-Be On Time! Whenever you have rehearsals, auditions or studio sessions, be early! You would not believe how very important it is. Other people's time is just as important as yours and you are likely to get the gig and impress everyone at the same time if this element is immediately taken care of before you ever even hit the drums.
-For Drummers with complex setups: They don't make memory locks for everything, so you have to get creative. I have my drum rug marked off with duct tape, so that I know EXACTLY where to place everything. I also have my cymbal arm tilters marked straight across with a black Sharpie. When the two marks line up, you know you're set. This has saved me HOURS of setup time at shows, as well as in the studio.
-Have a working knowledge of electronic drums and be sure you own a set. Many smaller to medium sized studios are using electronic drums in place of acoustic kits. You need to know how to get around these things. Know where the sound patches are, how to adjust sensitivity, velocity, and so on. I recently did a studio session where the studio had a Roland TD-12 for the "house set".
-Include the Nashville number system into your drum reading repertoire. It doesn't take that long to learn and ... Country has had a huge impact on pop music in recent years. Nashville is one of our music capitals and if you ever have an opportunity to record there, you will need to be prepared. Additionally, this system is already in use in many smaller studios around the country. I do more Country albums than any other genre. As mention in the tip above, my recent studio session was for a local Country singer.
-When the engineer asks for drum sounds, don't start playing a drum solo. Hit each individual drum firmly until he dials it in. This is not a time for you to show off. It is a time to get your drums sounding as good as they possibly can for the studio recording.
-"Memory" is the key to a lot of things. Sharpen your memory and have greater success on stage and in the studio. There's nothing worse than forgetting your drum parts.
-Be creative! Put your unique stamp on the song. Anything tracked in the studio is likely to be around for a long time play your best and let your style come through the song.
-Learn the names and models of the best microphones for studio. The more familiar you are with these things the more likely you'll get callbacks to do other studio sessions.
-Be patient. I can't stress this enough. It takes time to dial in everyone's sound and individual parts. Find a book you can read or something else you can work on when you're waiting on the other musicians.
-Learn to read music, especially drum music and notation! Just about anything you want to do is written down somewhere. It saves a lot of time rather than trial and error. It's like learning to read words. Remember that the REASON for written music and learning to read it is the same as reading words. It's a medium to communicate and exchange an idea. Never listen to those who will say "I won't learn how to read because it may mess up my style or I can memorize things fast". That's all nonsense my fellow drummers. Example: You got a call to record tracks with someone you never played with. You get to the studio and they booked the studio for "X" amount of time. They hand you the charts to the tunes they want to record. TIME=MONEY in the studio. Your job is to read the charts and play the part as if you have played the music many times before. Don't only learn how to read just snare drum music, learn drum set music and most importantly (if you play drum set) is to learn how to read DRUM CHARTS. Drum charts are a different animal than snare drum or drum set music.
SOURCE: DRUMLESSONS.COM
