Gavin Harrison here!

Thanks Gavin...I always imagined touring was a costly business but reading your reply has really made me realise how much planning, effort and money is involved.
 
Hey Gavin!

New Porcupine Tree fan here. ;-) I started listening to In Absentia, then I got Fear of a Blank Planet, and the music just blows me away!

I also wanted to say Congratulations on winning the "Best Progressive Drummer of the Year" award from Modern Drummer! As you can see from my user name that I'm a Dream Theater fan, and Mike Portnoy has won that category for 12 years in a row. I think it is great that you were the one to win it this year!!

Thanks man,
~Kyle
 
I have a question about your influences from a technical stand point. Did you ever partake in any sort of rudimental drumming/marching arts?

On one of the vicfirth.com videos, I noticed some licks that look like what the marching nuts call 'grandmas.' these are basically paradiddlediddles with the last note replaced with a rest and all the left hand notes (assuming you are leading with the right) are accented. you could also look at it as taking a herta and turning the third note into a diddle. I don't see these much outside of the marching world (probably because most of the nuances are lost in the broader sound of the drum kit). Your louder diddles are also very clean, which is another thing not exactly typical of a drum kit player in my experience.

but, yea, just wondering.

Austin
 
gavin...

i was watching cymbal song the the live DVD, and when you were playing the chimes, I noticed they had Zildjian logo's on them. I know you spoke about how you made the chimes, and since we last spoke, I have made 2 for myself. I am just wondering...did zildjian make some for you aswell?
 
My bad.

20202020202020
 
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Hi Angelo & YtseJammer03,
thanks for the kind words, and welcome to the forum.

Hi ZDrums24,

Did you ever partake in any sort of rudimental drumming/marching arts?


no I didn't, but I studied the Charlie Wilcoxen book and Fred Albright's "Contemporary Studies for Snare Drum" and maybe that's where some of the stuff came from that's sneaked into my drumset playing.

Hi cfdrumr,

i was watching cymbal song the the live DVD, and when you were playing the chimes, I noticed they had Zildjian logo's on them


Zildjian did make me some prototypes and one of them fitted very well with the set. That's why you can see the logo.

cheers
Gavin
 
thanks Gavin!

The chimes I have already made from old cymbals are great! Thanks for the help!

Have you ever played the Paiste Cup Chimes? Whats your opinion on them?
 
Hi Gavin,

Can you detail the kick pattern at 11:17 in "Anesthetize"? It doesn't sound like straight 16ths or 32nds but it's also difficult to make out the exact pattern at that speed.

Thanks!

don
 
Hi cdrums21,
here's the tuning of my toms from a couple of months ago

tom 5 lowest
tom 4 augmented 5th above tom 5
tom 3 augmented 5th above tom 4
tom 2 perfect 4th above tom 3
tom 1 perfect 5th above tom 2

So tom 5 seems to be G
tom 4 Eb
tom 3 A
tom 2 D
tom 1 A

I think the bottom heads are a little tighter than the top ones.

Cheers
Gavin

OK Gavin,
One last question about this tuning. Thank you for answering in the first place.
You say that the largest floor tom seems to be tuned to a G on top, right? I'm assuming that it's a 16" tom? Man, if that's the case I can't for the life of me see how it can be tuned either that low or that high. I play a yamaha maple custom absolute kit with a 16x14 floor tom. I also use 2 ply coated heads. I never use any muffling on my toms. I have the 16x14 floor tom tuned to a C on top and a third higher on the bottom. That's pretty low on top. It sounds really good, nice low end punch with just the right amount of sustain. The drum won't go down to a G from the low C and if I tuned it up to a G, it would sound like a boingy rack tom. Do you think there is that much difference in the sonic properties of your 16" tom and mine that the tuning range would be so different? I'm not trying to cop your tuning of the floor tom per se, I was just curious as to where your floor tom was tuned and if you had any special tuning method for reducing the sustain on the larger toms because your drums sound really good on the video clips I've seen. Again, thank you in advance for your reply.

God bless,
Clint
 
Hi bleen,

Can you detail the kick pattern at 11:17 in "Anesthetize"? It doesn't sound like straight 16ths or 32nds but it's also difficult to make out the exact pattern at that speed.


It is 32nds but they're broken up. The pattern is based off the snare accents - which are dotted 8th notes. The way I think of it is like this: Between each snare hit is two 16ths on the bass drum played with the right foot - and following directly between the right foot hits (in 32nd notes intervals) are two strokes on the bass drum played with the left foot - so this makes it R L R L (on the bass drum). It's actually quite easy to play once you get the hang of it - make sense?

Hi cdrums21,

You say that the largest floor tom seems to be tuned to a G on top, right? I'm assuming that it's a 16" tom?


Correct - it's a 16x14. I assume there must be quite a fundamental pitch difference in the shells between your kit and mine.

...if you had any special tuning method for reducing the sustain on the larger toms

Recently I've made an "O" ring for the inside of my 14" floor tom. I felt it was sustaining a little longer than I wanted. I made the ring about a 1/3 of an inch wide and just dropped it inside so it's resting on the bottom head. It acts like a gate and shortens the length of the note. I don't like sticking things to the top head because it changes the attack of the drum.

cheers
Gavin
 
It is 32nds but they're broken up. The pattern is based off the snare accents - which are dotted 8th notes. The way I think of it is like this: Between each snare hit is two 16ths on the bass drum played with the right foot - and following directly between the right foot hits (in 32nd notes intervals) are two strokes on the bass drum played with the left foot - so this makes it R L R L (on the bass drum). It's actually quite easy to play once you get the hang of it - make sense?

Yup - perfect sense! It's easier to hear that pattern now with that information, too.

Thanks again!
 
Hi Gavin i have bought a keller drum shell and i cut 8x4 snare drum with these characteristics: 8ply 5,3mm maple. Edge 45°:Snare bed 1,8mm Lug Pearl CL05 strainer Pearl SR018. Dixon hoop, Snare wire is a Puresound P1010 cut down 8 The sound is very beautiful.
Now I am constructing a snare drum with keller drum shell birch 10 ply round edge. yours snare drum 8x4 mounts a puresound snare wire? which? And hoops is safe-hoop ? thanks for your infinite patience.Thanks a lot Angelo
 
Ok, so I'd hate to be a pain, but I used the forum's search engine and went through every page using the browser's find tool, and I can't find the information on the in-ear headphones Mr. Harrison uses. Can anybody tell me what page that was on?
I am looking at in-ear monitors, and at the time, the $150 pair listed on the website Gavin Harrison had a link to seemed expensive. After shopping around, this is actually pretty cheap.
 
Hi angelo,

Now I am constructing a snare drum with keller drum shell birch 10 ply round edge. yours snare drum 8x4 mounts a puresound snare wire? which? And hoops is safe-hoop ?


That sounds interesting - what does 8x4 mounts mean? I use the P-1412 and take off two wires from each side - so there's 8 in the middle. Yes I use Safe-Hoops. I guess you are getting close to my favorite configuration !!!

Hi ZDrums24,
I understand the problem of 'searching' on this thread - and pretty soon I hope to have a solution for everyone - so you don't have to look through 38 pages of Q&A. About the headphone question: At the moment I'm using Sennheiser MX400 inside some custom moulds. I have my impressions made at www.handheldaudio.co.uk and they fitted them with Sony headphones - but I prefer the Sennheiser's because they will go louder without distorting (32 ohms instead of 16 ohms). I also have a pair of "Ultimate Ears UE10's" but I don't enjoy playing the drums with them. They sound 10 times better - but I can't get on with them at the moment.

Cheers
Gavin
 
Hey Gavin,

I've been considering getting an SQ2 from Sonor. I was wondering if you could tell me your thinking behind your particular config? I'm assuming you spoke at length to some Sonor guys who are experts on these drums?

I'm particularly interested in why you chose the different shell types for each drum (i.e. Heavy, medium, thin) and how they sound. Did you compare a Heavy bass drum against a medium or thin at the factory?

Thanks for your time. Loved the 19/7 track, and the little quip when you introduced it!!! Believe me, I was in the second category!!! LOL
 
Hi Gavin, after doing some research on Sonor snares, I think i am purchasing the SQ2 12x5 maple medium shell, which is supposedly quite similar to the designer that you play. I was wondering which snares are on that drum, and do you also cut those down to eight? Thanks for all your help.
 
Hi Gavin for 8" snare i use: Puresound P-1010 cut down 8", Puresound do not produce 8" of diameter snare wire, so i have tried P1012, but the responsiveness of the wires is too much.
I have done an other experiment with the keller birch drum shell: 15x10 snare drum with floor tom leg and round edge.
This snare is a perfect for ballad music.I use Puresound P1520 for this.

thx Angelo
 
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