, which helps me remember all the parts quicker. All my drum transcripts can be downloaded here.
Recording/Filming:
Once I am happy with how the song is sounding and feeling, it's time to record! The process here is to set up drums (tune if need be), set cameras and mics into position. Just as any recording situation, extra time is spent on mic placement to achieve the best sound possible. Having your drums sounding great and using high quality microphones obviously makes a huuuuuge difference! (specific drums and mics I use are listed at my gear page).
Once we have achieved a nice drum sound it's time to film and press all those red buttons on the cameras. I may record a couple of practice runs through first and watch the footage back to adjust camera angles etc. During actual playing/recording, I will play the track through my laptop or iPhone into a mixer, along with a bit of kick mic for definition and then to my in ear monitors.
Mixing/Editing:
After recording a take I like, all the audio is then mixed in Protools and the video is edited in Final Cut X. Because I have different brands and models of cameras the first thing after importing the video is to colour correct all the different shots. This means making all the colours of each camera as close to each other as possible. I then layer all these shots on top of one other in the session and then make the edits (choosing what camera angle where etc). The last thing is to place the foot cam shot over the top of the existing layers and make that image smaller so it sits nicely at the bottom of the video. The last step is to import my recorded drum audio with the original track that I have mixed and bounced from Protools, and align it with the edited video footage. Final Cut has a 'share to YouTube' setting so I don’t have to bounce the video out or mess with export settings when finished, which also saves me time and video editing knowledge! :P
Videos such as my longer medleys obviously take a little longer than individual songs, but I really enjoy the whole process of making these videos and doing it all myself. Transcribing, practicing, learning, recording, filming, mixing and editing are all really fun and satisfying parts of making and sharing music. I also learn a lot during the way! Hope this info helps anyone else wanting to do the same thing! Happy sharing!
My latest video in which I took all the steps is my Meshuggah - Koloss Album Medley Drum Cover. Hope you enjoy!
Choosing/Learning/Practicing:
The first step in producing a drum cover is obviously choosing a song. I like to play music that has challenging and interesting drum parts. Once I’ve decided on a song to cover, I transcribe the drum part out note for note in a music writing software program called Sibelius. This is the quickest and easiest way for me to properly learn a song from start to finish. Transcribing material is a relatively quick process for me, compared to listening, learning and remembering the material all by ear only.
After transcribing the parts, it’s then just a matter of reading and practicing what I’ve written until I am happy with it before filming and recording it. Learning songs this way ensures I play everything correctly right from the start, which helps me remember all the parts quicker. All my drum transcripts can be downloaded here.
Recording/Filming:
Once I am happy with how the song is sounding and feeling, it's time to record! The process here is to set up drums (tune if need be), set cameras and mics into position. Just as any recording situation, extra time is spent on mic placement to achieve the best sound possible. Having your drums sounding great and using high quality microphones obviously makes a huuuuuge difference! (specific drums and mics I use are listed at my gear page).
Once we have achieved a nice drum sound it's time to film and press all those red buttons on the cameras. I may record a couple of practice runs through first and watch the footage back to adjust camera angles etc. During actual playing/recording, I will play the track through my laptop or iPhone into a mixer, along with a bit of kick mic for definition and then to my in ear monitors.
Mixing/Editing:
After recording a take I like, all the audio is then mixed in Protools and the video is edited in Final Cut X. Because I have different brands and models of cameras the first thing after importing the video is to colour correct all the different shots. This means making all the colours of each camera as close to each other as possible. I then layer all these shots on top of one other in the session and then make the edits (choosing what camera angle where etc). The last thing is to place the foot cam shot over the top of the existing layers and make that image smaller so it sits nicely at the bottom of the video. The last step is to import my recorded drum audio with the original track that I have mixed and bounced from Protools, and align it with the edited video footage. Final Cut has a 'share to YouTube' setting so I don’t have to bounce the video out or mess with export settings when finished, which also saves me time and video editing knowledge! :P
Videos such as my longer medleys obviously take a little longer than individual songs, but I really enjoy the whole process of making these videos and doing it all myself. Transcribing, practicing, learning, recording, filming, mixing and editing are all really fun and satisfying parts of making and sharing music. I also learn a lot during the way! Hope this info helps anyone else wanting to do the same thing! Happy sharing!
My latest video in which I took all the steps is my Meshuggah - Koloss Album Medley Drum Cover. Hope you enjoy!