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Andrew sent two bass tracks for Groove95 — one bass and one melody (played high on one of his extra-stringed basses). He sent no suggestion for the drum part, even though he’d composed the tune to a specific pattern on his drum machine. He wanted to see what sort of groove I’d come up with without being influenced by the programmed pattern he’d initially used.

The melody was a great, bouncy line, with a loopy pickup that comes in on an offbeat. I struggled to come up with something equally cool… and then anything cool at all. Finally I settled for something that fit, but was basically uncool. I wasn’t pleased with it and told him as much. He offered to send a sample of the drum machine pattern he’d been listening to when he composed the song. I was grateful, because I liked it much better than what I’d composed.

The groove was a half-time shuffle, one of my favorite things. But it was really fast, as fast as the old JAR tune Pandemonium Clockwise). I felt my schedule shifting, because I would need time to work my shuffle up to this tempo again.

I decided to record the song with dowels rather than drum sticks, in order to get a lighter sound than I would get with sticks. I started with ProMark H-Rods, which have a nice bounce, but ultimately switched to Vic Firth’s Rute model, which is more durable although uncomfortably fat in the handle and crippled by a dumb sliding band that moves around during the song. (Note to self: well-designed dowel sticks should be the first “signature series” item, just as soon as that stick endorsement comes through.)

I worked that damn shuffle for a week. Days I thought sure I’d be able to record a final take became rehearsal days, when after a few hours of takes I had taped nothing I could use. I spent a whole Saturday this way.

On Sunday, my first pass was perfect, but some of my acoustic foam came crashing down during the second chorus, blowing my concentration and, two bars later, my flawless take. Still I managed to blast through a couple of strong performances by mid-afternoon. No single pass was good enough, but the first half of one plus the second of another would yield a decent result.

With all my rehearsing, I’d worked out a couple of neat fills that were tough to pull off. The challenge of a complicated song like this, especially one as long as this (6:40), is deciding whether to risk an otherwise good take by blowing a fill late in the song. I don’t care what the magazines might lead you to believe; punching in to fix drum tracks is very tricky. Seamless patching when 8 mics record one sound requires a delicate touch.

My solution in some cases is to leave a gap in the main take, then overdub just the fill. I did that for the two longish fills in this song.

The end result is about 90% of what I wanted it to be (and I was shooting for a Simon Phillips/Jeff Porcaro feel, i.e., far beyond my actual abilities). As usual, my favorite section is the one that I improvised, around 05:10 where the groove opens up but matches the rhythm of the bass (which you can’t hear in this sample, alas). Also I pulled off another three complicated dance moves that were giving me occasional fits — short passages requiring smooth 4-way coordination.

Tracking this song taught me an interesting lesson in concentration. Passages I could play without thinking about I couldn’t play when I was thinking about them. I play better on autopilot.

Anyway, the final take, presented dry and in genuine rough mix fashion, was assembled from two passes plus two tiny overdubs. I’m not happy with the snare sound yet, and there seems to be a sonic disconnect between the top of the kit (e.g. the china cymbal during the chorus) and mid/bottom (snare and kick), but overall I’m happy with it.

Groove95 (drums only, rough mix, dry) (Copyright © 2004 matthew mcglynn)