And You have Kristina Rybelchenko, who is not in a band and just puts an original track over her playing and nobody has ever heard her actually drumming. She has 3+ million followers over social media now.
I don’t see it as a callout, more just that people should be able to stand behind their “skill”. I think it’s a great series that honestly show things about music that most people don’t see.
as a self taught drummer who has never used samples,triggers or quantizing (mostly because lack of experience/contacts) Craig's videos and other natty drummers in prog metal made me realize why I was struggling with certain fills and double bass shit. I literally had no idea it was snapped to the grid and sample replaced...
even if it is a callout, what’s wrong with that? if you’re being untruthful about your musical abilities then you should most certainly be called out. especially when people put you on a pedestal and claim that you’re a god or some shit. its not fair to the people who legitimately put in the work and are honest.
Craig, this Video speaks to my heart, really. I am a somewhat depressed 30 years old guy and i play drums for 15 years. Not professionally but for fun. For enjoyment. The fun ends in the internet. Where one can (most of the time) only see the "perfect" playthroughs of whatever song. There are rarely outtakes, or people that show how they struggle with learning stuff and how they finaly achieve what they try to learn. I am mixing the songs for my own band i have with my friends and i only realised how stupid easy it is to quantize everthing nowadays. Write a makro, have a decent CPU in your Computer and bam. Perfect take. And it seems that EVERYONE does it, atleast in metal. I sucks. Because it puts alot of unwanted and stupid soul-destroying pressure on every human being that wants to play an instrument. We are humans. We do mistakes. We are incorrect in our timing, we play wrong dynamics, we play wrong notes. But no one hears it and that lets you make false belives in "in-human" machines, people that are bigger then others ect. I once saw Simon Philipps live doing a drum clinig near my town. And i was confused. Because he played good (obviously) but not perfect. Wall of text i apologie, here are my final thoughts: do whatever feels right to you. Calling out specific persons can ruin their day. Will it destroy them? I don`t know. But it may help others to understand that not everything has to be perfect and not everything IS perfect.
I'm 35. I grew up with Nile, hate etetnal, suffocation, origin, etc. The whole point of extreme metal was to push the envelope of human-instrument ability; then at some point, perfection and trickery via technology became more important, because all the younger bands were trying to out-do the bands that inspired them to start playing. Now you have Rings of Saturn type bands, which are influencing a whole new generation of kids, who think that everything is real, and a 127 midi rim shot blast is possible at 300 bpm. Part of the badass-ity, at least for me and people my age, was when bands like origin and hate eternal and akercocke, etc were on the verge of almost losing it on the record, but the "slop" in my opinion only adds to the extremity/intensity. With everything prefect and quantized and inhumanly tight, the entire point of extreme metal is lost, and the bands may as well just make electronic music, with no pretense of being able to actually perform it...which I wouldn't be bothered by, I love electronic music too. It's kind of like how with movie editing, anyone can be a famous actor if they have 100 takes, and a good editor to splice it up and make it work. But could that same person deliver a great performance on stage in a play with only one chance to get it right? Seems like metal now is a bunch of good "screen actors", and the true great "live actors" are few and far between. Edit: I also have to add that, if bands these days would slow down their songs a bit and focus more on quality songwriting and performance and memorability, instead of sheer 300+ bpm audio-cock-measuring contests, the whole genre would be more interesting. I'd rather re-listen to Allagoch or Akercocke than any band that's come out in the last 10 years.
this one. i came back to drumming after 10 years break thanks to Craig videos, that’s one thing. but the second is this type of videos are getting people aware that something is wrong with the perfection. we should strive for it, but not get discouraged when we cannot be like this daily, because failure is part of process. like Craig mentioned on twitch yesterday, that we see him play better/worse on streams and we love him for this. and that’s how it should be.
Nah, this is great. There’s too much “fake” footage out there. And people should be aware of this, not all we see here in YT is “real”. There’s tons of production behind some videos.
Your natty-or-not breakdowns have taught me so much about recording and playing and they have changed my perspective on drum recordings. They have also made me appreciate natty drummers like you, Luke Holland, Matt Garstka etc. even more for not faking their stuff or quantising it. I‘d say continue putting out the analyses.
I think as long you aren’t going after people (regardless of their age/ability etc…) with venom, I think you should keep going. People need to know what real drumming sounds and looks like. The body image analogy you used is perfect
Don’t stop man. Go harder on these people. You made an accurate comparison to the fitness industry. All the people in their teens and earlier 20s who don’t fully understand the fitness industry look at people who are jacked as fuck, and think that’s a realistic physique to achieve in a matter of months. Call more people out. It’s hilarious and it’s also a good way of making us feel better and more comfortable with where we are at in our drumming journey.
Do whatever the fuck you want, I like that you keep it real and are entertaining. And by keeping it real I mean you’ll talk the behind the scenes stuff that normal people can’t know since we don’t know Nolly and all these other drummers in the scene who have met or shared a stage with the guys in question. Instagram and RUclips have begun causing drummer dysmorphia. I think you should keep calling mf’ers out.
Don't stop Craig, this had to be called out for the community and stopping everyone feeling like shit (which makes people quit given they think I'll never reach that fuck it) you need to do guitar ones next as there no better for it! Not a hater, just live in the real world.
Honestly i am grateful for the series because it was how i found you/the fucking stellar community you built but also as a beginner drummer you actually took the time to not only show the "negative" side of not natty but you also used to opportunity to educate about the importance of imperfection not being just poor playing but being how it actually sounds.
My biggest gripe with modern social media drummers are people faking they can play. Or they zoom over the kit and turn everything down. Keep calling out the Not Natty. Edit: Your comparison to photoshop/filters is absolutely spot on.
keep doin your thing . so many people get so discouraged and feel inferior because of this . You said it perfectly at the end of your video. You dont wanna ruin someones day , but theyre ruining more peoples day.
Good point and question! Definitely a dilemma which talks to things as “autotune” as well with singing performances as singers nowadays can’t seem to keep pitch. I never used any of these tools myself and believe it to be a fraud as well... Anyway good luck with that!
Keep it up, it’s actually scary how quickly you can recognise the sound of a sampled snare when you know what to listen for, but it’s a different story for the majority of people. You are someone who is helping people to see through the cracks a little, definately not a bad thing
Thank you for your honesty my man. When I was teaching myself how to play all these edited videos really did shred my ego. Even when I nailed a part I would talk shit about it. "Oh man if only I was as tight as Rudi", or man if only I could slay like "Luke". It took me years to get out of that mind set. Your videos in the long run will be good for up and coming drummers.
Keep making them is my view. It’s helpful to see where and how drummers are perfecting their drumming in editing. I think it’s totally possible to separate drumming chops, creativity, etc, from the level to which someone editing/sample replaced the drums. You can both support and dig someone’s drumming, while calling out the lack of transparency.
I record drums on an electric kit and make sure I tell everyone " The drums are quantised and i've made all the ghost notes the same velocity. I've pretty much just programmed the drums with my body"
I’ve enjoyed watching drum play throughs for awhile now (I’m not a drummer but I want to start at some point and I also love watching people drum.). I always thought most of these were legit UNTIL I found your channel. Personally, I’m grateful because I think of not only myself but I think of my kids aspiring to be musicians and seeing shit like that. It’s important to know the difference. Not only that, you’ve displayed truly natty drummers on your channel which is always great to see.
Drumeo should talk about this,,, buuut they won’t. Keep it up man, you’re just being honest, and a lot of people can’t handle the truth anymore. Do guitar players too! I’m a guitar player, and I think play through videos should be legit .
OK - so here is my take on it. First off - I like the series but not for the call out rather for the humor and the way you do it (I am not following you on Twich since I am not using it). However I fully understand and mostly agree with your thought behind it. I myself do view most of it as 'entertainment' and only mind it when it's really ridiculously edited (Infant A.). I think there is a grey area somewhere in between where I do not mind 'fixing' the audio to a normal degree (e.g. one of your kicks is off and the rest is fine). The same for guitars, if it's within what you can play and convenient due to time constraint or whatnot sure. Full disclosure I have a bunch of guitar covers on my channel where I play along. All songs are songs I can play - however they are pre-recorded because I wanted to use multiple angles bla bla bla. The point is - I am not claiming it's me one-taking it and furthermore I will not add as you mentioned a disclaimer into the description that it's NOT a live playthrough because I as most of musician suffer from the impostersyndrome myself. Coming back to if you should keep doing this or not - I think first it's up to you - but maybe most importantly since the internet is just a shit show ask your self if you want to be the 'hater' or not. I think you can do much more with commentary where you call it out if it's to necessary but not base your whole RUclips channel on that type of content. In short - this should be a Craig Reynolds music channel (mostly drum focused) and not a call out channel. I enjoy both but I know you offer much more than being the call out guy. I look forward to any content and you are still to top the video where you don't say anything for 10 minutes :D
Craig, keep this series going strong brother!! It keeps it authentic. I wasn't aware of any of this until watching this and talking to Chris Turner in the past about it. Real play throughs in an ever evolving fake internet world is what the music community needs! Thank you for your work and the amazing laughs you bring us all! Cheers
Also, please do "the big ones". Your work is important, it‘s important to shed light on this topic. Learning about quantisation has made me commit even harder to playing cleanly.
Your point was exactly made when you said you knew of people who were hired off of their Instagram videos and promptly fired. It's an epidemic not just in the music industry but everywhere for putting something unnatural forward, allowing others to always assume this is what the norm is. Keep doing you, the videos are great and it needs to be pointed out by another musician what is and what isn't real.
Keep 'em coming, man! In a way, this is like a sort of fact-checker. We all need to be weary of our sources and cognizant not to spread false information. Over-quantization is false info, and we need to push back against it
Keep it coming mate. It is healthy for the community to be aware of this, and embrace our imperfections and human side of being drummers. We derp, some days our foot doesn't work or something just won't click, and that's okay. That's real. You're respectful about it and spreading awareness so keep it coming and best of luck in 2022 🍻
Keep doing it bro! I have personally learned a lot about drum editing / sample replacements from this show alone. Love your content! Many laughs have been had. 🤘
I think its like these "top" singers I've seen recently using autotune live on another channel,I have worked hard at drumming and it never crossed my mind that anyone would doctor a so called live presentation....continue telling the truth I say,good work.
You are a truth in the drum community, if not the one it wants, at the very least the one it deserves. Keep blasting. P.s. Disclosure is top 5 metal drum compositions of all time for me.
I think you should keep doing it. People need educated on what an authentic performance sounds like. I'm sick of seeing instagram shorts with thousands of views where a drummer is clearly quantized and firing off samples. It creates a false standard for drummers. These people will shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to actual performances because people can sniff the bullshit right away. The fact that those two instagram drummers were fired basically says it all. I think quantizing should be used as a tool for songwriting, rather than a "performance enhancement". I think it takes away the work ethic behind playing your instrument.
I think what you’re doing is great. It could absolutely lead to a more real/true culture, faking cause it’s what everyone does is awful and leads to even more faking. Make it real.
I think what you do and others in various different music communities is such a service. The moment that the clicks/watches/etc became profitable it changed things drastically. And of course people did it prior, but now it's the move. It bums out the people perpetually working to better themselves comparing to unrealistic goals, and takes opportunities away from others who are natty. Music for good or bad is human, and as humans we aren't perfect, which is a GOOD THING. For me, last year I started writing some indie material, while my singing isn't great yet as it's a process, I refuse to pitch correct, as that wouldn't be me, and it would be unrealistic to what folks would get live.
Keep doing it please. its good for young people and others who aren't far in their musical journey to understand what's real, what's attainable and what is reasonable at their ability level.
I think you do it in a way that’s not directly shitting on the person. You’re always all “look he’s obviously good but” so I think it’s fine. I’d say keep doing them!
You make excellent points! If those people don’t get called out, players who don’t edit their vids get seen as “lesser” drummers, to the general (rather gullible) viewer, and that’s dangerous for the community as a whole. I’m 17, and I spent my early teenage years watching those videos, and believing that I was garbage because my double bass wasn’t perfectly on the grid. It was only in the last year that I realised the truth, and I have to say, I’m now way more confident about my ability, and it’s lead to be actually getting much better in that time. Time to expose the fakes!
You should absolutely keep doing it. I’m not a drummer and find it a) fascinating b) hilarious and c) think it’s really important for all of the reasons you state in the video.
I chatted to Craig last year because I was using samples my videos. I didn't even need to because I was capable of playing and recording. I thought samples sounded bigger and better than my E-kit, and then with using those samples came a little quantising to tidy bits up, rather than just tracking it again. It can create so many lazy habits. So I'm glad I messaged him about it because it got me straight out of that habit and back to what I was doing before I discovered using plugins outside of demoing.
Keep it going man! You're very methodical and not disrespectful in the videos. I think that drummers are just under more pressure to imitate drum machines in general these days. Think about EDM and hip hop where they're literally getting hired to play programmed beats live.
Keep at it. As long as you aren't coming from a place of pure malice and intentionally tell people to go shit on their posts ( I know some will do it anyway but as long as you're not setting out a mob) you should be fine. I personally love seeing the vids and would love to see more. Cheers Craig and Happy New Year!
Leave it - you're helping to keep things honest and I fkn love it. Encouraging musicians to actually possesses the prowess they present online in real life is a noble cause. Sounds a bit serious and personally, I love your videos because of YOU - it's great. TL;DR - just do you Craig 🤘😘
One of the biggest improvements I saw in my playing was recording myself every time I rehearse my bands songs, or a cover. I’ll record my playing every time I play a song, and then listen back to it. This helps me notice what I suck at, and I’ve never quantized anything. Even if a part isn’t 100% I’ll either re-record the song or just post it as is. Quantizing every beat or close to every beat isn’t honest. And I believe if you’re trying to be a professional musician you need to be an honest player.
Hey dude nice video...as a musician for the last 20 years I feel really strongly on the subject of 'musicians' doctoring performances...if you can't play it authentically and play it on demand you shouldn't pretend that you can...big respect dude
I've loved diving through your natty or not series. On my drum videos I do tidy up my performances but I'm doing this as production covers however I've gone back through my library and added disclaimers to my videos because I definitely don't want to give the impression that they're authentic performances - instead that I'm just experimenting with the production
I think its totally okay as ling as youre respectful. My drum covers aren't perfect by any means but I don't mind because I try to show people that drumming isn't always about being exactly on the grid. It's about having fun.
I personally think you are doing a service to the online drumming community by calling some of these drummers out. Your take here is spot-on. Younger drummers who are slowly getting into drumming can so easily be discouraged by seeing fake overly edited videos on Instagram and not want to play anymore or get frustrated with their drumming. If a drummer wants to put out a heavily edited and quantized playthrough, no worries, they should totally be allowed to. But the LEAST thing to do would be to have a disclaimer about the amount of editing, so that aspiring drummers who have little knowledge about editing don’t create themselves unrealistic expectations. Keep up the great content here and on Twitch!
Personally I like the insight. It’s a tough world to be a musician these days, the standard (or perception of standard), is so unreachable. I remember buying dream theatre DVDs and Hudson music titles where the level was unreal but supportive as they shared their teachings and ideas. I think a channel that at least clues you in to what these people do is bill it a bad thing. Most of the drummers you have reacted to have come out and confirmed or discussed what you pointed out. It makes the community healthier. Your humour is your humour and if people can’t see the irony and and sarcasm behind it then they’ll probably not realise what you are doing is elevating the scene to make sure everyone has a realistic idea of what they need to achieve.
Keep doing it. I've always been a "what you see is what you get" guy with my videos (obviously because the majority of them use straight up camera audio, but the few that are fully mic'd up have EXTREMELY MINIMAL to no editing such as just getting rid of a double/false trigger). It bothers me so much that people have to clean up their stuff to the point where it's not even human anymore to get noticed. But also if you NATURALLY play that tight (a la Ken Bedene, John Longstreth, etc) then the spotlight should also be shown there
I used to judge myself hard for not playing like a quantized robot. I’d slow down my double bass recordings and get upset cause it didn’t sound perfectly in time, but the Natty or Not videos showed me that’s normal and that the people I was trying to play like had a little help from the juice. Thanks for giving me some drum confidence, fruity Simon Cowell.
Drummer here for 35 years. I say continue to call out fakeness when represented as authentic. For the sole reason of drummers around the world that have woodshed their whole lives and worked on their craft/passion/job/ect. They put the work in. I hire people, I too have been ‘deceived’ on resumes and then the job starts and the person is a fraud. That’s what these people are. Frauds. So you are doing gods work detective Renlord.
I view what you do as an educational experience rather than pissing in someone's cereal. Always be yourself and keep educating us on those who need to educate themselves!
I think keep going, good for upcoming drummers to know the reality of playing. Don’t think it shits on anyone’s playing or skill level, but might save someone thinking they are never “as perfect” as what they watching/hearing.
Nah man I think its great that you do it. Its not even mean that you do it cause you still give them some compliments throughout just looking for honesty from people. Some people get way too much hype that they dont really deserve while some real shredders go really over looked. Plus its just cool the way you use your experience to prove the points. Like mentioning velocities and sound samples, snapping stuff to the grid and explaining that stuff cause its neat discussing the "mechanics" of music as well as being helpful to people who dont understand whats going on. Plus it maybe kinda gives people an idea to atleast look into detail like humanizing parts. Similar to bulb talking about quad tracking and not being able to simply copy paste and pan a guitar part cause it just ends up creating a single center panned track.
Keep it up bro! Love the content and the general public will have a higher knowledge of drumming as well as advocacy to be stronger musicians in a more "natural" sense.
Keep going mate! You’ve never done it in a disrespectful way. Entertaining? Yes, but not disrespectful. I think there’s more good to come from it than bad.
Craig, go even harder! I personally have experienced what you mentioned, feeling like shit as a musician when watching every man and his dog upload impossible sounding clips and playthroughs. I also do vocals, and seeing some people upload a playthrough with fifty vocal layers and synced audio, where you get people be in the comments saying "OMG they sound like a monster!" makes me die inside a little. It would be cool if you did features across different instruments, sneaky collab with @Kardavox Academy maybe?
I think it‘s very important to continue doing this. Honestly, it doesn‘t matter if you‘re Taylor Swift or Slaughter to Prevail - In the end it‘s about giving people a show they hopefully like, especially in terms of pre-produced content like drum vids, vocal takes or whatever. The thing that is most important in my opinion, is the fact, if person XY actually CAN do it and especially when it comes to drums it‘s fucking great that people like you call out if smith is fake for whatever reason. And specified on you, it‘s also the case that you do it in a funny, yet „teaching“ way: You‘re not just hating on people or make fun of them, but you actually explain why critique A or B is valid whenever it comes to criticising smth. So long story short: Please continue. It‘s important that the hallucination of (especially) metal being pure and TRVE gets lifted.
I first noticed a similar situation waaaay back when covers first started coming around, and the kid who shortly replaced Danny in Asking Alexandria was posting covers. He would pre-record his guitars and vocals, which is fine, especially if you make mention that you've done so. But he highly doctored all of his stuff, and if you tried to call him out, he just deleted all the negative comments.
I think it’s valuable to point this stuff off. I think to cultivate a transparent culture surrounding this kind of thing you have to present it in such a way. Of course there’s a bit of jest, but it’s important to take that stuff in stride. Keep doing it!
I think it’s made the “standard” of drum content on social media stupidly unrealistic, leaving me personally and I’m sure many other drummers feeling like any content they make is dogshit in comparison. Anyway, to keep it brief, keep em coming!! 💪🏻
TL;DR: the drumming community loves your shit so keep'em coming bro! I think you're doing more to help the drumming community than to harm it. If dudes can stand behind their quantized edited sample replaced videos then they should also be able to take the heat from being called out on them. You're definitely not the only one calling them out on their bullshit, and honestly you're alot more respectful and professional than most who are calling them out. You have a solid following of ameteur drummers and people that play as hobby and I feel like I can speak from the majority by saying that these videos (honestly all of your content in general) give us a more realistic view on the industry and what goes on behind the scenes. Every time I watch any of your videos it makes me wanna go play, and I have rarely have that feeling anymore.
I’m all honesty Craig I think u should definitely keep doing it’ especially with the videos that people are putting out that are clearly edited to the point that it gives people the impression that they will never be able to be that good’ which is really fucked’ u can still put out some footage that that holds up in all areas that inspires people and amps people up to play without quantizing it and using triggers etc to make it sound like every hit is perfect’ it’s kind of gross in my opinion’ the only place that that kind of carry has is when u are recording an album and it needs to be clean’ but for a play through etc just bloody play it natty and show people that u are naturally good and that u have the ability to hit with the same amount of force “most” of the time without the help of triggers etc’ sorry to go on for so long but this really is an important topic to be discussing’ also thanks for everything u do Craig’ big love from New Zealand’ and all the best for 2022 🤘🥁🤘
Call them out! I play the drums but I dont call myself a drummer. Big difference imo! Honestly dislike these mediocre drummers getting all this acclaim. Social media is an ocean of fake bs where anyone can pose as a so called professional. But like you mentioned, when the realness happens they will get left behind.
DONT STOP, KEEP GOING. I literally have had the feeling youre talking about where the *fake tightness* has destroyed my confidence in wanting to get better. Although, I will say maybe rename the series? Cause I literally had no clue thats what the Natty or Not videos were about, which I think they should be out there for the MOST possible eyes to see, but maybe you’d rather it not be that way. Not sure, but anyways, keep going.
I'm with you Craig!! Agree totally!!This attitude here you provide is clearly understandable and someone must do this if you didn't exist. No One likes fake attitudes to anything that showed as natural and didn't using these tools you said. But you didn't think that expose yourself with videos like this?? Some drummers will say " This guy throw to us mud" and this isn't good for musicians that live from the music but these drummers must stop to be fake so for that cause all people likes honest guys i agree with you!
My 2 cents from someone that is not a drummer is to continue. I've learned so much from your content and laughed harder than ever in my life, but I think it should be called out. Ive spotted a few fakes on tiktok because of what you have taught us. And these people get praised to the max and you can just tell that it is fake. You are just keeping people in check. Keep on doing you. Its a great series and a necessity at this point. I think it should be called out on all instruments as well, not just drums. False perception doesn't do anyone any good. And if people don't like it, fuck 'em.
I think it's important to continue doing it, as the way the drumming social media landscape currently exists creates more problems than it solves IMO. I really appreciate how your videos on youtube do more to praise the people that are going fully natty than the ones that are trying to create unrealistic expectations. Thank you for not focusing on the negativity Craig.
Also I thought I was good at being able to tell if something was faked or not, but your videos have helped me see that I can't tell at all lol, BUT also have shown me what to look/listen for, so again thank you for doing what you do
I love this lol it definitely matters.
Hi, Matt. 🙂
And You have Kristina Rybelchenko, who is not in a band and just puts an original track over her playing and nobody has ever heard her actually drumming. She has 3+ million followers over social media now.
You are doing this in a respectful way. Keep the not-or-natty coming.
I don’t see it as a callout, more just that people should be able to stand behind their “skill”. I think it’s a great series that honestly show things about music that most people don’t see.
That's a good term "stand behind your skill"
as a self taught drummer who has never used samples,triggers or quantizing (mostly because lack of experience/contacts) Craig's videos and other natty drummers in prog metal made me realize why I was struggling with certain fills and double bass shit. I literally had no idea it was snapped to the grid and sample replaced...
Ding ding ding. Excellent take here 👍🏼
even if it is a callout, what’s wrong with that? if you’re being untruthful about your musical abilities then you should most certainly be called out. especially when people put you on a pedestal and claim that you’re a god or some shit. its not fair to the people who legitimately put in the work and are honest.
Nah, I enjoy watching people get called out for making themselves out to be something they’re not lol.
Craig, this Video speaks to my heart, really.
I am a somewhat depressed 30 years old guy and i play drums for 15 years. Not professionally but for fun. For enjoyment.
The fun ends in the internet. Where one can (most of the time) only see the "perfect" playthroughs of whatever song. There are rarely outtakes, or people that show how they struggle with learning stuff and how they finaly achieve what they try to learn.
I am mixing the songs for my own band i have with my friends and i only realised how stupid easy it is to quantize everthing nowadays. Write a makro, have a decent CPU in your Computer and bam. Perfect take. And it seems that EVERYONE does it, atleast in metal.
I sucks. Because it puts alot of unwanted and stupid soul-destroying pressure on every human being that wants to play an instrument. We are humans. We do mistakes. We are incorrect in our timing, we play wrong dynamics, we play wrong notes. But no one hears it and that lets you make false belives in "in-human" machines, people that are bigger then others ect.
I once saw Simon Philipps live doing a drum clinig near my town. And i was confused. Because he played good (obviously) but not perfect.
Wall of text i apologie, here are my final thoughts: do whatever feels right to you. Calling out specific persons can ruin their day. Will it destroy them? I don`t know. But it may help others to understand that not everything has to be perfect and not everything IS perfect.
Agree- it is good to keep doing this series, and acknowledge that it is OK to quantize & replace just be honest about it.
I'm 35. I grew up with Nile, hate etetnal, suffocation, origin, etc. The whole point of extreme metal was to push the envelope of human-instrument ability; then at some point, perfection and trickery via technology became more important, because all the younger bands were trying to out-do the bands that inspired them to start playing. Now you have Rings of Saturn type bands, which are influencing a whole new generation of kids, who think that everything is real, and a 127 midi rim shot blast is possible at 300 bpm.
Part of the badass-ity, at least for me and people my age, was when bands like origin and hate eternal and akercocke, etc were on the verge of almost losing it on the record, but the "slop" in my opinion only adds to the extremity/intensity. With everything prefect and quantized and inhumanly tight, the
entire point of extreme metal is lost, and the bands may as well just make electronic music, with no pretense of being able to actually perform it...which I wouldn't be bothered by, I love electronic music too.
It's kind of like how with movie editing, anyone can be a famous actor if they have 100 takes, and a good editor to splice it up and make it work. But could that same person deliver a great performance on stage in a play with only one chance to get it right? Seems like metal now is a bunch of good "screen actors", and the true great "live actors" are few and far between.
Edit: I also have to add that, if bands these days would slow down their songs a bit and focus more on quality songwriting and performance and memorability, instead of sheer 300+ bpm audio-cock-measuring contests, the whole genre would be more interesting. I'd rather re-listen to Allagoch or Akercocke than any band that's come out in the last 10 years.
this one. i came back to drumming after 10 years break thanks to Craig videos, that’s one thing. but the second is this type of videos are getting people aware that something is wrong with the perfection. we should strive for it, but not get discouraged when we cannot be like this daily, because failure is part of process. like Craig mentioned on twitch yesterday, that we see him play better/worse on streams and we love him for this. and that’s how it should be.
@@dyyznataz2847 "audio-cock-measuring contest" lmao
Couldn't agree more. But I have to add that some extremly good drummers don't do that (Eloy Casagrande, Matt Garstka, Sebastian Lanser etc...).
Nah, this is great. There’s too much “fake” footage out there. And people should be aware of this, not all we see here in YT is “real”. There’s tons of production behind some videos.
Your natty-or-not breakdowns have taught me so much about recording and playing and they have changed my perspective on drum recordings. They have also made me appreciate natty drummers like you, Luke Holland, Matt Garstka etc. even more for not faking their stuff or quantising it. I‘d say continue putting out the analyses.
Never stop. Fuck em. You can either play it or you can't. It's not much more difficult than that.
I think as long you aren’t going after people (regardless of their age/ability etc…) with venom, I think you should keep going. People need to know what real drumming sounds and looks like. The body image analogy you used is perfect
Don’t stop man. Go harder on these people.
You made an accurate comparison to the fitness industry. All the people in their teens and earlier 20s who don’t fully understand the fitness industry look at people who are jacked as fuck, and think that’s a realistic physique to achieve in a matter of months. Call more people out. It’s hilarious and it’s also a good way of making us feel better and more comfortable with where we are at in our drumming journey.
Do whatever the fuck you want, I like that you keep it real and are entertaining. And by keeping it real I mean you’ll talk the behind the scenes stuff that normal people can’t know since we don’t know Nolly and all these other drummers in the scene who have met or shared a stage with the guys in question. Instagram and RUclips have begun causing drummer dysmorphia. I think you should keep calling mf’ers out.
Don't stop Craig, this had to be called out for the community and stopping everyone feeling like shit (which makes people quit given they think I'll never reach that fuck it) you need to do guitar ones next as there no better for it! Not a hater, just live in the real world.
Honestly i am grateful for the series because it was how i found you/the fucking stellar community you built but also as a beginner drummer you actually took the time to not only show the "negative" side of not natty but you also used to opportunity to educate about the importance of imperfection not being just poor playing but being how it actually sounds.
My biggest gripe with modern social media drummers are people faking they can play. Or they zoom over the kit and turn everything down.
Keep calling out the Not Natty.
Edit: Your comparison to photoshop/filters is absolutely spot on.
keep doin your thing . so many people get so discouraged and feel inferior because of this . You said it perfectly at the end of your video. You dont wanna ruin someones day , but theyre ruining more peoples day.
It’s important for drummers, especially young drummers to be educated on this. You’re doing good work man! Keep goin
Good point and question!
Definitely a dilemma which talks to things as “autotune” as well with singing performances as singers nowadays can’t seem to keep pitch. I never used any of these tools myself and believe it to be a fraud as well...
Anyway good luck with that!
Keep it up, it’s actually scary how quickly you can recognise the sound of a sampled snare when you know what to listen for, but it’s a different story for the majority of people. You are someone who is helping people to see through the cracks a little, definately not a bad thing
Continue what you do Reynlord, let them suck it up. Your work is necessary
speak the truth as you always do, that's why you're needed. I learned that about drums by watching your commentary on it
Thank you for your honesty my man. When I was teaching myself how to play all these edited videos really did shred my ego. Even when I nailed a part I would talk shit about it. "Oh man if only I was as tight as Rudi", or man if only I could slay like "Luke". It took me years to get out of that mind set. Your videos in the long run will be good for up and coming drummers.
keep 'em coming. i can say personally that they've significantly increased my engagement with your brand(s).
Keep making them is my view. It’s helpful to see where and how drummers are perfecting their drumming in editing. I think it’s totally possible to separate drumming chops, creativity, etc, from the level to which someone editing/sample replaced the drums. You can both support and dig someone’s drumming, while calling out the lack of transparency.
I record drums on an electric kit and make sure I tell everyone " The drums are quantised and i've made all the ghost notes the same velocity. I've pretty much just programmed the drums with my body"
Honesty is key!
I’ve enjoyed watching drum play throughs for awhile now (I’m not a drummer but I want to start at some point and I also love watching people drum.). I always thought most of these were legit UNTIL I found your channel. Personally, I’m grateful because I think of not only myself but I think of my kids aspiring to be musicians and seeing shit like that. It’s important to know the difference. Not only that, you’ve displayed truly natty drummers on your channel which is always great to see.
Drumeo should talk about this,,, buuut they won’t.
Keep it up man, you’re just being honest, and a lot of people can’t handle the truth anymore.
Do guitar players too! I’m a guitar player, and I think play through videos should be legit .
OK - so here is my take on it. First off - I like the series but not for the call out rather for the humor and the way you do it (I am not following you on Twich since I am not using it). However I fully understand and mostly agree with your thought behind it. I myself do view most of it as 'entertainment' and only mind it when it's really ridiculously edited (Infant A.). I think there is a grey area somewhere in between where I do not mind 'fixing' the audio to a normal degree (e.g. one of your kicks is off and the rest is fine). The same for guitars, if it's within what you can play and convenient due to time constraint or whatnot sure. Full disclosure I have a bunch of guitar covers on my channel where I play along. All songs are songs I can play - however they are pre-recorded because I wanted to use multiple angles bla bla bla. The point is - I am not claiming it's me one-taking it and furthermore I will not add as you mentioned a disclaimer into the description that it's NOT a live playthrough because I as most of musician suffer from the impostersyndrome myself. Coming back to if you should keep doing this or not - I think first it's up to you - but maybe most importantly since the internet is just a shit show ask your self if you want to be the 'hater' or not. I think you can do much more with commentary where you call it out if it's to necessary but not base your whole RUclips channel on that type of content. In short - this should be a Craig Reynolds music channel (mostly drum focused) and not a call out channel. I enjoy both but I know you offer much more than being the call out guy. I look forward to any content and you are still to top the video where you don't say anything for 10 minutes :D
Keep doing it dude. In this flashy, superficial, instagram pseudo reality we live in, you're doing the work of the gods.
Craig, keep this series going strong brother!! It keeps it authentic. I wasn't aware of any of this until watching this and talking to Chris Turner in the past about it. Real play throughs in an ever evolving fake internet world is what the music community needs! Thank you for your work and the amazing laughs you bring us all! Cheers
Also, please do "the big ones". Your work is important, it‘s important to shed light on this topic. Learning about quantisation has made me commit even harder to playing cleanly.
Your point was exactly made when you said you knew of people who were hired off of their Instagram videos and promptly fired. It's an epidemic not just in the music industry but everywhere for putting something unnatural forward, allowing others to always assume this is what the norm is.
Keep doing you, the videos are great and it needs to be pointed out by another musician what is and what isn't real.
Keep 'em coming, man! In a way, this is like a sort of fact-checker. We all need to be weary of our sources and cognizant not to spread false information. Over-quantization is false info, and we need to push back against it
Keep going!
Keep it coming mate. It is healthy for the community to be aware of this, and embrace our imperfections and human side of being drummers. We derp, some days our foot doesn't work or something just won't click, and that's okay. That's real. You're respectful about it and spreading awareness so keep it coming and best of luck in 2022 🍻
I really like the series, i say keep it going.
I look forward to seeing more of this realness energy in 2022! Keep it up!
Keep doing it bro! I have personally learned a lot about drum editing / sample replacements from this show alone. Love your content! Many laughs have been had. 🤘
I think its like these "top" singers I've seen recently using autotune live on another channel,I have worked hard at drumming and it never crossed my mind that anyone would doctor a so called live presentation....continue telling the truth I say,good work.
You are preaching the good word, Craig. Keep it going broskidosk!!
You are a truth in the drum community, if not the one it wants, at the very least the one it deserves. Keep blasting.
P.s. Disclosure is top 5 metal drum compositions of all time for me.
I think you should keep doing it. People need educated on what an authentic performance sounds like.
I'm sick of seeing instagram shorts with thousands of views where a drummer is clearly quantized and firing off samples. It creates a false standard for drummers. These people will shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to actual performances because people can sniff the bullshit right away.
The fact that those two instagram drummers were fired basically says it all. I think quantizing should be used as a tool for songwriting, rather than a "performance enhancement".
I think it takes away the work ethic behind playing your instrument.
Mate you're awesome, it's one of my favorite content to watch, so hope you'll keep it going
I think what you’re doing is great. It could absolutely lead to a more real/true culture, faking cause it’s what everyone does is awful and leads to even more faking. Make it real.
Keep it up! It's important to shine a light on these things.
I think what you do and others in various different music communities is such a service.
The moment that the clicks/watches/etc became profitable it changed things drastically.
And of course people did it prior, but now it's the move.
It bums out the people perpetually working to better themselves comparing to unrealistic goals, and takes opportunities away from others who are natty.
Music for good or bad is human, and as humans we aren't perfect, which is a GOOD THING.
For me, last year I started writing some indie material, while my singing isn't great yet as it's a process, I refuse to pitch correct, as that wouldn't be me, and it would be unrealistic to what folks would get live.
Keep doing it please. its good for young people and others who aren't far in their musical journey to understand what's real, what's attainable and what is reasonable at their ability level.
KEEP DOING THEM PLEASE AND THANK YOU
I think you do it in a way that’s not directly shitting on the person. You’re always all “look he’s obviously good but” so I think it’s fine. I’d say keep doing them!
Keep them coming! Love the series
You make excellent points! If those people don’t get called out, players who don’t edit their vids get seen as “lesser” drummers, to the general (rather gullible) viewer, and that’s dangerous for the community as a whole. I’m 17, and I spent my early teenage years watching those videos, and believing that I was garbage because my double bass wasn’t perfectly on the grid. It was only in the last year that I realised the truth, and I have to say, I’m now way more confident about my ability, and it’s lead to be actually getting much better in that time. Time to expose the fakes!
You should absolutely keep doing it. I’m not a drummer and find it a) fascinating b) hilarious and c) think it’s really important for all of the reasons you state in the video.
I chatted to Craig last year because I was using samples my videos. I didn't even need to because I was capable of playing and recording. I thought samples sounded bigger and better than my E-kit, and then with using those samples came a little quantising to tidy bits up, rather than just tracking it again. It can create so many lazy habits. So I'm glad I messaged him about it because it got me straight out of that habit and back to what I was doing before I discovered using plugins outside of demoing.
Knowledge is Power Craig, what you're doing is awesome
Keep it going man! You're very methodical and not disrespectful in the videos. I think that drummers are just under more pressure to imitate drum machines in general these days. Think about EDM and hip hop where they're literally getting hired to play programmed beats live.
Keep at it. As long as you aren't coming from a place of pure malice and intentionally tell people to go shit on their posts ( I know some will do it anyway but as long as you're not setting out a mob) you should be fine. I personally love seeing the vids and would love to see more. Cheers Craig and Happy New Year!
Love your playing style my guy! One of my favorite drummers along with - Anup Sastry, Matt Halpern, Matt Garstka, Matt Greiner, and others!
Leave it - you're helping to keep things honest and I fkn love it. Encouraging musicians to actually possesses the prowess they present online in real life is a noble cause. Sounds a bit serious and personally, I love your videos because of YOU - it's great.
TL;DR - just do you Craig 🤘😘
One of the biggest improvements I saw in my playing was recording myself every time I rehearse my bands songs, or a cover. I’ll record my playing every time I play a song, and then listen back to it. This helps me notice what I suck at, and I’ve never quantized anything. Even if a part isn’t 100% I’ll either re-record the song or just post it as is.
Quantizing every beat or close to every beat isn’t honest. And I believe if you’re trying to be a professional musician you need to be an honest player.
Hey dude nice video...as a musician for the last 20 years I feel really strongly on the subject of 'musicians' doctoring performances...if you can't play it authentically and play it on demand you shouldn't pretend that you can...big respect dude
I've loved diving through your natty or not series. On my drum videos I do tidy up my performances but I'm doing this as production covers however I've gone back through my library and added disclaimers to my videos because I definitely don't want to give the impression that they're authentic performances - instead that I'm just experimenting with the production
I think its totally okay as ling as youre respectful. My drum covers aren't perfect by any means but I don't mind because I try to show people that drumming isn't always about being exactly on the grid. It's about having fun.
Keep doing this! Its needed for sure! It makes the real ones so much more impressive! Love it Craig!
Continue!
The natty or not vids are both entertaing and send a good message. Keep them up bro!
I personally think you are doing a service to the online drumming community by calling some of these drummers out.
Your take here is spot-on. Younger drummers who are slowly getting into drumming can so easily be discouraged by seeing fake overly edited videos on Instagram and not want to play anymore or get frustrated with their drumming.
If a drummer wants to put out a heavily edited and quantized playthrough, no worries, they should totally be allowed to. But the LEAST thing to do would be to have a disclaimer about the amount of editing, so that aspiring drummers who have little knowledge about editing don’t create themselves unrealistic expectations.
Keep up the great content here and on Twitch!
Count me in the So Glad You’re Doing This category.
Personally I like the insight. It’s a tough world to be a musician these days, the standard (or perception of standard), is so unreachable. I remember buying dream theatre DVDs and Hudson music titles where the level was unreal but supportive as they shared their teachings and ideas. I think a channel that at least clues you in to what these people do is bill it a bad thing. Most of the drummers you have reacted to have come out and confirmed or discussed what you pointed out. It makes the community healthier. Your humour is your humour and if people can’t see the irony and and sarcasm behind it then they’ll probably not realise what you are doing is elevating the scene to make sure everyone has a realistic idea of what they need to achieve.
You're best videos are outing fakes, or legitimizing badass drummers with your expertise. Keep them coming
Only just stumbled across your channel. Now subbed. Keep it real...keep the faith. The truth will out.
Keep doing it. I've always been a "what you see is what you get" guy with my videos (obviously because the majority of them use straight up camera audio, but the few that are fully mic'd up have EXTREMELY MINIMAL to no editing such as just getting rid of a double/false trigger). It bothers me so much that people have to clean up their stuff to the point where it's not even human anymore to get noticed. But also if you NATURALLY play that tight (a la Ken Bedene, John Longstreth, etc) then the spotlight should also be shown there
I used to judge myself hard for not playing like a quantized robot. I’d slow down my double bass recordings and get upset cause it didn’t sound perfectly in time, but the Natty or Not videos showed me that’s normal and that the people I was trying to play like had a little help from the juice. Thanks for giving me some drum confidence, fruity Simon Cowell.
Drummer here for 35 years. I say continue to call out fakeness when represented as authentic. For the sole reason of drummers around the world that have woodshed their whole lives and worked on their craft/passion/job/ect. They put the work in. I hire people, I too have been ‘deceived’ on resumes and then the job starts and the person is a fraud. That’s what these people are. Frauds. So you are doing gods work detective Renlord.
I view what you do as an educational experience rather than pissing in someone's cereal.
Always be yourself and keep educating us on those who need to educate themselves!
I think keep going, good for upcoming drummers to know the reality of playing. Don’t think it shits on anyone’s playing or skill level, but might save someone thinking they are never “as perfect” as what they watching/hearing.
Nah man I think its great that you do it. Its not even mean that you do it cause you still give them some compliments throughout just looking for honesty from people. Some people get way too much hype that they dont really deserve while some real shredders go really over looked. Plus its just cool the way you use your experience to prove the points. Like mentioning velocities and sound samples, snapping stuff to the grid and explaining that stuff cause its neat discussing the "mechanics" of music as well as being helpful to people who dont understand whats going on. Plus it maybe kinda gives people an idea to atleast look into detail like humanizing parts. Similar to bulb talking about quad tracking and not being able to simply copy paste and pan a guitar part cause it just ends up creating a single center panned track.
You’re doing the drum community a service with these videos, and highlighting the incredible musicians that can really play!
Keep it up bro! Love the content and the general public will have a higher knowledge of drumming as well as advocacy to be stronger musicians in a more "natural" sense.
Keep going mate! You’ve never done it in a disrespectful way. Entertaining? Yes, but not disrespectful. I think there’s more good to come from it than bad.
Definitely keep doing it!
Besides being entertaining to watch, these videos are necessities for the web. So yeah, I'm very much looking forward to your stuff on the subject.
Craig, go even harder! I personally have experienced what you mentioned, feeling like shit as a musician when watching every man and his dog upload impossible sounding clips and playthroughs. I also do vocals, and seeing some people upload a playthrough with fifty vocal layers and synced audio, where you get people be in the comments saying "OMG they sound like a monster!" makes me die inside a little. It would be cool if you did features across different instruments, sneaky collab with @Kardavox Academy maybe?
Please keep doing Natty or Not. People should be called out IF they aren't being transparent about these things.
I think it‘s very important to continue doing this. Honestly, it doesn‘t matter if you‘re Taylor Swift or Slaughter to Prevail - In the end it‘s about giving people a show they hopefully like, especially in terms of pre-produced content like drum vids, vocal takes or whatever. The thing that is most important in my opinion, is the fact, if person XY actually CAN do it and especially when it comes to drums it‘s fucking great that people like you call out if smith is fake for whatever reason. And specified on you, it‘s also the case that you do it in a funny, yet „teaching“ way: You‘re not just hating on people or make fun of them, but you actually explain why critique A or B is valid whenever it comes to criticising smth. So long story short: Please continue. It‘s important that the hallucination of (especially) metal being pure and TRVE gets lifted.
I first noticed a similar situation waaaay back when covers first started coming around, and the kid who shortly replaced Danny in Asking Alexandria was posting covers. He would pre-record his guitars and vocals, which is fine, especially if you make mention that you've done so. But he highly doctored all of his stuff, and if you tried to call him out, he just deleted all the negative comments.
I think it’s valuable to point this stuff off. I think to cultivate a transparent culture surrounding this kind of thing you have to present it in such a way. Of course there’s a bit of jest, but it’s important to take that stuff in stride. Keep doing it!
Definitely keep doing that!
I think it’s made the “standard” of drum content on social media stupidly unrealistic, leaving me personally and I’m sure many other drummers feeling like any content they make is dogshit in comparison.
Anyway, to keep it brief, keep em coming!! 💪🏻
Mad respect for coming out with this, Craig.
TL;DR: the drumming community loves your shit so keep'em coming bro!
I think you're doing more to help the drumming community than to harm it. If dudes can stand behind their quantized edited sample replaced videos then they should also be able to take the heat from being called out on them. You're definitely not the only one calling them out on their bullshit, and honestly you're alot more respectful and professional than most who are calling them out. You have a solid following of ameteur drummers and people that play as hobby and I feel like I can speak from the majority by saying that these videos (honestly all of your content in general) give us a more realistic view on the industry and what goes on behind the scenes. Every time I watch any of your videos it makes me wanna go play, and I have rarely have that feeling anymore.
I’m all honesty Craig I think u should definitely keep doing it’ especially with the videos that people are putting out that are clearly edited to the point that it gives people the impression that they will never be able to be that good’ which is really fucked’ u can still put out some footage that that holds up in all areas that inspires people and amps people up to play without quantizing it and using triggers etc to make it sound like every hit is perfect’ it’s kind of gross in my opinion’ the only place that that kind of carry has is when u are recording an album and it needs to be clean’ but for a play through etc just bloody play it natty and show people that u are naturally good and that u have the ability to hit with the same amount of force “most” of the time without the help of triggers etc’ sorry to go on for so long but this really is an important topic to be discussing’ also thanks for everything u do Craig’ big love from New Zealand’ and all the best for 2022 🤘🥁🤘
Call them out! I play the drums but I dont call myself a drummer. Big difference imo! Honestly dislike these mediocre drummers getting all this acclaim. Social media is an ocean of fake bs where anyone can pose as a so called professional. But like you mentioned, when the realness happens they will get left behind.
Keep em coming bruv
Keep them vids coming!
DONT STOP, KEEP GOING. I literally have had the feeling youre talking about where the *fake tightness* has destroyed my confidence in wanting to get better.
Although, I will say maybe rename the series? Cause I literally had no clue thats what the Natty or Not videos were about, which I think they should be out there for the MOST possible eyes to see, but maybe you’d rather it not be that way. Not sure, but anyways, keep going.
I'm with you Craig!! Agree totally!!This attitude here you provide is clearly understandable and someone must do this if you didn't exist. No One likes fake attitudes to anything that showed as natural and didn't using these tools you said. But you didn't think that expose yourself with videos like this?? Some drummers will say " This guy throw to us mud" and this isn't good for musicians that live from the music but these drummers must stop to be fake so for that cause all people likes honest guys i agree with you!
My 2 cents from someone that is not a drummer is to continue. I've learned so much from your content and laughed harder than ever in my life, but I think it should be called out. Ive spotted a few fakes on tiktok because of what you have taught us. And these people get praised to the max and you can just tell that it is fake. You are just keeping people in check. Keep on doing you. Its a great series and a necessity at this point. I think it should be called out on all instruments as well, not just drums. False perception doesn't do anyone any good. And if people don't like it, fuck 'em.
I think it's important to continue doing it, as the way the drumming social media landscape currently exists creates more problems than it solves IMO. I really appreciate how your videos on youtube do more to praise the people that are going fully natty than the ones that are trying to create unrealistic expectations. Thank you for not focusing on the negativity Craig.
Also I thought I was good at being able to tell if something was faked or not, but your videos have helped me see that I can't tell at all lol, BUT also have shown me what to look/listen for, so again thank you for doing what you do
Dude, continue doing it!!!!
Keep them coming!! No fake drummer should be safe!!
Yes, please continue. Please please please please please please please