Gavin Harrison here! [Archive] - Page 15 - DRUMMERWORLD OFFICIAL DISCUSSION FORUM

Gavin Harrison

08-26-2009, 03:34 PM

Hi Kalma

-1- How do you program your clicktracks?

On Logic Pro

-2- How do you get such an dry sound to your snares without dampening?

I use zero rings on the top head of the snare.

Hi Drum-R

Did you get an 20'' Oriental Crash of Doom and cut it down to 18''...
Because on Zildjian site there's no 18'' Crash of Doom

Yes I think they use to make the 18" available. Maybe not any more.

Hi KevShephard

What is the usual rule around bringing a camera into a Porcupine Tree show (just a Sony Cybershot, nothing pro)? It seems most bands have become more lenient in what they allow into a concert lately.

We discourage the use of any recording. I know all these modern cameras can take video as well - but it looks and sounds REALLY bad - and for some reason we can't understand - people feel compelled to upload these videos to YouTube or something similar. It doesn't do anyone any favours. A lot of phones can do it now too. I'm not suggesting that you're going to do that - but we can only have one policy. Hope you like the show.

Hi D-a-n-i-e-l

I've been using the Beatnik-pad for a few weeks now and i think it's great! I would like to know, how you use it. Do you go for the 100% in expert mode or prefer to draw a straight line just a little behind the beat ? Which modes do you use ?
And - just for fun but nevertheless interesting - what would be typical scores that you reach ?

Sometimes I set it to 16ths at 44 bpm "Expert Mode" and score around the 70% mark - but you need to do it for a couple of minutes for the score to really settle down and be reflective of what you're doing of course.

I saw the Beatnik guys at PASIC and they were running a test just for fun that a lot of people were trying out. Here's the test: you program in a two bar "Phrase" - here's the beats

BAR ONE
1. quarter note
2. quarter note
3. two 8th notes
4. three 8th note triplets

BAR TWO
5. four 16ths
6. six triplet 16ths
7. eight 32nd notes
8. one quarter note

and then it repeats. Set the tempo to 60bpm - and play through the whole two bar cycle eight times. The skill level is set to "Medium". After you stop you can go to "Phrase Setup" and make sure it's displaying "History 1" and then you can turn the dial and see what percentage score you got for each beat. Add them all up (maximum score would be 800) and that would 100% on every beat. Hit "Reset" and start over.

cheers
Gavin

shortsman

08-26-2009, 05:27 PM

AT LAST!!! I found the Sanity And Gravity cd!!! Brand New!!! I took it to my hands today and i already listened to it 3 times! I cannot say anything cause it's too soon but it sounds fantastic so far!!!! Gavin your playing once again is amazing! You're an amazing musician, not just an amazing drummer! My respect to you once more!

Drummerseb

08-26-2009, 05:44 PM

Hi Gavin and others!

Hope I´m not posting this in the wrong section, but I made some kind of Ad/tribute to one of my favourite drum books, "Rhythmic Illusions" and posted it on youtube, just playing som examples from the book.

Hope this is ok with you =)

love your music and your books!

The clip in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTjfm_1YL6Y

All the best/Sebastian

drummingman

08-28-2009, 11:29 AM

Hey Gavin,
I have both your books, rhythmic illusions & rhythmic perspectives. I'm not very good at understanding or playing polyrhythms, & I was wondering if I should get a beginning level book on polyrhythms & go through it first, before I go through your books to get a better understanding of polyrhythms, that way I can fully understand your books? Is that something I need to do to be able to understand the things in your books?

Also, do you do private lessons when your on the road? If you do, do you plan to be in the states, Virginia, Maryland, or DC anytime in the near future? I would really like to get a lessen with you.

Also, could you tell me what notes your talking about when you say 12th note & 24th note? I have never heard anyone to these notes other then you.

drummerboi81

08-30-2009, 04:24 AM

Hey Guys
I was just wondering about how many rotations you do on each lug to get the right pitch
for everyone to compare (: Just list the size of the drum, How many rotations and possibly resonant or batter side.
THANKS!!!!

ItalianRicky

08-31-2009, 12:50 AM

Hi Gus

In your previous dvds you enclosed Italian and German subtitles. Have you thought in doing Spanish subtitles for you forthcoming one?.

There will not be any subtitles on the next DVD. I don't think anyone actually appreciated them on the previous DVDs - and it was a MASSIVE amount of work/time/money to do them.

Hi Gavin, i take your post ad i wanna reply you, and this probably is the first time that i'll not agree with you!
All the Italian drummers that i ever met, that have your DVD's LOVES them.Because those are simply AMAZING.And because those drum methods are subtitled in Italian.
So you can say that it will be expensive, and that it take a LOT of time, but i can tell you: YOUR SUBTITLES ARE APRECIATED A LOT. ;)

cheers from Italy
Riccardo

Gavin Harrison

09-01-2009, 01:37 AM

Hi shortsman

AT LAST!!! I found the Sanity And Gravity cd!!! Brand New!!!

wow a rare find indeed! Glad you like it.

Hi Drummerseb,
thanks for the posts.

Hi drummingman

I have both your books, rhythmic illusions & rhythmic perspectives. I'm not very good at understanding or playing polyrhythms, & I was wondering if I should get a beginning level book on polyrhythms & go through it first, before I go through your books to get a better understanding of polyrhythms, that way I can fully understand your books? Is that something I need to do to be able to understand the things in your books?

I don't know at what level you are at - so it's impossible to really say. I can tell you that you're going to need a reasonably good understanding of rhythm/syncopation/polyrhythms for it to really make any sense. I don't know of any 'polyrhythmic starter' books.

Also, do you do private lessons when your on the road?

Sorry but I don't teach privately.

Also, could you tell me what notes your talking about when you say 12th note & 24th note?

As with 16th notes and 8th notes - meaning 16 (or 8) to a bar of 4/4. 12th notes are 12 to a bar (otherwise called 8th note triplets or triplet quavers) and 24ths are of course 24 to a bar (otherwise called 16th note triplets - or semiquaver triplets).

Hi drummerboi81

I was just wondering about how many rotations you do on each lug to get the right pitch for everyone to compare (: Just list the size of the drum, How many rotations and possibly resonant or batter side.

That would be pretty hard to do as it's not starting from a defined point. I can go from finger tight - but even then it depends on the head and how tight I can get the lugs to finger tight in the first place - then I stretch the head (an unmeasurable amount) and re-tighten. Even if I could work it out - I really don't think it would help anyone. If you do a search you can find the exact pitch of all my toms from an earlier post.

Hi ItalianRicky,

thanks - you're the first person to ever tell me about the subtitles.

cheers
Gavin

jake_larson

09-01-2009, 06:26 AM

Gavin I want to say you are my hero, you are one of the best drummers ever IMHO. So I have a question, will you ever come to Utah for a clinic or with porcupine tree. I really hope you guys do come cause i love PT and i love your drumming, anyway keep rockin.

NickPavlou_GR

09-01-2009, 11:10 AM

Hello Gavin.

This in Nikos, 22 yo from Greece.

I discovered PT when I was 15 when a friend of mine brought "In Absentia" over to my place to hear the CD. I was really blown away from the tunes I heard!! And I became one of the most active fans of Porcupine Tree as far as I know. That's why they got me the nickname "Porcupine" since then :P

Check out this picture:

http://www.geocities.com/p_socrates1986/pt_col.JPG

Nice huh? However, when I heard "IA" I wanted to hear more of you guys and I purchased the older CDs and immediately I noticed that you were not on the drums. To be honest I was a bit dissapointed (not that Chris wasn't enough), but the groove and the feeling that you give to the music, is something that not many people will succeed in this way, after you.

The same year I started playing drums, and I had an instructor from Greece, named Yiannis Stavropoulos. I suppose you never heard of him. He is a jazz drummer, propably the best in Greece at the moment, he is about 45 now and he was a student in Berklee (I think the same year with Mike Portnoy, if I can recall correctly :P)

Here's his channel in YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/sichameleon

He has 9 jamming clips, I hope that you might find them interesting!

I love Jam Number 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4SL-8sytgM&fmt=18
and
Jam Number 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vSvHQOBNak

Tell me what you think!!

Anyhow, drumming for me is something that I do for fun. That's why I rarely study since I dedicate more of my time at my work which is Sound Engineering. Btw anyone who is curious about how a Force 3003 sounds, I wound say it's great since I own one (7 piece kit, 8" - 10" - 12" - 14" - 16" - 22" and 14") since I noticed many of these questions in the first 43 pages I managed to read these days!

In any case, I have some questions for you Gavin!

1. Watching you in Lycabettus Theatre in Athens in 2005 was something spectacular! (I had the ticket number 0002!! I guess 0001 was bought actually by the guy who was selling the tickets!! Hehe!) So... After this show, you released Deadwing, FoaBP, NR and now you are going to release "The Incident" and still we haven't see you touring around here! Basically I think that something happened here that was a bad experience for you and that's why you're avoiding Greece. Am I correct ? Or is there something else that makes you leave Greece out of touring? I was thinking about coming in England and attending on of your gigs, but it is way too expensive idea for a single night :/

2. Great work on "Time Flies" preview!! What I want to ask on this is that, Stevens voice has something "vintage" that makes me recall older decades. Do you know if he used any plugin in order to create this feeling? Or even if he did something in the mixing process?

3. This year I finished my Bachelor course on Sound Engineering. It was a distance-course with the Preston University in America and as far as I know, I can go on with a post-graduate after this one. I've heard that in England, especially in London there are some very nice universities in case I want to do this step. Can you suggest any? Or could you ask Steven for his advice and reply to me if it is not hard for you? I really like what he said: "What I originally fell in love with when I was a kid was the whole idea of making records." We are pretty much the same! :P

4. Let's say, that I want to work with you, with the PA staff. Is there this possibility? I guess not since you probably all know each other and you're a team but I was always curious :)

Thanx for your time, I hope you are going to find interesting the videos of my instructor, and sorry for the long post!

Nick
Cheers!!

P.S. I have a small home studio right now and I am going to expand the next months and I assume that in October I will start recordings for my EP. It is heavily influenced by Porcupine Tree, not so many odd rhythms and stuff but surely as a sound reference! Would you be interested in sending you over a demo just to check it out ? Thank you once again :)

Drummerseb

09-02-2009, 01:43 PM

Oh, Gavin!

I was so anxious to get some kind of comment (preferably constructive critique of ANY kind or aspect) If you find it in you please give an honest opinion, I can take it! =)

The clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTjfm_1YL6Y

Take care/Seb

Swiss Matthias

09-02-2009, 11:58 PM

He previously stated he chooses not to comment any recordings of fellow board members.

Drummerseb

09-03-2009, 12:32 AM

He previously stated he chooses not to comment any recordings of fellow board members.

Which makes sense when I think about it. My bad...

jez-

09-03-2009, 02:00 AM

Gavin, in the teaser video for the PT-album The Incident you said that "you were never allowed to do this thing in a rockband" or something like that. What were you talking about?

ProgJazzy(QC)

09-03-2009, 02:06 AM

Hi Gavin, just wanna say for being such an inspiration to me, im currently studying Jazz in college here in Quebec city in Canada and its been really usefull to my playing i still dont know if ill see myself as a Jazz Drummer but i still like the feel it gives to my playing and ideas i can grab on! I bought 3 tickets for the Montreal show on September 29th i cant wait to see a second time you guys live!

I got a question for you! I this video which is you playing So What at Pasic 2008, around 1:40 i see you playing rolls what are these actually, are these 16th triplets? and where do you actually start to play them on 1 or the and of 2?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwWoOMALJrQ

Thx and see you on september 29!
Ethan!

drumbumhamza

09-03-2009, 07:47 AM

Hello Sir,
I think you ought to have a look at this
http://www.rsjonline.com/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3895&PN=1
people out here are going crazy over some rumour of PT coming down to play in december
is there any trace of truth in that ?

also iv been tripping on Circles off late
the buzz roll in Faith that comes around 2 minutes into the song is unbelievable
the first time i heard it...i played it back 4 times to actually digest the fact that a drummer can play such a roll with such control, clarity and more importantly...feel.
i think that track is by far one of the most musically expressive pieces iv ever heard

it cost me a bomb to ship it to India...but id like to tell everyone on the forum ITS WORTH IT....please buy a copy ..... its a treasure chest of rhythmic knowledge

cheers
(and thanks for making such an album)

Gavin Harrison

09-03-2009, 12:47 PM

Hi NickPavlou_GR

1. Watching you in Lycabettus Theatre in Athens in 2005 - After this show, you released Deadwing, FoaBP, NR and now you are going to release "The Incident" and still we haven't see you touring around here! Basically I think that something happened here that was a bad experience for you and that's why you're avoiding Greece. Am I correct ? Or is there something else that makes you leave Greece out of touring? I was thinking about coming in England and attending on of your gigs, but it is way too expensive idea for a single night :/

I know we haven't been to Greece in a long time. Nothing bad happened at all - we just haven't been able to fit in into our schedule.

2. Great work on "Time Flies" preview!! What I want to ask on this is that, Stevens voice has something "vintage" that makes me recall older decades. Do you know if he used any plugin in order to create this feeling? Or even if he did something in the mixing process?

You should ask Steve that.

3. This year I finished my Bachelor course on Sound Engineering. It was a distance-course with the Preston University in America and as far as I know, I can go on with a post-graduate after this one. I've heard that in England, especially in London there are some very nice universities in case I want to do this step. Can you suggest any?

I'm not really in touch with the Universities in the UK so I can't recommend one. I'm sure there are some - I'm just the wrong person to ask. Sorry.

4. Let's say, that I want to work with you, with the PA staff. Is there this possibility? I guess not since you probably all know each other and you're a team but I was always curious :)

The PA is handled by our sound engineer. He would be the person who chooses the PA staff.

Hi jez-

Gavin, in the teaser video for the PT-album The Incident you said that "you were never allowed to do this thing in a rockband" or something like that. What were you talking about?

I was reiterating something that Robert Fripp had said to me: "Play what you've always wanted to play in a rock band - but were never allowed"

Hi ProgJazzy(QC)

I got a question for you! I this video which is you playing So What at Pasic 2008, around 1:40 i see you playing rolls what are these actually, are these 16th triplets? and where do you actually start to play them on 1 or the and of 2?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwWoOMALJrQ

I think they're 5 stroke rolls (32nd note) starting on beat 2.

Hi drumbumhamza

I think you ought to have a look at this
http://www.rsjonline.com/Forum/forum...?TID=3895&PN=1
people out here are going crazy over some rumour of PT coming down to play in december is there any trace of truth in that ?

Yes there's a good possibility. We have been asked and we'd love to do it. I think there's still a few details to iron out so it's not confirmed yet - but let's hope it happens!! Glad you're enjoying "Circles".

cheers
Gavin

drumbumhamza

09-03-2009, 07:57 PM

Yes there's a good possibility. We have been asked and we'd love to do it. I think there's still a few details to iron out so it's not confirmed yet - but let's hope it happens!! Glad you're enjoying "Circles".

cheers
Gavin

:) thanks for the info
hope it works out
hope we meet this time (I barely shook hands with you in London)
(PS the institute you'll be coming to is coincidentally the same institute at which i teach drums :) )

cygnify

09-03-2009, 09:06 PM

Hi Gavin -

I'm patiently waiting for "The Incident" from the clips I've heard so far, this sounds to be an amazing work! Do you feel the excitement in anticipation of the release date and the public hearing it or is that all gone now in favor of the upcoming tour?

Another question that goes back a few years - for the DVD "Arriving Somewhere" there were a number of tracks played at the concerts in Chicago but not included on the DVD:

Radioactive Toy (played both nights; I know the bonus tracks included this from another show)
Deadwing
Gravity Eyelids
Mellotron Scratch
Strip the Soul
Shesmovedon

I was curious why these performances from Chicago were not included on the DVD and might these ever see a release?

thanks; all the best -

Huwbean

09-03-2009, 11:53 PM

Hello!
I have a solo oppertunity coming up soon, and was wondering if you have the backing track for that (awesome) song that you can be seen playing on your Drummerworld page that's like a Big Band/Hip-Hop track (that I unfortunately don't know the name of) available for download or purchase from anywhere, like the 19 Days track was made available through Rhythmin Horizons?

If not, is there anywhere you can recommend that I can get drumless backing tracks from, as I'm in desparate need of finding something to play along to that I can really make my own, preferably without the drums already there!

Thank you!

Huw

Gavin Harrison

09-04-2009, 11:26 AM

Hi cygnify

Do you feel the excitement in anticipation of the release date and the public hearing it or is that all gone now in favor of the upcoming tour?

Not really - I've heard the record thousands of times already as I was working on it. I'll probably never listen to it ever again!!

Another question that goes back a few years - for the DVD "Arriving Somewhere" there were a number of tracks played at the concerts in Chicago but not included on the DVD:
I was curious why these performances from Chicago were not included on the DVD and might these ever see a release?

We chose what we thought were the right songs for the DVD to have a flow to it. Sure there were other songs and alternative performances too (plus some soundcheck performances) - but I think it dilutes the quality if you just release everything. The material on the disc is (in our opinion) the best stuff.

Hi Huwbean

I have a solo oppertunity coming up soon, and was wondering if you have the backing track for that (awesome) song that you can be seen playing on your Drummerworld page that's like a Big Band/Hip-Hop track (that I unfortunately don't know the name of) available for download or purchase from anywhere, like the 19 Days track was made available through Rhythmin Horizons?

No it's not available.

If not, is there anywhere you can recommend that I can get drumless backing tracks from, as I'm in desparate need of finding something to play along to that I can really make my own, preferably without the drums already there!

have a look at www.drumfun.com there's loads of good sounding drum-less tracks there.

cheers
Gavin

NeuroAxis

09-04-2009, 06:48 PM

If not, is there anywhere you can recommend that I can get drumless backing tracks from, as I'm in desparate need of finding something to play along to that I can really make my own, preferably without the drums already there!

Thank you!

Huw

In addition to what Gavin recommended, if you purchase Drumhead magazine it usually comes with a CD that has at least one 'playalong track' where they give you the full band on one track of the CD and then everything minus drums on the next tracks, as well as transcriptions of all the drum parts in the magazine. The playalong track usually features a click track as well, though, so I don't know if that would be good for your purposes.

drumbumhamza

09-05-2009, 01:50 AM

PT play in India
09-04-2009

Porcupine Tree are happy to announce their first ever performance in India. It will take place on 21st December at the Mood Indigo festival, ITT Bombay, in Mumbai. More info soon.

wooooohooooooooo
cant wait

cantstandyourfunk

09-05-2009, 12:28 PM

If that really happens, I'm booking flights NOW! Count me in 200% :)

angelo

09-05-2009, 02:26 PM

Hi Gavin, i take your post ad i wanna reply you, and this probably is the first time that i'll not agree with you!
All the Italian drummers that i ever met, that have your DVD's LOVES them.Because those are simply AMAZING.And because those drum methods are subtitled in Italian.
So you can say that it will be expensive, and that it take a LOT of time, but i can tell you: YOUR SUBTITLES ARE APRECIATED A LOT. ;)

cheers from Italy
Riccardo

Hi Gavin
Hi Riccardo

I agree with ItalianRicky, your works are wonderful, and all the italian drummers have appreciated a lot your work.your subtitles are appreciated a lot. You are really a great. "you're number one " we love you thanks a lot from all italian drummer

NeuroAxis

09-05-2009, 09:18 PM

For anyone who hasn't been to the PT site lately, Gavin recently participated in the Stick it to MS event in Brimingham, at which 582 drummers broke a world record by playing in unison for over 5 minutes. There's a montage of video footage here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhryPbjaadU

Just wanted to thank you Gavin for taking part in this kind of important work. MS has affected my life personally as well so it was nice to see so many people working for this good cause.

I was also curious; were you just down on the floor with all the other drummers, or what was your participation exactly?

Gavin Harrison

09-05-2009, 10:41 PM

Hi NeuroAxis

Just wanted to thank you Gavin for taking part in this kind of important work. MS has affected my life personally as well so it was nice to see so many people working for this good cause. I was also curious; were you just down on the floor with all the other drummers, or what was your participation exactly?

I was on the stage. It wasn't an event that I was invited to -I think most of the drummers on stage had played the day before at the Birmingham Drum Fest - but when I read about Stick It To MS I felt a call to duty and contacted the organisers and told them I wanted to join in. It was an amazing day. I don't think I've ever heard a noise quite like it!!!!

cheers
Gavin

DTrocks

09-06-2009, 01:28 AM

Hey Gavin!

Okey, not a very drum-related question this..but here you go.

Do you have spotify? If so, do you have a playlist you want to share? Just noticed the playlist site on the PT-page, and I really liked the Aaron parks - Invisible cinema album! Some great stuff!

cheers!

Jonn151

09-07-2009, 04:35 AM

Hello Mr. Harrison. First off, I think its amazing that you can dedicate time to your fans and i'm sure everyone here really apreciates it.
Massive fan, i love your creativity and your smoothing of odd time signatures. Infact i love just about everything in your drumming, everything is very unique and you inspire me to try harder every day.
I just wanted to ask about tuning the reso head on the toms, what technique you use if it wouldn't be giving away too much. I've been struggling with tuning my resos a lot lately.
Pre-ordered the new Porcupine Tree album, can't wait to hear it.
All the best and Thank You in advance

drumbumhamza

09-07-2009, 10:06 PM

Hello Sir,
I thought you'd wana take a look at these clippings.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/4128/scan0001large.jpg

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/3016/scan0002large.jpg

I'll keep an eye out for other articles as well. There are gona be tonnes of these :P

Cheers

raguer

09-08-2009, 07:56 AM

Hi Gav how are u? i hope fine,

What could I say the new cd of PT its so amazing
can you tell me what do you do in boonie the cat and the metric about this track
you sound so tight so fat so wonderful man, you inspire me to put my sticks into the drums everyday and be the best i can be

cheers and god bless u man
i hope to see you someday here in mexico doing a drum clinic one of these days ;)

Raul Guereca,

ItalianRicky

09-09-2009, 11:03 PM

Hi ItalianRicky,

thanks - you're the first person to ever tell me about the subtitles.

cheers
Gavin

Oh, thanks to you!It is only the truth.
And i will appreciate your next dvd in english too =)
But don't understimate your previous subtitled works!
I ensure you, there's a lot of italian drummers that really love your dvd's!

madsurfer

09-10-2009, 10:41 AM

Hi Gavin!

Nice to have you here!
I've just listened to "The Incident" and I'm really impressed! And your versatile playing is a really big part of that success.

Now my question: do you especially work alone with Colin Edwin to get these fantastic bass-drums interactions or does it simply comes together while playing the tunes with the full band?

Thanks and cheers!
Jerome

Gavin Harrison

09-10-2009, 01:54 PM

Hi DTrocks

Do you have spotify? If so, do you have a playlist you want to share? Just noticed the playlist site on the PT-page, and I really liked the Aaron parks - Invisible cinema album! Some great stuff!

No I don't have Spotify - the whole thing terrifies me. I had a look at it and couldn't understand how any musician or artist would ever get paid from it. Do you know?
Yes I love the Aaron Parks album - the Esbjorn Svensson Trio live in Stockholm DVD is amazing too.

Hi Jonn151

I just wanted to ask about tuning the reso head on the toms, what technique you use if it wouldn't be giving away too much. I've been struggling with tuning my resos a lot lately.

I've just filmed a section about this for my new book/DVD package (with Terry Branam) that will be coming out soon. I would suggest that you take off the top head - or try to mute it whilst you're working on the reso head - it's a difficult thing to get right. I usually have it slightly higher in pitch than the top head. Check out Bob Gatzen's videos about tuning on YouTube.

Hi drumbumhamza,
thanks for the clippings.

Hi raguer and madsurfer,

How have you heard the record already? It isn't released yet?

cheers
Gavin

madsurfer

09-10-2009, 04:04 PM

Gavin[/QUOTE]

Hi raguer and madsurfer,

How have you heard the record already? It isn't released yet?

cheers
Gavin[/QUOTE]

Hi Gavin

Here in Switzerland you could find it in some shops since Tuesday (official release date is tomorrow, though), so it has already intensively spun in my CD-player! I think it's your best effort since In Absentia. It's a lot richer and versatile than Fear of a blank planet, in my opinion.

By the way, what is your favourite PT album so far (question 1)

And (question 2):
I wondered if you and Colin worked a lot together, I mean just the two of us, to get together the basis of some songs or if you know so well each other than everything comes together while playing together with the whole band. It interests me a lot, as I am a bassist AND a drummer (more a bassist than an drummer, though... ;))

Thanks in advance for your kind answer and carry the good work with the Porcupine Guys!

All the best from Switzerland
Jerome

gapwedge

09-10-2009, 04:25 PM

Hi raguer and madsurfer,

How have you heard the record already? It isn't released yet?

cheers
Gavin

I am sad to report that I was offered a (presumably illegally downloaded) copy of the album last week. I already have the limited edition of the album on order, so was never going to allow a piece of probably poor quality, over-compressed junk to soil my cd player or assault my ear drums.

madsurfer

09-10-2009, 07:08 PM

I am sad to report that I was offered a (presumably illegally downloaded) copy of the album last week. I already have the limited edition of the album on order, so was never going to allow a piece of probably poor quality, over-compressed junk to soil my cd player or assault my ear drums.

It's not a copy, it's the official Roadrunner release. If you take a look at the PT-forum, you'll see that a lot of people have received the CDs, even the limited edition. I'm against bootleg and illegal download, what makes me rather old-fashioned, I guess, but I think that the musicians deserve to get paid at the end of the day, wonder why it's such a rare opinion these days...

mrbutterskin

09-10-2009, 08:01 PM

Hi Gavin,

Its a pleasure to see you on here.

Couple questions:
1. Can you remember which cymbals you used on In Absentia? There's one in particular I'm curious about, which you used around 1:14 ish, it sounds like it comes before a small china hit.

2. I've only seen one video with you using the 18" Oriental crash of doom, do you only use it for certain events? Or has it just recently become a part of your arsenal and there are videos out there before you had it?

Thanks!

NeuroAxis

09-10-2009, 08:38 PM

It's not a copy, it's the official Roadrunner release. If you take a look at the PT-forum, you'll see that a lot of people have received the CDs, even the limited edition. I'm against bootleg and illegal download, what makes me rather old-fashioned, I guess, but I think that the musicians deserve to get paid at the end of the day, wonder why it's such a rare opinion these days...

Agreed. I don't want to drive the discussion off topic but as someone trying to make a living as a professional drummer it boggles my mind how many people profess to enjoy and support someone's playing while refusing to do anything to support that person's playing, like paying for the products the person puts out so they can actually pay the bills and continue to put out the drumming that they claim to support so much.

dr.funkenstien

09-10-2009, 09:00 PM

Hey Gavin, What drummers have been the biggest influence on you? Mine are Keith Carlock, and Yourself.

Thanks
Brendan

Mr. Brownstone

09-10-2009, 09:07 PM

Hey Gavin, What drummers have been the biggest influence on you?

http://www.askgavinharrison.com/tags/48-Influences/articles

DTrocks

09-10-2009, 09:46 PM

haha. I don't know... but I see your point.

Ah. Better check out that dvd then! Thanks!

Ps: any other live music-dvds you want to recommend? Jazz, Funk, rock style..

And will the new PT-dvd be released on bluray disc? or just dvd?

phil_EN

09-11-2009, 10:58 AM

Hi Gavin,

I read about your choice of snare wires, which are Puresound 12 strand cut down to 8 strands. Do you use the Equalizer Series or just the normal ones? Any feedback to the EQ Series?

Thanks in advance,

Phil

Gavin Harrison

09-11-2009, 03:43 PM

Hi madsurfer

By the way, what is your favourite PT album so far (question 1)

Probably Nil Recurring and Deadwing

And (question 2):
I wondered if you and Colin worked a lot together, I mean just the two of us, to get together the basis of some songs or if you know so well each other than everything comes together while playing together with the whole band. It interests me a lot, as I am a bassist AND a drummer (more a bassist than an drummer, though... ;))

We worked together during the writing sessions but we didn't record together.

It's not a copy, it's the official Roadrunner release. If you take a look at the PT-forum

I try to never look at that forum - I've never seen so much moaning and complaining about everything we do - and it appears a few folks on there hate me and go out of their way to say so. It's depressing reading.

Hi mrbutterskin

1. Can you remember which cymbals you used on In Absentia? There's one in particular I'm curious about, which you used around 1:14 ish, it sounds like it comes before a small china hit.

I can remember some of them - which song are you talking about?

2. I've only seen one video with you using the 18" Oriental crash of doom, do you only use it for certain events? Or has it just recently become a part of your arsenal and there are videos out there before you had it?

Do you mean YouTube videos? There's quite a few where I'm using the 18" Crash Of Doom" and quite a few from a time before I had it. I don't use for everything.

Hi DTrocks

Ps: any other live music-dvds you want to recommend? Jazz, Funk, rock style..

Weather Report Live in Montreux 1976 is nice and so is Pat Metheny "The Way Up Live".

And will the new PT-dvd be released on bluray disc? or just dvd?

I don't know - I hope it will make it to Bluray.

Hi phil_EN

I read about your choice of snare wires, which are Puresound 12 strand cut down to 8 strands. Do you use the Equalizer Series or just the normal ones? Any feedback to the EQ Series?

I like the standard "custom series" - the eq series are the ones that have a few missing from the middle right? That's kind of the opposite of what I'm really trying to achieve by cutting down the 12 strands to 8....so they weren't my cup of tea.

cheers
Gavin

mrbutterskin

09-11-2009, 06:42 PM

Of course I would forget to put the song haha...

I was wondering about the Sound of Muzak

I appreciate the answers!

Gavin Harrison

09-11-2009, 08:37 PM

Hi mrbutterskin,
it's a 6" A zildjian splash

cheers
Gavin

raguer

09-11-2009, 09:29 PM

SantiBanks

09-11-2009, 11:02 PM

hi gav i hear the songs of the new cd from Pt because one friend download a whole cd in ares software with a bad sound, i pre ordered my cd from amazon, but i think this is so bad for the music all of the ejecutives from the disc companys could think i one new way to sell the music cause this is steal music and afect all the musicians in the world :(

what do u think of antonio sanchez from pat metheny group? he is mexican like me :)

cheers gav

I'm not Gavin but I know Antonio's work pretty well, beeing a huge Metheny and the likes fan myself. He's one of the best drummers in Jazz I think. The stuff he plays on most of Metheny's stuff is so complex and fast but you'll never notice it most of the times anyways because it blends so well.

I remember an anekdote, I believe I read it somewhere in an interview with Pat. He said that when Antonio joined the band, Antonio called Paul Wertico after one day of rehearsals with the question how he was able to play all those parts for all those years. He said he didn't felt his arms anymore and the only thing Paul could do was laugh and tell him that this will stay for at least the next two weeks and that it will get better afterwards.
Some of those ride patterns are pretty fast and hard…

[edited]I noticed that Gavin recommended the Way Up live dvd so I guess he enjoys Sanchez (though he already stated a couple of times that he likes Metheny a lot).
And Metheny is going to tour again next year with his Orchestrion project. No Sanchez however (in fact, only computer controlled devices…). Got my tickets for Eindhoven and Amsterdam!

One small question for Gavin (sorry to bother you with these kind of questions but I couldn't find anything on the roadrunner, burningshed or PT websites about it).
I noticed that there is a dvd-audio disk with the deluxe edition of the Incident. Do you perhaps know if the dvd-audio will be released as a separate disk like with the previous 3 albums?

jr100

09-12-2009, 02:26 AM

Hey Gavin; Just received "The Incident" today, listening as I type, sounds incredible! -Another keeper from PT!. Looking forward to seeing you guys 9/24 at Terminal 5 in NYC, Take care.

stikzNskinz

09-12-2009, 01:22 PM

PT at The Vic, Chicago, IL, Sept. 22, 2009

I am traveling to Chicago for this show, but my wife can't make the trip as planned, which leaves me with 1 extra ticket (ROABP pre-sale). The show is sold out, but if someone would like to meet me at The Vic the night of the show and cover the cost of the ticket (face value), I would be happy to pass it on. I can't meet sooner, as I don't arrive in Chicago until the 22nd and the tickets are at Will Call.

email me at: stikzandskinz@hotmail.com

I couldn't think of where else to post this. I was hoping to reach a TRUE FAN of Gavin's and PT, rather than the general public. If I am wrong to post this here, I apologize, but I couldn't find anything in FAQ that prohibits it.

Ogg

09-12-2009, 09:51 PM

Hi cygnify

Do you feel the excitement in anticipation of the release date and the public hearing it or is that all gone now in favor of the upcoming tour?

Not really - I've heard the record thousands of times already as I was working on it. I'll probably never listen to it ever again!!

Hah, dispel our myths why dont you Gavin :)

Personally I haven't been this excited about a new release since FOABP and can't wait to here the band collectively and focus on a certain's drummers playing of course. It may be just a job to you mate but it means so much more to us mortals.
Being a postie I was so hoping to find my copy today rather than on monday alas no luck. What pissed me off is that I delivered several copies of the new Muse album so why not PT? :)

Anyway, my copy of 'Circles' arrived yesterday and I'm trying to get my head around the genius on display. Playing the title track as I type, hoping that my question comes across clearly. From the start of the track are you hitting the edge of the toms (the 'click' sound ) as well as everything else? If you have the time would you explain?
Can't wait for PT at Bristol in a few weeks. Thank you for the continuing inspiration.

Gavin Harrison

09-12-2009, 11:41 PM

Hi raguer

what do u think of antonio sanchez from pat metheny group? he is mexican like me :)

I love his drumming - as I mentioned I really enjoyed The Way Up Live DVD.

Hi SantiBanks

I noticed that there is a dvd-audio disk with the deluxe edition of the Incident. Do you perhaps know if the dvd-audio will be released as a separate disk like with the previous 3 albums?

Sorry but I really don't know.

Hi Ogg

Anyway, my copy of 'Circles' arrived yesterday and I'm trying to get my head around the genius on display. Playing the title track as I type, hoping that my question comes across clearly. From the start of the track are you hitting the edge of the toms (the 'click' sound ) as well as everything else? If you have the time would you explain?

Yes I play the rim on the snare drum - I did a similar thing on a verse of "Way Out Of Here" by PT. It's a sound I quite like. When the new book/DVD package comes out - you'll see that "Circles" pattern on the video.

Cheers
Gavin

P.S next Thursday 17th of Sept I'll be doing a meet and greet signing session at San Jose Pro Drum shop 303 Stockton Avenue • San Jose, CA 95126 at 4:30pm

DrummerStan

09-13-2009, 01:03 AM

Hello there again Gavin. Two more questions :D

1. I might be seeing PT in philadelphia on September 26. I think the venue is the Electric Factory. Have you played there before? If so, what did you think of the venue?

2. Who did the singing in Deadwing that starts with 'Like a cancer scare, in the dentist chair...'? Was that Steve? It doesn't sound like him. At first I thought it was you one of the other band members but I saw some interviews and it didn't sound like any of them

That word of advice about the playback has REALLY improved my drumming. Not only that, but it has made me really mindful of timing. Every time I sit down, even to just work out an idea is accompanied by a metronome. Thank you gavin!

mrbutterskin

09-13-2009, 02:33 AM

Wow, that's quite a trashy sounding splash!
And if I may ask, the 2nd hit (downbeat) around the same time mark (1:14), is that just an 8" of the same cymbal? It sounds quite similar

Thanks!
Robin

jivadayadasa

09-13-2009, 06:07 AM

Hi Gavin,

I just got your first book and boy it's a real corker! You've mentioned that listening back to practice recordings can be demoralizing - wow, truer words never spoken - but I know that it will pay off in time. The exercises are intense and make me feel like a complete beginner again but I feel good to be in the right hands! I also got the two dvd's (packaged together) and am getting a lot out of them.

I hope you don't ever get tired of hearing it but your playing, your books, and your efforts to help and motivate people on this forum are remarkable! In fact, this time last year I started back playing drums regularly in great part thanks to your influence and example. You have really helped to awaken that joy that only comes to me from drumming, you know, that same spark that gets you started in the first place. Once again drumming is fun, challenging, and fulfilling - How can I repay you?

Well, in two weeks I'll be driving up to Baltimore and then to Philadelphia (from my home in NC) to see you perform for the first time! Two nights in row - I can hardly wait! I hope to someday thank you in person but until then this "thank you" will have to do...

See you soon at the shows Gavin and take care,

Jiva

Ogg

09-13-2009, 03:13 PM

Hi Ogg

Anyway, my copy of 'Circles' arrived yesterday and I'm trying to get my head around the genius on display. Playing the title track as I type, hoping that my question comes across clearly. From the start of the track are you hitting the edge of the toms (the 'click' sound ) as well as everything else? If you have the time would you explain?

Yes I play the rim on the snare drum - I did a similar thing on a verse of "Way Out Of Here" by PT. It's a sound I quite like. When the new book/DVD package comes out - you'll see that "Circles" pattern on the video.

Thanks for the prompt reply Gavin. 'WOOHere' is one of my fav' PT songs anyway and having watched the 'Tilburg' performance of the track within the revamped PT site I now see you used the snare and not the toms. I tired it practicing this morning, bastid hard. I for one will be preordering the new book/dvd.. Any updates on the progress?

Simply to jump on the bandwagon, can't wait to see you and of course PT live for the first time in Bristol Oct 10th. 'The Incident' cd and ltd box set tomorrow! :)

http://www.porcupinetree.com/

TC_Deibreak

09-13-2009, 11:19 PM

Hello Gavin,

I was wondering if you could give me some steps or tips for wisely developing a career as a drummer(I introduced the topic to my father, only to be told it was just a dream, which I don't really find true if one has a plan or at least some form of structure in pursuing the career)

C.L. - Drum

09-13-2009, 11:25 PM

Hey Gavin,

the new Porcupine Tree album is really amazing!! I love your sound!
I'm from Germany and I will visit your concert in Stuttgart... that will be awesome :P
Do you use the Shure sm 57 for your snare drum?

with greetings
Clemens

PS: I ordered my new Sonor SQ2... truely amazing drumset! The best choice you made :P

DTrocks

09-14-2009, 09:10 PM

Hi!

Must agree with C.L drum. Amazing sound on the new album! A huge improvement from FOABP in terms of the overall sound!

I need to listen to the album a couple of times more, though. But its looking good! You guys did a great job on this!

Which drumset did you use for this? And you use the ride quite a lot, is it your k-ride? Great sound on that.

Cheers!

Gavin Harrison

09-14-2009, 09:25 PM

Hi DrummerStan

1. I might be seeing PT in philadelphia on September 26. I think the venue is the Electric Factory. Have you played there before? If so, what did you think of the venue?

I think we have played there before - but I can't remember what the venue is like.

2. Who did the singing in Deadwing that starts with 'Like a cancer scare, in the dentist chair...'? Was that Steve?

Yes that's Steve.

Hi mrbutterskin

And if I may ask, the 2nd hit (downbeat) around the same time mark (1:14), is that just an 8" of the same cymbal? It sounds quite similar

No that's a 12 Oriental Trash China.

Hi Ogg,

Thanks for the prompt reply Gavin. 'WOOHere' is one of my fav' PT songs anyway and having watched the 'Tilburg' performance of the track within the revamped PT site I now see you used the snare and not the toms. I tired it practicing this morning, bastid hard. I for one will be preordering the new book/dvd.. Any updates on the progress?

It's a bit tricky to play the hi hat foot part (3 to a 6/8 bar) in that section. I don't know when the new book/DVD will be released - I hope before the end of the year.

Hi TC_Deibreak

I was wondering if you could give me some steps or tips for (I introduced the topic to my father, only to be told it was just a dream, which I don't really find true if one has a plan or at least some form of structure in pursuing the career)

I don't know if there is such a thing as 'wisely developing a career as a drummer'. First you've got to LOVE it because there's too many times you'll be unemployed - or playing stuff you really don't like that much for little or no money. If you don't do it for the right reasons - you'll be wasting your time. Second you've got be as good as you can be - practise as much as possibly can and be very versatile - learn to play lots of different styles and learn to read and transcribe. Then all you need is an ungodly amount of luck.

Hi C.L. - Drum

the new Porcupine Tree album is really amazing!! I love your sound!
Do you use the Shure sm 57 for your snare drum?

Yes - and a Chinese ribbon mic that I didn't recognise.

cheers
Gavin

gibeachhead

09-14-2009, 09:25 PM

I noticed that there is a dvd-audio disk with the deluxe edition of the Incident. Do you perhaps know if the dvd-audio will be released as a separate disk like with the previous 3 albums?

Yes it has been confirmed that a DVD-A will get a stand alone release. No date has been announced, but PT.com said most likely in early 2010. It will be released on the band's own transmission label and sold through Burningshed.

Also just to clarify what comes in the Deluxe edition is a DVD-V, not a DVD-A.

Gus

09-15-2009, 11:42 AM

Hi Gavin

Just to wish you guys good luck with the new tour!.
I´m sure that will imply a great step beyond the PT career.

Regards
Gustavo

supermac

09-15-2009, 01:05 PM

Gavin,

Bought the new album yesterday.

Some great playing, really strong material and beautful melodies.

I hope it helps propel the band to the next level, which would be thoroughly deserved.

On the forthcoming tour, how much of the The Incident are you planning to play live?

Cheers

SantiBanks

09-15-2009, 09:25 PM

Yes it has been confirmed that a DVD-A will get a stand alone release. No date has been announced, but PT.com said most likely in early 2010. It will be released on the band's own transmission label and sold through Burningshed.

Also just to clarify what comes in the Deluxe edition is a DVD-V, not a DVD-A.

Thanks for the information! Guess I'll get it from iTunes first because early 2010 is some time away.

I believe that downloading from play.com gives 2 tracks from the Tilburg show aswell.

fromyesterday

09-15-2009, 11:39 PM

Gavin,

I wanted to get some more material on askgavinharrison.com concerning technique and practice.

One thing I see a lot of is people technique hunting for short cuts on playing. 'What technique do you play your bass drum' - been asked a million times.

What advice can you give for people looking for short cuts (as in finding a technique to speed up their double bass or single stroke playing vs just practicing for years)?

Derek Roddy addresses this. I think it would be helpful if a lot of great drummers basically say 'stop searching for magical short cut technique and go practice'.

TC_Deibreak

09-16-2009, 01:50 AM

What did you do during periods where you weren't getting any gigs?

Fox622003

09-16-2009, 05:32 AM

Hey Gavin, even though you mainly do very different styles, you also have, in my opinion, quite a lot of metal elements in your playing. So I wanted to ask what do you consider a versatile straight double bass drum speed for 16ths? I mean, the last thing you'll find me playing is any type of metal, but I always liked being confident in as many styles as possible, and wasn't sure as to which level it'd be worth it to get my double bass speed to.
Alright, hope the question isn't too confusing. Thanks!

Fox.

drumbumhamza

09-16-2009, 07:41 AM

Hello,

I need your help with a 5 bell stand im designing. I couldn't find a decent picture of your custom stand to take ideas from....so iv come up with my own design. Im not too sure it'l work.....(balance and stability).
It would be great if you could just have a quick look and pick out any design flaws.
Thanks

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4021/5bellstanddesignlarge.jpg

Also, I cant seem to figure out the time signature of the chorus of the second song on Circles. The first time you play it...its a straight 4/4 with a pre roll ? The next time around theres some sort of displacement....but i cant place it....is it a 3/16th displacement ?
Most of the verse is in 7/8 followed by a couple of bars of another meter....i couldnt figure that out either.
Would be great if you could explain it.

Cheers.

drumbumhamza

09-16-2009, 08:01 AM

And lastly...
A part of a song that I co-composed (in Mar 2009) for my Prog Metal band sounds very similar to a part from Bonnie the Cat.
I guess your influence is rubbing off on me :)
If you have the time...kindly check these two short clips :) (please excuse the horrible production....our song has not been mixed yet)
Thanks :)

semaphore

09-16-2009, 03:23 PM

SantiBanks

09-16-2009, 03:48 PM

Hello Mr. Harrison,

recently I stumbled across an article from SOS magazine back in '99 where you stated the following:

"I use the '57s on the snare drum both top and bottom. They're a cheap all-round mic, but everyone uses them. There's a nice thing you can do using a gate to 'duck' the bottom mic from the top mic on the loud hits -- that way you can have the bottom mic quite loud and really hear all the ghost notes, without it sounding like a bag of crisps on the accents."

could you elaborate on this 'ducking' principle you were talking about and explain why you'd prefer a SM57 for this kind of method?

Thanks in advance!

I'm not sure if its the right answer but I think that its like this:

The gate lets signals flow when there are certain conditions met. Thats the basic summary of what it does. This means that if we tell the gate to open when the volume is below a certain treshold, the gate can open and let sound trough. When it is above, then shut the gate.

Now the ducking part. I think the gate is fed with the signal of the top mic too, but only for triggering functions. So when the signal of the top head is above a certain volume (a hard hit), then the gate will be closed and the bag of crisps imitation sound won't be passed trough the gate.

I have an old microgate from alesis in my rack. I think it's capable of doing that in the way I described. Feeding the trigger input wih the sound of the top mic and make sure it closes when the stick hits the top head hard.

Gus

09-16-2009, 04:44 PM

Johnny

09-16-2009, 06:30 PM

Gavin, the new record is wonderful. Thank you, sir, and thanks to your bandmates as well. I hope y'all have a great tour.

<3Josh<3

09-16-2009, 09:09 PM

[QUOTE=DrummerStan;612708]Hello there again Gavin. Two more questions :D

1. I might be seeing PT in philadelphia on September 26. I think the venue is the Electric Factory. Have you played there before? If so, what did you think of the venue?
/QUOTE]

I'll also be at this show. I was there last time you guys came in 2007. It was easily the best show I've been to, and I know this one will be even better!! I know that time, you played the entire FoaBP album as well as some older songs, will you be doing the same this year with The Incident? Also, what do you think about the opening band, King's X? My friend who is going with me is super excited to see them, but I've never really listened to much of them.

Oh, and btw...the new album is simply AMAZING! I love everything about it, and I REALLY can't wait for the DVD. Oh my it'll be good. I know you guys probably have no say over it, but if you do, PLEASE push for a blu-ray release. That would be awesome!

Ogg

09-16-2009, 10:09 PM

Re: 'Circles' I tried it practicing this morning, bastid hard.

It's a bit tricky to play the hi hat foot part (3 to a 6/8 bar) in that section.

Hah...I was referring to the the basic sticking pattern let alone that hat part :) Still, worked out an original pattern as a consequence of my attempting to emulate your playing so thank you.

Anyway, totally absorbed with 'The Incident' but I have found a problem with the 'Drawing The Line' track...towards the end you appear to be playing straight time (!), no polyrhythmic sprees or over-riding that I can spot...awesome :)
Far too many rhythmic moments to speculate upon but the ending to 'Octane Twisted' is particularly stunning as is the entire 'Bonnie The Cat' ****! Just where do you begin with something like that? Was the idea preconceived at home or did you stumble upon it during the writing sessions? Pleasing to finally hear the track after the brief snippet from the 'in the studio' clip etched itself into my brain.
Opening night tonight of the tour and I for one hope it goes well. Thank you.

Gavin Harrison

09-16-2009, 11:15 PM

Hi supermac

On the forthcoming tour, how much of the The Incident are you planning to play live?

Pretty much all of it.

Hi fromyesterday

One thing I see a lot of is people technique hunting for short cuts on playing. 'What technique do you play your bass drum' - been asked a million times.What advice can you give for people looking for short cuts (as in finding a technique to speed up their double bass or single stroke playing vs just practicing for years)?

There are no shortcuts. I've been playing double bass drums - and then double pedals since 1983 and I still don't think I'm that good on them. Having articulate feet is much harder than having good hand/stick skills.

Hi TC_Deibreak

What did you do during periods where you weren't getting any gigs?

Practise.

Hi Fox622003

Hey Gavin, even though you mainly do very different styles, you also have, in my opinion, quite a lot of metal elements in your playing. So I wanted to ask what do you consider a versatile straight double bass drum speed for 16ths?

I don't really ever play continuous 16ths on the bass drum - it's not a sound or rhythm I like - so I can't really help you with a speed setting. Speed was never the issue for me - accuracy is. Somethings are much harder to play really slow.

Hi drumbumhamza

I need your help with a 5 bell stand im designing. I couldn't find a decent picture of your custom stand to take ideas from....so iv come up with my own design. Im not too sure it'l work.....(balance and stability).

Yes as Gus points out - it's possible to make it in Sonor "basic arm" parts. It's holding up well.

Also, I cant seem to figure out the time signature of the chorus of the second song on Circles. The first time you play it...its a straight 4/4 with a pre roll ? The next time around theres some sort of displacement....but i cant place it....is it a 3/16th displacement ?
Most of the verse is in 7/8 followed by a couple of bars of another meter....i couldnt figure that out either.

Yes there's a 3/16 note displacement near the end of the 2nd bar of the chorus. The verse is 8 bars of 7/8 and then one bar of 4/4.

Hi semaphore
SantiBanks answers the question perfectly.

Hi <3Josh<3

Also, what do you think about the opening band, King's X? My friend who is going with me is super excited to see them, but I've never really listened to much of them.

King's X are great - I saw them last year in Chicago.

Hi Ogg

Far too many rhythmic moments to speculate upon but the ending to 'Octane Twisted' is particularly stunning as is the entire 'Bonnie The Cat' ****! Just where do you begin with something like that? Was the idea preconceived at home or did you stumble upon it during the writing sessions?

Bonnie The Cat started with my drum pattern and a basic bass line I had written a few months before and brought it to the writing sessions for the other guys to jam on.

cheers
Gavin

Swiss Matthias

09-16-2009, 11:30 PM

Hi Drumbumhanza

Take a look on the pic below. The stand is made with the Sonor Hardware system, they're very versatile and strong components, you can see pics with endless examples here.

I know it´s gratifiying when we do things with our hands, but this stand looks really great. Hope that may help you.

Good luck!

Amazing, how low you sit, Gavin!

jivadayadasa

09-17-2009, 12:45 AM

Is that low?? Thighs are parallel to the ground. That's how I sit but never thought of it as low. just wondering...

JordanC

09-17-2009, 06:37 AM

Hi Gavin, I just wanted to think you and the rest of the band for a truly excellent performance last night in Seattle. Even from way up in the second balcony, the sound was fantastic, and the performances were recognizably top notch.

I especially loved your fills during the end of Time Flies.

Bummed that:

1) Seating was fixed, so it seemed to suck the energy out of the crowd for the most part. Can you guys recognize things like that? I hope we didn't seem too lame for you :-)
2) You only had time for a Mother and Child Divided encore and half of Russia on Ice - the second half of RoI is my favorite portion of the song! Darned 11PM cut-off laws or somesuch!

Loving The Incident as well, can't wait to see you guys perform again some time. Wishing you luck for the rest of your tour!

drumbumhamza

09-17-2009, 07:40 AM

Hi Drumbumhanza

Take a look on the pic below. The stand is made with the Sonor Hardware system, they're very versatile and strong components, you can see pics with endless examples here.

http://www.sonor.com/pbas/Sonor_FE/sonor/english/kategorie.html?a-quicklink-n_katid=7

I know it´s gratifiying when we do things with our hands, but this stand looks really great. Hope that may help you.

Good luck!

Hey Thanks a lot for that picture :)
It gives you a great view of the setup...its simpler and a lot less messier than i thought.

I recently got endorsed by Mapex...hehe i think they might have a problem with me using sonor hardware :P
http://www.mapexdrums.com/artists/india/bio_kazi.html

I guess il give this a shot....if it fails miserably...il go in for the clamp concept hehe

Thanks again.

drumbumhamza

09-17-2009, 08:00 AM

Yes there's a 3/16 note displacement near the end of the 2nd bar of the chorus. The verse is 8 bars of 7/8 and then one bar of 4/4.

Thanks for the info :)
Haha im so accustomed to playing odd time now that 4/4 seemed difficult to count :P

Recently i've been trying this polyrhythmic exercise

Left hand 3/16 (x--x--x--x--x--x-- x : hit, - : rest) over the hi-hat and snare
Right hand 7/16 (xxx-xx-xxx-xx-xxx-xx-xxx-xx-) on the right hand with each set of hits on a different tom
Feet playing a standard samba pattern or any other simple pattern

Its got a very different feel from a polyrhythm of 4/16 and 7/16 because when you play a 4...you tend to count the 7 in groupings of 2....but when your playing a 3/16 it gets a bit tricky

do you have some other lessons like this (besides the ones on your dvd) that i could practice to improve my independence ?

Thanks

miha

09-17-2009, 10:31 AM

Gavin, congrats on a superb PT album, I wish you (and guys) a successfull tour.

Anyone knows the exact set list for Incident live? Cheers

semaphore

09-17-2009, 11:33 AM

I'm not sure if its the right answer but I think that its like this:

The gate lets signals flow when there are certain conditions met. Thats the basic summary of what it does. This means that if we tell the gate to open when the volume is below a certain treshold, the gate can open and let sound trough. When it is above, then shut the gate.

Now the ducking part. I think the gate is fed with the signal of the top mic too, but only for triggering functions. So when the signal of the top head is above a certain volume (a hard hit), then the gate will be closed and the bag of crisps imitation sound won't be passed trough the gate.

I have an old microgate from alesis in my rack. I think it's capable of doing that in the way I described. Feeding the trigger input wih the sound of the top mic and make sure it closes when the stick hits the top head hard.

Thank you for your detailed answer, SantiBanks! I get the idea now - I just lacked proper definition of what a gate does. Never thought to use it the other way round (i.e. closing instead of opening beyond a certain threshold).

Thanks again,
semaphore

dr.funkenstien

09-17-2009, 08:51 PM

First off, The Incident blew me away the other day, Amazing job, big props to Steven Wilson also, and everyone, you guys just killed it. Incredible.

What I wanted ot ask was, how many of the fills do you ever plan or write first. Or are most or all just on the spot, in the groove?

Good Luck with the tour, I tried buying tickets for Toronto Months ago but it was sold out right away, I might drive 8 hours to Toronto and try and get scalpers still haha.

Brendan Colameco
www.myspace.com/brendancolamecodrums

Bube

09-17-2009, 09:29 PM

Hi Gavin!

I'm searching the internet but I cat't find it..

What snare are you playing on Modern Drummer 2008 video? And which heads and snare wires are on it?

Thanks!

colinjnk

09-18-2009, 06:18 AM

Hi Gavin,

Thanks so much for coming out to the drum shop this evening, it was a pleasure meeting you and I had a fantastic time (even though I was a bit shy).

Hope to see you in concert some day!

-Colin

cgrieves

09-18-2009, 06:14 PM

Hi Gavin, I was delighted to see Thomas Dolby's 'Aliens Ate my Buick' on your playlist. That's definitely a Desert Island disc for me!

Also The Incident flopped onto my desk today (at last, no thanks to the British postal system!). I'm really enjoying it, it's everything I'd hoped for in a follow-up to FOABP.

The rhythmic work in Bonnie the Cat is clever- it's amazing what shifting the perception of "1" can do to the listener. I'm going to play it to various friends and see what their feet do....

If you haven't got it already, I'd recommend "Serious Young Insects" by "On the Virg" if you can find a copy- the track "Alien Hip Hop" is another example of a mind-bending 4/4! And there's some really interesting use of polyrhythmical ideas across the whole album.

All the best, and hope the tour goes well.

Liquid_Drummer

09-18-2009, 11:22 PM

Gavin, you have shown me that you can take the Moeller, one handed drum rolls, 220bpm on the double bass (never a personal goal), juggling Phone books while you play a double bass drum solo crap and throw it all in the can !!

Musicality IS the most important aspect of every instrument. I really think that you have taken it too a new level IMHO and if given the right circumstances will go down in history as one of the best ever. Your drumming is E=MC² with soul and feel !

Hope you dont mind the compliments. However, the fact remains that watching your DVD's, your playing and spending more time thinking about approaches to playing than practicing speed and double stroke rolls over the last 2-3 year has provided me with more growth in a shorter amount of time than any other course of action I have taken to improve my drumming. I have been at it for 27 years now I have been stuck in a rut for so long. I felt myself come out of that rut in the last 6 months or so when new, inventive things just started coming out without tons of thought or effort.

Thank you.

ItalianRicky

09-19-2009, 03:25 AM

Hi Gavin!

I'm searching the internet but I cat't find it..

What snare are you playing on Modern Drummer 2008 video? And which heads and snare wires are on it?

Thanks!

If i remember well that snare is gavin's lovely sonor designer maple 12"x5";
He uses a puresound snare wire with 8 strands, he take a 12 strands snare wire and cut 2 snare wires at left and 2 at right.
The batter head can be a coated CS or an ambassador.

Gavin Harrison

09-19-2009, 05:38 AM

Hi Swiss Matthias,

Amazing, how low you sit, Gavin!

Yes I do sit pretty low - it looks exaggerated in that picture.

Hi JordanC

1) Seating was fixed, so it seemed to suck the energy out of the crowd for the most part. Can you guys recognize things like that?

Yes it's not so much fun to play for a seated audience.

2) You only had time for a Mother and Child Divided encore and half of Russia on Ice - the second half of RoI is my favorite portion of the song! Darned 11PM cut-off laws or somesuch!

I think this is longest show we've ever done - and sometimes we run into curfew problems.

Hi drumbumhamza

Recently i've been trying this polyrhythmic exercise
Left hand 3/16 (x--x--x--x--x--x-- x : hit, - : rest) over the hi-hat and snare
Right hand 7/16 (xxx-xx-xxx-xx-xxx-xx-xxx-xx-) on the right hand with each set of hits on a different tom. Feet playing a standard samba pattern or any other simple pattern
do you have some other lessons like this (besides the ones on your dvd) that i could practice to improve my independence ?

Yes interesting pattern. Do you have my book Rhythmic Perspectives? I think there's some exercises like that in there.

Hi dr.funkenstien

What I wanted ot ask was, how many of the fills do you ever plan or write first. Or are most or all just on the spot, in the groove?

I try to make them up on the spot - if I really like them I might play them live - or until I can get inspired to try different ones.

Hi Bube

What snare are you playing on Modern Drummer 2008 video? And which heads and snare wires are on it?

Italian Ricky is correct.

Hi cgrieves

The rhythmic work in Bonnie the Cat is clever- it's amazing what shifting the perception of "1" can do to the listener. I'm going to play it to various friends and see what their feet do....

Yeah it's a fun rhythm. Terry Branam has already made a nice transcription of that groove (all in 4/4 of course) - maybe he'll post it here?

Hi Liquid_Drummer,
thanks for the kind words.

Cheers
Gavin (in San Fran).

DrummerStan

09-19-2009, 06:13 AM

Ordered my ticket today, so its official. Im seeing PT next Saturday. Can't wait to see you there! Ill be the young looking kid upfront with the grey baseball-looking cap on, if I can make my way to the front.

I've started to learn the Mother and Child divided drum pattern down. Ive got the framework down, just the HH w/ accents, bass, and off-beat snare hit. No ghost notes for now, but Ill work them in soon enough.

Liquid_Drummer

09-19-2009, 02:58 PM

Really surprised you guys are not playing Cinci, Ohio this time around. Last show there appeared to be sold out or very close. Loved the venue (Bogarts) because the sound was so very good in that room. Hope you guys play a little closer to home next tour. Also hope to see the new disc 5.1 released as a stand alone. Steve W. knows how to mix in surround like no one else and now I am spoiled on 5.1 mixes.

Damn, your drums sound amazing on the new record and the new direction is welcome. Kind of risky to have a 55 minute tune but I am glad that you guys have the artistic freedom to do that. I find the new cd to be very top shelf in every aspect. Time flies is so true isnt it ? Reminds me to make the best of it.

jivadayadasa

09-19-2009, 04:51 PM

The rhythmic work in Bonnie the Cat is clever- it's amazing what shifting the perception of "1" can do to the listener. I'm going to play it to various friends and see what their feet do....

Yeah it's a fun rhythm. Terry Branam has already made a nice transcription of that groove (all in 4/4 of course) - maybe he'll post it here?

Cheers
Gavin (in San Fran).

YES! Terry, that would be awesome if you would post that transcription!

cygnify

09-19-2009, 05:58 PM

Gavin - thanks so much for "The Incident" - I'm really enjoying this disc and look forward to seeing it performed in concert (I'm flying up to New York to see the show next week!)

On the CD, you are given credit for "Post Production." What exactly did that entail?

Also, in a recent interview you mentioned using the Korg wave drum. On which track does that appear? Is that used for drum loops for for specific sounds?

Terry Branam

09-19-2009, 06:05 PM

Hey everybody,

I figured that there would be a few questions about Gavin's groove on "Bonnie the Cat".

Here's a quick little transcription:

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4529/bonniethecatgroove800x6.jpg

Enjoy!

Terry

ItalianRicky

09-20-2009, 01:15 AM

Hi Swiss Matthias,

Hi Bube

What snare are you playing on Modern Drummer 2008 video? And which heads and snare wires are on it?

Italian Ricky is correct.

Cheers
Gavin (in San Fran).

I'm spending a lot of time in studing this thread Gavin....i cannot forget those things!
and overall here in italy there's bad weather conditions...my drum study room is in danger, because all the rain probably can invade my house's 1st level...so i gotta evacuate my kit...for example my 8" tom is in kitchen! (house 2nd level) =)
and my bassdrum is in one of the 2 bathroom... XD
The only one positive thing is that i got a lot of time to spend on this forum ; )

Brundlefly

09-20-2009, 12:04 PM

I just got back from the Club Nokia show in LA and wanted to drop a few comments. The band sounded very locked in. Certainly one of the best sounding performances I've ever heard. My companion leaned over after the first few numbers and commented that it sounded "just like the CD." Yes, but I was noticing lots of little extras coming from the drum kit too. Anyway, thanks for coming all the way out here and putting on such a great show. Hopefully, our rushed clapping during Trains wasn't too off-putting. :)

Also, I could be mistaken but I could swear that I saw Simon Phillips in the VIP section just before the show.

SantiBanks

09-20-2009, 01:47 PM

Thank you for your detailed answer, SantiBanks! I get the idea now - I just lacked proper definition of what a gate does. Never thought to use it the other way round (i.e. closing instead of opening beyond a certain threshold).

Thanks again,
semaphore
No problem at all! I could be wrong with the following but from what I remember, the gate was invented as a noise reduction unit which would mean that you always have the gate open and need to close it (as noise is low level—well it should be low level—it would be filtered out if there was no loud signal present)

And Gavin, please pass my compliments to the whole band. The new record had to grow a bit on me but I like most of it. It's a bit of a different legue then FOABP, but nevertheless, very good music. Looking forward to see you guys in Amsterdam!

Maybe a weird question, but do you "practice" songs from bands you like? (something like metheny tune for example).
Just for fun, or maybe as a serious practice for a certain technique or concept?

Roger//

09-20-2009, 05:48 PM

Hey there Gavin!

Recently say your modern drummer performance and was blown away!
Your kit sounds so close to how i want mine to sound.
Couple of questions if you don't mind?

How do you tune your drums? snare / toms / bass? Low medium high?
what is the balance? Top and bottoms same, one higher?
do you muffle drums?
How do you muffle you bass with the pillow you talk about at Pasic? Only against the batter head? or both heads?
whats the advantage to using less snare's on the bottom of your snare drum?

Thank you for your time! I know these are a lot of questions :P
You're an inspiration to my drumming.

Roger

From The Netherlands

krayziemex99

09-21-2009, 09:25 AM

Hi Gavin,

Heard the new Porcupine Tree fantastic job! I love how tasteful your drumming is keep up the awesome work and inspiration.

phil_EN

09-21-2009, 05:21 PM

Hi Gavin,

congratulations to the new album. Great stuff. Do you have any news on release date for the Tilburg DVD? Will it be released within this year or do we have to wait?

kind regards,
Phil

marin

09-22-2009, 12:02 PM

hello gavin, greetings from croatia!

i just dropped by to say hello and how great influence you are to me (well, how many times you have heard that :-) ).

i got the the incident few days ago; it's great. one of my friends told me that you are one of few bands which are getting better and better as the albums go further. i totally agree. hope to see you guys at the gig in slovenia in november. also, i apologize if my english is not so well.

once more, greetings from croatia
marin

Gavin Harrison

09-22-2009, 07:22 PM

Hi DrummerStan

I've started to learn the Mother and Child divided drum pattern down. Ive got the framework down, just the HH w/ accents, bass, and off-beat snare hit. No ghost notes for now, but Ill work them in soon enough.

Yes it's a fun pattern to play. It's two bars of 4/4 divided as 10/10/10/2

Hi cygnify

Also, in a recent interview you mentioned using the Korg wave drum. On which track does that appear? Is that used for drum loops for for specific sounds?

The Wavedrum is on the early verses of "Remember Me Lover"

Hi Brundlefly

Also, I could be mistaken but I could swear that I saw Simon Phillips in the VIP section just before the show.

Yes Simon came down to the show. What a great guy he is.

Hi Santibanks,

Maybe a weird question, but do you "practice" songs from bands you like? (something like metheny tune for example).
Just for fun, or maybe as a serious practice for a certain technique or concept?

yes sometimes I do play along to records when I have the time.

Hi Roger//

How do you tune your drums? snare / toms / bass? Low medium high?
what is the balance? Top and bottoms same, one higher?
do you muffle drums? whats the advantage to using less snare's on the bottom of your snare drum?

do a search through this thread and you'll find a lot of discussion about it.

How do you muffle you bass with the pillow you talk about at Pasic? Only against the batter head? or both heads?

Usually it touches both heads - but sometimes in studio situations I velcro in a piece of wood inside the shell to stop it touching the front head.

Hi phil_EN

Do you have any news on release date for the Tilburg DVD? Will it be released within this year or do we have to wait?

no news at the moment - we haven't got time to work on it right now because of this tour.

cheers
Gavin

NickPavlou_GR

09-22-2009, 07:41 PM

Hey Gavin!

Sorry for being late to say "Thanx for your answers" but I was away for a while :P

Also the new album sounds PERFECT! I can't choose which is the best track, honestly! But I love a lot the emotion. the whole band emmits, on "I drive the hearse"!

Also one great thing I heard is the illusion you use at the end of "Time Flies". Sounds simple but I think I miss something over here! Maybe Terry could do a transcription ? <3 <3 <3

Thanx once again for your innovative playing :)

Cheers from Greece,
Nikos Pavlou

Drum-R

09-23-2009, 03:40 AM

I Gavin, I recently saw a new picture of your kit. What is this huge china at your left you use for the tour?

euphoric_anomaly

09-23-2009, 07:22 AM

Gavin,

I haven't logged onto this site in well over 4 months. I do remember you saying that somebody might be transcribing the entire Circles album and posting it here. Did that ever happen? I'm still frustrated over trying to count on the time signatures on the songs. I have made some guesses (i.e. Crisis in 5/4,Scar in 11/8, Break in 12/8)...could be wrong, but I was just curious as to whether or not that transcription has blessed the pages of this forum.

Let me know whenever you get a free chance, thanks so much.

Eric

Joe P

09-23-2009, 08:36 AM

euphoric_anomaly

09-23-2009, 12:26 PM

Joe P,

Thanks man, that's exactly what I was thinking of. =)

SantiBanks

09-23-2009, 05:31 PM

Also, in a recent interview you mentioned using the Korg wave drum. On which track does that appear? Is that used for drum loops for for specific sounds?

The Wavedrum is on the early verses of "Remember Me Lover"

Hi Santibanks,

Maybe a weird question, but do you "practice" songs from bands you like? (something like metheny tune for example).
Just for fun, or maybe as a serious practice for a certain technique or concept?

yes sometimes I do play along to records when I have the time.

Gavin, thanks for the wavedrum information. I had the same question in my mind but you already answered.
In case you might not have heard about it already, Korg plans to put out a new wavedrum, the wavedrum X:
http://futuremusic.com/blog/?p=4385

And nice to read that high profile drummers still play with records now and then :)

SantiBanks

09-23-2009, 05:32 PM

Gavin and Terry Branam are actually collaborating on a book with his work with 05ric. That's probably what you're thinking of.
I believe the PT news section stated that there will be a dvd with it too. Looking forward to see this released!

Joe P

09-23-2009, 08:01 PM

Speaking of your upcoming educational release, Gavin: will there be conceptual material on this new DVD similar to your previous ones, or will it just be like a case study on your work with 05ric?

Drummin_Dan

09-24-2009, 12:50 AM

Hi, I know that this question has probably been asked and answered a hundred times, but can any one tell me what this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X81qq6Fi3G4) song is called? Are there charts available for it? Thanks! Sorry, but 91 pages is a lot to go through.

Roger//

09-24-2009, 12:52 AM

First off, thank you Gavin for your reply.
I found some things about tuning indeed.
I just have one more question and then i'm ok.
ok, here goes...

How do you tension the drums?
Toms / Snare/ Bass
And I mean. Is for example your snare bottom tighter than the top? ect ect

Thanks a lot!

Btw: tried some Axis pedals. Really nice indeed. But exspensive though...
Do you get an endorsment from Axis or do you pay for your pedals?

Cheers

Roger

DrummerDavid

09-24-2009, 01:50 AM

After reading the FAQ-I can't think of a question.

Are there questions you haven't been asked yet?

Gavin Harrison

09-24-2009, 01:55 AM

Hi NickPavlou_GR

Also one great thing I heard is the illusion you use at the end of "Time Flies". Sounds simple but I think I miss something over here! Maybe Terry could do a transcription ?

It's unbelievably simple (6/8) - the snare is just played on beats 2 & 5 (instead of just beat 3 as it is in the verse). Glad you like it.

Hi Drum-R

I Gavin, I recently saw a new picture of your kit. What is this huge china at your left you use for the tour?

Zildjian 22" Swish Knocker (without the rivets).

Hi Joe P

Speaking of your upcoming educational release, Gavin: will there be conceptual material on this new DVD similar to your previous ones, or will it just be like a case study on your work with 05ric?

Thanks for all the interest about this project. There will be full detailed transcriptions of the 19 songs from both of the albums I made with 05Ric "Drop" & "Circles" plus a 2 hour 45 minutes DVD of me demonstrating the parts in detail - discussing the concepts and where the creative ideas came from - plus a whole load of other discussions about the equipment/tuning/favourite rudiments etc. Plus a special live bonus performance.

Hi Drummin_Dan

Hi, I know that this question has probably been asked and answered a hundred times, but can any one tell me what this song is called? Are there charts available for it?

It's called "Quite Firm" by Laurence Cottle - I originally recorded it for my first DVD Rhythmic Visions. There are no charts for it as such - but somewhere there's a transcription of that YouTube performance (Frankfurt Music Show 2007).

Hi Roger//

How do you tension the drums?
Toms / Snare/ Bass
And I mean. Is for example your snare bottom tighter than the top? ect ect

Usually the bottom heads are a little tighter than the tops.

Do you get an endorsment from Axis or do you pay for your pedals?

I am an Axis endorser - but I bought two pairs of them a few years before becoming an endorser.

Cheers
Gavin

euphoric_anomaly

09-24-2009, 02:17 AM

Hey everybody,

I figured that there would be a few questions about Gavin's groove on "Bonnie the Cat".

Here's a quick little transcription:

Terry

Terry,

I'm now addicted to this groove. Great transcription, although to be honest, I've never read drum transcriptions before, but I was able to figure out what was written and what was being played. Only after listening to the song about 100 times last night. Thanks for the educational experience.

Drummin_Dan

09-24-2009, 04:42 AM

Hi Drummin_Dan

Hi, I know that this question has probably been asked and answered a hundred times, but can any one tell me what this song is called? Are there charts available for it?

It's called "Quite Firm" by Laurence Cottle - I originally recorded it for my first DVD Rhythmic Visions. There are no charts for it as such - but somewhere there's a transcription of that YouTube performance (Frankfurt Music Show 2007).

Thanks. I actually took a look at his website and he has two CDs available for free download currently.

Roger//

09-24-2009, 03:17 PM

OK, so far for not asking anything anymore:P
Sorry Gavin...

But at the Modern Drummer Festival you use a Coated PS3 right?
What do you find is the difference between coated en clear PS3's?

Greetings

Roger

Gavin Harrison

09-24-2009, 06:45 PM

chongzilla

09-24-2009, 07:54 PM

Hey Gavin!
I get to see you folks at Rams Head Live! tomorrow! That venue rocks! I hope you have a good show!
-Stan

Liquid_Drummer

09-24-2009, 08:24 PM

This is the oldest footage of Gavin I have ever seen. Gavin, you look like your about 18 here !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MQy-F0w-BI&feature=related

Pass.of.E.r.a.

09-24-2009, 09:02 PM

Hello Gavin!

First off I'd like to thank you sincerely for being one of the biggest inspirations for me in my musical journey!!

anywho, the question I'd like to ask is in "Bonnie The Cat", is the song in 4/4 with your crazy rhythmic illusion over top, or is it just an odd time sig. that a mere mortal like me can't comprehend? ;)

thanx for taking the time on your busy tour schedule to read this!

-Jonathan

holycats

09-24-2009, 11:02 PM

Hello Gavin!

the question I'd like to ask is in "Bonnie The Cat", is the song in 4/4 with your crazy rhythmic illusion over top, or is it just an odd time sig. that a mere mortal like me can't comprehend? ;)

-Jonathan

Just scroll up to post #3610 and you'll see for yourself

SantiBanks

09-25-2009, 12:04 AM

Hi Gavin,

I'm hearing The Incident every morning on my way to work and I love it! One question about Time Flies and "counting" in general.
Wwhat determines the time signature in a song? Especially with illusions and rythmic manipulations (like overrides etc.), this seems more vague for me.

I can count (or feel) Time Flies as 4/4, 6/8 or 3/4. But which of the three is "correct"? The illusion you already described (having the snare on the 2 and 5 instead of 3 and 5) counts in 6/8. But I think that the illusion creates a sense of 4/4 and that the song can be transcribed in 4/4 (though with a different tempo).

Roger//

09-25-2009, 12:14 AM

Hi Roger//

But at the Modern Drummer Festival you use a Coated PS3 right?
What do you find is the difference between coated en clear PS3's?

I use the clear Powerstroke 3. They have a more eq'd sound to them - they have a little less middle frequency.

cheers
Gavin

This must make you laugh...
When i Saw the video, the white i saw was the pillow;)
Sorry Gavin. Guess I need to look a little closer next time;)

cheers

Roger//

Gavin Harrison

09-25-2009, 09:58 PM

Hi Liquid_Drummer

This is the oldest footage of Gavin I have ever seen. Gavin, you look like your about 18 here !

Yes I was 19 there. That was my first tour of the States. Big old Gretsch kit.

Hi Pass.of.E.r.a.

the question I'd like to ask is in "Bonnie The Cat", is the song in 4/4 with your crazy rhythmic illusion over top, or is it just an odd time sig. that a mere mortal like me can't comprehend? ;)

It all in 4/4 - it's interesting that when you deviate the bass drum and snare from their 'usual' place that folks start to perceive it as something else. That what Rhythmic Illusions are all about.

Hi SantiBanks

What determines the time signature in a song?
I can count (or feel) Time Flies as 4/4, 6/8 or 3/4. But which of the three is "correct"? The illusion you already described (having the snare on the 2 and 5 instead of 3 and 5) counts in 6/8. But I think that the illusion creates a sense of 4/4 and that the song can be transcribed in 4/4 (though with a different tempo).

They are all correct . You can it or feel it any way you want. I think of the song in 6/8. That's what Rhythmic Perspectives are all about.

cheers
Gavin

Cowieee

09-26-2009, 05:33 AM

Hi Gavin,

congrats on the new album, I can't stop listening to it, there's some new idea or fill that i pick up from it every time!

What are the chances of PT coming to Australia, particularly, Perth? I was devastated when I couldn't go last time you were here.

If you do, feel free to come round for a jam! :P

Thanks
Cowieee

SantiBanks

09-26-2009, 12:36 PM

Hi Liquid_Drummer

This is the oldest footage of Gavin I have ever seen. Gavin, you look like your about 18 here !

Yes I was 19 there. That was my first tour of the States. Big old Gretsch kit.

I think it requires a lot of talent to play music like this with a band, on stage, at this age. Amazing…

Hi SantiBanks

What determines the time signature in a song?
I can count (or feel) Time Flies as 4/4, 6/8 or 3/4. But which of the three is "correct"? The illusion you already described (having the snare on the 2 and 5 instead of 3 and 5) counts in 6/8. But I think that the illusion creates a sense of 4/4 and that the song can be transcribed in 4/4 (though with a different tempo).

They are all correct . You can it or feel it any way you want. I think of the song in 6/8. That's what Rhythmic Perspectives are all about.

cheers
Gavin
Thanks for the insight!
Btw, I got the 2 live bonustracks from 7digital and I enjoyed them very much. I really love the ends of both songs (though I recall the first night having a much longer illusion in way out of here). Looking forward to the dvd!

See you in a couple of weeks :)

miha

09-26-2009, 02:36 PM

I think it requires a lot of talent to play music like this with a band, on stage, at this age. Amazing…

I second that! Really impressive!

sjst3wart

09-26-2009, 09:03 PM

Hey, Gavin!

My family, girlfriend and I went to the Chicago show on Tuesday and it was absolutely amazing. I'm just sorry I wasn't able to catch you after the show. There's a little spot on the upper left part of my Incident deluxe edition that should have your name on it ;)

Guess I have an excuse to go to a show or two on the next U.S. leg (as if I needed one). Hope I get to meet you next time!

euphoric_anomaly

09-27-2009, 01:47 AM

Gavin,

I was on the "ask gavin harrison" site the other day. One user posted a comment asking your opinion on Tool. You said they are a great band (can't argue with that), also, you said your favorite song of Lateralus was Schism. After google-ing Schism I have read many forums in which they say that the song goes through about 20 or so time signature changes.

I can play along with Schism, note for note on the drums, but I don't really sense or hear the time signature changes. Mainly, it sounds like 5/4 or 10/4 to me. What do you think of it? Is it a song you've played along to on your set?

Speaking of drumsets, you both use Sonor kits, have you ever incorporated electronic trigger pads into your set? Or do you prefer purely acoustic kits?

Thanks

DrummerStan

09-27-2009, 07:44 AM

Awesome show in Philly tonight Gavin! I was front left, about 5 people from the front. Gray shirt, black zip-up hoodie. 100% seeing PT next time they come around. I feel like getting on my kit right now and its almost 1am. Thanks for the music and inspiration!

Oh, I almost forgot! Did you add a new china to your setup? Looked like you had another, maybe 20 or 22 inch to the left of you. Nice magic trick during Trains as well!

daniele

09-27-2009, 06:38 PM

Hi Gavin,

I have a question: my set is: 10 - 12 - 14 - 16, and i have problems of tunes, because of course you know, the interval from 12 to 14 sometimes is too much little and from 12 to 16 sometimes is too much big! Also, sometimes i like to have the 14's tom on the left of set. You have the same sizes, but i remember when you had a 15's tom in the Pearl set. How i can resolve this problem? Do you tune your 16's tom like a 15?
Also, i'm very exiting for your coming DVD, i have all your works, but i would have the italian subtitles.....! Whatever, i expect this DVD with anxiety! Thank you!

gibeachhead

09-27-2009, 11:59 PM

Hey Gavin,

It was great to meet you in Baltimore, thank you for taking the time to sign stuff and take pictures with us fans...it really means a lot!

I had a question, I noticed you were using Vic Firth's sticks with a red lower half. I checked online and it appears that they are these: http://www.vicfirth.com/products/americanclassic_vicgrip.html

I was curious as to how well they work? I have used several grips and some work better than others, but I would to try something new and it seems pretty cool that the grips are 'built in' to these new sticks.....how do these new Vic Firths hold up?

And that magic trick was very cool!

Thanks again Gavin!

Fox622003

09-28-2009, 02:40 AM

And that magic trick was very cool!

:P Can someone explain? I live in Argentina, so it's not likely I'll see Porcupine Tree live for a while, and everyone's talking about some "trick". Would really like to know XD!

Oh, yeah, I'll use this post to also ask a question since I'm at it. It's about Slippin' Away at PASIC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKCIUpW3q9s) At 2:00 you play a short displacement which I think is something like this:

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2624/clipboard02sm.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/i/clipboard02sm.jpg/)

I know it's pretty simple, but I really like how it sounds and I was wondering if that's close.
Alright, thanks Gavin, I hope everything is going well with the tour!

Fox.

huXler

09-28-2009, 08:32 PM

Oh, yeah, I'll use this post to also ask a question since I'm at it. It's about Slippin' Away at PASIC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKCIUpW3q9s) At 2:00 you play a short displacement which I think is something like this:

I know it's pretty simple, but I really like how it sounds and I was wondering if that's close.
Alright, thanks Gavin, I hope everything is going well with the tour!
Fox.

There's a complete transcription of Slippin' Away here (http://www.jezenthomas.co.uk/?q=content/slippin-away-gavin-harrison).
The part you meant is bar 62.

Greets
huXler

jivadayadasa

09-28-2009, 09:00 PM

Gavin, I enjoyed meeting you in Philadelphia - an 8 hour drive for me, waiting an hour in the rain after the show just to say hello - well worth it! Thanks for taking the time to acknowledge your fans, I know you all must be knackered... You crew seemed very meticulous - I'm sure your grateful to have them with you.

Wonderful show, only thing I missed was the drum solo ;-) Hope to see you in the Spring.

Jiva

Iamperjay

09-28-2009, 09:15 PM

Fantastic show in Boston last night. Having only seen the band on DVD, where you all seem quite serious, it was quite refreshing to see the looseness and humor at this show plus an absolutely stellar setlist. Was I hallucinating or on Muzak, in the first chorus, did you continue to play the chorus part going into the short bridge before the second verse?. If so, you made the best recovery ever..

great magic trick as well

good luck on the rest of the tour...

Fox622003

09-28-2009, 10:21 PM

There's a complete transcription of Slippin' Away here (http://www.jezenthomas.co.uk/?q=content/slippin-away-gavin-harrison).
The part you meant is bar 62.

Greets
huXler

Thanks! That's a very very nice transcription.

Fox.

The Bassist

09-28-2009, 10:37 PM

Great show last night! Unfortunately (at least where i was standing, right near Steven) the bass drum in the mix was a bit too loud, even for the opening band, but other than that it was a great solid show.
One question about the show though, how come you guys didn't play the entire Anesthetize or Russia on Ice though? I mean I know you probably have a time restraint, but I guess I'd rather hear one or the other all the way through, like you either played Bonnie or Remember Me Lover it looked like from other setlists, and was expecting you to go nuts on the drums at the end of Russia that was cut :\ Just me though, I don't mean to complain, but some of my favorite PT moments are at the end of Anesthetize. You know if the entirety of Anesthetize will be on the upcoming DVD at least?
But yeah, that guitar Steven had there during Russia was pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen, and the show as a whole I will probably remember for a very long time, though it would have been better if those guys weren't smoking pot behind me and my friends... why can't they just enjoy the show like everyone else :P
I also do wish I didn't miss out on the meet and greet, though I heard someone in the band was feeling ill and you left in like a half hour anyways, but idk, maybe you could help clear that up.

Oh yeah, and thanks for the magic trick in the middle of Trains. Very entertaining :]

ProgJazzy(QC)

09-29-2009, 03:10 AM

Hey Gavin can't wait to see, you, Porcupine Tree and King's X tomorow (september 29th) in MOntreal , it will be a very great show!

Gavin Harrison

09-29-2009, 05:09 PM

Hi Cowieee

What are the chances of PT coming to Australia, particularly, Perth?

We're hoping to come back to Australia early next year but I don't know exactly which towns we'll come to.

Hi euphoric_anomaly

I can play along with Schism, note for note on the drums, but I don't really sense or hear the time signature changes. Mainly, it sounds like 5/4 or 10/4 to me. What do you think of it? Is it a song you've played along to on your set?

I hear the verse groove as 5/8 + 7/8 I haven't tried playing along to it.

Speaking of drumsets, you both use Sonor kits, have you ever incorporated electronic trigger pads into your set? Or do you prefer purely acoustic kits?

I don't use any pads or triggers in my set - I prefer to keep it all acoustic.

Hi DrummerStan

Did you add a new china to your setup? Looked like you had another, maybe 20 or 22 inch to the left of you.

Yes it's a 22" Swish Knocker without the rivets.

Hi daniele

I have a question: my set is: 10 - 12 - 14 - 16, and i have problems of tunes, because of course you know, the interval from 12 to 14 sometimes is too much little and from 12 to 16 sometimes is too much big! Also, sometimes i like to have the 14's tom on the left of set. You have the same sizes, but i remember when you had a 15's tom in the Pearl set. How i can resolve this problem? Do you tune your 16's tom like a 15?

In my UK Sonor set I have a 15" & 16" floor tom. I prefer the 15" to a 14".

Hi gibeachhead

I had a question, I noticed you were using Vic Firth's sticks with a red lower half. I checked online and it appears that they are these: http://www.vicfirth.com/products/ame...c_vicgrip.html. I was curious as to how well they work?

Yes they are the Rock model and I'm really enjoying the Vic Grip. Everything feels slightly more secure.

Hi Fox622003

:P Can someone explain? I live in Argentina, so it's not likely I'll see Porcupine Tree live for a while, and everyone's talking about some "trick". Would really like to know XD!

Don't worry about it - it's just a joke.

Oh, yeah, I'll use this post to also ask a question since I'm at it. It's about Slippin' Away at PASIC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKCIUpW3q9s) At 2:00 you play a short displacement which I think is something like this:

Yes your transcription looks good to me.

Hi Iamperjay

Was I hallucinating or on Muzak, in the first chorus, did you continue to play the chorus part going into the short bridge before the second verse?. If so, you made the best recovery ever..

Yes I didn't know what day it was and I thought we were playing the 2nd chorus which is twice as long as the first one.

Hi The Bassist

One question about the show though, how come you guys didn't play the entire Anesthetize or Russia on Ice though?

We don't have the time to play all of the songs in their entirety. We're trying to fit in as much of the older stuff as we can but we're already playing more than 30 minutes more than usual.

cheers
Gavin

Bernhard

09-29-2009, 05:44 PM

Just a word from me:

THANK YOU SO MUCH GAVIN for taking time to answer all these questions. This means a lot to us on Drummerworld Forum and also for me personally. So great - thanks again. What a difference to some other name drummers which only comes in to toot their horn or praise some of their new products and dissappear for a long time in the dust.....

And to our members: Thanks for your great questions - drumwise, technique wise. But please don't ask for Gavin's opinion about other drummers or bands too much - this becomes very quick uncomfortable ....and is also the reason, why so many top drummers avoid to join forums at all.

And yes - love the Swish Knocker too - not easy to handle - would probably be a good idea for me to remove some rivets too.

Bernhard

jivadayadasa

09-29-2009, 05:46 PM

Gavin, I was reading an "over practice" thread about trying to not get in a rut or being too tired mentally from practice long hours at one go... Everyone asks you how you warm up but I was wondering how you personally keep "fresh" on tour. I've seen the "hand blister/callous fotos" and I realize the toll on the body but how about the mind?

You have awesome music but playing night after night and riding around all over the planet (in the rain!) I know you guys must be kinda cooked - what are you doing to try to keep focused, fresh, and not get boiled by the shear volume and intensity of the tour. Please know that I thought the band sounded very relaxed and very together but I was hoping you'd share some personal thoughts on the fatigue issues that naturally come with the profession.

Thanks,

Jiva

Mr. Brownstone

09-29-2009, 07:43 PM

cygnify

09-29-2009, 09:28 PM

Gavin -

thanks for taking the time to address our questions - it is most appreciated! My question:

I'm usually pretty good at figuring out patterns, but I have to ask - at the end of the heavy middle section of "Way Out of Here," when you play it live, it gets insanely intense with a whole bunch of china hits over choppy double kick patterns - what's going on here? It's hard for me to make out these fast patterns; what are the typical kick / china patterns you might be using on that part?

All the best-
Cyg

KevShephard

09-29-2009, 09:38 PM

Well, the day is finally here!! My girlfriend and I are sitting in our hotel room right around the corner from the Metropolis in rainy Montreal resting our sore feet before heading over to wait for the big show. I can't wait much longer (good thing I don't have to). I've been so looking forward to hearing you play this stuff live, Gavin. The new album is incredible, and I see today that David Fricke at Rolling Stone agrees. Congrats to you and the other guys for all of the great reviews the album and tour have been getting!! I'll see YOU tonight! ;)

Kev

<3Josh<3

09-30-2009, 01:41 AM

Gavin, I just wanted to let you know, the show on Saturday in Philly was AMAZING!!!

I did want to ask you something, if you can remember...right after the solo in Sound of Muzak, you played a fill before coming back into the chorus, you ended it a little late ( I think you came in on the 2?). Anyway, I was wondering, was that something you were planning on, or did you just accidentally come in late? Either way, it was awesome considering you knew exactly where you were when you came out of it.

P.S. I was so freakin' excited when you guys started playing Bonnie The Cat. I think I actually shrieked like a little girl when it started. I cannot get enough of that song!!

Hurlza

09-30-2009, 04:56 AM

G'day gavin congrats on the new album. Not as much "drumming" as FOABP but you support the whole song cycle just awesomly. i was just wondering. in the end of Octane Twisted how did you record that beat? and what is the cymbal that you use? is it a hammerax boomywang or the swish knocker mentioned earlier? also in your career have you had and injuries sustaned from drumming? thanx and i look forward to seeing you on tour hopefully soon. cheers

Roger//

09-30-2009, 10:04 AM

Hey there Gavin,

First off again, thanks for taking time to read and reply.
It mean a lot to me.

What kind of pillow (Size) (shop maybe?) do you use in your bassdrum?
Must be pretty big... right? Dimentions?

ProgJazzy(QC)

10-01-2009, 02:20 AM

Hi Gavin, just wanna say thanks for the great show in Montreal, i traveled from Quebec to get there, it was amazing, great set list! Haha Gavin the magician!, i just want to know something, are you playing the exact same set list every show or you just go random on the 2nd set?

Thx Again!

The Bassist

10-01-2009, 03:51 AM

One question about the show though, how come you guys didn't play the entire Anesthetize or Russia on Ice though?

We don't have the time to play all of the songs in their entirety. We're trying to fit in as much of the older stuff as we can but we're already playing more than 30 minutes more than usual.

cheers
Gavin

Yeah, I figured that was it, but it was still a great show anyways and I am grateful that those songs were played at all, especially with that guitar with the screen on it. You have any idea what type of guitar that was? I've never even heard of a guitar like that before.

I do have one drumming related question though, if you don't mind.
In Gravity Eyelids you do that fill at about 6:18 that sounds awesome. I found a post a while back from this thread where you said it was a R L R R L pattern that you used, but I still can't seem to figure it out. I realize you're on tour so transposing it to sheet music might not be doable for you, but maybe one of the other guys here who does that could point me in the right direction?

Swiss Matthias

10-01-2009, 09:45 AM

This is the oldest footage of Gavin I have ever seen. Gavin, you look like your about 18 here !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MQy-F0w-BI&feature=related

Wow yes, considering your age and tightness in that video, no wonder you're this good now:D!
It's awesome to me how one already recognises your style and language, as well as your drum setup, hehe. It's a real sign of musicality and identity I believe, because if a young drummer "just" has technique, he sounds like all the other technique wizards with no character, and won't be recognized 25 years later... If you guys know what I mean...

drumbumhamza

10-01-2009, 03:26 PM

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3809/ptinhtcafe.jpg

Review in Hindustan Times Cafe :)

Phil Brodermann

10-02-2009, 12:08 AM

Hi Gavin, I'm very much looking forward to the hammersmith apollo show on the 9th of october :) You are a huge influence/inspiration to me, and I've been hooked since I first saw/heard of you at Drummer live 2008. To be honest with you, I don't really know much porcupine tree stuff, I just jumped at the chance to see you play live again. Any how, if you reply to this I would appreciate any recommendations/tips for drum microphones. I use a similar set-up to you, minus the 8"x7" tom. Sound-wise, again, similar to yours. Thanks a lot for the inspiration, Phil.

Gavin Harrison

10-02-2009, 09:47 PM

Hi jivadayadasa

Gavin, I was reading an "over practice" thread about trying to not get in a rut or being too tired mentally from practice long hours at one go... Everyone asks you how you warm up but I was wondering how you personally keep "fresh" on tour. I've seen the "hand blister/callous fotos" and I realize the toll on the body but how about the mind?

It's a good question. I try to get out of the habit of just seeing the venue dressing room and stage - and go out walking or riding around the local town to experience some other things. I meet up with friends from all over the place and I listen to very varied music when I'm on tour. The mental state affects everything and the longer you're on tour the harder it can get.

Hi cygnify

I'm usually pretty good at figuring out patterns, but I have to ask - at the end of the heavy middle section of "Way Out of Here," when you play it live, it gets insanely intense with a whole bunch of china hits over choppy double kick patterns - what's going on here? It's hard for me to make out these fast patterns; what are the typical kick / china patterns you might be using on that part?

It's is basically an Afro Cuban 6/8 pattern played over a displaced herta on the bass drums. The herta starts on the 2nd 16th.

Hi <3Josh<3

I did want to ask you something, if you can remember...right after the solo in Sound of Muzak, you played a fill before coming back into the chorus, you ended it a little late ( I think you came in on the 2?). Anyway, I was wondering, was that something you were planning on, or did you just accidentally come in late? Either way, it was awesome considering you knew exactly where you were when you came out of it.

Yes you're right - I played a fast fill and then got my right stick caught under one of the floor tom mics - so I couldn't hit a "1".

Hi Hurlza

i was just wondering. in the end of Octane Twisted how did you record that beat? and what is the cymbal that you use?

It would be the 18" Z China. I don't quite understand what you mean by "How did I record that beat"?

also in your career have you had and injuries sustaned from drumming?

Not really physical injuries - but I do have some amount of tinnitus - which is no fun at all.

Hi Roger//

What kind of pillow (Size) (shop maybe?) do you use in your bassdrum?
Must be pretty big... right? Dimentions?

It's the heaviest feather pillow I could find. It's a pretty regular bed size pillow.

Hi ProgJazzy(QC)

Hi Gavin, just wanna say thanks for the great show in Montreal, i traveled from Quebec to get there, it was amazing, great set list! Haha Gavin the magician!, i just want to know something, are you playing the exact same set list every show or you just go random on the 2nd set?

We have a pool of songs to choose from to make the set list for the 2nd part of the show. We normally find a set that has a good flow - and then some songs get swapped out night after night.

Hi The Bassist

In Gravity Eyelids you do that fill at about 6:18 that sounds awesome. I found a post a while back from this thread where you said it was a R L R R L pattern that you used, but I still can't seem to figure it out. I realize you're on tour so transposing it to sheet music might not be doable for you, but maybe one of the other guys here who does that could point me in the right direction?

maybe Terry B could do it if he has time???

Hi drumbumhamza - thanks for the review.

Hi Phil Brodermann

Any how, if you reply to this I would appreciate any recommendations/tips for drum microphones. I use a similar set-up to you, minus the 8"x7" tom

here's a list of all the stuff I'm currently using

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavin_Harrison

cheers
Gavin

ProgMetalHead

10-02-2009, 11:36 PM

Hey, Gavin! I just saw you in Toronto two nights ago... great show! The Incident sounded great live, and I really like the album as a whole.
After the show, I saw you come out to the main area with a Corona in hand, lol, and you started talking with a bunch of guys. My girlfriend and I were sitting in two chairs by the exit doors, and we were waiting to talk to you. I was wearing a gray sweater, if that helps. We didn't want to interupt you when you were talking to those people. After a few minutes, they kicked us out and we never got to meet you! We're so upset! Out of all the members of PT, I wanted to meet you the most... You looked at us a few times, lol, and when we were kicked out, I had to walk away... it hurt. I hope you return in Spring like Steven said, and hopefully, we can meet you that night! I'd love to see you guys again.
On a side note: My girlfriend said you were better looking than she expected (she's never seen you before), haha. Take care!

Terry Branam

10-03-2009, 01:03 AM

I do have one drumming related question though, if you don't mind.
In Gravity Eyelids you do that fill at about 6:18 that sounds awesome. I found a post a while back from this thread where you said it was a R L R R L pattern that you used, but I still can't seem to figure it out. I realize you're on tour so transposing it to sheet music might not be doable for you, but maybe one of the other guys here who does that could point me in the right direction?

Ok, here you go. Have fun!

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3813/gravityeyelidsfill.jpg

Terry

The Bassist

10-03-2009, 03:46 AM

Ok, here you go. Have fun!

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3813/gravityeyelidsfill.jpg

Terry

Thank you so much!!!

DaleC

10-03-2009, 03:18 PM

I noticed someone asked what time signature Bonnie the Cat was in, so I decided to transcribe the groove for a bit of fun (even though Gavin already answered the question). I've not transcribed much at all lately and it was nice to do it again. Maybe I'll do some full songs....

Anyway, here it is (minus the ghost notes), how does it look Gavin?
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9917/bonniethecat.jpg

Hopefully I will be seeing you in Manchester on the 18th of December with Porcupine Tree. Last time I went to a gig at that venue (Opeth) the curfew was really early because it was on a sunday. Do you have any idea what time the curfew will be on the thursday that you will be playing there? I would be gutted if the set had to be shortened, is that frequent at Porcupine Tree gigs?

Thanks.

Fox622003

10-03-2009, 09:54 PM

I noticed someone asked what time signature Bonnie the Cat was in, so I decided to transcribe the groove for a bit of fun (even though Gavin already answered the question).

Scroll down to post #3610. Terry Branam already transcribed the groove, you should check with his transcription as they are always very spot on.

Fox.

DaleC

10-03-2009, 11:04 PM

Scroll down to post #3610. Terry Branam already transcribed the groove, you should check with his transcription as they are always very spot on.

Fox.

Just looked at it, you're right - it is very well done, and I'm happy that mine is pretty much the same minus the ghost notes. Still, it was nice to write something out again, even if somebody had already done it.

Hurlza

10-04-2009, 05:05 AM

Thanx for the reply gavin. What i meant by record the beat was did you record it as a loop or is it all live? and how did you come up with the idea for the beat?

Gus

10-04-2009, 12:10 PM

[
It's is basically an Afro Cuban 6/8 pattern played over a displaced herta on the bass drums. The herta starts on the 2nd 16th.

Hi Everyone,

Excuse me you all but i can´t find what the meaning of ´herta´ is. This word has blown away every dictionary avalaible for me. I´ve found it on the internet as a female name, a frankfurter´s Company and even and Asteroid!. Very interesting, but nothing close to a musical term.
Could everyone please give some help to my rusty brain?. ;-))
Many thanks in advance.

Gus.

Gavin Harrison

10-04-2009, 01:26 PM

Hi ProgMetalHead,

sorry I missed you in the after show.

Hi DaleC

Anyway, here it is (minus the ghost notes), how does it look Gavin?

Yes pretty good job there - but the ghost notes are the hardest parts to play!!

Hi Hurlza

Thanx for the reply gavin. What i meant by record the beat was did you record it as a loop or is it all live? and how did you come up with the idea for the beat?

I don't record anything as a loop - it's all live from beginning to end. I think that part came out of a jam we we're having as a band.

Hi Gus

Excuse me you all but i can´t find what the meaning of ´herta´ is. This word has blown away every dictionary avalaible for me.

It's a hybrid rudiment - have a look here
http://www.drumstheword.com/licks-grooves-and-ideas-drum-lesson-herta-three-note-hybrid-rudiment-drum-lick-fill

cheers
Gavin

DaleC

10-04-2009, 01:56 PM

Thanks Gavin. I agree, the ghost notes are the hardest part to play, but they really help fill the groove out. Major props for coming up with such a fantastic groove!

I was wondering about the RLRRL sticking that you mentioned towards the end of your Rhythmic Horizons DVD. I really like this sticking and I think it makes for some brilliant polyrhythmic grooves depending on where the accents are placed. You used this sticking inside of triplets in fills, but do you ever use this sticking in grooves? If so are there any examples that you could explain or show, from a CD/DVD or even from a transcription?

Thanks.

daniele

10-04-2009, 08:01 PM

Hi Gavin,

In Italy is very hard to work with music. Last week i went to a little recording studio near my house to look for work. I have take with me a cd demo. In this cd i have played 5 pop songs with a local band and it was a good work for me. The drum tracks were played with simplicity but with taste and precision, also because the genre was that (think Claudio Baglioni, Fiorella Mannoia, Raf or many other italian artist of this kind)! But my drumming was not appreciated, because they said that there were few virtuoso fills in (???). And this unfortunately happens often. I know that 99 percent of people think that a good drummer should be an octopus or play at supersonic speed, but i thought it was important to play with precision and taste to be appreciated in a professional environment. I stayed sick. I have studied 8 years with a Berklee graduate teacher. Has this ever happened to you? I have to learn to play like Vinnie Colaiuta, so they make me play a waltz?

gibeachhead

10-05-2009, 12:51 AM

Hey Gavin,

If I recall you mentioned you were testing out some possible new Zildjian chime/splash cymbals? Is there any update on this? (release, etc)

Thanks as usual, all the best!

djlouis

10-05-2009, 07:08 AM

Hi Gavin! I saw you last week at the Metropolis in Montreal and it was a really great show (the performance was flawless and the sound was pristine). I was wondering if Porcupine Tree plan to do a show in Quebec city in this tour? I saw that you have a new cymbal in your setup (completely at the left of the kit) and it looks like a big china cymbal, can you tell me what is this cymbal and why did you expand your set up (i saw that you sometime ride on it with your left hand).

I want to finish by saying how much I appreciate that you take time to answer all the question we have...I wish we could have do that with Buddy, Bonham, Porcaro etc. You're a real inspiration on and off the drums. Thank you.

Roger//

10-05-2009, 10:08 AM

Hey Gavin!

Thanks for your reply.
Got a pillow a discount price at Yisk (im in the Netherlands).
Little smaller than a regular sized pillow, but still heavy.
Works great! I like the sound of it in the drum, short and punchy.
Thanks for your help!

I'll just continue asking ok?:P

1: How do you muffle your snare? I read something about rings...
Did you do this at the MD festival for example?
If so.. what kind of ring? I can't spot it in pictures:S

2: What is your opinion about coated ambassadors on the toms? I have those on there now, but I find them to have a little too much overtone... what do you think?

Thank you for being so nice in taking time to anwser all my little questions.

Again, I've learned a lot from your videos, and I love the sound you get out off the drums!

Gavin Harrison

10-05-2009, 01:33 PM

Hi DaleC

I was wondering about the RLRRL sticking that you mentioned towards the end of your Rhythmic Horizons DVD. You used this sticking inside of triplets in fills, but do you ever use this sticking in grooves? If so are there any examples that you could explain or show, from a CD/DVD or even from a transcription?

Yes it's one of my favourites. I do use it inside a couple of grooves on my latest CD with 05Ric "Circles" . Soon there will be a book of the transcriptions and you'll be able to see that sticking in action.

Hi daniele

But my drumming was not appreciated, because they said that there were few virtuoso fills in (???).Has this ever happened to you?

Your story surprises me. Usually my experience has been that they don't want virtuosic fills - but just simple good feeling groove.

Hi gibeachhead

If I recall you mentioned you were testing out some possible new Zildjian chime/splash cymbals? Is there any update on this?

Yes we have worked on some prototypes - but I have no news about a possible release.

Hi djlouis

I was wondering if Porcupine Tree plan to do a show in Quebec city in this tour?

Not this tour - but we hope sometime early next year.

I saw that you have a new cymbal in your setup (completely at the left of the kit) and it looks like a big china cymbal, can you tell me what is this cymbal and why did you expand your set up (i saw that you sometime ride on it with your left hand).

Yes it's a Zildjian 22" Swish Knocker (without the rivets). I like to ride on it with my left hand sometimes as it opens up the rest of the kit for the right hand and some interesting rhythmical possibilities.

Hi Roger//

1: How do you muffle your snare? I read something about rings...
Did you do this at the MD festival for example? If so.. what kind of ring?

On my 14" snares I usually use a zero ring (or two) for muffling. On my 12" snares (like I used on the MD Fest DVD) I don't really muffle them at all. Maybe a tiny bit of gaffa tape sometimes.

2: What is your opinion about coated ambassadors on the toms? I have those on there now, but I find them to have a little too much overtone... what do you think?

I really like them - but I dent them too quickly playing rock music on them. So I find the tone and durability of the Coated Emperors much better for me in a situation like Porcupine Tree.

cheers
Gavin

Big Chris

10-05-2009, 01:57 PM

How's that for a happy coincidence? First day I've been on the boards in months and I'm listening to you playing on the new O.S.I as I type.

Great stuff. A little too much electronica for me to fall absolutely head-over-heels with it, but I guess that's the thrash metaller side of me speaking.

I hope Portnoy doesn't hold a grudge.

:-)

Roger//

10-05-2009, 04:58 PM

Hey Gavin!

About this question again. First off thanks for taking the time:)

(Hi Roger//

1: How do you muffle your snare? I read something about rings...
Did you do this at the MD festival for example? If so.. what kind of ring?

On my 14" snares I usually use a zero ring (or two) for muffling. On my 12" snares (like I used on the MD Fest DVD) I don't really muffle them at all. Maybe a tiny bit of gaffa tape sometimes.)

But, another question:P

What kind of rings would this be? Regular ones like the Remo's or the Evans E-rings? or do you make these yourself?

I have a choice to make. the puresound Equalizer Snare Wires with 12 or 14 strands. what do you think? 12 give less buzz? still a good snare sound?

Thanks!

Roger

ProgMetalHead

10-06-2009, 05:54 AM

I was wondering where I could get the followup to Drop. I love Drop, and I feel that it contains some of your best drumming. You bring out a lot of what drummers DON'T but SHOULD do, and it's inspiring. The best touches, imo, are your ghost notes. They have such a light, subtle touch, and it just fills out your playing so well. I have both of your DVDs, and I plan on watching them shortly. My playing has been lacking for a long time now, so I look forward to learning your ideas! One thing I love doing because of you is snare displacement. Early or late snare hits really groove out the music!
I have another question, actually. How often did you practise when you were just starting out? Did you do a lot of theory studying and disciplinary type stuff? Do you still "practise" these days, or do you just play for the bands? Thanks!

mrbutterskin

10-06-2009, 10:16 AM

Hey Gavin,

I've always wondered, what goes through your head right before you play that crazy section on Anesthetize? (11:12-11:30)

If it were me, It'd certainly be nothing other than "oh shit." hah
Did you or steve write that drum part? If he did, how'd you feel about it at first?

Thanks,
Robin

Gavin Harrison

10-06-2009, 01:04 PM

Hi Big Chris

How's that for a happy coincidence? First day I've been on the boards in months and I'm listening to you playing on the new O.S.I as I type.

Yeah it's a good record - I still enjoy hearing it.

Hi Roger//

What kind of rings would this be? Regular ones like the Remo's or the Evans E-rings? or do you make these yourself?

no I make them myself from old drum heads - and they are about half an inch wide.

I have a choice to make. the puresound Equalizer Snare Wires with 12 or 14 strands. what do you think? 12 give less buzz? still a good snare sound?

I prefer the regular custom strands - I get the 12 strands and then pull off the outside 4 (2 each side) so there's just 8 strands left in the middle.

Hi ProgMetalHead

I was wondering where I could get the followup to Drop. I love Drop, and I feel that it contains some of your best drumming.

thanks the new one is called "Circles" and it's only available from here:

http://www.burningshed.com/store/gavinharrison/

I have another question, actually. How often did you practise when you were just starting out? Did you do a lot of theory studying and disciplinary type stuff? Do you still "practise" these days, or do you just play for the bands?

I went through many different phases of practising - when I was really young I just played along to records - then when I was about 10/11 years old I had serious lessons to read and work on technique. I certainly practised every day for at least a couple of hours back then. Yes I still practise now (when I have time) but it's much more conceptual stuff rather than anything purely technical.

Hi mrbutterskin

I've always wondered, what goes through your head right before you play that crazy section on Anesthetize? (11:12-11:30)

Usually I think to myself "Stay relaxed and pace yourself". It's a pretty hard section to pull off cleanly in a concert situation.

cheers
Gavin.

Merting

10-06-2009, 01:37 PM

Hello Mr. Harrison

Got the new record a few weeks ago, and it's a great grower album! Especially the 2nd CD, I find the drumming quite creative. Also, I actually find your drumming on the Octane Twisted part jazzy for some reason, congratulations on the record!

As for the questions:

1- Do you listen back to the records you have recorded? If so what do you think of them?

2- I've watched this video a couple of times:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Una_hzeeE&NR=1

Seen you legging it, were you in a hurry if you remember?

Thanks for taking time to answer everything on here, I've enjoyed reading the forum for quite a time!

Cheers from Turkey.

ProgFron

10-06-2009, 07:39 PM

Hi Gavin,

Hope you're enjoying the few days off you have.
Last Saturday I finally bought a new snaredrum. The final choice was between a Sonor Artist Series 14x5" Scandinavian Birch, Odery 14x5.5" Air Control and a Craviotto 13x6.5" Natural Maple. The Sonor came out as the one with most character and versatility for me, as well as being the cheapest of the three. You obviously know the Sonor snare, do you happen to have those other two? And what do you think of them?

Second question:
I'll be recording soon with my band and I'd like some tuning tips for the toms. We're going to record 3, maybe 4, songs which are all in drop D. What notes what you tune the toms to if this were the sizes? 12" and 13" racks and a 16" floor.

I'll see you in a few days in Amsterdam and Brussels.

Cheers,

Francis

Gavin Harrison

10-07-2009, 04:07 PM

For those of you who maybe curious about the new Korg Wavedrum. Here's me demoing some of the sounds at the Korg product luanch a few weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkpWfm_nT0

Hi Merting

1- Do you listen back to the records you have recorded? If so what do you think of them?

Very rarely. Normally I've worked on the music so much that I can't bear to hear it again. After a few years have gone by I might hear something that I recorded - but then it sounds kind of old to me. "In Absentia" feels like 50 years ago now.

2- I've watched this video a couple of times:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Una_hzeeE&NR=1 Seen you legging it, were you in a hurry if you remember?

I was aware that they were about to film the smashing of an iPod - but I wasn't that interested to hang around and see it.

Hi ProgFron

Hope you're enjoying the few days off you have.
Last Saturday I finally bought a new snaredrum. The final choice was between a Sonor Artist Series 14x5" Scandinavian Birch, Odery 14x5.5" Air Control and a Craviotto 13x6.5" Natural Maple. The Sonor came out as the one with most character and versatility for me, as well as being the cheapest of the three. You obviously know the Sonor snare, do you happen to have those other two? And what do you think of them?

I do have a Craviotto 13x6.5 but I'm not that crazy for it. It has a different character to the Sonor 14x5.5 that you describe. I don't know the Odery drum.

I'll be recording soon with my band and I'd like some tuning tips for the toms. We're going to record 3, maybe 4, songs which are all in drop D. What notes what you tune the toms to if this were the sizes? 12" and 13" racks and a 16" floor.

I don't really 'pitch' my drums specifically. If you search back through this thread you'll find intervals that I use. I never worry about the drums being 'in tune' with the songs.

cheers
Gavin

euphoric_anomaly

10-08-2009, 12:16 AM

Gavin,

Alright, I listened to Schism again and you (of course) are correct, I can certainly here the 5/8 and 7/8 grooves. If you were to get technical, would that be saying the groove is in 12/8 in a 5-7 subdivision?

Also, I'm almost certain that your song Break is in 12/8's also, but with a different subdivision, maybe 4 bars of 3/8ths?

One last random question, what weight drum sticks do you prefer? 5A? 5B? does it depend on the song and how powerful an influence you want to make?

Thanks

Gavin Harrison

10-08-2009, 01:08 PM

Hi euphoric_anomaly,

yes you could perceive that verse groove of Schism in 12/8 or 3/4 or 6/8 if you wanted to. I think 5 + 7 is easier.

"Break" could also be felt in 12/8 or 3/4 I personally think of it as 6/8.

One last random question, what weight drum sticks do you prefer? 5A? 5B?

Vic Firth "Rock" model.

cheers
Gavin

henri

10-08-2009, 01:52 PM

hello Mr Harrison,

do you know this SD?
it's a premier 2oo9 power snare with a secondary sound chamber from 80's (not a "project-one").
http://membres.lycos.fr/henrifalisse/drummerie/cc%20premier%201.jpgmine

http://membres.lycos.fr/henrifalisse/drummerie/sd2.jpgadv.
Have you ever tried? (pure or in rec)
what do think about its sound?

(listening xiii... tri-wow! good job, thx)

best,

Hi

KevShephard

10-08-2009, 04:44 PM

Hi Gavin,

Your show in Montreal was incredible! I loved hearing you guys perform all of "The Incident". Whenever I listen to the album now (which is constantly), I can visualize how you played different parts......it's great. I hope you are back to Canada in the spring.

I have a question about over-riding. I remember you mentioning on your "Rhythmic Horizons" DVD something like you first heard a tune in 7/8 with quarter-notes over top, and that's when you started elaborating on the over-riding concept. Would this have been Vinnie Colaiuta? I remember first hearing some of the stuff Vinnie played on Sting's "Ten Summoner's Tales", in which he did a few tracks using this concept, and I, at the time, was like, "what the hell is that?". I was just curious as to where you first heard that.

Also, I just wanted to thank you again for being such an inspiration. I was recently voted Drummer of the Year in my local music awards show, and I have to say it has a lot to do with the inspiration I get from your creativity. So thanks again!

And good luck on the rest of the tour!!!

Kevin

shortsman

10-09-2009, 02:01 AM

Hi Gavin,
I have heard The Incident album more than 15 times and i have to admit that it sounds GREAT! Once again the playing is amazing and i can say that this album is totally different from what Porcupine have recorded since your arrival! I had several conversations with friends about the album and your drumming and we all noticed that you had a minimalistic approach to the songs in this record! this is something i really enjoyed because the music is different than the previous albums and i think that the drumming fits PERFECTLY! I can see that you don't just want to show off (you don't need to anyway), but you play for the needs of the music! I just want to say once again that you are by far my favorite drummer and a great inspiration!

P.S. Some days ago my drum teacher told me ''Some of the things you play sound like Gavin Harrison.'' I just couldn't stop smiling because of the great honor! Thanks once again!!!

Yannick Vanderlinden

10-09-2009, 06:31 AM

Hi Gavin,

At first I'd like to thank you for being such a great source of inspiration to me, listening PT records REALLY helps me expanding my horizons on drums and the music means so much more to me...

And now what I'd really like to know, though I won't be the first one to ask...
What snare drum do you use on such videos as Anesthetize and The Sound of Muzak etc. at the Modern Drummer 2008? I've seen those vids on Youtube several times and I'm still in love with that sound... I believe it is a 12" or 13 ", white or greyish, I don't know... Could you tell me what size, brand, shell material, heads and maybe tuning? (Loose, medium, ... on batter and resonant)

Keep up the good work! (Won't be a problem I guess, LOOOOOVEEEE "The Incident")

Yannick Vanderlinden

Mr. Brownstone

10-09-2009, 03:24 PM

And now what I'd really like to know, though I won't be the first one to ask...
What snare drum do you use on such videos as Anesthetize and The Sound of Muzak etc. at the Modern Drummer 2008? I've seen those vids on Youtube several times and I'm still in love with that sound... I believe it is a 12" or 13 ", white or greyish, I don't know... Could you tell me what size, brand, shell material, heads and maybe tuning? (Loose, medium, ... on batter and resonant)

http://www.askgavinharrison.com/tags/21-Snare/articles
http://www.askgavinharrison.com/tags/30-Tuning/articles

Hi Gavin! I saw you last week at the Metropolis in Montreal and it was a really great show (the performance was flawless and the sound was pristine).
Indeed. A friend of mine who was with me at the show has seen many acts at Metropolis and remarked the sound was the best he had ever heard.

Phil Brodermann

10-10-2009, 01:53 PM

Wow, Thank you so much for a brilliant show last night, very inspiring. It was a great atmosphere/sound out front, how was it on stage? I did enjoy the improvisation towards the end of 'Trains', shortly after your 'Illusion' haha, so now your including visual, aswell as rhythmic Illusions. Very entertaining. Look forward to seeing you again. Phil

Ogg

10-10-2009, 01:57 PM

Literally about to leave for the drive to Bristol to catch you doing your PT thing tonight, first time seeing the band live...can't wait! I'm taking my sixteen year old son and we're arguing whose the most excited...:) Amazing,

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought I'd offer an update on an amazing evening (apart from the journey home). Despite the venue being all-seated the entire execution 'The Incident' was simply stunning with 'Drawing The Line leaving me speechless. I took my sisteen year old son along and he loved every second as did I. One of the highlights of the second set was 'Anesthetize', when Steven urged the whole venue to stand..finally we get the chance to rock out. I do not want to offer spoilers as to the set list but every track blew me away.
Man I was so engrossed moving to 'Trains' that I didnt spot the visual illusion(!), being stuck on the balcony didnt help, gutted :) Did a cymbal crack during Time Flies as I coudn't help but notice? Just to end a perfect evening I even managed to blag a drum stick from the previous night's gig...and gave it to my excited son for putting up with a flat tyre on the way home.
Probably the best gig I've ever seen, thank you for an incredible night.

Phil Brodermann

10-12-2009, 10:33 PM

Hi Gavin, just a quick question, what microphones are used on the bass drum on the 'Arriving Somewhere' dvd? Is it the usual SM91 And Audix D6? Thanks, Phil.

Gavin Harrison

10-13-2009, 12:39 PM

Hi henri

do you know this SD?
it's a premier 2oo9 power snare with a secondary sound chamber from 80's (not a "project-one").

I remember them from the 1980's but I never owned one so I don't really know what they sound like.

Hi KevShephard

I have a question about over-riding. I remember you mentioning on your "Rhythmic Horizons" DVD something like you first heard a tune in 7/8 with quarter-notes over top, and that's when you started elaborating on the over-riding concept. Would this have been Vinnie Colaiuta?

No it was an earlier Sting album and the drums were programmed. I think the song is called "Straight To Your Heart".

Hi Yannick Vanderlinden

What snare drum do you use on such videos as Anesthetize and The Sound of Muzak etc. at the Modern Drummer 2008?

it's my 12x5 Sonor designer 6 ply maple. On the MD videos it has a Remo C.S on it.

Hi Phil Brodermann

what microphones are used on the bass drum on the 'Arriving Somewhere' dvd? Is it the usual SM91 And Audix D6?

On that DVD it's just the SM91.

cheers
Gavin

henri

10-13-2009, 01:40 PM

Hi henri

do you know this SD?
I remember them from the 1980's but I never owned one so I don't really know what they sound like.

hi again Mr Harrison,

would you try it and make your opinion about it?
if so, I'll take it with me this 14th at AB brussels and let's arrange a small "after" (lol, I'm kidding)
hum, ok, i'm out. : ))
best,
henri

Cuban

10-13-2009, 03:44 PM

For those of you who maybe curious about the new Korg Wavedrum. Here's me demoing some of the sounds at the Korg product luanch a few weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkpWfm_nT0

cheers
Gavin
Hi Gavin

I hope the tour is going well - I hope to catch up with you later in the year.

You mentioned the Wave is on the new CD, is this the new WDX as seen in your product launch or an earlier version Wave?

Any plans to use it on the tour or more extensively on future releases?

KevShephard

10-13-2009, 04:20 PM

Ah, yes, Straight to My Heart....great tune. I love how Vinnie uses over-riding in "Seven Days" (over 5, I think - I saw him play it live with Sting, it was sick) and "St Augustine In Hell" (over 7).

Thanks for the reply, Gavin! I hope you are having a great time on the European leg of the tour.....

decaftundra

10-13-2009, 04:21 PM

Hi Gavin!

I sent you a message on your private box, I don't know if you chack it but I hope so.

Thanks,

Julien

H3nki3

10-13-2009, 05:24 PM

Hi Gavin,

It's my first post on this messageboard, but seeing Porcupine Tree last night in Amsterdam, I felt the need to ask a few questions.......

- First of all: thanks for an incredible evening, last night 'll make me listen to The Incident and all PT cd's before a lot more.....

Being a drummer myself I was wondering: do you check your own sound in a venue every night during soundcheck (let one of your roadies play and listen how your kit sounds to the audience?). I'm asking this because last night the band sounded pretty good....but what happened to your beautifull SQ2? The main snare sounded like an 8" phonebook, basedrum and all the toms were dark and not very clear. I was hoping to learn a few new fills, but I couldn't make much from it 'cause of the sound the soundguy made from your kit.

I own a Sonor Designer (birch shells) myself and know how good a kit can sound, but allso how dependend you are on you soundguy. I had the feeling he focussed a lot on guitars, keyboards and vox, but not so much on bass and drums....

I hope I don't sound cocky in a way, and I really enjoyed seeing you play...and as said the rest of the band sounded great...but for the learning part, I have to go to the CD's

Thanks again for all the beautifull rhythms and riffs....I've been a drummer for over 30 years but still learning....

Last question: do you know Dutch drummers Wim de Vries and Rene Creemers? They allso have a big Sonor endorsement and are incredible! If you're interested, go to http://www.drumbassadors.com . If you do, I'm really interested if you like them, check out the vid's they've put on their site

Regards

H3nki3

Stijnn1990

10-13-2009, 05:33 PM

Hey Gavin!

First of all, I saw you yesterday in Amsterdam and I really enjoyed every minute of the show!
Thank you for that!

I have two questions about your mics yesterday

- I noticed you were playing without a bottom mic for your snaredrum, what was the reason of that?
- And at the right side (for the audiance) about 3 meter from you kit you had an overall mic but i've never seen this one before, what type of mic was it and were do you use it for?

Thanks,

Stijn

Juice Box

10-13-2009, 06:05 PM

Have you guys listened to his stuff from Porcupine Tree? What do you think?

Gavin Harrison

10-13-2009, 07:59 PM

Hi Cuban

You mentioned the Wave is on the new CD, is this the new WDX as seen in your product launch or an earlier version Wave?Any plans to use it on the tour or more extensively on future releases?

No I have the original Wavedrum - and I used that on "Remember Me Lover". The new WDX hasn't been released yet. I don't know if I'll incorporate it into my live setup yet - but it's a lot of fun to play.

Hi H3nki3

Being a drummer myself I was wondering: do you check your own sound in a venue every night during soundcheck (let one of your roadies play and listen how your kit sounds to the audience?).

No I soundcheck my own kit.

I'm asking this because last night the band sounded pretty good....but what happened to your beautifull SQ2? The main snare sounded like an 8" phonebook, basedrum and all the toms were dark and not very clear. I was hoping to learn a few new fills, but I couldn't make much from it 'cause of the sound the soundguy made from your kit.

Sorry to hear that you had a bad sound where you were standing. Other folks have written to me and said it was the best sound that they ever heard. I guess it depends exactly where you are in that huge room.When I go to concerts I try to stand as close to the mixing board as possible.

Last question: do you know Dutch drummers Wim de Vries and Rene Creemers?

Yes I met them at the Frankfurt music show around 2005. They are amazing drummers and very funny too.

Hi Stijnn1990

I have two questions about your mics yesterday
- I noticed you were playing without a bottom mic for your snaredrum, what was the reason of that?

There are bottom mics on both of my snare drums - Audix i5s - you probably couldn't see them as they are mounted off the snare drum stands.

- And at the right side (for the audiance) about 3 meter from you kit you had an overall mic but i've never seen this one before, what type of mic was it and were do you use it for?

I have two mics like that one at each side. They are condenser mics - but I can't remember which ones at the moment.

cheers
Gavin

Gus

10-13-2009, 08:49 PM

Hi Gavin

I like very much 'Circle Of Manias'. Amazing song.
Is the opening groove in 9/8 (5+4) with the hi-hat changing the accents every bar?. IMHO that hi-hat pattern makes a great feel to the song.

By the way congratulations for TI. I love it.

Regards
Gus

trysthedrummer

10-13-2009, 10:32 PM

Yeah it is, reminds me of the Sound of Muzak! Apart from different time sigs

Fox622003

10-14-2009, 07:37 AM

Hey Gavin,
I've seen a lot of footage of you playing and I'd say in 50% of the videos you're using two snares and in the other 50 you aren't. Does your "official" setup include two snares, or do you just use the extra one if the occasion demands it? Because there are several types of music and drumming styles that require two snares, it's very common in Pop songs to use two different snare sounds in the same song for example, but I haven't seen you using your second snare for grooves, although I might have missed something there.

All the best, Fox.

SantiBanks

10-14-2009, 12:40 PM

Hi Gavin,

Thanks for pulling off that great show in Amsterdam! I really enjoyed it a lot. I stood front row/second row, looking up against Colin his bassguitar rack. You might have spotted me (I was the guy that nodded 4/4 for time flies )

I was really amazed how good the band sounded. Everything was clearly audible and the vocal harmonies blew me away! Never thought that that could be pulled off on stage so good (as its very difficult from what I understand). Kudos to the engineer who pulled it off! He did a wonderful job that evening (I also really liked the effects on Steven's voice and your drums)

However a small question about the stage layout for that evening. Why was the stage layout so "compact"? There was plenty of room on both sides of the stage. The people who stood more right from me looked up against a big empty spot on stage (and the few amp racks to power the PA.)

Thanks again for the wonderful evening :) Hope to see you guys again somewhere next year?

Gavin Harrison

10-14-2009, 07:13 PM

Hi Gus

I like very much 'Circle Of Manias'. Amazing song.
Is the opening groove in 9/8 (5+4) with the hi-hat changing the accents every bar?. IMHO that hi-hat pattern makes a great feel to the song.

Yes in that part it's still 9/8 + a 1/4 note override on the hi hat.

Hi Fox622003

I've seen a lot of footage of you playing and I'd say in 50% of the videos you're using two snares and in the other 50 you aren't. Does your "official" setup include two snares, or do you just use the extra one if the occasion demands it?

With Porcupine Tree I use two snares (and I use the left snare in the verse grooves of "Strip The Soul" and a few other places)- but in clinic situations I just use one snare.

Hi SantiBanks

Why was the stage layout so "compact"? There was plenty of room on both sides of the stage. The people who stood more right from me looked up against a big empty spot on stage (and the few amp racks to power the PA.)

That's the distance we always play from each other. It's not so enjoyable to play spread out - it makes you feel very detached.

cheers
Gavin

keep it simple

10-14-2009, 08:33 PM

Hi Gavin,

I've just tuned into your stuff for the first time. I'd not heard of you until I joined DW. There's been a 20 year space in my drumming life so I'm hugely out of date. I'm blowing off the cobwebs right now. Just wanted to say that your playing is the polar opposite of the playing I normally advocate but you play with such panache that you bring purpose to complexity. Quite, quite superb. I like Simon Phillips for the same reason and you've just shot right up there in my very small list of players to behold.

crazydrummer

10-15-2009, 01:28 AM

Hi Gavin,

I was in Brussels for my first PT show. Thanks for the great moment, that was awesome ! A lot of emotions, great sound, and great performance ! Too short...but I hope to see you next time for the next album, or for a drum clinic, who knows ? ;-)

And GREAT magic trick at the end of the show ! :-)

Thanks a lot to the band for the amazing evening, it was a dream to see you guys on stage.

See you next time !

Denis

henri

10-15-2009, 11:11 AM

i was there too (sec floor side on your right)...
yes, it was giant. (as usual).
thank you all, PT, for this wonderful moment.
hooo, damn, Gavin, I forgot my snare ...
it will be next.

your third tom moves a lot, right?
Is it normal?
after Colin's jack little trouble, I fear for your 12", lol.

you seem to be very relax behind your drum... a little as Ian Mosley.
again good job !
see you next time.

Henri

Kalma

10-15-2009, 02:35 PM

Hi Gavin,

do you care about people who don't like your style of playing?
I think you don't ;)

There's a question about finding grooves for a song.
How long do you try out different grooves for a new song, for example "bonnie the cat"?

Did you have the idea in your head the first time you listened to it?

Thanks
David

Drizzle

10-16-2009, 12:05 AM

hey Gavin

Great show last monday.... your drumset sounded fantastic...great snare sound...

I was thinking...If for some reason you weren't able to play some shows with Porcupine Tree....and some other drummer would have to replace you..... who would you like it to be ......to see how he/she would play some of your parts?

Greetz,
Dre

cantstandyourfunk

10-16-2009, 12:40 AM

Hi there Gavin,
I remembered you mentioning Sting's music on the topic of Straight To My Heart; I remember you spoke about how Start of Something Beautiful was inspired by the groove to Big Lie Small World. May I ask you which is your favourite Sting record?

Gavin Harrison

10-16-2009, 12:44 AM

Hi henri

your third tom moves a lot, right?Is it normal?

yes it's pretty springy.

HiKalma

do you care about people who don't like your style of playing?

if there's one thing I've learnt is that you can't please everyone.

There's a question about finding grooves for a song.
How long do you try out different grooves for a new song, for example "bonnie the cat"?

that was easy as the whole song writing began with that drum rhythm. I played my idea to the other guys along with a bass line and they liked it - so we all worked on it and developed the piece.

Hi Drizzle

Great show last monday.... your drumset sounded fantastic...great snare sound...

funny you should say that - H3nki3 said it sounded like a 8" phone book.

cheers
Gavin

Fox622003

10-16-2009, 02:07 AM

Hi there Gavin,
I remember you spoke about how Start of Something Beautiful was inspired by the groove to Big Lie Small World.

And a lot of the hi hat and cross stick, specially in the Arriving Somewhere DVD take, is inspired in Copeland's general hi hat and cross stick work, isn't it? Because that's the first thing that came to my mind when I heard it, sounds very much like his stuff.
Thanks!

Fox.

Heitor

10-16-2009, 03:02 AM

Hi Gavin!

A friend of mine just got me the new album and it sounds PERFECT... Congratulations!

A question about the recording sessions: when you were tracking the instruments, how was the ProTools session divided? Did you already have those 14 "chapters" or was the piece recorded as one giant 55-min. song? Because there are some parts that flow perfectly, as if they were recorded as one big thing...

Also, superb drum sound! The room sounds amazing... Along with the room mics, was any reverb added to the drums on the mixing stage?

Hope you guys have a wonderful tour, and now with some more exposure from Roadrunner, is time you guys land on brazillian lands for some concerts below the equator... We're waiting for you!

God bless ya and thanks for your attention!
Heitor.

H3nki3

10-16-2009, 10:28 AM

Hi henri

Hi Drizzle

Great show last monday.... your drumset sounded fantastic...great snare sound...

funny you should say that - H3nki3 said it sounded like a 8" phone book.

cheers
Gavin

Mmmm, I've gotta learn to move around when I don't like what I'm hearing. I'll be looking for another chance to see PT or Gavin live again...and I'll be the one who's walking around, annoying people to get the best sound ;-).

I stood about 4 meters in front of the soundguys, from that point guitars, voices and keyboards sounded great, drums and bass didn't. By all the other reactions about last monday I can tell it's my error.....and my loss...

I'll be back to a liveshow though, I had a fantastic evening. When seeing a band makes you wanna buy more CD's, even playing The Incident on the way home, I can tell that something was done very right that night.

Thanks again.....

H3nki3

Nige86

10-16-2009, 10:41 AM

Hey Gavin, Hope you're well and touring isn't killing you too much! Unfortunately I won't make a PT show this year cos I'm stuck in Northern Ireland but maybe next year I'll get over to the mainland! As everyone has been saying, the CD is class some inspiring playing, Bonnie the Cat is a masterpiece!

Anyway to the point, I got my hands on a Danny Carey snare last week and it is rather nice now I have some decent Remo heads on it, and it got me thinking would you be interested in Sonor making a Gavin Harrison model perhaps based on your Yamaha RC?

Anyway take it easy, and do come and visit N. Ireland for a jam sometime!

Nige

JT1

10-16-2009, 02:46 PM

Hey Gavin, hope everything is well with the band. Hopefully i will be coming to see you play for the first time in Newcastle and i'm very much looking forward to it. I'm starting a progressive metal band up sometime soon but the thing is i'm not really comfortable playing in odd time signatures, is this something that will develop and become easier over time as i play with the band and learn the music? How did you approach them when you first started playing them? Thanks for your time.

JT

Cuban

10-16-2009, 05:38 PM

Gavin Harrison

10-16-2009, 06:36 PM

Hi cantstandyourfunk

I remembered you mentioning Sting's music on the topic of Straight To My Heart; I remember you spoke about how Start of Something Beautiful was inspired by the groove to Big Lie Small World. May I ask you which is your favourite Sting record?

I really like "Soul Cages"

Hi Fox622003

And a lot of the hi hat and cross stick, specially in the Arriving Somewhere DVD take, is inspired in Copeland's general hi hat and cross stick work, isn't it?

I wasn't trying deliberately do it but Stewart Copeland was a big influence on me - I guess it comes out in all kinds of places - as do my other influences.

Hi Heitor

A question about the recording sessions: when you were tracking the instruments, how was the ProTools session divided? Did you already have those 14 "chapters" or was the piece recorded as one giant 55-min. song? Because there are some parts that flow perfectly, as if they were recorded as one big thing...

We don't use Pro Tools we use Logic - the piece was divided into 5 large sections and I recorded the drums as 5 separate sessions knowing that it will all be stitched together in the end.

Also, superb drum sound! The room sounds amazing... Along with the room mics, was any reverb added to the drums on the mixing stage?

Yes there was reveb added too.

Hi Nige86

Anyway to the point, I got my hands on a Danny Carey snare last week and it is rather nice now I have some decent Remo heads on it, and it got me thinking would you be interested in Sonor making a Gavin Harrison model perhaps based on your Yamaha RC?

Of course I'd love to - and I already have some (secret) ideas. I think a lot would depend on the setup of it. As you know you can drastically change a lot of things on a snare drum which can make it sound anywhere from good to bad. I think I'd make a YouTube film (to accompany it) to show how I set it up tuning/dampening/snare tension etc.

Hi JT1

I'm starting a progressive metal band up sometime soon but the thing is i'm not really comfortable playing in odd time signatures, is this something that will develop and become easier over time as i play with the band and learn the music? How did you approach them when you first started playing them?

Playing odd times is only as hard as playing groups of 2 and 3. Get a sequencer and make some bass line riffs in odd times and just jam along for hours end. You'll soon get a lot more comfortable.

Hi Cuban

Do you have a pre-release of the WDX as yet or was the product launch your only experience of it so far?

No I have only played that one the day of the launch and a little bit the day before. I don't know exactly when they will appear in the shops - before Xmas I would guess.

on stage, given your stunning overriding, resolving and polyrhythmic theoretical work,
do you ever use a click track through your IEMs to give you a point to return to?

There's quite often a click running as we have to sync to the films. I think I can do it equally with or without the click.

Cheers
Gavin

Funnyguy1970

10-16-2009, 08:29 PM

I must say its rather incredible that you have time to answer all these questions, touring all over Europe. Respect!! I just called in to thank you for a brilliant show on Hammersmith London, sat in the middle and enjoyed the sound of your kit. The vocal at the start vas poor though.. Enjoyed the technique with the new "crash" on the left hand side. And the show was flawless enjoying every minute (went too fast, time flies when your having fun). Waited outside to meet you all after the show, but you guys went the other way... Met Colin though..
Cant really wait to se you again in Oslo next Friday...

SantiBanks

10-17-2009, 01:30 PM

That's the distance we always play from each other. It's not so enjoyable to play spread out - it makes you feel very detached.

cheers
Gavin

Thanks for answering. I already suspected that would be the reason.

I stood about 4 meters in front of the soundguys, from that point guitars, voices and keyboards sounded great, drums and bass didn't. By all the other reactions about last monday I can tell it's my error.....and my loss...
H3nki3

Not sure if you where at the gig @ the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. If you where there then I'm not sure how it sounded at the mixing spot but I stood frontrow and it sounded wonderful. I had to leave earlier (missed trains but catched my train) so I walked my way to the doors. The sound still sounded very good. In fact I think this is the best sounding PT gig I had, though I would like to be more in the middle next time to hear better stereo separation (for the stereo sound effects like in anesthize/what happens now).

Though, sound depends a lot on the venue itself, the skills of the mixer and the PA set used. I saw PT at a couple of places in the Netherlands and my first two gigs with them sounded aweful. In fact, if the third one (which was in the HMH a couple of years ago) sounded crap, I would never go again.
Paradiso sounded crap, Melkweg sounded horrible loud and distorted (I used ear protection and my ears hurt). Heineken music hall and 013 sounded great!

H3nki3

10-21-2009, 10:19 AM

SantiBanks

10-21-2009, 01:41 PM

I was at the HMH gig in Amsterdam. I stood 4 metres in front of the mixer and walked about right after the break. I didn't do a lot of walking around, so I can't tell how the drumsound was in the rest of te venue. I don't wanna go on about it, I had a great night, but I hoped to hear more definition in the drumset. Especially bassdrum: too much low, no definition, no click. Snare: no attack, sounded like it was really deep (like 10' or so). In the racktoms I heard no tone, so it didn't matter at what tom Gavin played, they all sounded the same.

That said: i keep hearing that a lot af people had a night with a great sounding drumkit, uptill now I'm the only one to complain. Either I'm too picky, or just stood at the wrong place, as Gavin suggested. I think I'm going with the latter and leave it alone...

Just hope to get a change to see Gavin or PT again soon...

H3nki3

Yeah don't worry about it. Thats what I learned too. If something is difficult then its to get a band like this sounding good across all the venues they play. Its not a standard rock band. Their sonic spectrum goes far beyond that and their music is very dynamic too which makes it very challenging to mix.

The most important thing is that you enjoyed the show which I did a lot. Even if PT music was not my cup of tea (which is not the case), I would still go for Gavin. Its such a pleasure to see and hear him play, no matter what setting he is in. Hope they play the Netherlands again soon!

daniele

10-21-2009, 09:31 PM

But my drumming was not appreciated, because they said that there were few virtuoso fills in (???).Has this ever happened to you?

Your story surprises me. Usually my experience has been that they don't want virtuosic fills - but just simple good feeling groove.

Lucky you!

Hi Gavin,

I would like some advice from you on a snare. I have a Pearl Masters Custom MMX snare (4 layers), which is very nice, but very very resonant and "shrill." It has mounted a Remo emperor on the top and a Remo "ambassador snare" on the bottom. If i remember well, between your snares, you have a Pearl Master Custom (MMX or MRX?) What heads you use? Maybe I should replace the "ambassador snare" with a normal ambassador clear? Thank you!

DaleC

10-21-2009, 10:43 PM

Lucky you!

Hi Gavin,

I would like some advice from you on a snare. I have a Pearl Masters Custom MMX snare (4 layers), which is very nice, but very very resonant and "shrill." It has mounted a Remo emperor on the top and a Remo "ambassador snare" on the bottom. If i remember well, between your snares, you have a Pearl Master Custom (MMX or MRX?) What heads you use? Maybe I should replace the "ambassador snare" with a normal ambassador clear? Thank you!

Using a regular abassador on the resonant side of a snare would completely kill it. It would suck all the life out of the snare drum and make it sound like a cardboard box. That's the last thing you want to do.

Thaard

10-22-2009, 12:29 AM

Yo Gavin, I'm gonna watch you play Friday in Oslo. Really looking forward to it!

shamoon

10-22-2009, 05:20 PM

Hey Gavin!

What was that "magic trick" thing in Helsinki middle of the trains? :)
Great show btw!

shortsman

10-22-2009, 05:28 PM

Hi Gavin,
i want to ask you which album from all the recordings you have ever made was technically the most difficult for you!

Which drum beat you have written you are most proud of?

Will 19 days and the other songs you have on your dvds ever be released as an album?
This would really be great!!

jez-

10-22-2009, 06:18 PM

Hello again Mr. Harrison.

I just want to tell you how amazing the gig in Helsinki was last night! I've read a lot of discussion and comments about the gig on forums, and everyone seems to agree, that it was incredible. And what's even more incredible is how good and balanced the sound was from all instruments.

Well anyway, what did you think of the gig? Also a totally unrelated question, but what car do you have?

I hope to see you guys in Finland again next year.

Kalma

10-23-2009, 12:06 PM

HI Gavin,

I've got this nice 14*5 Artist Snare with a vintage Maple Shell.

Yesterday I wanted to tune it new, and I was really excited how good it sounds when I play ghostnotes or very quiet strokes/buzz-rolls on it.

But, when I hit it harder, like the Stick is about 30-40cm above the head and then hit the snare, I noticed that the snare wires had a very long sustain!!
I don't like that. Also they give a little "beep"-sound (you maybe can imagine what I mean).

My Snarewires are already very hard against the Resohead!!

what can I do to solve this problem?

It would be more than GREAT if you could give me some tipps!
David

Gavin Harrison

10-23-2009, 01:06 PM

Hi daniele

I would like some advice from you on a snare. I have a Pearl Masters Custom MMX snare (4 layers), which is very nice, but very very resonant and "shrill." It has mounted a Remo emperor on the top and a Remo "ambassador snare" on the bottom. If i remember well, between your snares, you have a Pearl Master Custom (MMX or MRX?) What heads you use? Maybe I should replace the "ambassador snare" with a normal ambassador clear?

I have a Pearl Custom Classic - and if remember correctly it has an Ambassador Snare and a coated Emperor on the top - I could only really get a 'fat' old school kind of sound from that drum - that I really liked. As DaleC said - don't put a regular Ambassador on the snare side - it will sound terrible. Getting a great snare sound - or one that sounds great to you is a highly elusive and subjective thing with SO many differing factors involved. Some of my snares have sounded good one day and not the next. Some have sounded good in one room and then horrible in another. Some sound good through the mics but not so good acoustically and so on. The way you play it has a lot to do with the sound. If you look back through this thread - or at the FAQ in my signature you'll find some snare drum discussions.

Hi shamoon

What was that "magic trick" thing in Helsinki middle of the trains? :)

don't worry it's just a joke.

Hi shortsman

i want to ask you which album from all the recordings you have ever made was technically the most difficult for you!

My latest CD with 05Ric called "Circles"

Which drum beat you have written you are most proud of?

That's a hard question. "Scar" comes to mind from the "Circles" CD. There's a few on both of the records with 05Ric that I'm very happy with.

Will 19 days and the other songs you have on your dvds ever be released as an album?

I don't think so. Probably they will only reside on those DVDs.

Hi jez-

I just want to tell you how amazing the gig in Helsinki was last night!
Well anyway, what did you think of the gig?

It was a good concert - the sound on stage was a little bit dry for us - and the audience seemed quite reserved from what we experienced in Finland before. I think in the festival we played a couple of years ago - the audience was a little more booze driven.

Hi Kalma

But, when I hit it harder, like the Stick is about 30-40cm above the head and then hit the snare, I noticed that the snare wires had a very long sustain!!
I don't like that. Also they give a little "beep"-sound (you maybe can imagine what I mean).My Snarewires are already very hard against the Resohead!!what can I do to solve this problem?

As I said above there's so many things that can affect the snare sound. I guess you all need to write to Sonor and demand a GH Custom snare be designed right away!!!!!

Have you tried it with 12 strand Puresound snare wires? I normally cut mine down to 8 strands - but snare drum sounds are a very personal thing - maybe you wouldn't love it I don't know.

cheers
Gavin

Kalma

10-23-2009, 02:15 PM

Hi Kalma

As I said above there's so many things that can affect the snare sound. I guess you all need to write to Sonor and demand a GH Custom snare be designed right away!!!!!

[...]

cheers
Gavin

I did :) I hope Sonor will do!

Naigewron

10-23-2009, 04:39 PM

Hey Gavin!

I don't have much in the way of a question, just wanted to wish you well for tonight's gig here in Oslo. Looking forward to hearing the new material live.

Last time I saw you live in Oslo (July 2007), the power went out a few times (from what I could gather, one of John's guitar pedals was to blame?). Hopefully all goes well tonight!

Later!

shortsman

10-23-2009, 09:37 PM

Thanks a lot for your answers! I was almost sure about your answers because the 2 albums you have made with 05ric are truly amazingly hard to be played! I have listened to both albums more than 50-60 times each! They are both AMAZING!!! I hope you will record new record soon because Gavin Harrison's drumming is never enough!!!
I would also like to know your opinion about my snare drum, it's exactly like this...
http://images.google.gr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.snarehouse.com/shopimages/products/thumbnails/MapexBlackPanther14x5.5PremiumWalnut(2).JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.snarehouse.com/&usg=__n5Vs4KSZwd6eVDLvi8pvbqIGTXc=&h=282&w=400&sz=100&hl=el&start=18&tbnid=nw4rDsYU8b-CqM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmapex%2Bblack%2Bpanther%2B13%2527%252 7%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Del%26sa%3DG
but my snare is 13 inches and with 40 snares. :)

miha

10-24-2009, 01:19 AM

Anyway to the point, I got my hands on a Danny Carey snare last week and it is rather nice now I have some decent Remo heads on it, and it got me thinking would you be interested in Sonor making a Gavin Harrison model perhaps based on your Yamaha RC?

Of course I'd love to - and I already have some (secret) ideas. I think a lot would depend on the setup of it. As you know you can drastically change a lot of things on a snare drum which can make it sound anywhere from good to bad. I think I'd make a YouTube film (to accompany it) to show how I set it up tuning/dampening/snare tension etc.

Now that's a pretty awesome idea! Gavin, I hope this gets thru with Sonor. Your signature snare drum + personal tips for optimum setup... now that's a product I would most certainly want to have. Good luck!

Any "not so secret" details you can share? The size & the depth, material, etc? :P

Thaard

10-24-2009, 02:48 AM

The concert in Oslo was awesome Gavin. Especially the stick throws at the end. I didnt like Katatonia much though. Most of their songs sounded the same.. Anyway, hope to see you next year too!

ProgFron

10-24-2009, 04:06 PM

Hi Gavin,

Thanks for the great shows in Amsterdam and Brussels. Especially liked the Brussels gig, great atmosphere.
Is there any chance of live gigs with 05ric? That'd be bloody awesome, though it would be a big challenge for the both you, I guess.

Cheers,

Francis

euphoric_anomaly

10-26-2009, 01:30 AM

Gavin,

I have a question about Bonnie the Cat. After that heavy riff ending at 4:33 it sounds like there are some tabla drums or bongo drums being played in the background. Did you get that sound from hitting the rims of the drums? Or was that electronic?

Thanks :)

Roger//

10-26-2009, 02:11 AM

Hey there Gavin!

3 questions

What do you think off clear emperors opposed to the coated you use on your toms?
What is the difference (to you) in sound?
What do you think of Evans drumheads? (sorry, i know you' re a Remo Endorser, but still) I use a mixture of Remo and Evans...

Thanks you!

gibeachhead

10-26-2009, 05:22 AM

I guess you all need to write to Sonor and demand a GH Custom snare be designed right away!!!!!
cheers
Gavin

YES! Come on everyone, let's do it!

cantstandyourfunk

10-26-2009, 03:59 PM

YES! Come on everyone, let's do it!

Count my vote x 2, if you will, please :)

pearlygates

10-26-2009, 04:07 PM

You sir are perhaps the most well rounded drummer to hit the scene in years!

I recently discovered some youtube footage of you playing with PT and as I started thumbing through your other vids I realized what a total musician you are!

I'm sorry if I sound like I am gushing. I am a 47 year old drummer with no formal training..and kinda caught in a rut. Your approach to the instrument is a new inspiration to me. You have an old new fan here! Go Gavin!

Alex P.

10-26-2009, 07:39 PM

Hi everyone,
Hi Gavin,

Here is the transcription of "Halo".
I also transcribed the intro of the dvd version. I don't know if everything is good...

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2103/halo1.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5786/halo2r.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5620/halo3q.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6797/halo4n.jpg

Have a nice end of tour !

Bye,

Alex P.

Gavin Harrison

10-27-2009, 04:47 PM

Hi shortsman

I would also like to know your opinion about my snare drum, it's exactly like this...
http://images.google.gr/imgres?imgur...%3Del%26sa%3DG
but my snare is 13 inches and with 40 snares. :)

It looks interesting but I've never played/heard one so I can't really comment.

Hi ProgFron

Is there any chance of live gigs with 05ric? That'd be bloody awesome, though it would be a big challenge for the both you, I guess.

We'd love to - but there's quite a lot of complications to just playing it live. Apart from the fact that it is incredibly difficult music to play - we'd need to find some other musicians, rehearse quite a lot, try to find a promoter to put on a gig of an almost unheard of band, and then set off and do it. I think the logistics at this point would be a bit too much to overcome - but I haven't given up on the idea. I'm still thinking about ways to try to make it work. I'm still very enthusiastic about the project and hope to start another record when I get off working with PT.

Hi euphoric_anomaly

I have a question about Bonnie the Cat. After that heavy riff ending at 4:33 it sounds like there are some tabla drums or bongo drums being played in the background. Did you get that sound from hitting the rims of the drums? Or was that electronic?

That's programmed electronics.

Hi Roger//

What do you think off clear emperors opposed to the coated you use on your toms?
What is the difference (to you) in sound?

I have tried clear emperors on the toms and they produce a sound that most clear skins have in common. A very clear attack and (in the case of double thickness skins) good low end (a kind of "U" graphic eq shape) - but the attack always sounds a bit plastic to my ears. It cuts through the music well - but quite often the low end is lost in the bass and low guitar frequencies so you're just left with a quite thin sounding attack. The coated heads bring out more of the middle frequencies - which in a mix - actually come through quite well. I prefer the more organic sound of the attack on the coated heads too. This is just my opinion based on the way I play - there's lots of guys out there using clear heads that sound good with the way that they play. It's a personal thing.

Hi Alex P.

Here is the transcription of "Halo".
I also transcribed the intro of the dvd version. I don't know if everything is good...

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2103/halo1.jpg
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5786/halo2r.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5620/halo3q.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6797/halo4n.jpg

Thanks it looks really good. The middle part I've always thought of as 17/8 or (5/16 + 5/16 + 7/16 + 5/16 + 5/16 + 7/16).

cheers
Gavin

jivadayadasa

10-27-2009, 09:26 PM

I have found that more than ever it is helpful and very inspiring for me to get together with other drummers and talk about everything from specific parts to practice to musicality in general. Maybe after a while pros just don't do it, byt for me it gives me a big push and makes me feel part of something bigger (like this forum!).

Gavin, without naming names, do you do this at all with drummer friends of yours? I know you're ultra busy but, when you are not on tour, is it at all helpful/desirable to you to hang out and go over things with other drummers?

Thanks,

Jiva

shortsman

10-28-2009, 04:13 AM

I'm still very enthusiastic about the project and hope to start another record when I get off working with PT.

Now this is the best thing of the week! I can't wait till that time!

jake_larson

10-28-2009, 09:14 AM

Hey Gavin, I love your playing with PT and 05Ric and I would like to ask one question. What was the one album that made you want to drum?
Thanks in advanced

Fox622003

10-28-2009, 11:41 PM

Hey Gavin, in Open Car (Live, from the Arriving Somewhere DVD), I know there's a very nice transcription here, but I wanted to know about the hi hat, do you use the drop clutch only for that middle double bass section and do the rest of the open hi hat parts regulating how open it is with you foot?
Also, I was thinking of getting a pair of hi hats like your Zildjian K 13", would you say they are a versatile pair? Why did you pick those instead of the 14"?
Thanks!

Fox.

K.Howden

10-29-2009, 12:50 AM

Hi Gavin, how are you?

Just wondering whether you've had any experience with the Avedis 19" Rock Crash? (or any Crashes from that Range) and whether you found it a hard Cymbal to manage?

The only reason I ask is that last Year I was scanning Ebay and came across this Cymbal for £70 so I snapped it up. I've used it on and off during Rehersals but I can ever seem to get it to Sound like anything in particular and by this I mean; it doesn't quite sound like a Crash...but at the same time it doesn't really sound like a Ride either, it has a really wierd and hard to define in-between type Sound that isn't really cutting the Mustard.

In any case, I hope you're well and best of luck for the rest of the Incident Tour.

Kev

Gavin Harrison

10-29-2009, 05:07 PM

Hi jivadayadasa

Gavin, without naming names, do you do this at all with drummer friends of yours? I know you're ultra busy but, when you are not on tour, is it at all helpful/desirable to you to hang out and go over things with other drummers?

Absolutely - I talk to a lot of drummer friends of mine about all kinds of issues.

Hi jake_larson

What was the one album that made you want to drum?

There wasn't one really. I heard a lot of my Dad's record collection when I was really young. I remember being very excited by a Pat Williams record called "Threshold" where the drummer was John Guerin. It was kind of funk mixed with big band. I still LOVE that record.

Hi Fox622003

Hey Gavin, in Open Car (Live, from the Arriving Somewhere DVD), I know there's a very nice transcription here, but I wanted to know about the hi hat, do you use the drop clutch only for that middle double bass section and do the rest of the open hi hat parts regulating how open it is with you foot?

Yes exactly.

Also, I was thinking of getting a pair of hi hats like your Zildjian K 13", would you say they are a versatile pair? Why did you pick those instead of the 14"?

I think they are very versatile and use them on pretty much everything. I just prefer the 13" size - I find them a bit easier to handle.

Hi K.Howden

Just wondering whether you've had any experience with the Avedis 19" Rock Crash? (or any Crashes from that Range) and whether you found it a hard Cymbal to manage?

I don't think I've ever had one. I'm using a prototype 19" K Dark Custom Crash at the moment and really enjoying it. I know what you mean about some cymbals being in between a "ride" and a "crash" - and I guess that's the problem with buying cymbals from ebay before you get chance to try them out.

cheers
Gavin

recordinghacks

10-29-2009, 08:15 PM

Hello Gavin and everyone,

I finally published the Paul Northfield interview I mentioned here a few months ago.

We talked a lot about tracking drums for RUSH and Dream Theater, and covered the drum tracking for In Absentia at Avatar somewhat too.

Paul is a great guy. The interview was a lot of fun for me. Hopefully it will be useful for all of you as well.

http://recordinghacks.com/2009/10/28/paul-northfield/

Gavin Harrison

10-29-2009, 10:25 PM

Hi recordinghacks,

very nice article indeed. Paul Northfield is a great engineer and it's interesting to read his ideas about drum sounds. Just to correct one tiny thing though. Steve Wilson has never recorded my drums at my house. The engineering and sound design has always been my effort - with experience picked from working with guys like Paul and having played in a lot of studios worldwide with a lot of interesting engineers. Every engineer does it slightly different and that's what makes experimenting so much fun. Sometimes I go back to my studio and try to emulate something that I liked in another studio. With the most recent sessions I did at AIR studios (for PT's The Incident) with ace engineer Steve Orchard - I came back home and bought an extra couple of mics for my studio and I think it really helped.

cheers
Gavin