Gavin Harrison here!

Well since I'm Swiss, I certainly won't correct your English :).

Yes that's what I mean: You notice tempo or timing flaws while listening back. So your goal must be to hear that while you're doing it already. If you hear it, you can play it better. That's what I mean by sharpening your listening abilities. It's much easier to hear stuff in a recording than while playing, because the brain is pretty absorbed.
So when you record yourself, listen back, and then try to play the same thing but without the mistakes you heard in the recording, you train your ears! All great drummers had or have to do that, I'm sure. Time and groove are hard things to really master.
Hope that helps.
 
Good luck at the big show at Radio City Music Hall tonight Gavin! Wish I could be there! It must be out of this world playing a venue like that. I think I have butterflies in my gut for you.

Kevin
 
Hey Gavin,

Have you or Porcupine Tree ever thought about releasing a "Making Of" video or DVD. I've seen the short one from "Deadwing" and the really short one from "The Incident". Those things have always interested me because I really like to see how everything unfolds inside the studio.
 
Hi Gavin,
I just want to ask if you're planning to come to Hungary with PT next year? I know that you were here last year, but I just discovered the band recently (yeah, I know... my fault, but better late than never).

Máté
 
Hi euphoric_anomaly

Quick question on Beyond the A. The very first bar of that song you do a roll on the snare, followed by a roll on the bass drum. Are there the same number of notes in the snare roll as there are in the bass drum roll?

Yes there are four notes in both. Snare roll is played RRLL bass drum roll is RLRL

Hi henri

- Try to be more focused while playing. (Listening to me and my play)
- Stay super tuned-up of other members (especially with bassist)
Gavin, what do you thing about all of this?


Yes I agree - and record yourself all the time. It's a long slow process to improve.

Hi pixelbreaker

Have you or Porcupine Tree ever thought about releasing a "Making Of" video or DVD. I've seen the short one from "Deadwing" and the really short one from "The Incident". Those things have always interested me because I really like to see how everything unfolds inside the studio.

To have a camera crew there the whole time would be too intrusive and hold up the creative process I think - so I've never really wanted to do that.

Hi Mikusmate

I just want to ask if you're planning to come to Hungary with PT next year? I know that you were here last year, but I just discovered the band recently (yeah, I know... my fault, but better late than never).

I don't think we'll be doing anything next year...sorry.

Hi scottishhaggis

do you ever play heel down? Do you ever need to? Do you ever feel like?

no I never do.

Here's a recent interview
http://listenin.org/interviews/archive/artists/Porcupine+Tree/default.aspx

Cheers
Gavin
 
Hi Gavin!

Do you have any tips on tuning 12" toms? It always seems to be the hardest drum to tune, I never get mine to sound real good. It's really frustrating!

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi Gavin,

I've seen some of your videos and performances. Very inspiring and creative. Also, I went to Porcupine Tree webpage. Excellent band...

I would like to ask you few questions:

1. Any coming up tours and/or clinics close to Connecticut, USA?

2. Any idea of a less expensive snare drum that would emulate the sound of Ludwig Black Beauty snare? - I thought that since you have your own studio and experience with various different snares, might have an idea.

3. I liked the sound of your drum set. Sounds to me very modern, talkative, full and with lots of body. I imagine that your tracking room is part of that sound. Could you share your tracking room dimensions and any special sound treatment in the room?

4. Could you share your likes and dislikes in a drum tracking room?

Thanks in Advance for your time,
-Mel Corcino
 
Hey Gavin,
first of all thank you very much for your great insperational work, I discovered PT a few years ago and it blew my mind away. It's exactly that type of music that I was looking for and couldn't find... Only seen you play live once in Neu-Isenburg last year, that was one of my top 3 concerts ever...

Got a few questions:

I cut down an few cymbals to make chimes out of them, so far it only worked with a HiHat Bottom cymbal, couldnt get the others to sound the way I want them.
How do you know which cymbal could make up a good chime?
How do you cut them?
I used a metal scissor, very tiring job to do it, I can tell you... Have u found a better method or does somebody else do it for you?

China: do you ever stack your china cymbals?

A friend mentioned that you play Constantinople cymbals too, but I haven't seen any in your setups... true or just a rumor?

I find your drums very well tuned, do you do them yourself or does your drumtech do it for you? And do you have a special technique to tune them?

Sorry if any of those questions were asked before, I simply over-read them then...

Keep up the great work, really looking forward to see you in Karlsruhe...
Thank you very much &
kind regards
 
Hi Gavin,

While watching your Interview on Drumdepartment.de I realized that there is a dynamic mic next to your bassdrum that is mounted in the direction of the crowd. Is this another trick do get a better bassdrum sound?

cheers,
Tobias
 
Hey Gavin,
first of all thank you very much for your great insperational work, I discovered PT a few years ago and it blew my mind away. It's exactly that type of music that I was looking for and couldn't find... Only seen you play live once in Neu-Isenburg last year, that was one of my top 3 concerts ever...

Got a few questions:

I cut down an few cymbals to make chimes out of them, so far it only worked with a HiHat Bottom cymbal, couldnt get the others to sound the way I want them.
How do you know which cymbal could make up a good chime?
How do you cut them?
I used a metal scissor, very tiring job to do it, I can tell you... Have u found a better method or does somebody else do it for you?

China: do you ever stack your china cymbals?

A friend mentioned that you play Constantinople cymbals too, but I haven't seen any in your setups... true or just a rumor?

I find your drums very well tuned, do you do them yourself or does your drumtech do it for you? And do you have a special technique to tune them?

Sorry if any of those questions were asked before, I simply over-read them then...

Keep up the great work, really looking forward to see you in Karlsruhe...
Thank you very much &
kind regards

Those questions were asked MANY times before.

www.askgavinharrison.com

That's a very easy way to find answers to them.


Fox.
 
Hi Gavin!

Do you have any tips on tuning 12" toms? It always seems to be the hardest drum to tune, I never get mine to sound real good. It's really frustrating!

Thanks in advance!

Hi DTrocks

Yeah! the same for me, always found the 12" tom the most difficult to tune, and on the other hand, found a 13" very easy to tune. Sure it doesn´t have logical at all, but is how i feel it... So i need to invest more on tuning. Another option is changing to odd toms :))

Greetings
 
FAO Fox:
thanks very much for the link, hadnt seen that page before...

FAO Gavin:
ignore my post, hope to find the answers on Fox's link...
keep up ur great work...
 
Hi Gavin,

talking about tricks for the bass drums sound: i recently bought a nice video by the great Alan Parsons where he explains many different things about the "art and science of sound", interviewing many great well known guys of the music biz. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the drummer who was interviewed was... Simon Phillips. One of the things that caught my attention was what's in the attached pic: he put a paint can in the bass drum. Its mass is supposed to enhance the low end and the high end caught by the mic. I just wanted a feedback from you too, before going to the paint shop :))


Cheers and thx
 

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Hey Gavin, what's up with the big and fast "Even Less" tom drum fill in the middle, it's 16th note triplets, right?


Thanks, Fox.
 
I'm hearing the EQ from the analog desk - and an old Yamaha reverb unit just for monitoring. It's hard to hear the effects from Logic because there's always a latency delay whilst you're actually playing - so therefore I never monitor the drums through the computer. Of course on playback I can use the plugins inside Logic.

cheers
Gavin

I have Logic studio so I know exactly what you mean about latency. I actually use the input monitoring from MainStage if I'm messing with effects. You can still record into Logic with Mainstage open and simply mirror those effects with the Logic effects board after. I just find the creative process goes much faster when I can actually mess with effects live rather than input them after.
 
Good day. I have a question for you and would apprieciate if you'd answer it. You're a great source of inspiration!!


In Sound of Muzak, it sounds to me like you're phrasing the verse beat in 4+3, whilst the guitar is phrasing in 3+4 . Were you conscious of this when you came up with the groove? If yes, why did you choose to phrase differently from the guitar/vocals?
 
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Gavin,

I was pouring over 'Sentimental' the other day and remembered that you had stated that Steven was doing an "8th note illusion" with the keyboards. With that in mind, would the 8th note illusion mean that you have to accent the AND in between beats? (ex: one AND two AND three ....). I try to count a steady 4/4 and it doesn't line up with anything.

It could be your groove for the verses that are throwing me off, it sounds to me like your starting a lot of the bars on the hi-hat, rather than a typical bass or snare shot.

Also, I find it difficult to "hear" the drum beat because of the filter effect on the drumtrack. Do you ever get annoyed with having to record your drums through a filter that (in my opinion) ruins the sound?

Thanks
 
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