PLEASE help!!

[netdrop]

I am a drummer who listens to a lot of gospel drummers. Sometimes I can't hear the individual notes of their fills....so I got Audacity to slow the tempo of mp3's down...but it sounds weird....can't really hear the drums. Is there any free/cheap software out there that I can accomplish this with? Also, it would be AMAZING if there is software where i can just hear the drum parts of mp3's but that is probably impossible. So any suggestions for software, or for a way to tweak Audacity so it will work? Let me know!!!

[jmail]

The 1st thing you should do is convert the mp3 file to a wave. Better still, get an unadulterated wave file. That way, you don't have any of the wierd stuff that an mp3 conversion puts in the harmonics to make up for the lost audio. When you do your time stretch, are you also keeping the pitch the same? If you don't things will sound really muddy. Beyond that, there' not much to be done for it. It will sound wierd, no matter how good the conversion. Generally speaking, if it's a tough riff you're trying to get, select just that area, and slow it down just enough to catch it. That way, you can save the resultant file and then loop it over and over and over again, until you get sick of hearing it... but it gets ingrained in your noggin... work on one little stretch at a time.

[Bops2000]

Just as Jmail said sometimes "osmosis is the mostest man"!, you may qoute me.
What I would do is just that but take it one step further and chart it out, sometimes you can get the fills to work if you do the math.
A case in point for me; I had an audition with a band that did quite abit of Rush tunes, so I charted out Limelight the week before, and it took a while, as the time signature changes etc., I still can't play singlestrokes as fast as Peart, but I can double-stroke them in, and no one the wiser.
Another Idea, try using headphones in a relaxed quiet atmosphere, before bed, or when the place is calm, being a drummer, your brain is gonna pick up on a few things your 'head' may not.

[jmail]

Yeah, "dream" the part, if you will... "see" yourself playing it... (works sometimes, with lots of practice)... (of your instrument that is)... (your "musical" instrument, you dirty minds, you!)...

[Bops2000]

"be the ball- see the ball" - caddyshack...?

[howie15]

Be the Ball na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.

[jmail]

I *see* it - I *see* it!!! I can see the threads as the ball rotates, enroute to an engagement of contact with the noggin!!! Oh wait, that's not golf...