Gavin Harrison here!

NEW GAVIN HARRISON HERE!!!!!!!!!

Hi Gavin!!! I'm writing from Bologna(the most beautiful city in Italy,you should see it soon)
...I've a big questio for you...where exatly you learned to play drum?? by a private teacher or during you colleg??
I think your drumming is something unique...how you can be everytime creative-quite-louder...and change the groove in only a moment???
I hope you answer soon at my post(sorry for English)
all the best....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi ProgFron,

I don't know if this has been asked before, but what exactly is the sticking for the ending of Cheating the Polygraph?
It's groupings of five, but I can't really figure out how to play it.


Someone else just asked me about this section so here it is..

View attachment 15743

It's going by really fast.

cheers
Gavin


Thanks for explaining!
I'm exited to hear you're going to work with 05ric again.
Are you going to stick to the same style or try some different things?

Cheers,

Francis
 
Thanks for explaining that 5/8 fill Gavin.

Speaking of cheating at the polygraph .. can you please tell me if this is right for the fill at 5.49?

I'm sorry, i dont have a scanner to upload a pic to explain it better, but here goes..

It's in 7/8 (split into 16ths). You are playing on an instrument for every 16th beat I think.

2 bass drum,1swisstriplet thing(3),1 Hi hat beat, 2 bass drum, then 2 swisstriplets (6)....which totals to 14. Then the next section goes into 5/8.

So you might say that you split the 14 beats into 2,3,1,2,3,3

Is this correct?

Thanks,
Simon.
 
Hey Gavin!

Thanks for the cheating the polygraph thing my drum teacher will love it!

As for the rest of it, I think I have it but I'm not sure, are you playing septuplets in the verse? because it doesn't sound like 7/8!

Cheers,

Huw
 
Hi ilikedrums

i got some question to ask about your Recording Room. It seems to be complete out of wood, with a very high top. Do you have some digital pictures of the whole Room with your fully miked up Drumset? It would be very interesting to see, how you set the mikes, where to position the Drumset and what the whole room looks like.

You seem to be referring to my live room. It does have a lot of wood in it - and I don't know exactly what kind of wood it is. I don't play the drums in the live room - I play in the (quite dead) control room - leave the huge doors open and record the ambiance in the live room with a pair of mics. That way I have both a dry sound and an ambient sound so I can mix it the way I want for a particular song. I don't have any new pictures of the kit with all the mics on - but there are some out there if you search around.

Hi Drizzle,

Was it the crash over your 12" tom, I saw you check that one out on the Amsterdam gig on December 5th.

No, that was another one that I broke.

Do you already now the songs you have to learn for KC?
What's your routine for learning 'odd' material, do you just listen to it and then play along or do you write it out or just a guide sheet.


I don't know which songs I have to learn yet. Normally I write some kind of chart out - and just play along.

Hi Nonconnor

I wanted to ask you how you felt about the room? I was sitting in the mid section from your left and the lower frequencies (espescially your kick drum) were resonating pretty badly from the concrete. How did it sound to you?

Helsinki was a pretty large room for us. I couldn't hear what you were hearing - I was having some trouble with the drum riser - because it was wobbling a lot - and I was already feeling dizzy before the show started so it was a bit like trying to play the drums on ice.
The sound in those large rooms are very rarely good.

Hi NENZIO,

I've a big questio for you...where exatly you learned to play drum?? by a private teacher or during you colleg??


My Dad played a bit of drums and got me interested in them. I studied privately with Joe Hodson when I was about 11 to 15 years old. I then studied with ex-Berklee graduate Dave Cutler when I was 18. After that I just followed my nose.

Hi Pandrex,

Speaking of cheating at the polygraph .. can you please tell me if this is right for the fill at 5.49? 2 bass drum,1swisstriplet thing(3),1 Hi hat beat, 2 bass drum, then 2 swisstriplets (6)....which totals to 14. Then the next section goes into 5/8.Is this correct?

I think that's correct.

Hi Huwbean,

I think I have it but I'm not sure, are you playing septuplets in the verse? because it doesn't sound like 7/8!

No, it's 7/8 like this...
Polygraphgroove.jpg

that's it written two different ways.

Cheers
Gavin
 
Hello Gavin,

I'm interested in your mic setup as I'm currently in the process of putting together a home studio. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about the mics and how you mount them.

I've read that you use the EV N/D408 for you toms live. I was interested to know, since EV doesn't appear to make that model anymore, if you've had the chance to use the N/D468, and if so, how they compare to the 408. These look like a very good design in respect to getting a good position while keeping out of the way, and they seem to sound pretty good in your videos.

Also, I read here that you prefer to mount the mics to your rack when possible. Do you do this in the studio as well as live? I was interested to know what type of mounts you use to accomplish this (particularly with the N/D408s).

And (last question!) specs-wise, the Schoeps CMC5 seems like a particularly good choice for a set of distant ambiance mics. I was wondering which capsules you use in them.

I apologize if you've been over this already (I scanned the thread last night but didn't see an answer to these). Thanks again for the great music! I'm really digging the Nil Recurring EP.
 
Last edited:
Hi Raygun,

Yes, for many years I used the N/D408 and I understand that they have now been replaced with the N/D468 - (which I now use on my live setup). Recently I switched to using Sennheiser MD421 for the toms (in my studio) as I thought there was an improvement especially in the sound of the lower toms....but they are very big mics and a bit cumbersome, so wouldn't want to used them live.

All my mics are attached to my drum rack except the overheads. Pearl make a bracket called PCX200 which makes it very easy to use just the top part of a mic stand to mount from the rack. I just checked my Schoeps CMC5's and there's no number on the capsules.

cheers
Gavin
 
Hey Gavin,

I was curious if your bell holder is a custom job or if it is actually a product produced for the mass market. Either way I was wondering if you could recommend any holders for a bell set up or where to find one? I found some online stores that listed such products as Sabian bell holder 3, Sabian bell holder 5 and Sabian Triple arm holder. But the online stores contained no image or description about it.

I did find this image and info on Sabian's site though, the image below is what Sabian describes as "This holder clamps to cymbal stands for easy placement of "CD" Cymbal Discs, Bell Discs or splashes." But thats all I could find.
l_32000.gif



I thought something like this would be more common to find but I guess not. Anyways your info is always appreciate as usual!

Thanks in advance,

Brent
 
Hi Gavin,

first of all, congratulations on your awesome drumming! I find it to be very inspiring, although I don't even play drums myself. Well, at least not "physically" i.e. I do program some stuff.

I have a question for you and maybe it's a little bit hard to explain, but here i go: I've noticed that in the great majority of your drum tracks there is some kind of "melody" going on. And what I mean is, that the drums can be regarded more as having it's own voice, it's own "melody line" than just mere accompaniment. The best example for me would be the tune '19 Days', where after listening a couple of times the drum line began popping into my face, if you know what i mean. I began to see, why what you play makes sense. Because if you listen to the other instruments you can see how the drum voice fits in. So my question is, do you do that with premediation? Or is it something that comes out of nowhere? (i find this hard to believe)

So, this discovery i made some time ago has been very important to me as a musician, because from the example of the drums i realized it applies to the rest of the instruments as well. I think there are at least a good amount of songs ond bands out there whose music admits this kind of observation. It kind of gave me a theory that unifies improvisation and strict composition and rules out that chance or some other mystic force governs music. Then my second question would be, have you had a similar realisation of your own? If yes, what was it?

I hope what I said wasn't to confusing :p. I feel kinda like this guy:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo only that i am not so talented :p

Cheers!
 
Hi Gavin

Very excited to see you will be working with King Crimson, one of my all time favourite bands. And you.... YOU!! I can't get enough of watching you play the drums. Jaw dropping stuff!! I love your sound.
Anyway... don't want to big you up too much...! I was wondering, are you just doing live dates with KC or will there be a studio recording?

Cheers

Big T
 
Hi gibeachhead,

I was curious if your bell holder is a custom job or if it is actually a product produced for the mass market. Either way I was wondering if you could recommend any holders for a bell set up or where to find one?

Yes my bell holder is a custom job from a friend of mine in Chicago. He makes custom pieces for drummers. I've seen a couple of the Sabian ones and they're probably the closest thing to what I have.

Hi asmodeus,

I've noticed that in the great majority of your drum tracks there is some kind of "melody" going on. And what I mean is, that the drums can be regarded more as having it's own voice, it's own "melody line" than just mere accompaniment. So my question is, do you do that with premediation? Or is it something that comes out of nowhere? (i find this hard to believe).

I try as much as I can to play 'musically' and sometimes that means playing a melody - or a melodic shape (because the drums aren't really tuned to standard recognizable pitches). Sometimes I try to think like I'm playing a saxophone or trumpet (so I can try to phrase in a different way) and other times where I think of the toms as if they were notes on a marimba.

Then my second question would be, have you had a similar realisation of your own? If yes, what was it?


The day I heard the record "Big Blues" by Art Farmer and Jim Hall (1978). Steve Gadd managed to make the drums have a new emotional meaning to me - he seemed to conjure up melancholy and beauty in a very musical way that I'd never heard before. Most of the time it's just the way he plays the ride cymbal - and touches the snare and bass drum to create meaningful expressive rhythms - which sounded like melodies to me and felt totally improvised in the moment. A lot of it is very simple playing (no chops going on at all) and that's what impressed me so much - that Steve could create a really powerful, moving performance by playing very little. A real lesson in taste.
I guess before that - I always thought to be impressive you needed to show some chops.

Hi Big T,

I was wondering, are you just doing live dates with KC or will there be a studio recording?

As far as I know at the moment - just live dates.

cheers
Gavin
 
Hi gavin.
I hope that you're ok.
I've not questions this time, i wanna only say "Merry Christmas and happy new year" to you, your family and your dears.

You give us a lot of tips and spend for us a lot of time, and this is the minimum that i can do for you.
I wonder that 2008 will be a great year for you, a happy year of musical and personal satisfactions.

See ya!

Riccardo.
 
Hey Gavin,

I really don't know if this was posted before... but have u ever used "cowbells" on your drums. I mean, have you ever tried, or planning to add some "latin" or "arabic" touch to your style. (Or have you ever discussed this with SW, to try that out with PT)

PD: Recently i saw a "latin" style drummer, playing a cowbell with a pedal (never seen that before...), and it was awesome how he incorporated the "cowbell kick" in his fills...
 
Hi Russkie,


I really don't know if this was posted before... but have u ever used "cowbells" on your drums. I mean, have you ever tried, or planning to add some "latin" or "arabic" touch to your style. (Or have you ever discussed this with SW, to try that out with PT)


I don't use cowbells or jam blocks in my setup. I don't really "hear" those sounds inside my playing with PT. There's already so many great drummers out there doing it well.

BEST SEASONAL HOLIDAY WISHES TO EVERYONE WHO READS AND CONTRIBUTES TO THIS THREAD!!!!!

Have a great 2008

Cheers
Gavin
 
Hi Gavin
I wish you a care good Christmas and a Happy New Year.
From my heart
Good luck my best friend
happy holiday and Happy days
you are a very special person.
Angelo
 
Back
Top