Gavin Harrison here!

Hi Robert Schmidt

as you recently posted the link of the Mick Karn record of 1995 you played on, I landed on this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzt7dF5jwhs
I mean there are half of the members of PT in a band playing together with Steve Jansen (as you mentioned one of your influences). And I found out that Richard Barbieri also played together with Steve Jansen in Japan in the early 80s. I think I remember an interview of you saying that you met Richard in Italy during a session and that finally led to PT. But when did you found out about Steve Jansen? And did you know Steve Wilson long before PT?

I was listening to Steve Jansen (in the band Japan) in the early 80's (check out the amazing "Tin Drum" album) and then later when he was playing on his brother's records (David Sylvian). I met Richard when we worked together with an Italian artist called "Alice" in 1990. I didn't know Steve Wilson until I met him just before the "In Absentia" recording.

Hi euphoric_anomaly

I was just wondering if you ever focus on your breathing while playing? Do you ever tense up before a fast rip down the toms, almost like you're holding your breath until the fill is complete?

I try not to - but I'm sure I do hold my breath whilst playing something strenuous - and so it becomes more tiring.

cheers
Gavin
 
Hey Gavin,

How much of Cheating the Polygraph and Mother & Child Divided is written by you? I know that you play guitar (in fact you play on Nil Recurring) as well as bass... so did you come up with some of those parts too, or just the drum grooves? If not, how much input did you have over the other guys' parts?

Enjoyed your new Pineapple Thief Vic Firth video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6hR7ejT9RU :) Is that blue stuff on your snare just the paint/wax from your sticks? Sounds great as always. Also, what ride is that? And is that a 20"+ crash on your left? Sounds fantastic.

Lastly, I've always meant to ask you this: do you play the percussion in the In Absentia outtake "Meantime", or was it programmed by SW? It was released with no credits on Burningshed as a digital download awhile ago, and I've always liked it. :)

Cheers,
Quinn
 
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Hello Gavin,

I just wanted to tag on to the question above, and see if you'd mind giving a run down of the cymbals you used in that video for us gear nerds. :)

I hope the tour with Pineapple Thief is going great!

-Jonathan
 
Hello Gavin,

I just saw the video where you demonstrate your updated signature stick (Gavin Harrison - "Tear You Up" by The Pineapple Thief). When I tried this stick some time ago they were a little too long for my taste but I liked the feeling, the rebound, the power they provide and especially the grip. What did you change in the stick's design? Did they become shorter by any chance? :)


Thanks
Tom
 
Hi Gavin,

crazy how this all came together! Thanks I will check out Tin Drum as soon as the record arrives!

I saw you performing with The Pineapple Thief in Aschaffenburg. To my ears and eyes you guys we´re great! Despite the technical issues you had on stage the sound for the audience was very good!

Speaking of technical issues, in the last song (Final Thing On My Mind) there was a problem occurring that forced you to (I guess) side-read the piece. As having experienced some major technical problems on stage myself, I understood the bad feeling you seem to have.
But - as you may imagine - I found it very interesting, how you dealt with it as well. So could you tell me, what was going wrong and what was sort of your rescue-plan?
(I suppose that you use an individual click that gives you the cues of the song and that thing went off. – So in terms of not getting lost (in that quite long piece) you had to side-read it.

And could you tell me about your monitor-situation in a fairly small club like this. Especially what drum-signals do you route through your in-ears?

Thanks Gavin! :)
 
Hi Gavin



Do you think enjoying yourself is enough to make progress ? I can say that i havent worked so hard so far but i dont think it is %100 practicing . i know it is the flow , the taste you got, there so many things effect your playing you have to make them better everyday i know i hope i get somewhere with my way. What did you do to make progress on your life Apart from practicing ?

Thank you from now



Sorry for bad English
 
Gavin,

First, just have to say your playing on the new Pineapple Thief album was extremely pleasing to listen to.

Second, I just got ahold of a Speed Cobra double pedal, and realized you play them as well. How do you have the spring tension set up? Is it very drastic or quite loose relatively. I ask, because, in a similar vein of your playing, I only really use the double pedal for short bursts or during fills. Typically I'm not playing blast beats or thrash metal haha.

Thanks!
 
Also, on another note:

How do you recommend one works on the chops to execute the 1 &uh 2 &uh hi-hat/ride pattern you use quite often? Typically I see it used, in your playing and others, as the bell of the ride on the downbeats and the edge filling in the other notes. What I'm asking is, how do you manage to play the three close together notes at a relatively quick speed while still getting the stick up for the accent on the downbeats? Is it a Moeller kind of technique or more of a kind of open/close technique?

Thanks again!
 
Looks like you're having tons of fun on tour, Gavin. It must feel worlds apart from the intricacies of King Crimson. I sure hope Bruce can make an American tour happen.
 
Hi Lightbulb_Sun

How much of Cheating the Polygraph and Mother & Child Divided is written by you? I know that you play guitar (in fact you play on Nil Recurring) as well as bass... so did you come up with some of those parts too, or just the drum grooves? If not, how much input did you have over the other guys' parts?

For those songs I had the rhythmic ideas worked out and some suggestion about the bass and guitar lines - but I don't like to impose on the other guys so I tell them to take my rhythmic suggestions - but choose your own notes.

Enjoyed your new Pineapple Thief Vic Firth video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6hR7ejT9RU :) Is that blue stuff on your snare just the paint/wax from your sticks? Sounds great as always. Also, what ride is that? And is that a 20"+ crash on your left? Sounds fantastic.

The blue stuff is just a bit of paint wearing off - that was a pretty old skin. The ride is a 21" Custom Dark Complex - and the crash is a prototype 20". The other cymbals (as requested by Pass.of.E.r.a.) are 16" prototype Crash of Doom, 14" K Light hi hats, 5 mini custom bells, 9" custom bell, 17" A crash, 19" Avedis crash, 12" Oriental China Trash, 22" Swish

Lastly, I've always meant to ask you this: do you play the percussion in the In Absentia outtake "Meantime", or was it programmed by SW? It was released with no credits on Burningshed as a digital download awhile ago, and I've always liked it. :)

I played percussion on that song - but I haven't heard it in a very long time. It was recorded at the In Absentia sessions.

Hi tom_ac

I just saw the video where you demonstrate your updated signature stick When I tried this stick some time ago they were a little too long for my taste but I liked the feeling, the rebound, the power they provide and especially the grip. What did you change in the stick's design? Did they become shorter by any chance? :)

Only the grip texture has changed. The stick is exactly the same as before.

Hi Robert Schmidt

Speaking of technical issues, in the last song (Final Thing On My Mind) there was a problem occurring that forced you to (I guess) side-read the piece. (I suppose that you use an individual click that gives you the cues of the song and that thing went off. – So in terms of not getting lost (in that quite long piece) you had to side-read it.

correct !

And could you tell me about your monitor-situation in a fairly small club like this. Especially what drum-signals do you route through your in-ears?
I hear all my drum mics in my ears + a bit of reverb. We are using the Presonus RM32Ai system - and it was really good.

Hi 1morechance

Do you think enjoying yourself is enough to make progress ? What did you do to make progress on your life Apart from practicing ?

I take note of things around me - design - architecture - nature - modern art - and it influences my way of thinking about composing from the drumset.

Hi luke_baum

Second, I just got ahold of a Speed Cobra double pedal, and realized you play them as well. How do you have the spring tension set up? Is it very drastic or quite loose relatively.

I have the spring tension pretty loose - but the beaters are angled back quite far so I can have maximum volume in the dynamic range when I need it.

How do you recommend one works on the chops to execute the 1 &uh 2 &uh hi-hat/ride pattern you use quite often? how do you manage to play the three close together notes at a relatively quick speed while still getting the stick up for the accent on the downbeats? Is it a Moeller kind of technique or more of a kind of open/close technique?

basically I play it in one motion rather than three separate ones - so it's more of a Moeller kind of thing.

cheers
Gavin
 
Dear Gavin,

thanks again for your answer!

In your recent video of “tear you up” you don´t use a drop-clutch. Is there any particular reason for that?

And can you please tell me what mics do you use for your overheads and ride and hi-hat (stage and studio) at the moment?

And something a little different: As you may noticed the whole world talks about artificial intelligence (ai) and stuff like this at the moment. I heard that Sony will release the first record that´s made by an ai this year. I think this is one song of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHZ_b05W7o&feature=youtu.be

And a company will bring out an ai drummer app this year. This tool allegedly can design drumparts on its own that fit the music.

https://www.positivegrid.com/drumapp/

You already experienced a time when f.e. drum-machines were invented and changed the industry (at least a bit). So it would be very interesting to get to know:

What´s your take on this? Do you care about this? Can you imagine to you use this technology to help you come up with creative parts? What will stuff like this do with music and musicians in the future on your opinion?

Thanks so much!
 
Hi Gavin

More q's about the Tear you Up video and it concerns rim shots if you don't mind

In the intro, apart from the ghost notes, is every snare hit a rim shot? Even the fills? How about the toms, do you rim shot on those too?

I ask because you seem to get similar velocities regardless of whether it's a rim shot or a whole note. Is this down to compression?

My rim shots sound much larger than my whole notes so I was wondering whether this was down to compression or technique?

Rim shots obviously don't bounce and I'm interested to hear how you can play so many so fast as similar velocities to your non-rims shots.

Cheers fella
 
Hi, Gavin!

First of all, thank you for all the incredible musical playing.You've been a huge source of insipration for me since I discovered Porcupine Tree, not to mention your solo works and the latest King Crimson.

1) Earlier in this thread you mentioned an article you wrote about programming click tracks. Unfortunately, SoundOnSound moved to a new website and the article is nowhere to be found. I will be glad for your help.

2) Have you ever in your career faced situations when the project you participated in was good in terms of relationships and success but you felt you wanted to do something of a completely different kind? I play in two bands, one is more of prog rock, another is free jazz, but I have long-term desire to switch to more academic style (chamber music, percussion ensemble etc). What would you recommend?
 
Hi Robert Schmidt

In your recent video of “tear you up” you don´t use a drop-clutch. Is there any particular reason for that?

I don't like the feel of a drop clutch (when it's operating as a normal clutch) - there's always a slight bit of play in them.

And can you please tell me what mics do you use for your overheads and ride and hi-hat (stage and studio) at the moment?

In my studio I'm using a matched pair of AKG C12VRs for overheads and a pair of AKG CK391s for the hi hat and ride. I like to use the CK391s in a stage situation but I don't take the C12VRs on tour. Live I use whatever the sound engineer wants to use.

And a company will bring out an ai drummer app this year. This tool allegedly can design drumparts on its own that fit the music.https://www.positivegrid.com/drumapp/. You already experienced a time when f.e. drum-machines were invented and changed the industry (at least a bit). So it would be very interesting to get to know: What´s your take on this? Do you care about this? Can you imagine to you use this technology to help you come up with creative parts? What will stuff like this do with music and musicians in the future on your opinion?

I can't imagine using such a thing myself. I don't really care about AI in the world of art. It takes away the most interesting thing - creative human expression.

Hi JohnoWorld

More q's about the Tear you Up video and it concerns rim shots if you don't mind. In the intro, apart from the ghost notes, is every snare hit a rim shot? Even the fills? How about the toms, do you rim shot on those too?

Yes basically they are all rim shots.

I ask because you seem to get similar velocities regardless of whether it's a rim shot or a whole note. Is this down to compression? My rim shots sound much larger than my whole notes so I was wondering whether this was down to compression or technique?

I don't really know what you mean by "whole notes". There is some compression on my snare drum but I try to play the way I want it to sound in the mix.

Rim shots obviously don't bounce and I'm interested to hear how you can play so many so fast as similar velocities to your non-rims shots.

I don't really rely on 'bounce' that much.

Hi Swiss Matthias

I see you use S-hoops on your toms. What would you say those hoops give you compared to the usual ones?

It's very hard to do a proper "A/B" test of things like this but I think they focus the sound slightly more.

Hi crystalfunky

I would like to hear your opinion on bringing the hihat to the center like Bill Bruford.
What do you think about that? Did you try it? What do you think about this construction where you put a slave pedal on a hihat stand? The feeling is quite good, just like a normal stand.

Looks interesting - but I feel I'm too far down the road to change to a centre hi hat setup. Back in the day - I tried a few different setups but that was in a time where remote hi hats didn't exist - and when the first cable driven remote hi hats came along - they felt pretty nasty.

Hi Yzzito

1) Earlier in this thread you mentioned an article you wrote about programming click tracks. Unfortunately, SoundOnSound moved to a new website and the article is nowhere to be found. I will be glad for your help.

Sorry but I can't access that article either. It was quite a long time ago.

2) Have you ever in your career faced situations when the project you participated in was good in terms of relationships and success but you felt you wanted to do something of a completely different kind? I play in two bands, one is more of prog rock, another is free jazz, but I have long-term desire to switch to more academic style (chamber music, percussion ensemble etc). What would you recommend?

If you have the desire to do it - and know a way to achieve it - go for it.

Hi Stevesmithfan

Did you noise gates on your 5 Tom tracks to reduce cymbal bleed for your DVD's?

No I did not. I never use gates on the toms in a mix.

cheers
Gavin
 
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Hi Gavin.
Thanks again for your answer!

AKG D12VR as overheads? Aren´t these actually bassdrum-microphones?

You spend a certain time working in Italy. How did this come up? Where you invited (called) to go there or did you move there and start making it happen by yourself?

I assume that you get asked probably hundred times a week by folks that want you to play on their music. Do you have any criteria to filter out the projects that you can imagine to be a part of?
 
Hi Robert Schmidt

AKG D12VR as overheads? Aren´t these actually bassdrum-microphones?

my mistake - they are C12VRs. (I'll correct my original post).

You spend a certain time working in Italy. How did this come up? Where you invited (called) to go there or did you move there and start making it happen by yourself?

I had a very busy period in Italy (mostly in the 1990's). Originally I was invited to work with a singer called "Alice" (in 1989) because her producer heard an album that I played on from 1988 (Dizrhythmia). After working with her - a studio engineer recommended me for another project and things just started to go from one thing to another quite quickly.

I assume that you get asked probably hundred times a week by folks that want you to play on their music. Do you have any criteria to filter out the projects that you can imagine to be a part of?

I do get a lot of offers. My criteria is this: First I need to hear the song(s). I need to sense that can make a strong connection to the music and feel that I can make a meaningful contribution to the song(s) - otherwise there's no point talking about budget or deadlines.

Cheers
Gavin
 
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