I'm a seasoned session musician that has been recording my own drums for over 20 years. My tracks focus on delivering the best performance of the perfect part for your song with emphasis on groove, feel, texture, energy, space, and attitude. My goal is to serve the writer's vision by enhancing the song without ever distracting from it.
Check out extensive session examples on this Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3dR5vR4
Hi, I'm Nate Barnes. I have drummed for artists including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rodney Crowell, Ryan Bingham, Hiss Golden Messenger, Todd Snider, American Authors, Rose Hill Drive, and many others. I've also worked with producers such as Brendan OBrien, Jim Scott, Nick DiDia, and more.
I've done remote sessions for countless artists- My roots are in Rock N Roll but I have branched out from there into Pop, Country, Folk, Indie, Americana, and Singer-Songwriter, and I've done drum tracks in just about every genre imaginable. I'm also a solo artist (under the name Plutinos) and a composer, so I approach my drum tracks from a songwriter's viewpoint- with the primary consideration being what's best for the song. Additionally, I'm a drum/beat programmer, a guitarist, and am endorsed by Ludwig, Sabian, and Vic Firth.
My studio was custom built for recording drums. The room is fully tuned and treated and has a great room sound, classic preamps, and awesome mics. I dial in custom sounds for each project utilizing up to 20 channels with a ton of mix flexibility on a wide range of drums and cymbals- with sounds ranging from dirty and greasy to clean and polished; from tight and crisp to big and bombastic. Feel free to reach out with any questions- I'd love to discuss working on your project!
Contact me through the green button above and let's get to work.
Credits
Discogs verified credits for Nate Barnes- Rose Hill Drive
- Rose Hill Drive
- Jully Black
- Ryan Bingham
- Ryan Bingham
- Kyle Kim
- Ryan Bingham
- thisiswar
- Brad Thorn
- Tommy Reltone*
- Ethan Senger
- Tommy Lorente
- The Sun Sawed In 1/2
- The Sun Sawed In 1/2
- The Sun Sawed In 1/2
- The Sun Sawed In 1/2
- The Sun Sawed In 1/2
- Sivan Langer
- Sivan Langer
- The Sun Sawed In 1/2
- Bun (16)
- Richard Soutar
- Kiss The Ox
- Abraham Alexander
- Manville
- Phil Miller (18)
1100 Reviews - 234 Repeat Clients
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Nate was fantastic!
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Nate consistently brings my music to life with his exceptional live drumming skills, perfectly capturing the essence of each song. His professionalism and effective communication make the collaboration process smooth and rewarding. If you need top-notch live drums, Nate is your go-to drummer. I'm eagerly anticipating our next project!
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amazing as always!
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Excellence personified with Nate as always! Super good and super quick work!
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Three more great drumming tracks by Nate. He's got a great knack for understanding the feel of a song and the direction it needs to go. Of course, getting it all done on first takes! Highly recommend...
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Professional as always. Coming back again soon
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No matter the style, Nate has you covered. Looking for drums? Look no further.
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I love Nates work and I can't imagine completing these projects without him. If you're looking for the best, stop looking.
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Nates knows exactly what kind of drum groove your song needs. In addition his recordings sound professional. Look no further, Nate Barnes is your drummer!
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Incredible Sounding Drums! And a total professional and super cool guy to work with. Organized, fast and was patient in answering my questions also. Highly recommend Nate!!
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Another great project with Nate! He's my goto guy for drums and always delivers! Highly recommended!
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Nate has done an incredible job on one of my songs - totally understood what I wanted, gave life to drums very fast and with the best quality possible - even the handover of files was great; I can integrate them easily into the mix, can't wait to work on my next song with him
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He's really good. He's super good. Nate sent three remarkable takes of a song I was doing and I could have chosen any of them. He was fast, thorough and really easy to communicate with. Big recommendation here if you're looking for some awesome drumming. Thanks Nate.
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This is my third time working with Nate.
Someone I can count on to deliver.
A very talented drummer that I recommend and look forward to working with again. - check_circleVerified
Another great drum track with Nate! The best!!
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Another great experience done with Nate, will have more!
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Always a pleasure working with Nate! Nailed it once again, see you on the next one.
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Nate knocked it outta the park once again! Nate's drums took our track to a whole new level, which were on point and exactly what we were looking for. For anyone looking to work with Nate, I offer my highest recommendations.
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Nate knows how to bring the heartbeat of a song front and center. He will having you playing your song better. And the tonality of his recording is rich, organic, and mixes beautifully.
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Nate is the best! Awesome drummer! I definitely recommend hiring him to play drums on your tracks!
Interview with Nate Barnes
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: As both a drummer and songwriter, I can approach the track from a songwriter's perspective along with the proficiency and knowhow of a professional drummer and experienced engineer. Drum part construction is key for me but I also like to leave room for improvising and reacting to what I'm hearing in real time.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: My first step is to get on the same page with the writer, and I like to get a good feel for what the their vision is. I am the one who is being hired to be of service to the writer and make sure that their vision is achieved, and I love getting input from non-drummers on how they envision the drum track to sound because it can often result in a very cool and unique drum part. Having respect for the origination of the song idea is key for me- I often start hearing part ideas in my head right away when listening, but landing on the perfect drum part comes from a solid understanding of the writer's vision. My ultimate goal is to write creative parts that enhance and maximize the song without ever distracting from it. Reference tracks are always helpful for me as they give me a good idea sonically and stylistically of what the writer is after. After selecting the right drums, dialing in the perfect drum sound, and coming up with the general framework for the drum part, I start by recording 3 full "keeper" takes to give the client a few different vibes and options to choose from.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I work in my studio Monday through Friday, with the occasional fly date for a gig or session. I do live drum tracks remotely as well as in person sessions with producers and artists, and also do a lot of composing, drum programming, beat making, and mixing.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both have their places!
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I'll take working on your music very seriously and it will be of the utmost importance to me that I put my absolute best foot forward to elevate your track to the best of my abilities.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I love getting to help with people's creations- it's inspiring for me to see such creative output from writers and also serves a reminder for me to keep doing my own writing and creating.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Q: What files do you need to get started? A: Usually just a WAV file of the track with and without any programmed or placeholder drums and BPM of the track.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I would love to work with Tom Waits- the drums and percussion on his records is so uniquely HIM, and I would just love to experience and be a part of that first hand in the studio with him.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Simplify your arrangement as much as possible- the best sounding mixes are songs where everything has it's own space and the parts complement each other. Stacking a "wall of sound" of overdubs can lead to a cluttered mix where nothing can really shine in it's own space. Make each layer a vital component of the overall sound.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: I've done the most work in genres such as Rock, Pop, Country, Americana, and Singer-Songwriter, but I've also done tracks in just about every genre imaginable including Indie, Folk, Honky Tonk, Funk, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Electronic, EDM, World Music, Latin, Jazz, Fusion, Asian Pop, Bollywood, and more.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I would say that feel and taste are my strongest skills as a drummer. No matter what you play, it has to feel good and fit the song like a glove. Crowds love the fills but groove pays the bills!
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: There are so many- I grew up on 90's Rock and Classic Rock, so early influences were John Bonham, Dave Grohl, Ringo Starr, Chad Smith, Matt Cameron, Jimmy Chamberlain, Eric Kretz, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Moon. Some of my influences since growing up and "turning pro" have been Matt Chamberlain, Josh Freese, Steve Jordan, Aaron Sterling, Jim Keltner, Levon Helm, Hal Blaine, Brian Blade, and James Gadsen. I'm also a big fan of producers such as George Martin, Rick Rubin, Dave Sardy, Greg Wells, Brendan O' Brien, Tchad Blake, Daniel Lanois, and Blake Mills.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I primarily played with my original Rock n Roll band called Rose Hill Drive from age 16-28. We started touring shortly after high school and released 4 records over the course of around 10 years. We toured the world headlining shows and got to open for legendary acts such as The Who, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Queens Of The Stone Age, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Black Crowes. We were also fortunate to have been mentored by a local studio owner and were given free recording time when the studio wasn't otherwise booked, and logged countless hours and nights at that studio starting when I was 18. Learning my way around a full SSL console, patch bay, and outboard gear was very helpful in my eventual quest to record my own great sounding drum tracks. I started freelancing as a drummer around 2010 and also started engineering and producing other projects during that time. I've been doing in person sessions and online drum tracks out of my own space for almost 10 years now and am continually improving and iterating on my recording process and setup.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a modern digital recording studio with Universal Audio Apollos as the hub. This is a great sounding and very convenient setup as I am able to recall sessions in an instant should a client need revisions. I own most of the plugins that Universal Audio offers and I basically treat them like outboard gear, tracking through them using the Apollo software and printing them right into Logic. Their plugins sound so similar to the actual pieces of hardware, and I'm able to use a bit of EQ and run tracks through a virtual tape machine, resulting in mix-ready drum tracks. I have a great mic collection and also use Neve and API style external preamps. My studio is custom built for recording drums and is fully tuned and treated with top quality diffusion and absorption with a great room sound. The other main component of the sound is the drums themselves. I'm a Ludwig endorsed artist and use various series of their amazing drums ranging in size from a small jazz kit to a big Bonham-y rock kit, and I always make sure they're tuned perfectly and that all my microphones are in phase before recording. I always have a kit set up and mic'd in the room, but I can change anything and everything out to better tailor the drum sound to the specific track. I have a wide sonic range of Sabian cymbals and various drum knick knacks such as tea towels, mutes, muffling rings, tambourines, rivets, percussion, dowel brushes, etc to help me achieve the right sound and vibe.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm currently in the middle of writing and recording the follow up to my debut solo LP (Plutinos-LP). This time around I'm incorporating a lot more synths and programmed drums and have really enjoyed exploring new sonic spaces and honing my craft.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Bassist Jimmy Stofer and guitarist Daniel Sproul are two people I do a ton of work with. They are both on SoundBetter and are both phenomenal musicians and engineers. We collaborate remotely all the time and can help bring an extra layer of cohesion to the online recording process when we get to work on a project together.
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: The project I'm most proud of would be my debut solo LP, released under the name Plutinos. I wrote, recorded, performed, engineered, mixed, and mastered it all on my own. It was such a fun and fulfilling project for me and I learned a ton in the process. It's available worldwide on all major streaming and download services.
I was the Drummer in this production
- Nate Barnes Reel 1 (Rock/Pop)
- Nate Barnes Reel 2 (Indie/Americana)
- Infitite Eyes by Neon Castles
- Falling Away by Plutinos
- Live drum trackAverage price - $150 per song
- Programmed drumAverage price - $150 per song
- PercussionAverage price - $150 per song
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $350 per song
- Full instrumental productionContact for pricing
- Songwriter - MusicContact for pricing
- Beat MakerContact for pricing
Turnaround time is typically 2-5 business days after funding job and supplying materials, rush orders for tight deadlines available upon request
- Steve Jordan
- Dave Grohl
- Ringo Starr
- Ludwig Drums (various series and sizes)
- Sabian Cymbals (various series with a wide tonal range)
- Universal Audio Apollo X Interfaces
- API and Neve Preamps
- Industry Standard Microphones
Discount available for multiple tracks