No trip to Home Depot would be complete without purchasing a big, orange bucket. And no drummer would ever begin using said bucket for its intended purpose until turning it over and playing “Wipe Out” for 10 minutes straight. Instead of filling it full of joint compound and skim coating my dining room walls, I took the bucket into my studio and mic’d it up for some loops.
With a Shure Beta 52A underneath to capture the low end, a Rode NT5 overhead to capture the attack, and one very frustrated wife, I spent the next hour recording a variety of bucket grooves, ranging from samba to hip hop.
Bucket Mic'ing 101
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While I’ve been able to mix and edit in my studio since I moved in, today was the first day that my kit was mic’d up and ready to record. I’m actually set up in a temporary room inside of my house (my wife loves this) while I figure out how I’m going to wire up and properly soundproof the carriage house. Are there any electricians in the New England area who will work for beats?
Loop #92
My current tracking room is much livelier than the one I was in prior to the move. With lower ceilings and hard wood floors, it’s a lot LOUDER and brighter than its predecessor. Over the next few days, I’m going to focus on taming some of the harsher frequencies and acoustically tuning the space. Until then, it’s great for laying down grooves that are supposed to sound raucous and dirty.
The Beastie Boys
Today’s loop pays homage to “Check Your Head” era Beastie Boys. I opened up the snare and went for the ringiest sound possible while depending heavily on ambient room mics to capture the entire kit. During the mix, I took the stereo drum bus and used a pitch shifter to lower the overall loop by four semitones. This really beefed up (I promise to never used that adjective again) the sound of the groove while retaining the original tempo and feel.
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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 some sixteenth note shaker to help keep things flowing on the dance floor. What good is a dance beat if it doesn’t make you want to grind up against a drunken stranger?
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While many of you were sleeping last night, dreaming about Neve consoles and 7 string Ibanez guitars, I was busy putting the finishing touches on my latest loop pack – Gruss Loops Volume III. My greatest collection of eclectic grooves and thunderous beats thus far, it’s now available for download in the member’s only section. Come follow me for a quick tour, will you?
Let your dreams become reality!
74_SlowLow – This might be on the slower side, but it’s definitely not for ballads. With a touch of distortion and a heap of compression, this set of loops comes with a wide array of fills and transitions.
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94_Seven – My first full set of odd meter loops, this series of grooves in 7/8 will help you start the next Mahavishnu Orchestra. Just tell Jan to leave the keytar at home.
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136_Bembe – This is the complete session from the “Backwords Bembe” loop I posted a few weeks ago. From cowbell to ride cymbal to snare rim, this takes the 6/8 bembe pattern and moves it around the kit like a military brat.
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136_Strokes – Don’t let the name fool you. You won’t need a trust fund to play with these loops (though some skinny jeans will help). Indie rock drums fit for both Lower East Side dive bars and Meatpacking district dance clubs.
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166_Reggae – Straight out of the suburbs of Boston, this is as authentic as white boy, dubbed out reggae gets. Hat tips to both Stewart Copeland for the delays and Pete Thomas for the fills.
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220_Tonyish – I’m not talking about that Tony. This is a set of grooves inspired by the one and only Mr. Williams. A mix of post bop, fusion and straight ahead, it’s everything you need to fire your current drummer and replace him with a laptop.
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To become a subscriber and gain instant access to all of the 100 loops (AIFF, WAV and REX2) in Volume III, just click the button below.
OK, enough with the dorky mathematical fusion and spacey jazz loops. I can’t let things get totally lame around here, so it’s time to bring back some rock. I don’t want Lemmy to cancel his yearly subscription.
Lemmy - Subscriber since '09
Loop #86
For today’s loop, I recorded the drums as dry as possible…. which means I brought out the t-shirts again and covered up half of the snare. I recorded this with the intention of distorting it during the mix… and a ringy snare with distortion can sometimes sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. My mix sounds more like fingernails on a dry erase board.
You might recognize these drums from the amazing intro music to my latest and shameless self-promotional video.
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Ever since I posted the ?uestlove video earlier today, I haven’t been able to get that beat out of my head. Rather than blasting some Huey Lewis to thoroughly cleanse my pallet, I decided to head down to the studio and record my own take on a breakbeat influenced groove (aka the exact same thing Quest played… just a few BPM faster).
Ahmir '?uestlove' Thompson
Loop #66
To get that old-skool sound, I took the minimal approach to recording and only used two overhead mics on the kit. I also overdubbed a tambourine playing sixteenth notes and blew out my hair into the biggest, whitest afro you’ve ever seen. I didn’t use any t-shirts on the kick drum but I did throw a few sheets of notebook paper on the snare to add some extra “thunk”.
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I might be a white kid from Iowa, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get down with some hip hop. As I’ve mentioned before, groups like RUN-D.M.C. and The Beastie Boys played a significant role in my musical development. Due to the fact that many hip hop beats are sampled from some of the funkiest albums ever recorded, playing along with these tracks is a great practice tool for drummers. Repeating the same one measure groove, over and over, without any fills, while keeping it in the pocket, sounds simple…. until you try it.
To this day, one of my favorite “practice albums” is Jurassic 5‘s 2000 release, “Quality Control”. The record is loaded with great samples from artists such as James Brown, Larry Coryell, Quincy Jones… and even Blowfly. To hear how Jurassic 5 tastefully pulls it all together, check out the title track here:
Loop #65
Today’s loop is inspired by the production and feel that Jurassic 5 captures on this album. I fuzzed things up a bit and tried to emulate the warm, punchy sound of an old, vinyl record. I also grilled up some burgers and prepared them “animal style” to get in a West Coast frame of mind.
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One of my good friends, a fellow drummer and former classmate, offered me the chance to ‘babysit’ his cymbals this week. He was going down to New Orleans for Jazz Fest and, knowing that I was busy recording a series of loop packs, was kind of enough to loan me his vast array of cymbals.
Today's Ride
When I set up to record today, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I had two cases FULL of various cymbals to choose from. Everything from Sabian HH crashes to Zildjian A Custom hi hats to Bosphorus rides. I love my own collection of cymbals, but it’s always exciting and inspiring to play with a completely fresh set up. It’s amazing how the inherent tonalities of a new instrument can completely change your approach to performing.
I set up two of the Boshporus ride cymbals and immediately found myself immersed in up-tempo bebop and way-out-there fusion for the next hour. I recorded everything and saved it on the external drive. I then realized I needed to crank out a loop for the blog….
Loop #59
I’ll admit, this loop sounds like I’m banging my right hand on a trash can lid… but it’s actually one of the nicest sounding ride cymbals I’ve ever played. You’ll get to hear its true sound soon. There are several gigabytes of grooves which I’ll be editing, mixing, rex’ing etc over the next week. For now, I give you the low-fi, filtered, dirty, bad babysitter version.
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The cross stick is a drumming technique which spans all musical genres. From Philly Joe Jones laying down the “4″ with Miles Davis, to Brad Wilk breaking things down with Rage Against the Machine, the cross stick is the universal alternative to the snare drum back beat.
One of my favorite “cross stick-heavy” recordings is Erykah Badu’s 1997 “Live” album. With a deep pocket and a huge sound, drummer, Poogie Bell’s performance is a tour de force of R&B timekeeping.
Here he is playing some cross stick on Erykah’s track, “On & On”.
Poogie Bell
Loop #51
Today’s loop is my hat tip to Poogie. Sixteenth notes on the hi hat, some ‘sugarfoot’ on the bass drum and plenty of cross stick.
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