What a great drumming month! Just thought I'd share.

Andy

Honorary Member
Drumming guys & girls,

I'm having the best drumming month ever! Not only am I right into my experimental drum project (frustrating, expensive, risky, but sooo much fun), I'm also doing tons of drummer stuff. Playing a really cool new funky venue tonight. Off to see Simon Phillips playing the Toto farewell gig at the London Hammersmith on Sunday. Headlining the UK Harley Davidson rally next Friday. Another fun gig on the Saturday, then into the studio the following week! As if that isn't enough, I'm breaking in a complete new set of Amedia Dervish traditional unlathed Turkish cymbals, & starting gigging with my BC2 tactile monitor throne. Can a part time hack like me take much more, lol? I don't deserve this much fun, but it's hard work too.
 
Andy, if your drum nerd status wasn't official before (despite being common knowledge here), it is now :)

Whatcha doing in the studio?
I know, it's taking over my life again, just as it did 25 years ago!

Studio's just a local demo setup. Not recorded there before, but it's cheap!. Doing a couple of band promo demo numbers, as the only recording we have are early ones with the previous guitarist. Even though we've started to write original material, we're doing a couple of cover tracks as they suit the purpose of the resulting video clips. I'll be taking the opportunity to do a couple of natural recordings of the experimental kit too, that's if I'm happy with progress by then, so I'm hopefully getting plenty of bang for a small buck. It'll be rushed. 2 days to squeeze all that in is a big ask, so nobody's expecting "polished".
 
I know, it's taking over my life again, just as it did 25 years ago!

Studio's just a local demo setup. Not recorded there before, but it's cheap!. Doing a couple of band promo demo numbers, as the only recording we have are early ones with the previous guitarist. Even though we've started to write original material, we're doing a couple of cover tracks as they suit the purpose of the resulting video clips. I'll be taking the opportunity to do a couple of natural recordings of the experimental kit too, that's if I'm happy with progress by then, so I'm hopefully getting plenty of bang for a small buck. It'll be rushed. 2 days to squeeze all that in is a big ask, so nobody's expecting "polished".

Yes, music's like Dorritos - very hard to stop once you start, eh? How's the trouble and strife coping? :)

Good to hear you have some demos coming up. You're due to do one with Mr Mastodon. Should be good - you're a tight unit.

Polish be buggered :) Recording a song together saves time and retains the band vibe, and if you have half decent separation with one or two members DI'd you end up with fair, if not total, control in the mix, as you know. You'll also know that the hard part is it's rare that everyone peaks at the same time so someone has to settle when you have the best overall take.

Have fun, you big drum nerd, you :)
 
I'll be at that Toto gig too. Unfortunately, I have to drive my band to London and back from Nottingham 0_o
Ha, how cool is that! I wonder how many other DW guys will be there to see THE man? You're driving from Nottingham, I'm driving from deep in the Black Mountains. I'm taking my family to this too, kinda like driving the band, but much worse, lol!

That's great news and a great feeling KIS. Very happy for you bro.
Thanks! I'm pretty busy on the drumming front as it is, but so many things together is a great ride.

Yes, music's like Dorritos - very hard to stop once you start, eh? How's the trouble and strife coping? :)

Good to hear you have some demos coming up. You're due to do one with Mr Mastodon. Should be good - you're a tight unit.

Polish be buggered :) Recording a song together saves time and retains the band vibe, and if you have half decent separation with one or two members DI'd you end up with fair, if not total, control in the mix, as you know. You'll also know that the hard part is it's rare that everyone peaks at the same time so someone has to settle when you have the best overall take.

Have fun, you big drum nerd, you :)
Thanks Pol. The T&S is just fine. She was with me for 3 years before I gave up trying to play drums for a living. Back in the day, I was doing 5 gigs/crappy sessions a week, so this is a cruise for her. At least she's no longer the band widow!

As for the recording, as long as we get a half decent track mix, it'll be fine. I'm much more concerned if my new kit will be up to par by then. If not, I'll wheel out the Spaun. If I do use the new beastie, that'll be another challenge, as the setup is very different & new to me. That means I won't be playing quite so intuitively as usual, & that can translate to being a bit stiff. It'll be fine, it's only a bloody demo, but we do like to get these things right, right?

Off to load the van for tonight's bash.
 
Congrats, great isn't it. This for me has also been a very busy summer so far and the bookings just keep coming in (which is one of the reasons I have not had the time to check out this forum lately). We are booked for 9 weeks straight, every Weds as an after party gig for the Budweiser Blues On The Mall concert series at a local venue in Michigan, and not to mention the weekend bookings in conjuction with that. Just played a huge charity bike run last weekend and got three more bookings out of that gig for August in addition to playing a huge festival in Aug also. Lovin every minute of it too. The only problem is that we have been trying to get in the studio and just cannot find the time with work/family and other side projects for a few of us. No complaints, lovin the extra cash and obviously the playing time. Thank god my wife still supports my endeavors 200% and the kids are grown and in college now. Hope everyone is having a good summer. The venues are finally starting to give up good cash for good bands again, amen to that, been kind of slow the last year or so...
 
Congratulations - Andy!

That's a pretty busy agenda there...it's good to see you HAPPY and having FUN.

I wish you all the best...Good luck mate!
 
Congrats...sounds like you're enjoying yourself and that's what it's all about!
 
I'm really happy for you. Keep having fun. I'm watching your stave build with great enjoyment.

John
 
I'm really happy for you. Keep having fun. I'm watching your stave build with great enjoyment.

John
Thanks John!

Just a note about last nights Toto farewell gig. The sound engineer gets the "Let's see if we can create the muddiest sound ever" award. Band was pretty good (although I've seen them much better), Simon was his usual peerless self, but the drum mix was so bad, I couldn't hear any of his usual subtlety. I'd swear those overheads weren't even switched on. In the engineer's defense, the Hammersmith Apollo, like many old theatres, doesn't exactly help the engineer out, but he was driving too many lower mid sources at too high a volume. Bass, drums, 2 x keyboards, all fighting for the same turf. If he'd just emptied the sound a little, & backed off on the overall volume a touch, it could have been easily solved. It's not as if he didn't have the gear at his disposal. Ack!!!!
 
Just a note about last nights Toto farewell gig. The sound engineer gets the "Let's see if we can create the muddiest sound ever" award ... the drum mix was so bad, I couldn't hear any of his usual subtlety. I'd swear those overheads weren't even switched on. In the engineer's defense, the Hammersmith Apollo, like many old theatres, doesn't exactly help the engineer out, but he was driving too many lower mid sources at too high a volume. Bass, drums, 2 x keyboards, all fighting for the same turf. If he'd just emptied the sound a little, & backed off on the overall volume a touch, it could have been easily solved. It's not as if he didn't have the gear at his disposal. Ack!!!!

Yup, bad sound kills the magic. I guess the Hammersmith would be better for orchestras.
 
Thanks John!

Just a note about last nights Toto farewell gig. The sound engineer gets the "Let's see if we can create the muddiest sound ever" award. Band was pretty good (although I've seen them much better), Simon was his usual peerless self, but the drum mix was so bad, I couldn't hear any of his usual subtlety. I'd swear those overheads weren't even switched on. In the engineer's defense, the Hammersmith Apollo, like many old theatres, doesn't exactly help the engineer out, but he was driving too many lower mid sources at too high a volume. Bass, drums, 2 x keyboards, all fighting for the same turf. If he'd just emptied the sound a little, & backed off on the overall volume a touch, it could have been easily solved. It's not as if he didn't have the gear at his disposal. Ack!!!!

I still don't understand why it all has to be so loud. It makes everything so much harder than it needs to be if you're driving the volume like that. Case in point, I had to help out a sound engineer on Saturday who was having problems with a clip-on mic. It was a singer singing over an orchestra in a large hall and the mic was feeding back horribly and picking up the front of the cellos - the solution? Turn her mic down as far as we can get away with, gate it, compress it slightly, drop the 250Hz and the top end down from about 12KHz.

Just turning things down to a level that is appropriate gives you the perfect starting point to then move onto solving the other issues. In this case, two issues - feedback and bleed. Clip-on mics in particular are usually omnidirectional, which doesn't help anybody and no, handheld was not an option.

Incidentally Andy, it sounds like the guy at the Toto gig hadn't taken the audience into account at soundcheck. If your mix sounds really toppy during a soundcheck, you're probably going to be fine. I bet he didn't do that and compensated instead by just driving the volume up - which makes everything much worse.
 
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