Gavin Harrison
DRUMMERWORLD PRO DRUMMER
Hi DTrocks
Do you have any tips on tuning 12" toms? It always seems to be the hardest drum to tune, I never get mine to sound real good. It's really frustrating!
There's normally one drum that is the most awkward to tune. Mine is a 14" floor tom. So I gave up and got a 15" instead. I don't have a problem tuning the 12" and I don't really apply any different tuning techniques to it.
Hi mel corcino
1. Any coming up tours and/or clinics close to Connecticut, USA?
not at the moment.
2. Any idea of a less expensive snare drum that would emulate the sound of Ludwig Black Beauty snare? - I thought that since you have your own studio and experience with various different snares, might have an idea.
I believe there's a World Max drum that has similar characteristics. Don't know about the price though.
3. I liked the sound of your drum set. Sounds to me very modern, talkative, full and with lots of body. I imagine that your tracking room is part of that sound. Could you share your tracking room dimensions and any special sound treatment in the room?
I don't think there's much of my tracking room in that sound. It's a pretty dead sounding room and most of the sound is coming from the close mics.
Hi tobiashula
While watching your Interview on Drumdepartment.de I realized that there is a dynamic mic next to your bassdrum that is mounted in the direction of the crowd. Is this another trick do get a better bassdrum sound?
No that was just an experiment with an SM58 so I could hear some ambience - back in the days when I was using the "Ultimate Ears UE10's". I've since switched to Sensaphonics 3D ambient IEMs.
Hi steste50
One of the things that caught my attention was what's in the attached pic: he put a paint can in the bass drum. Its mass is supposed to enhance the low end and the high end caught by the mic. I just wanted a feedback from you too, before going to the paint shop
I've never tried it - I'll have to ask Simon about that next time I see him. Pretty easy experiment to try at home though.
Hi Fox622003
what's up with the big and fast "Even Less" tom drum fill in the middle, it's 16th note triplets, right?
No - it's just fast singles - no subdivisions intended.
Hi talgtitten
In Sound of Muzak, it sounds to me like you're phrasing the verse beat in 4+3, whilst the guitar is phrasing in 3+4 . Were you conscious of this when you came up with the groove? If yes, why did you choose to phrase differently from the guitar/vocals?
I think of it as two patterns of 7/8. Really the bass drum to snare drum patterns are 7/16s - and on top of that the hi hat is playing quarter notes so it feels like 7/4.
Hi euphoric_anomaly
I was pouring over 'Sentimental' the other day and remembered that you had stated that Steven was doing an "8th note illusion" with the keyboards. With that in mind, would the 8th note illusion mean that you have to accent the AND in between beats? (ex: one AND two AND three ....). I try to count a steady 4/4 and it doesn't line up with anything.
No it's a dotted 8th note illusion.
It could be your groove for the verses that are throwing me off, it sounds to me like your starting a lot of the bars on the hi-hat, rather than a typical bass or snare shot.
Also, I find it difficult to "hear" the drum beat because of the filter effect on the drumtrack. Do you ever get annoyed with having to record your drums through a filter that (in my opinion) ruins the sound?
I can't remember if the pattern has a bass drum at the start of it. Anyway it was meant to be a messed up (low fi) sounding loop - so we just picked a few bars that we liked and looped it. It wasn't recorded with a filter - that was added later.
Cheers
Gavin
Do you have any tips on tuning 12" toms? It always seems to be the hardest drum to tune, I never get mine to sound real good. It's really frustrating!
There's normally one drum that is the most awkward to tune. Mine is a 14" floor tom. So I gave up and got a 15" instead. I don't have a problem tuning the 12" and I don't really apply any different tuning techniques to it.
Hi mel corcino
1. Any coming up tours and/or clinics close to Connecticut, USA?
not at the moment.
2. Any idea of a less expensive snare drum that would emulate the sound of Ludwig Black Beauty snare? - I thought that since you have your own studio and experience with various different snares, might have an idea.
I believe there's a World Max drum that has similar characteristics. Don't know about the price though.
3. I liked the sound of your drum set. Sounds to me very modern, talkative, full and with lots of body. I imagine that your tracking room is part of that sound. Could you share your tracking room dimensions and any special sound treatment in the room?
I don't think there's much of my tracking room in that sound. It's a pretty dead sounding room and most of the sound is coming from the close mics.
Hi tobiashula
While watching your Interview on Drumdepartment.de I realized that there is a dynamic mic next to your bassdrum that is mounted in the direction of the crowd. Is this another trick do get a better bassdrum sound?
No that was just an experiment with an SM58 so I could hear some ambience - back in the days when I was using the "Ultimate Ears UE10's". I've since switched to Sensaphonics 3D ambient IEMs.
Hi steste50
One of the things that caught my attention was what's in the attached pic: he put a paint can in the bass drum. Its mass is supposed to enhance the low end and the high end caught by the mic. I just wanted a feedback from you too, before going to the paint shop
I've never tried it - I'll have to ask Simon about that next time I see him. Pretty easy experiment to try at home though.
Hi Fox622003
what's up with the big and fast "Even Less" tom drum fill in the middle, it's 16th note triplets, right?
No - it's just fast singles - no subdivisions intended.
Hi talgtitten
In Sound of Muzak, it sounds to me like you're phrasing the verse beat in 4+3, whilst the guitar is phrasing in 3+4 . Were you conscious of this when you came up with the groove? If yes, why did you choose to phrase differently from the guitar/vocals?
I think of it as two patterns of 7/8. Really the bass drum to snare drum patterns are 7/16s - and on top of that the hi hat is playing quarter notes so it feels like 7/4.
Hi euphoric_anomaly
I was pouring over 'Sentimental' the other day and remembered that you had stated that Steven was doing an "8th note illusion" with the keyboards. With that in mind, would the 8th note illusion mean that you have to accent the AND in between beats? (ex: one AND two AND three ....). I try to count a steady 4/4 and it doesn't line up with anything.
No it's a dotted 8th note illusion.
It could be your groove for the verses that are throwing me off, it sounds to me like your starting a lot of the bars on the hi-hat, rather than a typical bass or snare shot.
Also, I find it difficult to "hear" the drum beat because of the filter effect on the drumtrack. Do you ever get annoyed with having to record your drums through a filter that (in my opinion) ruins the sound?
I can't remember if the pattern has a bass drum at the start of it. Anyway it was meant to be a messed up (low fi) sounding loop - so we just picked a few bars that we liked and looped it. It wasn't recorded with a filter - that was added later.
Cheers
Gavin