An inquiry via YouTube inspired me to write this blog.
Some folks seem to be a bit perplexed about what it is that I do on YouTube. The
vast majority of the videos that I post are from sessions, meaning that I am paid
to compose and record the drum parts that you see and hear, whether it's out of
my home studio or elsewhere. These are not 'covers'; I have very few covers/interpretations
on my channel. I'd like to do more someday, but usually have very little free time
to devote to such projects.
As an addendum, I'd like to tell the story of how
I fell into this line of work. My first session was actually way back in early 2003,
although I wasn't compensated for it so it probably doesn't count, haha. Fast-forward
a few years to 2007; my buddy Taylor Larson is in the initial stages of getting
his recording chops up and building his Oceanic Recording brand, and bands begin
to hire me for session work. This workload especially increased in 2008 as Taylor's
popularity grew, his skills improved, and I had moved back to southern Delaware
from Rockville, MD (I had relocated to pursue Periphery with more tenacity, as the
guys were based nearby. Taylor's original studio was a short drive away, then he
-- ironically -- moved Oceanic to Bethesda, MD, which is a short drive from Rockville,
hah!).
As Taylor's passion for recording swelled, he convinced
me to purchase some gear of my own so that I could eventually track remotely for
clients. However, before I started doing that professionally I made some videos
for fun; these include everything from the Collective Soul cover/interpretation
up to the first Cyclamen session (excluding the videos that highlight excerpts from
the SEA "Nookie" cover, my solo tune "Pixieprog", and the full-on video of "Cookies
& Scarves", which were all done out of the second Oceanic location). When Hayato
of Cyclamen contacted me about recording tracks at Oceanic I felt compelled, naturally,
to film my takes.
By that point in time, drum covers were all over YouTube
- they partially inspired me to post my early vids. Moreover, I'd seen 'drum cam'
footage of drummers tracking albums in the studio as extras on DVDs and whatnot.
However, I'd never seen a video of an actual drum take synchronized to a high-quality
mix/master of a song. Now, I highly doubt that I was the first person to land on
the concept, but as I mentioned above, it just seemed like a natural thing to do.
And thus began my 'session career' -- as seen on YouTube, hah -- in November of
2009:
