Archive for the ‘Experimental’ Category
Loop #138
For this loop I decided to take the opposite approach to producing. The "Costanza Method" of recording, if you will. As I'm sure most of you already know, effects and audio processing are typically applied during the mixing process, after all of the tracks are recorded. However, for this session, I applied a variety of sonic sculpting tools to the master bus BEFORE recording a single note. Sure, I checked the levels to make sure everything was copacetic, but I wanted this random...
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Loop #135
I'm not even sure if Trent Reznor drinks coffee (he strikes me as the type that might consume it by the gallon), but assuming that he did, and that he happened to spill that coffee all over his console while mixing some drum tracks, I think the end result might sound something like this. Angry, yet precise, odd meter drumming crushed all of the way down to 5 bits. Black. No Sugar.
And while I'm on the topic of NIN, here's a great interview regarding the making of the epic 2005...
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I had good intentions of recording a rather straight ahead, Gadd-esque linear drum loop. In fact, that's pretty much what I had... before I reached for the vocoder:
[audio:102_prefilter.mp3]
[caption id="attachment_4816" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Old School Vocoder"][/caption]
Loop #111
With a delay set to a dotted eighth note and the EVOC 20 filter (my SIGSALY is in the shop) heavy in the mix, I give you some tripped out, space funk.
[caption id="attachment_4802" ...
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Loop #106
For today's first loop request, I make my foray into the grimey world of Dubstep. A half time feel with some extra thick bass and a crunchy, gated snare, it sits right in the 139 BPM sweet spot of your garage. I'll be including the rest of the loops from this session in Volume 7.
Preview Here:
[audio:139_DubStepB.mp3]
Get the .wav file here.
Get the .rx2 file here.
Get the .aiff file here.
139 BPM...
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Maybe that fourth cup of coffee was a bad idea? Today's caffeine overdose has pushed me to the limit, causing my palms to sweat, my heart to palpitate and my drumming to be completely obnoxious.
[caption id="attachment_4615" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Today's Target Audience"][/caption]
Loop #105
A two measure loop with enough ghost notes to fill eight measures, this groove is short on restraint and heavy on bass. Get your glow sticks and lollipops out, the kids are goin...
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When I heard the heater click on in my house today, I knew it was finally time to play my Eckerman frame drum. You see, this particular drum has a calfskin head and during the more humid months of the year, the head loosens so much that the drum is practically unplayable. Now, with the air crisp and dry, and my furnace cranking out some heat, the drum has naturally tightened up to its optimal tuning range.
[caption id="attachment_4345" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Eckerman Frame Dr...
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While I own a decent collection of snare drums, over the past five years I've had one "main" drum that I've always taken to gigs and recording sessions. From the Troubadour in LA, to the Hit Factory in NYC, to the Hammersmith Apollo in London, my 6 1/2" x 14" brass snare drum has always been there for me, providing a consistent supply of fat backbeats and crisp ghost notes.
[caption id="attachment_4236" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="6x14 Maple Pork Pie"][/caption]
This all chan...
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When I was much younger, while being chauffeured around from elementary school to Cub Scout meetings in my mom's awesome station wagon, I used to get so frustrated whenever I heard Fleetwood Mac's, "Go Your Own Way". Not by the melody or lyrics, but by the drum beat.
Every other pop song I was used to hearing at that point in my life had nice, steady backbeats on 2 and 4, along with plentiful amounts of reverb. This song, however, didn't follow that particular rhythmic formula. In an eff...
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Loop #89
I'm not done with the cowbell grooves. Like I mentioned before, I think it's time to bring one of my favorite percussive accessories back into the limelight. Rather than go the straight quarter note, "Don't Fear the Reaper" route, I've went ahead and approached it from a polyrhythmic angle. In this case, a 3 against 4 phrasing over the course of a four bar groove (not to be confused with a hemiola).
To make such an academic rhythm accessible to the masses, I overdubbed ...
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All day long, I've been reading news articles and blogs about the untimely death of legendary movie director and writer, John Hughes. Rather than write my own post about how much his movies influenced my early life (along with my entire generation), I decided to honor him musically.
[caption id="attachment_3768" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="The Donger need loops"][/caption]
Loop #87
I can't think of a more fitting tribute to the man responsible for movies such as Sixteen Cand...
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