C.M. Jones
Diamond Member
I do agree that style has something to do with it. And also if the band already has professional recordings out or just some demo's.
The hard part is knowing what the band/artist wants. Some bands want a note-for-note replication, and other bands are looking for someone to change stuff up.
And the worst part is when the band doesn't know which way they want to go.
I once auditioned for a band that wanted someone to exactly replicate what the last drummer played without rehearsal, but then also complained they didn't like the way the last guy played. So it was a lose-lose situation.
There are all sorts of stories about when Journey auditioned drummers to replace Steve Smith in 1986, and they went through every big-name drummer at the time, but couldn't make up their minds because they didn't know what they were looking for. Rod Morgenstein said in an interview he showed up having learned every little nuisance of Steve Smith's parts, only to have the band tell him during the audition to not to play Smith's parts. Again, it was a lose-lose situation.
And there was Guns and Roses when Josh Freese left during the recording of Chinese Democracy, and Alx wanted Brain to re-record every thing Josh had done note for note, and when that was done, Alex asked him to then recut everything but not play what Josh had played. And the final album apparently had a cut and paste job of all 3 versions.
A well-rounded stance. Every opportunity is different. Sometimes you're provided instructions in advance. Other times you aren't. And in some cases, bands themselves don't even know what they're looking for. Flexibility is the name of the game.