A lot about working successfully with percussion players and drummers in an arranger environment depends on mixing the Drums hot enough that the percussion player can easily lock to them.

One of the most common mistakes I hear, listening to everybody’s demos is that, compared to listening to a live band or even to a well recorded CD, we tend to swamp the drums with whatever we are playing. The minute you swamp the drums, there goes any chance of locking solidly With any other rhythmic players!

Many of us may have not played with a live drummer for decades, and have very little realization of just how clear the beat is when you are sitting next to a drummer! But try to add a percussion player, and all of a sudden the problem becomes apparent lol…

If your registrations allow live control over the parts, it pays to add 10 to 15 to the volume balance of the drums and bass versus the rest. All of a sudden, everybody locks together and time drift pretty much goes away.

There’s really only one way to judge Whether your volumes are correct, and that is to record yourself playing live, and then try to see if you can lock to it solidly. If you can’t, if your percussion player can’t, it’s time to bump those drums!