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Long phrases are easy to remember if they’re memorable. Think of the melody of a song you like; you most likely remember all of the 16-32 bars of it (depending on song form etc…). I find it helps immensely if you vocalise the drum part. That way it’s not just a mechanical sequence of movements...

Listen to some Steely Dan. Nothing but world class musicians on every single song. Very few complicated fills. What ended up on the records were takes which were pleasing to the composers and the producers of the music. Now, as a segway from Steely Dan, take a look at and listen to Steve Gadd's...

The vocals and the lyrics are in the forefront, and drummers – or any other instrumentalists – should not overshadow them. Same goes for instrumental pieces with a specific soloist. A couple of modern examples of (my favorite) bands that have great arrangements and space for busier playing would...

Mr Muff Muffins are excellent product if you don’t mind spending a few bucks on them. It’s a very specific sound for sure, and these make it super easy to achieve. I recorded a video a few weeks back with them: Typically I’d reach for gels for more conservative amounts of muffling…

Zildjian K Sweets: 15” hats, 17”, 18” and 20” crashes, and 21” ride. Sounds sweet!

I find the biggest issue is that the beads tend to compress over time, making worn sticks sound darker on cymbals. Other than that, maple sticks have had great longevity in my bag. Here's a couple of pictures of my most played and least played pair. The former has been used on towards a hundred...

I've played with the maple Vic Firth SD2s for about twenty years. They seem to last forever in my playing -- even playing rimshots -- the light and thick shaft is super comfortable, and the slightly darker cymbal stick attack is nice and buttery.

iOS is quite well hardened and apps are sandboxed. Apps need to ask for specific access privileges if they want to access various device functions. As long as you don’t agree to anything stupid — a metronome should not need to access pretty much anything on your phone! — you should be safe.

I’ve used Time Guru for a loooong time. Super simple to use, flexible subdivision programming, and the random mute function is great for developing internal time. On the opposite side, Live BPM is great for checking how well you actually keep time without playing to a click.

Indeed! A round of applause might be in order…

I guess you should look elsewhere for a pair of all-rounder hi-hats.

Here's an overhead shot of the current setup. I recently acquired a Worldmax brass 14x6.5, a pair of Byzance Jazz Thin hats and a 22" Byzance Big Apple Dark ride. Phenomenal sounding stuff!

Meinl Byzance Big Apple Dark Ride 22”, Meinl Byzance Jazz Thin Hihat 14” and Worldmax ”red copper” brass snare 14” x 6.5”. You can see and hear them in this little ditty I recorded: The bell on the ride sounded a bit too integrated and washy on its own, but it seems to sit in the mix quite...

Here’s my stab at Bernard Purdie’s half-time shuffle on one of my favorite tunes by Steely Dan. Hope you enjoy it!

I’m somewhat amazed that this thread is still alive! 😅 Here’s a new video after a ten year hiatus. I’m playing along to Steely Dan’s ”Home At Last”.

I use a pair of Vic Firth SD1s for pad work, and their smaller sibling SD2 has been my go-to drum set stick for as long as I remember. Extremely well balanced, beefy and light. And I find that the softer maple wood never chips, so I get a lot of mileage out of a single pair. Of course, the...

The sound is distorted and has drastic compression/limiting artifacts that cause the audio to drop intermittently. I’m pretty sure that’s not at all what it sounds like in the room.

There seems to be contradictory information regarding kick drums. The images show a single drum with a double pedal, but the text implies two -- especially the part about the legless hi-hat stand which is supposed to be attached to the left kick drum.

Ha! I don't recall hearing a drum cover of a chanson-type tune before. Nice playing! What's your recording setup like -- kick, snare, overhead? The toms might benefit from a higher, more open tuning, as they are a bit soft in the overall balance.

"What do you mean `play with more dynamics`? I'm already playing as loud as I can!" Sounds good, mate!