The snare drum can lay slightly on either side of that 2 & 4 in a lot of pop music – move it around until it feels right, and try not to look at that grid while you do it!
Same with all of your “doo-wahs” and “jin-jin-zhows” – be careful not to line them up so religiously that you remove the feel of the song. Again, for your techno medley, it’s OK, but for most other stuff…well, I think you get my drift.
Now, I know your next question – “how do I know if I’m doing it right?”
That’s a hard one for me to answer, and my best advice would be this: find someone who knows groove. Everyone knows or knows someone who knows a good drummer or other professional musician – have them come in and take a listen to what you have done, and maybe have them help you though a song or two so some of what they are hearing becomes more clear to you. This is a concept that takes many years to develop, and many of you in this field of music simply have not had enough experience with true groove to know the difference yet, but it is one of those ethereal things that make a big difference to the listener even if they don’t understand it yet.
A few weeks ago, Mitch Fewell asked for feedback on the RARB Forum on some recording he was doing. It was all excellently sung and well-recorded stuff, but a very slight amount of what I am talking about here. My response included this:
“My main criticism that I found through most tracks has to do with groove. The percussion doesn't seem to have the same groove as the baks - it's all tight and precise, but 2 different worlds - perc seems to be locked to the grid, while the vocals lay more in the pocket. This is very minor in its degree - I don't think most people would notice with no side-by-side comparison, but I think they would be able to feel the difference even if they couldn't explain what the differences were. This can be pretty esoteric stuff, and prone to taste as well (as a bass player, I like the drummer to lay back in a different pocket than the guitar player might prefer!) but to me, the snare (and snaps, etc) always came a bit on top of the beat, and the hats and kicks could swing a tiny bit more in places as well.”
I was very happy to see that in just that response I helped young Seth in Kansas see the light:
“That was extremely helpful. I took a listen to it and couldn't put a finger on what made it a little ‘uneasy’ to listen to...but what you said all made perfect sense once I started thinking about it.”
So, think about it a bit next time you listen to, perform, or create new music. The more you think about it, the quicker the mysteries of “the pocket” will unfold!
-Bill Hare
P.S. You can find the entire thread of the above conversation at http://forum.rarb.org:8080/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2509 where I talk about that “mystery pocket” a bit more!
Click on the wrench in the upper left-hand corner to see what else you can do.