Gary James' Interview With Three Dog Night's Drummer
Pat Bautz



He's worked with some of the biggest names in the business. We're talking Dave Mason, Randy Meisner, Michael Johns, Badfinger, Freddy Fender, Jeffery Osborne, Nelson, Mickey Gilley, Wanda Jackson, and the list goes on and on. Oh, and he just happens to be Three Dog Night's drummer. And if that isn't enough, he has his own recording studio, RealDrumStudio.com and he's an audio engineer to top it off. The gentleman we are talking about is Pat Bautz.

Q - Pat, you have a custom drum track business. How much work is there such a service?

A - Well, I do so many things. Obviously I'm a drummer. I started as a drummer. I started working in recording studios when I was 18. I'm also an audio engineer. I do more than just drum tracks. There is a demand not so much as there used to be when there was me and one other guy. Everybody's doing it now. I write for Recording magazine as well, a contributing writer. I do a lot of things since I'm an engineer as well. I mix a lot of records. I do a lot of sample replacing. I do a lot of vocal tuning. I do a lot of that stuff as well too. In that respect I'm really busy. Sometimes I'm tuning vocals when I'm on an airplane flying to a gig. It just depends. I do local artists as well. So, I am really busy.

Q - Who is coming to you, established artists or up and coming artists?

A - It's more up and coming artists and songwriters. I don't get the established artist thing yet. At some point I will, I'm sure. I keep investing in my gear. I built a new studio two and a half years ago and I had it designed by Sonic Space, which is a Boston company that did a great job designing the acoustics of the studio. I have all kinds of stuff that has changed since I initially started this venture in what, 2002, 2003.

Q - Would a tribute artist come into your studio asking for drum tracks?

A - Well, they could. I don't think I've ever done a tribute artist in all my years of doing tracks, not that I haven't played with one 'live'. I don't think I've ever recorded tracks for a tribute artist, but that's an angle I didn't even consider. They could do that, but I haven't had any do that.

Q - You should consider marketing your service to tribute artists. Many of them tell me they do use tracks. It would be another avenue for you.

A - Well, that's true. It's a good idea. It would depend I guess on how much money that tribute artist is making. Some guys might be getting mini files off of one of those sites that have mini files and then other guys might be doing their own or hiring a guy like me. I didn't even think about that, but it's a good idea.

Q - You say that if you went the traditional route of going into a studio to record a drum track it would cost $1,000 and that's for one song.

A - Oh, absolutely.

Q - You will charge $75 to $150 a song and still make money.

A - Absolutely. You have to be a good session player to do it. You don't want to spend five or six hours trying to cut a tune. You won't be making any money doing it that way. When I cut songs for guys it's usually second pass and I've got what they're looking for.

Q - Is word of mouth how your reputation is building?

A - Yeah. I would say so. I mean, I get a lot of the same guys using me for stuff. I have like a producer in Salt Lake that has artists coming through all the time and he always sends them to me.

Q - You're Three Dog Night's drummer. Would you say that was your first big break?

A - I don't know about that. It depends on what you call a big break I guess. I've been in the band twenty-six years, so it's been a long term gig, obviously. When I was in Houston I had played on a Freddy Fender record. So, I was in the recording business and also playing drums on sessions. Yeah, I guess you could say that was my break, but I had done other national artists prior to that.

Q - I would say Three Dog Night had/has more national recognition than Freddy Fender, right?

A - Well, that's true. I mean, I worked at Mickey Gilley's place with Dave Mason who is not of course as large an artist as Three Dog Night, so you're correct in that respect.

Q - You came into the group after Floyd Sneed was out of the picture?

A - Yeah, I think it was Sneed, then Mick MeMeel, than it was me.

Q - And you did both the recording and touring?

A - Correct.

Q - How big is Three Dog Night these days?

A - I think we're doing 105 shows this year. (2018)

Q - That's a pretty busy schedule.

A - It is. Kind of what we do is work for three weeks, usually three or four shows in a row and then take eight to ten days off. Then do it again. We're taking some of July (2018) off, which we don't normally do because I don't think any of us have gone anywhere for the Summer in years but on the road. So, it gives us a chance to spend some time with the family.

Q - How are you traveling? Bus or plane?

A - It's commercial, because everybody lives everywhere. Danny and Michael are in L.A. and Sacramento respectively. Dave's an L.A. guy. Paul's a Detroit guy. I'm a Florida guy. So, you've got guys everywhere. If we all lived in L.A. maybe private (plane) would be the way to go, but basically we all fly to one central location, get on a tour bus, play three or four shows, fly home for two or three days, turn around, fly back to the next place, bus picks us up and that's how it works.

Q - Does the promoter supply the back line and you bring your own pedals and snare drum?

A - No. I have three Yamaha recording kits and there's a cartage company that basically takes care of all our gear. I shouldn't say we bus every place because some places are too far to bus. So we have three copies, one in Vegas and two in Indy. One of those is in a trailer attached to the bus which comes along with us and then if we have to fly out, one of those others sets of gear is at the venue and it's driven by one of the guys for the cartage company.

Q - I've never heard of a cartage company.

A - Hal Blaine, all those guys used to use cartage companys in L.A. to get their gear from one session to another set up by a tech. So, Hal Blaine would have his own cartage company that kept three or four of his drum kits at their place and they'd load it up. Let's say Hal had a session from nine to one at Capitol and then had to run over to Tracks Recording Studio and play another session at two, there was a guy setting up different kits at different sessions. So that's the same thing that's done 'live' now. I mean there's a lot of companys that do that similar thing.

Q - Did you have to go to the Berklee College Of Music Audio Engineering or could you have just learned on the job?

A - I would say school in anything is knowledge, but the ability to use it is learned in practical situations. So, school engineering I don't know. I think it's much better to get O.J. T. (On The Job Training). My suggestion is if you can get a second engineering gig or an apprentice situation, (take it.) That's how I learned initially.

Q - How long would it take a person to acquire the engineering skills you would need to work in a studio?

A - Well, it depends on the person.

Q - And there probably aren't that many opportunities out there to do that type of work.

A - I think you pretty much have to be a musician to be a really good engineer, in my opinion, because engineering encompasses so many things now. When you were just pushing a button and setting up a mic and understanding the physics of miking a vocal or miking a drum, that was analog engineering. But now you have digital engineering. You're tuning vocals. Well, if you don't know what a seak is and you can't hear if somebody is sharp or flat, how are you going to be tuning vocals? So, you can't just be an electronics guy. You pretty much have to be a musician as well.

Official Website: RealDrumStudio.com

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Photo from Gary James' Press Kit Collection