Gavin Harrison here!

Gavin Harrison said:
Hi Joe P,
Yes I've been using S-Hoops for about a year now and I really like them.
They do subtly change the sound of the snare and help with heavy back beats... and make nice loud sounding rim clicks. I think they're kinder to the sticks too. They're stiffer than a normal triple flange so it helps with consistency in tuning.
If you're someone (like me) who uses "O" rings to dampen the snare then it's great because they never fly out. In fact you can hold the drum upside down and the ring still doesn't fall out.

Cheers
Gavin
Click to expand...

Gavin! Do you know if there are S-Hoops that would fit with the Snare I want to buy? (Golden)
Is there a special brand you get your O-Rings from?
I use rings, too but they would fall out if i would hold my snare upside down the ring would fall out :-O


When you said, I could damage the Vintage rim when i'm going to play rock on the Snare, do you mean the Hoop or the Ring in the Snare?


Thank you very much
David
 
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Hello again Sir,

this time i have a rather stupid question for you
many a times whilst writing songs, theres a lot of confusion while counting bars because... guitarist refer to a "bar" as a complete cycle of chord progressions
as in if a drummer was to count bars of 5/4 time sig....hed count 5 quarter notes as one bar
but what a guitarist wouldv done is counted 4 bars of 5/4 as ONE bar, if there were 4 chord changes in that part of the song
so i was wondering if you guys go through that problem as well or do our guitarist out here have a wrong counting technique ?

also if you were to play say a polyrhythm of 17.5/4 on the hats, 5/8 on the snare and 7/8 on the bass (the coinciding point coming after every 35 1/8th notes) where would you put that in say a typical Porcupine Tree song from FOABP or Nil Recurring

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 1 - 2
H x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x o
S x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
B x x x x x x x x x x

i hope you understand :( i dont have a scanner to scan staff notations
the last note in the top line is a hi-hat open (and its a 1/8th as opposed to the other 1/4th hi-hat notes)

the tempo is about 150 bpm
so if you were to try and incorporate this into a metal sorta song....where would you use it....like in an interlude after a nice double bass groovy chorus or as an outro....or a bridge ?
(i hope you get what im trying to say....i want to use this in a metal song but dont know how to incorporate it)

thanks for your time :)
 
Hi Kalma,

Gavin! Do you know if there are S-Hoops that would fit with the Snare I want to buy? (Golden)

I don't know if they make a golden one - you'd better ask them.

Is there a special brand you get your O-Rings from?

No I just make them myself from old heads.

When you said, I could damage the Vintage rim when i'm going to play rock on the Snare, do you mean the Hoop or the Ring in the Snare?

The hoop and the clamps that go onto the hoop.

Hi drumbumhamza,

i was wondering if you guys go through that problem as well or do our guitarist out here have a wrong counting technique ?

Not really - sometimes guitarist count chord or riff cycles rather than bars - and a cycle could be any amount of their bars.

also if you were to play say a polyrhythm of 17.5/4 on the hats, 5/8 on the snare and 7/8 on the bass (the coinciding point coming after every 35 1/8th notes) where would you put that in say a typical Porcupine Tree song from FOABP or Nil Recurring

I wouldn't - unless there was some musical reason to - or it was part of the composition. King Crimson do that cycle of 5's and 7's in a tune called "Thrak"

Sorry but I can't understand your notation - and as I said it would only be worth doing if it was part of the composition.

cheers
Gavin
 
Matt Grondin said:
Hi Gavin, apparently (looking at the multitude of pages here) you are a very patient guy who is willing to share. It's much appreciated. This is my first post, although I frequent this site... I'm a lowly guitar player, but I also produce records for my band and others and have a great interest in killer drum sounds.

Your snare sound, not to mention the rest of the kit, sounds absolutely amazing and the drum sounds on "In Absentia" have actually prompted me to contact Tim Palmer about mixing our next record. It sounds THAT good. That said, and please forgive me if these have already been addressed, could you share some light on a few things if you don't mind:

1. If you remember what snare was on that record, I'd love to know.

2. What current production snares, or vintage even, could get me in that ballpark that you might recommend? I've got some extra money and don't care how much it takes... I want a GREAT snare sound... my DW Edge is really nice, but it doesn't have the crack, depth, and sensitivity that you seem to get, and I work with some really great drummers and have excellent signal chains.

3. Were the drum sounds pretty much that sweet at the time of tracking, or did Tim just take it to a whole other level?

Thanks man, I appreciate your time. If you're curious about our music, it can be heard at sonicbids.com/incamaya. There's some decent drum sounds, but you guys set the bar pretty high with that record. Later.
Click to expand...

Hey I hope I didn't overdo it with the questions... I'm sure you don't have time to answer every post, but if possible, I'd love to at least know what kind of snare you prefer now... like I said, I really love your sound. Thanks!
 
Hi Matt Grondin,

Sorry I missed your post - as you will see from the timing - you posted it as I was answering the previous questions - so that's why I didn't see it.

1. If you remember what snare was on that record (in Absentia), I'd love to know.

It's my 1982 Yamaha RC 14x5.

2. What current production snares, or vintage even, could get me in that ballpark that you might recommend? I've got some extra money and don't care how much it takes... I want a GREAT snare sound... my DW Edge is really nice, but it doesn't have the crack, depth, and sensitivity that you seem to get, and I work with some really great drummers and have excellent signal chains.

There's hell of a lot of factors that make up a great snare sound. First is touch - no two drummers hit the drum in exactly the same way (grip and stick choice will also effect the sound). Secondly is the drum itself - wood type/shell dimensions/wood thickness/bearing edge/head choice/tuning/snare wires/snare tension/dampening. Third - the mic choice (in this case Shure SM57 top and bottom) - their proximity and angle. Fourth - the room. Fifth - the desk and eq. Sixth - plugins compressors/reverbs further eq'ing and the way it sits in the mix etc...and Seventh - a whole load of experience at getting 'that snare sound' that I've been working on for 30 odd years.

I still use that drum on a lot recordings now. It's a snare sound that I've had in head for many decades - but I have a lot of other snares that I can get a similar vibe from. I did a session recently where the producer wanted to try different snares - and so I played a few for him and he said that they all sounded similar...and I guess that's because there's a certain tone that I'm attracted to that I really need to hear for it to sound like me.

3. Were the drum sounds pretty much that sweet at the time of tracking, or did Tim just take it to a whole other level?

There were that good at the time of tracking.

Hi sneakydutch,

What is this song and who is it by and off what album? It has the funkiest bass line ever.

The tune is called "Quite Firm" by Laurence Cottle (the bass player on the track) and it's from my first DVD "Rhythmic Visions".

cheers
Gavin
 
Hi Gavin,

Do you mind telling me how you tuned your snare in terms of the tension of the top and bottom heads in relation to each other and the tension and the type of snare wires in this clip;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s604Pa-waH0&feature=related

(your Rhythmic Horizons Vic Firth artist spotlight video)

I'm not sure how to describe it - just a killer sound - it has a really deep body to it and the snares sound 'dark' somehow, I think...

Do you think a rough approximation of this sound is possible with a copper Roy Haynes signature snare drum(!?)

Your playing is utterly inspirational and thanks for interacting so closely with your fans!
 
Hmmm, 82 is my birthyear... no wonder it's a good sounding snare :) No seriously, thanks for going back and answering my question. I realize there is a lot of factors involved in getting a great snare sound. I just get a little overwhelmed sometimes because there are SOOO many options out there as far as snares go. I just would like to find one snare that sounds great over a wide spectrum of genres that has the aforementioned qualities of depth, crack, and sensitivity. Take care.
 
Gavin Harrison said:
I wouldn't - unless there was some musical reason to - or it was part of the composition. King Crimson do that cycle of 5's and 7's in a tune called "Thrak"

Sorry but I can't understand your notation - and as I said it would only be worth doing if it was part of the composition.

cheers
Gavin
Click to expand...

as far as KC goes....they are the ones who've inspired me to get into this polyrhythm business and i definitely cant WAIT to see what element you add to them
two of my greatest inspiration on the same piece of art.....i hope you guys record a DVD like Vroom :(

i get what you've said about the musical bit....but suppose you were to play this groove as an exercise for independence what changes would you have made to it

haha there was something majorly wrong with the server.....thats not what i typed
this is what the groove is supposed to look like

scan0001tf3.jpg
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thanks again for your patience
 
Someone could say that if you play too accurately in time you lose the groove, but Gavin has them both. Especially I like the most even doublestrokes i've ever heard. I've also read the book "rythmic illusions" and I got a lot new stuff to my playing from there. Thank you a lot, Gavin.
 
Hi T-1000,

Do you mind telling me how you tuned your snare in terms of the tension of the top and bottom heads in relation to each other and the tension and the type of snare wires in this clip;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s604P...eature=related

I can't tell you the exact pitch. I guess you can hear the pitch quite clearly in moments when I'm playing with the snares off. Unusually - it's the only snare I have that has the original 24 strand snare wires on the bottom.

Do you think a rough approximation of this sound is possible with a copper Roy Haynes signature snare drum(!?)

I wouldn't think so - and for the reasons I explained a few posts back - it probably wouldn't sound the same even if I lent you the drum itself.

Hi drumbumhamza,

an interesting rhythmic idea - but please make it 35/8 - I really can't cope with 17.5/4 !!! LOL.

Hi fearofflying,

Can you tell me where this video was taken?
Is this DVD available for sale??

No, this was one of three lessons that I made for a cover mount CD for "Rhythm Magazine UK".

Hi Sardaukar,

Someone could say that if you play too accurately in time you lose the groove

I don't believe that. Usually the people who say that can't play in time. People shouldn't get confused between accuracy and stiffness. Thanks for the kind comments though!!!

Cheers
Gavin
 
Gavin Harrison said:
Hi drumbumhamza,

an interesting rhythmic idea - but please make it 35/8 - I really can't cope with 17.5/4 !!! LOL.

Gavin
Click to expand...

hahah im pretty positive there is NOTHING that you cant cope with, im guessing youd round it off to 35/8 if you were to play it :)
thanks a lot for the review im glad you found it interesting (you have no idea what it means to get a rhythm reviewed by Gavin Harrison :p )

also if you have some more grooves like this that i could practice, id really appreciate that :)

thanks a ton
 
Gavin -

I wanted to share with you a track that I recorded this past weekend in which I utilize some of your overriding concepts from the Rhythmic Horizons DVD, not to fish for compliments but to show how I have applied those ideas to a different style of music.

The first section is mainly where I use a lot of overrides, so I've just cut that section out and attached it. The whole first section is in 6/8, but when the composer gave me the backing tracks he used a quarter note click, which immediately gave me some interesting ideas for overrides. So essentially the whole first section is in 6/8 with the kick and snare accenting the guitar parts, but with quarter note overrides that move back and forth from the downbeat to the backbeat.

Any and all feedback/criticism from you or any of the other forum members is greatly appreciated!

And btw, if you recognize the china it's an 18" Z Custom, which you are one of the only pros I know of that uses one despite the fact that it's the Best China Ever!
 

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Hey Gavin,

I have 2 questions... Firstly, why do you use the Sonor Bass Resonant Head? I ask this because many pro drummers like to replace the bass reso head. Is it because Sonor has good stock bass heads?

Also, how do you tune your bass drum? Tension-wise and in comparison to the batter and resonant heads [do you tune one higher than the other?]

Thanks so much for all your help!
Joe
 
i just got my latest issue of modern drummer and saw that you were voted #1 progressive drummer in their 2008 reader's poll. i would have to agree with that. congratulations!
 
Hi ! Mr. Harrison, for me it´s such an honour to be able to communicate with you, your playing is pure inspiration !, Thankz for sharing your gift!

I have 2 questions that i would love you to answer:

1.- I`m a Drumtech crazy, and I think that your sound is one of the more of the "cleanest" sounds on the entire drumset ... I understand too, that you record your drum tracks at your own studio ...

So, what advice would you give me, at "tuning time" ... and what are the "secrets" of your sound, meaning techniques for licking ( I saw you using bass drum "tunnels" on a couple of videos), miking techniques in general, Muffling secrets, and editing/post-production tips and everything about your sound and the techniques you use for it, at studio and gigs.


2.- I´m a Huge fan of KC ... and i saw a post referred to KC gig ...

My english is not the best, so i didn´t understood too well ...

Is there any chance for us to be seeing you touring South america with KC, or it´s absolutely out of the question ? ...

As I said, i´m a big fan and i would like to know if there is that chance, or i would have to sell my drumset for buying the airplane tickets ... xD haha ...


Thank You alot Mr. Harrison, it´s always a great pleasure reading you, and i appreciate your great and good will for teaching and helping us.

PD: I´m sorry if my english is bad, but is not my native language ( I hope i didn´t mess it)
 
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