About Me
My name is Stephen McDaniel. I've been playing drums since 1975. I've been in many bands over the years, mostly in the Polk County area of Central Florida. Some of those bands are Innocent Exile, Alloyd Witch, The Urban Spacemen, Driver, and many other projects. For the last few years, I played drums for Burn Ritual, but that seems to be coming to an end, at least as a live act. Dave and I have already begun doing demos on the next Burn Ritual project, a full-length work with a continuing theme through all the songs. It promises to be something very special, very different. If we can ever actually get it completed and out for people to hear is another story. You may or may not ever hear it. I'll try and keep you posted. As far as the songs that are listed on this site, "Back to the Beginning," "The Other Side," and the live versions of "A Million Miles Away," and "Seasons Change" are all performed by Burn Ritual. They were written by Dave Gandia, Tracey Ferrell, and myself. "False Prophets" is just quick reference demo I did on my old analog 4-track.DO YOU NEED DRUM TRACKS RECORDED FOR FREE? I’m a drummer with over thirty years of live and studio experience. If you need drum tracks for your demo, I can record them for you. Here’s how we do it: You send me a rough version of your song with an audible click track in the mix, I lay down drum tracks for you and send them back to you in WAV, MP3, or WMA (stereo or mono, you specify) and you use them as basic tracks for your demo. I have a Roland TD-3 electronic drum kit that has an assload of sounds in it that I can use. If I send the drum tracks to you and you don’t like them, you’re under no obligation to use them. The more tracks you can send me on your rough (i.e. vocals, bass, guitars) the better it will come out. Bare minimum requirement is rhythm guitar (plus, of course, the aforementioned click track). The click is essential because if you just send me, say, guitar tracks with no click, the speed will vary too much and make it impossible for me to lay down drum tracks with consistent timing. I’ll do virtually any kind of music that you send me, but I specialize in rock and hard rock. My main influences are Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Kiss, Led Zep, etc., but I can also handle blues, country, rockabilly, even some rap if you’re a rapper that has some rhymes but no cool beat. Just rap over a click track and I’ll see what I can do. The best thing about this is that I’m offering my services for free just to give myself another creative outlet. All I asked for is a credit. First come, first served. If I get a shitload of offers I can’t handle, I may have to turn a few people down. One thing to please keep in mind is that I’m not a double-bass monster, and not too versed in the techniques required for death metal. Don’t get me wrong, I love the stuff, but it’s just not something I’m accustomed to playing. If this little experiment goes well, I may start charging a fee, but the first bunch of people that contact me will get their drum tracks for nothing. This will be great for people that want drum tracks done by an experienced drummer without the cost of having to record drum tracks in the studio. As you may or may not know, that usually takes up more time than any other part of the recording process, not to mention mixing. This will really simplify the recording process for you. To hear some samples of my work, go to the Burn Ritual Myspace site at myspace.com/burnritual1, or my drum site “Stephen McDaniel – Drummer," at myspace.com/stephenmcdanieldrums. I have plenty more samples if anyone wants to hear them. Hope to hear from someone. Let’s make some music.
