Gavin Harrison here!

[Gavin Harrison]

Hi Robin

I sincerely hope Zildjian does make some of those crash bells at some point - the 11" one in the K Sweet performance of Break It All really does sound extraordinary! It seems to have a downward pitch bend that I've never heard from any cymbal before, almost like it's being lowered into water. Does it actually sound like that or is the pitch bend a result of the mixing?

Actually I made a mistake with that piece of information - it's not 11" it is 9.25" - and yes it does seem to have a bit of pitch bend in it. Nothing to do with mixing.

And are the crash bells essentially like the cut-out cymbal bells you have but cut down less far? I have a couple of old crash cymbals that I'm planning on sending to Cymbal Magic (modification and repair company) and I'd love to see if something resembling crash bells could be made. It's such a musical sound, I feel they'd sell like hotcakes if Zildjian made them!

Yes I love the sound of them. I have cut a few myself from broken crash cymbals - it's a really tough process - so better to get a company to do it. I have quite a few that Zildjian have made for me - mostly 9.25" and 7.5".

Hi Warrenoids

Would you ever consider playing 19 Days again?

Yes if I needed to. It was a piece that I played many times at drum clinics/drum festivals and I always enjoyed performing it.

cheers
Gavin

 

[Liam]

Hi Gavin,

In your Threatening War video on Vic Firth's youtube channel, three out of four of your crashes look like Oriental Crashes of Doom, if so what sizes are they and will Zildjan ever release them. Secondly, who was the other drummer when you were playing with Claudio Baglioni.

Thanks,
Liam

 

[Gavin Harrison]

HI Liam

In your Threatening War video on Vic Firth's youtube channel, three out of four of your crashes look like Oriental Crashes of Doom, if so what sizes are they and will Zildjan ever release them. Secondly, who was the other drummer when you were playing with Claudio Baglioni.

Two of them are the 20" versions and the other is an 18" - that they made for me. The other drummer I worked with during the 1996/2000 Claudio Baglioni tours was the excellent Elio Rivagli

cheers
Gavin

 

[TheWolfGuy]

It's well known that the sound of your drums recorded and live are always pristine - the gold standard. On the flip side we all know the raw sound of acoustic drums sound nothing like they do when mic'd up. That said, would it be possible to hear the raw, un-mic'd sound of your kit? This is more for my curiosity of what you naturally hear (sans IEMs) versus what the listeners eventually hear. It could also be educational to help new drummers, struggling to get a sound like yours, understand that their acoustic drums un- mic'd really sound no different than yours (ok, maybe you tune yours better than a newbie - lol). Thanks for your consideration.

 

[Gavin Harrison]

Hi TheWolfGuy

It's well known that the sound of your drums recorded and live are always pristine - the gold standard. On the flip side we all know the raw sound of acoustic drums sound nothing like they do when mic'd up. That said, would it be possible to hear the raw, un-mic'd sound of your kit?

The only way you could ever understand what the drums sound like 'un-mic'd' would be if you were in the same room as them. Anything I could record (suposedly un-mic'd) would have to go through some kind of mic - whether it's in the camera or the phone or whatever. So that would be 'coloured' and unrepresentative as well - and most likely distort or compress because of the volume. It would just be is a bad sounding version of my drums - but still you would not understand what they really sounded like acoustically.

Hi Old PIT Guy

I recall you saying in interviews that you don't consider yourself a 'double-bass drum' player, but you've obviously put some quality time into this area of kit drumming. I've been working in fits and starts with your herta groove; a combination of repeating hertas on the bass drums with a common 6/8 afro-cuban motif on top, and one where you shift the start of the motif so the backbeats don't clash with the herta pattern.

Yes compared to guys who really specialize in 'double bass drum' I am really nowhere. If I had really wanted to follow some serious stuff on the double pedal I should have practised a few thousand hours on them - but I don't hear myself playing a lot of double bass drum in the musical situations that I find myself in. I can tell you that herta rhythm took me quite some time to get it clean and even sounding.

And so I'm wondering if you can offer any technical insight into what your process was for working up what presents as an effortless herta stream with the bass drums, and perhaps what your approach is to footwork in general; such as your thoughts on foot fulcrums in relation to the foot board, heel height, preferred technique for quick doubles (single pedal), stamina and conditioning of the feet for double kicks, etc etc.

I can only tell you what works for me - and some of that is to do with me being 6'2". I sit low - lower than most drummers I've come across. Is that good? Probably not for double bass drum - but it's where I feel comfortable. I really don't feel good sitting up high. Also I sit WAY back from the drums - I mean to the point where I can just bring my knees together in front of my snare drum whilst keeping my feet on the pedals in their playing position. That is because I play the pedal about half way down the pedal board. That is where the 'sweet spot' is for me. I move my leg and foot much less than if they were up the front of the board. I always play heel up - and I always play single stroke patterns - 99% of the time starting with the right foot. I don't ever play long passages of double kick - or constant 16/32nd note ostinatos - so I probably have very little stamina in that regard....as I said before "I'm really not a double bass drum player". There are some great ones out there who I'm sure would give you much better advice.

cheers
Gavin

 

[bananers]

Hey Gavin,

Hope you're doing well! Just had a quick question regarding the Porcupine Tree "Anesthetize" DVD - was there a reason "Prodigal" was left off the DVD even though it's on the CD? I think I saw pro recorded footage circling on Youtube, just curious really!

All the best,
Alannah

 

[MattH10]

Have you used the 18 inch Zildjian Oriental China in your set up before? I’ve seen you use the 12 and 16 mainly, but always either the Z or the current china you use for Pineapple Thief.

 

[Gavin Harrison]

Hi Alannah

Hope you're doing well! Just had a quick question regarding the Porcupine Tree "Anesthetize" DVD - was there a reason "Prodigal" was left off the DVD even though it's on the CD? I think I saw pro recorded footage circling on Youtube, just curious really!

I can't remember why we didn't include that one on the DVD. We certainly filmed it at that show - and it's a good piece.

Hi MattH10

Have you used the 18 inch Zildjian Oriental China in your set up before? I’ve seen you use the 12 and 16 mainly, but always either the Z or the current china you use for Pineapple Thief.

I haven't used that one before but I did play the 'Z' model 18" a lot in the Porcupine Tree days - in fact I've still got a couple of them. I know they don't make them any more.

cheers
Gavin

 

[bananers]

Hi Alannah

Hope you're doing well! Just had a quick question regarding the Porcupine Tree "Anesthetize" DVD - was there a reason "Prodigal" was left off the DVD even though it's on the CD? I think I saw pro recorded footage circling on Youtube, just curious really!

I can't remember why we didn't include that one on the DVD. We certainly filmed it at that show - and it's a good piece.

Yeah it's one of my favourite tracks from In Absentia - ah well! Cheers Gavin

 

[MattH10]

I’ve read before that you use lug locks sometimes for your snare, in particular the tension rod nearest the point of a rim shot. Have you always used them? For the times you didn’t use them, did you just keep an eye on the tension rod and adjust the tension accordingly so it doesn’t go completely loose?

 

[Gavin Harrison]

I’ve read before that you use lug locks sometimes for your snare, in particular the tension rod nearest the point of a rim shot. Have you always used them? For the times you didn’t use them, did you just keep an eye on the tension rod and adjust the tension accordingly so it doesn’t go completely loose?

I've used something like that for quite a while. Some of it depends on the drum. For instance if I used my old Ludwig 400 and played super heavy rim shot back-beats on it - the bolts nearest me will undo themselves to the point that they are completely loose and there's a good chance that one or two of the bolts from the bottom of the drum will be on the floor by the 3rd song. That drum wasn't designed for that kind of action. On other drums I have in recent times been using the Pearl "spin tight tension rods" on the 3 nearest bolts to where I'm hitting. I find that the Lug Locks just fly off.

cheers
Gavin

 

[MattH10]

Would it be possible for Porcupine Tree to consider releasing Mother & Child Divided as a single of some sort so that one could play along to the song whilst reading the transcription in Rhythmic Composition?

 

[Gavin Harrison]

Would it be possible for Porcupine Tree to consider releasing Mother & Child Divided as a single of some sort so that one could play along to the song whilst reading the transcription in Rhythmic Composition?

Hi Matt

yes that is a really rare track to find - we used to play the tune quite a lot - so probably you can find some live versions of it. I don't know of a plan to re-release at the moment

cheers
Gavin

 

[bananers]

Happy birthday Gavin! Hope you have a good one! Thanks once again for all of your knowledge and wisdom

Ps there's some Tunnocks at Wembley if you're ever in the area

All the best!
Alannah

 

[Al Strange]

Many happy returns @Gavin Harrison !

 

[GalenMusic]

Happy birthday Gavin - if you're taking the day off from drumming for work, I hope you have a good day drumming for fun!

 

[Otto]

Happy 21st Birthday Gavin... ; )

I lift a pint to you and your wonderful musical works!

 

[Warrenoids]

I'm pretty late, but happy birthday Gavin! Your music has inspired me a lot. Here's to many more years of your superb art and creations!

 

[Adam Sayers]

Hi Gavin,

Hope you had a Happy birthday and discovered some more fun ideas whilst playing around!
I just wanted to ask you another couple of questions about your recording/process. Quite a while ago you posted a link in this forum to the click sounds you use (a woodblock, cabasa and tambourine sound) and some info on how you use them with regards to the tempo or feel of whatever it is you're playing or recording to. I just wanted to ask how would you use them when recording odd time signatures, and how would you approach that if you had a situation where you had to play in 17/16 or 19/16 for example?
Would you have the sounds alternating and accenting the typical phrasing of patterns like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 in 7's and the 1 2 3 4 5 in 5's? Or would even that heavily depend on the part and phrase you have in mind?

All the best,
Adam

 

[Gavin Harrison]

Thanks for all the kind birthday wishes !!

Hi Adam

I just wanted to ask you another couple of questions about your recording/process. Quite a while ago you posted a link in this forum to the click sounds you use (a woodblock, cabasa and tambourine sound) and some info on how you use them with regards to the tempo or feel of whatever it is you're playing or recording to. I just wanted to ask how would you use them when recording odd time signatures, and how would you approach that if you had a situation where you had to play in 17/16 or 19/16 for example?
Would you have the sounds alternating and accenting the typical phrasing of patterns like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 in 7's and the 1 2 3 4 5 in 5's? Or would even that heavily depend on the part and phrase you have in mind?

It depends on how the odd time signature flows and the overall tempo. For instance 17/16 could be a thing like 3/4 + 5/16 so maybe I'd program the click like this. (@ = woodblock type sound) (* = cabasa type sound)

17/16
@***@***@***@*@**

19/16 (4/4 + 3/16)
@***@***@***@***@**

or depending on the riff - 19/16 might be phrased as a 7 + 7 + 5
@*@*@**@*@*@**@*@**

of course there are many ways to subdivide these larger numbers - I'd always let the music dictate which way to feel the sub groupings. As a starting point (and without any musical reference) you can always head off in 4/4 until the point that you need to shorten or extend with a group of 3 or 5

sometimes when I'm playing a piece that has multiple time signature changes (if they are all based on the 8ths like 7/8 9/8 5/8 11/8 etc) I'll just have a steady 8th note click on a single sound with no accents. That way I can navigate the whole piece without having to program lots of different click patterns. I never want an accent on the 'one'.

cheers
Gavin