Gavin Harrison here!

Glad you like it. I remember that being an extremely high pressure thing to do. An audience of drummers, plus Simon, Todd Sucherman, Derek Roddy, Will Calhoun and a few more watching from the wings and cameras all over the place.

Wow... Yeah I can imagine. A room full of musicians/drummers is usually stressful enough without big names involved ? "Quite Firm" definitely the stand out performance from that - it's a really nice tune, prompted to me to check out the full length version by Laurence Cottle Quintet, stupidly fast!
 
Hi Gavin! I deeply appreciate you have this space and also the time for replying

I was wondering if you even had the chance, during your period with Porcupine Tree or currently with The Pineapple Thief, to mix your own drums, and in that case were you self-taught? I would really appreciate your perspective in the subject because in addition to your renown drum sound what also impresses me is your presence in the mix

Best wishes from Chile ??! Hope to see you around once the Pandemic is over
 
Hi Warrenoids

What modification was that if you can remember? I'm interested in building a similar holder for multiple mini cymbals just like yours.

It's all parts from Sonor's "Basic Arm" series - but I had to ask them to thread down to bottom of three of the cymbal holders so that it would give me enough height difference (because the cymbals overlap).
IMG_3652.JPG

I've removed the washers and felts so you can see what's going on with this last one:
IMG_3653.JPG

I will say though - it's pretty heavy.


Hi Felipe

I was wondering if you even had the chance, during your period with Porcupine Tree or currently with The Pineapple Thief, to mix your own drums, and in that case were you self-taught? I would really appreciate your perspective in the subject because in addition to your renown drum sound what also impresses me is your presence in the mix

Absolutely, I was involved with most of the drum mixes in my Porcupine Tree days and all of the recordings that I've made with The Pineapple Thief (and many other things I've done in the last 10 years or more). The drum sound is very important to me and I take a lot of care to record it - so I want that sound to be on the finished record. In other situations where I've handed over all my separte drum files so that an independent engineer can mix them - I'm always disappointed. Having had my own studio for the last 23 years I suppose I have learnt most of it by myself. I have watched engineers in studios and tried to pick up mixing skills - but nothing is quite the same as experimenting for yourself. It's actually really simple - IF the drums are well tuned AND have been well played. Basically you have to try to 'play' the mix you want and balance all the elements of the drumset as you are playing them.

cheers
Gavin
 
Hi Gavin!

I hope you are keeping safe. I can't thank you enough for taking out the time to answer all the questions on this thread. It has always been very informative, thought-provoking, and has served me as a guiding light in the midst of all the noise on the internet over the years.

My question(s) are regarding your studio. I have been learning about acoustics for a while since one of my goals is to build a studio for myself, to make professional recordings at home.

Questions:
>Did you design/treat your studio by yourself or hire an acoustician? In the hindsight, would you do it any differently?

>Leaving aside all the gear, what do you consider are the most important elements (ceiling height, room dimensions/shape…) of your live room that is key to your immaculate drum sound? From your experience of playing in so many world-famous rooms, do you miss anything in your live room acoustically?

>What is an optimal room-size for your kit & dynamics?

>Can you recommend any book(s)/ other sources to acquire more knowledge about acoustics especially for treating live rooms?


Thank you for your guidance! :)

Always Grateful
-Sahil Sarin

Please give us a virtual tour (video or photos) of your studio whenever possible.
 
Hey Gav, I saw your recent Instagram post.

Did you make the switch from AKG to Earthworks? If you did, I think you'd also like their preamps!
 
Hi Gavin!

Thank you for your previous reply. Now I have a question regarding your song “Unsettled” with 05ric.

On what time signature is the tom groove on the intro; and do you mind explaining me how you came up with it?

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
 
Thank you for your previous reply. Now I have a question regarding your song “Unsettled” with 05ric.

On what time signature is the tom groove on the intro; and do you mind explaining me how you came up with it?

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
I'm not Gavin, but there is a video of him explaining the intro of Unsettled in YouTube.

 
Hi sahilsarin


My question(s) are regarding your studio. I have been learning about acoustics for a while since one of my goals is to build a studio for myself, to make professional recordings at home.


Questions:
>Did you design/treat your studio by yourself or hire an acoustician? In the hindsight, would you do it any differently?

Yes I did hire a studio specialist who came round (22 years ago) and measured the reflection times of all the frequencies (he used a program called MLSSA) and then he sent me a plan on what sound panels I should build and exactly where to place them.

here's a photo of one corner...
Big Room.JPG

>Leaving aside all the gear, what do you consider are the most important elements (ceiling height, room dimensions/shape…) of your live room that is key to your immaculate drum sound? From your experience of playing in so many world-famous rooms, do you miss anything in your live room acoustically?


It's kind of hard to say. My big room has a certain sound that I've learnt how to deal with in terms of where to place the mics (AKG C414) and how to treat the room sound inside the mix with compression and EQ etc. I've been recording with it for over 20 years now so a lot of experimentation has happened over that time frame. However I haven't used it on every recording. When I'm in other studios I miss what I know I can do with my big room sound.

>What is an optimal room-size for your kit & dynamics?


I don't know what an 'optimal room size is'. My drums are in my control room and I play with the massive sliding doors open to the big room (where I have the AKG 414s set up to capture that ambience). The control room size is about 5m x 6m and a ceiling height of about 2.5m and it's pretty 'dead' sounding in there.

>Can you recommend any book(s)/ other sources to acquire more knowledge about acoustics especially for treating live rooms?

I don't know of any - but I'm sure there's lots of them out there.

Hi Warrenoids

Did you make the switch from AKG to Earthworks? If you did, I think you'd also like their preamps!

No not really - I'm trying them out on some of the drums. I've still got all my AKGs

cheers
Gavin
 
Hei, Gavin!
I remember the moment when my best mate and I listened to Sam Bronwn's "Stop!" album the first time in his father's recording studio. And then we listened again, then again. And countless times in his or my car, just driving aimlessly around Vienna, Austria, noting and discussing your drum parts that were at that time quite the most sophisticated example of intelligent drum arrangement we've heard to this date.

Apart ftom the compositions with their quirky and humorous, but always deep little details in the arrangement there was always your presicion and little gems - often in the fade-out part of the songs.

I have a load of questions about this production, but I'll keep it precise:

- how did you prepare for this recording project? Did you work with finished tracks and "just" added your parts separately, or did you discuss this with the project band?
- how much time did you have to "get into" the recording's mood? I mean, it's Pop Music after all, but it's very intelligent music, wonderfully arranged, quite a bit minimalistic, so the drums really had the opportunity to shine.
- THE BREAKS! How much of your really ingenious drum breaks did just "happen" because you already had a good personal drum break "vocabulary", how much of it was planned in advance?
- as far as Wikipedia and other sources go, "Stop!" is one of the definite milestones in your development as a musician. You did great tracking work before (hard to find sometimes, the internet was not so rich in detail as it is today), and "Stop!" really is a big step up. How did it come to pass that you were selected? Was there an audition? Did they call you?
- David Gilmour is named as producer and did some characteristically deep and rich guitar atmospheres. How would you describe working with him? Was he a big influence on the project? Or did he just give his sanctus to the finished project?
- Drum setup and sounds: "Ball and Chains" shows a lot of quirky unusual soundscape for a drum set. Is some of this triggered? Did you hang your drumset with various noisy appendages?
- Some songs, especially "High as a Kite" show very controlled and high skill double kick work - I have not heard this before in your work catalogue (at least what I could find online). Is this something you decided to step up especially for the project or did you need double pedal skills before?
- How was it? I always try to imagine the situation in the studio when I listen to a record. How was the atmosphere, did you get along well? Did you discuss the lines you all recorded, or did everybody deliver separately, probably from his own personal studio?

There's lots more, but I don't want to overdo it :)
 
Hi Karen Columbo

- how did you prepare for this recording project? Did you work with finished tracks and "just" added your parts separately, or did you discuss this with the project band?

We rehearsed as a band for a week in a studio in London. Myself, Jakko Jakszyk, Ed Poole and Sam (playing piano) and I think Margo was there too.

- how much time did you have to "get into" the recording's mood? I mean, it's Pop Music after all, but it's very intelligent music, wonderfully arranged, quite a bit minimalistic, so the drums really had the opportunity to shine.

we pretty much worked out what we were going to play during those rehearsals. I taped them on my cassette player so I could feel comfortable with the arrangements by the time we got into the recording studio.

- THE BREAKS! How much of your really ingenious drum breaks did just "happen" because you already had a good personal drum break "vocabulary", how much of it was planned in advance?

The breaks (fills) were improvised on the day. It wasn't hard to feel inspired as I really liked the music.

- as far as Wikipedia and other sources go, "Stop!" is one of the definite milestones in your development as a musician. You did great tracking work before (hard to find sometimes, the internet was not so rich in detail as it is today), and "Stop!" really is a big step up. How did it come to pass that you were selected? Was there an audition? Did they call you?

We (Jakko, Ed and myself) met Sam two years before when she was invited as a backing singer to be in Jakko's band for the recording of a TV concert (I've never seen it on YouTube). Then sometime later Sam called us and invited us to play on her album.

- David Gilmour is named as producer and did some characteristically deep and rich guitar atmospheres. How would you describe working with him? Was he a big influence on the project? Or did he just give his sanctus to the finished project?

I wasn't there when David Gilmour recorded and unfortunately - neither did I get to meet him.

- Drum setup and sounds: "Ball and Chains" shows a lot of quirky unusual soundscape for a drum set. Is some of this triggered? Did you hang your drumset with various noisy appendages?

None of it is triggered but the drums had a lot of mics on them - including some 'contact mics' stuck onto the toms - so probably that's what you're hearing as 'triggers'. I did have a "Pete Engelhart crasher" which I used on that song (and maybe some others). If you ever want to give yourself tinnitus - get one of those !

- Some songs, especially "High as a Kite" show very controlled and high skill double kick work - I have not heard this before in your work catalogue (at least what I could find online). Is this something you decided to step up especially for the project or did you need double pedal skills before?

I had bought my first double pedal about 3 years before that session so I was just coming to grips with it. Previous to that I had played two bass drums for a few years.

- How was it? I always try to imagine the situation in the studio when I listen to a record. How was the atmosphere, did you get along well? Did you discuss the lines you all recorded, or did everybody deliver separately, probably from his own personal studio?


I can clearly remember recording the song Stop (and maybe another one) at RAK studio in London. We all played live together and I think Danny Schogger was playing piano. Sam was great fun and it was a blast. Later we went to Power Plant studios in another part of London and recorded the other songs.

Cheers
Gavin
 
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Hey Gavin :)!

Just wanted to say - I received my copy of Versions of the Truth box set this morning and I absolutely love it, great songs, beautiful artwork - really impressive :)

I'll dive into the alternative mixes tomorrow, can't wait to hear those! Looking forward to seeing you all next year, shame it's so long to wait now! :cry:

All the best,
Alannah
 
Hi Gavin!

Sorry quick silly question - I was listening to "The Game" from the new album, is it just my ears or are you using some funny stick thing to do those snare rolls in the beginning?

Sorry for the question, I was just curious ?

Best,
Alannah
 
Hi Alannah

I was listening to "The Game" from the new album, is it just my ears or are you using some funny stick thing to do those snare rolls in the beginning?


No - I do actually play them with a normal stick - but the dynamics are exaggerated by a compressor plug-in. I drop the stick and let it bounce a few times - but instead of it getting quieter towards the end as it naturally does - the compressor brings the final notes up in volume so it sounds a bit strange.

cheers
Gavin
 
Hi Alannah

I was listening to "The Game" from the new album, is it just my ears or are you using some funny stick thing to do those snare rolls in the beginning?

No - I do actually play them with a normal stick - but the dynamics are exaggerated by a compressor plug-in. I drop the stick and let it bounce a few times - but instead of it getting quieter towards the end as it naturally does - the compressor brings the final notes up in volume so it sounds a bit strange.

cheers
Gavin

Ahhhh, I see! That makes sense, cool technique. Thanks for that!

P.S the alternative mixes are great, really different ? Also "The Swell" has become one of my favourites, it's an incredible track, even though it isn't on the main album ?

Cheers
Alannah
 
Hi Gavin!

I just got the deluxe box, it was the 1st time I listened to a (non live) album in 5.1 first, and I love it. I also keep listening to the 5.1 live ones (TPT and PT), they mean so much now, being able to feel like I'm there at a show (with eyes closed), I even asked someone to step on my foot to make it real. :) I love the new surround mix especially for the marimba bouncing around!

Your alternative mixes are amazingly unique! I was totally shocked at first. Love the 80's vibe here and there. How did you learn to play the marimba so well? And please could you play a song on it live? At least on a remote live, maybe when the band gets together? I know it's difficult since you'd need to be at two places, but maybe someone could step in to drum, or play the recorded drums with live marimba? It would be so cool to see!

I also love the pictures next to the tracks, they match so well as if they were made for each song! I wonder how these look like in real, could you show or describe? Are they made of stone or metal?

And a 3rd question about the book, on page 35 there is a pic of a crowd under some shiny arch, what's that about? Thanks!

Dora
 
Hi Dora

How did you learn to play the marimba so well? And please could you play a song on it live? At least on a remote live, maybe when the band gets together?

I am a marimba owner - I certainly wouldn't say that I can play it well at all. I do enjoy making up melodic lines on it and messing around - but that's as far as I go. Same with piano, guitar and bass.

I also love the pictures next to the tracks, they match so well as if they were made for each song! I wonder how these look like in real, could you show or describe? Are they made of stone or metal?

Some of them are etchings - so the image is scratched onto a copper plate - and then with a process involving ink (that I don't actually know) the image is pressed onto paper. The 'background noise' is just the tiny dots and scratches on the surface of the copper - which looks a bit like stone when it is printed. Some are charcoal drawings. None of them are stone or metal.

And a 3rd question about the book, on page 35 there is a pic of a crowd under some shiny arch, what's that about?


That's Jon standing under a huge shiny metal sculpture in Chicago's Millennium Park.

cheers
Gavin
 
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