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We never practised tempo's (actually we never practised) just played it to tempo on whoever starts it. Not always the same person.
1. is he consistently playing with tempos on all songs ? - if not what songs tempos or arrangements does he suffer with and why ? and likewise what makes him play well on others ? does he like material he plays well etc
2. is it live or at rehearsal too ? - stage volume monitoring venue adrenaline if live only?
3. have you asked another drummer / mate to step in for a few songs discretely and had improvements? if yes to former and no to latter then perhaps not just drummer ?
4. serious line up or mates band ? attitude is key p=c x a² where p=performance c=capability a=attitude ; if hes not taking it seriously then is that his perception of band or just him ..
5. Have you any sight of material from his former drumming gigs ? did he keep time then ?
6. have you played well to a drum track in his absence - record and play back to him ?
7. is he your mate ; relative of your other half ; brothers best man ; bassists auntie ? how important is great band vibe vs 100% timing - latter can be worked on ?
8. do you have great band vibe or are you looking for reason to move him on ? is there a personality clash that is influencing others playing and exacerbating timing issue ?
Whenever I've had lineups that had issues with "musicianship" - its not always been consistent and some of the above questions in quiet reflection / soul searching could be at root of the "timing" ..
good luck
Drum fills are one major source of tempo problems. I think the problem is that drummers only practice fills at one tempo, so when they perform a fill it gravitates to that tempo.
Incidentally I see this a lot with guitar players. They have obviously practiced a solo or lick at a certain tempo and then gravitate to that live. I have been guilty of this in the past.
Even if you practice with a metronome this can still be a problem if the song is being played at a tempo you haven't practiced the fill / lick at.
Practicing at slightly different tempi is very useful, and there is plenty of software out there that can slow down and speed up tracks slightly without changing the pitch if that's how you like to practice rather to a 'nome.
Starts of solos are often a problematic area.
https://maxforlive.com/library/device/4917/ru-bees
Can't VST drum apps offset the main DAW clock like the delay and glitch plugins do? I envisage a graph where you could enter the values or draw in the tempo variations, a bit like what you can do with velocity.
More to the point, many songs that get edited to the grid so to speak, still have tempo changes in them. So tempo isn't really enough information anyway I wouldn't say.
DAW's like Reason and Ableton allow you to setup groove maps, so you can edit the hell out of your content and then conform it to a groove. This groove doesn't have to be metronomic. It could be that you take 16 bars of Bonham playing and make all of your midi conform to that timing.
The possibilities are endless. But good time keeping is essential in my view.
A drummer that speeds up continuously to the point of it being unbearable is like a guitarist that constantly plays the wrong notes. I’d probably be looking for another drummer.