Category: Rock

November 24, 2009

Slippery When Wet

No, not the Bon Jovi album. The room sound.

My current drum tracking room is on the smaller side. While its modest dimensions provide certain sonic benefits (tons of attack, very focused etc), it can also make it difficult to naturally get the big and wet, Hit Factory Studio 1 type vibe on my drum tracks.

This is when I often turn to my good friend, the space designer. With a few tweaks of the decay time and EQ (the presets can be a little much), this plugin instantly transforms my 12′x12′ drum room into anything from a cathedral to a warehouse. Used sparingly, it allows me to leverage the punchiness of my tracking room while mixing in a hint of MSG.

Bon Jovi Livin On A Prayer 505 Slippery When Wet — No Jovi for you.

Loop #109

I know you were hoping for a Livin’ on a Prayer-type loop when you saw the title of my post. So sorry to disappoint. My can of Aqua Net ran out just as I was getting ready for the session. Instead I give you a two bar loop that’s low on chlorofluorocarbons and big on reverb.

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82 BPM

October 8, 2009

When The Reverb Breaks

Loop #98

I’ll admit, I started off today’s recording session with a rather uninspired wank-fest. Not really sure about what to play, I inevitably ended up doing some mathematical-fusion-funk-jazz grooves that only Kenwood would appreciate. Then I discovered a new reverb plugin. A plugin so magical, it inspired me to play a plethora of 70′s, heavy duty, straight up rock beats. The kind of drum grooves that make you want to do disturbing/illegal things with mud sharks.

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70 BPM

September 22, 2009

Damn You, Mick Fleetwood

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 effort to fuck with every nine year trying to air drum along in his mom’s car, Mick Fleetwood decided to only play the snare on “two” and add some offbeat tom shit at the end of each measure. It’s only in the chorus that he straightens it and lets the kids rock along.

mick fleetwood 22687 300x180 Damn You, Mick Fleetwood — Mick Fleetwood

Loop #96

In the spirit of confusing the hell out of young musicians everywhere, here’s a loop that takes the snare backbeat and displaces it by one eighth note. You might recall that I did this in the past with a more fusion oriented groove. This time, the confusion rocks a little harder.

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93 BPM

September 20, 2009

Really, Really, Ridiculously Expensive Foam

In my quest to tame the overly-live tracking room in my new house, I bit the bullet and trekked out to my local Guitar Center to find a solution. I figured I could pick up a few of those foam panels and line the walls of my studio on the cheap. I mean, how expensive could foam be?

According to the ponytailed sales guy in the pro audio department, I needed to cover my walls with Auralex foam. He said these foam panels were the “Rolls Royce of acoustical treatments” and were priced accordingly. Not wanting to suffer in that godforsaken store any longer than necessary, I took his word for it and handed over my Amex. Several hundred dollars later, I walked out with a box full of luxury foam.

photo 300x225 Really, Really, Ridiculously Expensive Foam — Wall of Auralex

The panels came with tubes of permanent adhesive for mounting the foam on the wall. Since I’ll soon be moving the studio into the carriage house, I knew I didn’t want to be gluing the overpriced panels directly to the wall. My ingenious solution? Plywood and Velcro. I headed out to Home Depot and had the lumber department cut eight pieces of plywood into 1′ x 6′ sections. I then mounted the 1′ x 1′ Auralex panels directly to the plywood with industrial strength Velcro strips.

With three foam panels on each sheet of plywood, I was able to easily move the acoustical treatment around the room until I got the sound I desired. Along with LENRD bass traps in the corners of the room, I soon had a room that sounded more like The Hit Factory and less like a garage. The harsh, high frequencies coming off of the cymbals were no longer an issue and the low end from the kick and floor tom seemed more controlled and punchy. Maybe the guy with the ponytail was right?

Loop #95

Today’s loop is the first from my “acoustically controlled” studio. In this uptempo, pop-rock groove, you’ll notice things sound a bit tighter and more focused than the past few loops. All thanks to some really expensive foam. And Velcro. Lots of Velcro.

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173 BPM

September 7, 2009

The First Loop From The New Studio

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.

beastie boys 205x300 The First Loop From The New Studio — 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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78 BPM

August 18, 2009

Fusion Therapy

After a long, stressful day, some people tend to wind down with a few drinks. Others find solace in working out or smoking crack. And me? Well, I find that nothing helps me kick back and relax like turning on the dry ice machine, inverting a few splash cymbals and playing some overindulgent fusion. There’s really nothing like the sound of 32nd notes on the hi hats to take the edge off.

Loop #90

Today’s loop is a two bar snippet of the hour long fusion session that was unfortunately caught on tape (and you can bet your permed mullet that the rest of the tracks will be included in Volume IV). It’s actually one of the more restrained moments of the entire recording. With two snare drums, an over the bar fill and a five stroke roll somewhere in the middle, it’s enough notes to properly fit into any mid-90′s GRP release.

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120 BPM

August 11, 2009

Lust for Loops

Before “Lust for Life” was pimped out as the jingle for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (as well as being covered by Mötley Crüe, Tom Jones and, I shit you not, Bruce Willis), it was one of the classic punk/pop anthems to emerge from the late 1970′s. With thunderous, hypnotic drums and two guitars doubling the bass line, it’s one of those tracks that barrels forward like a locomotive controlled by Billy Mays (if train engineers weren’t required to take drug tests).

Loop #88

Today’s loop takes a cue from Hunt Sales’ original drum groove (one that, apparently, makes you want to spend a week in a 8′x10′ room and eat from buffets), and tightens things up just a bit. Less slosh on the hats and some snappy bass drum will let you go ahead and create your own radio-friendly variation to cash in on. Oh wait, The Strokes and Jet beat you to it.

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202 BPM

July 23, 2009

Quintuple the Pleasure, Quintuple the Fun

While cleaning up my studio and preparing for the big move, I stumbled across a folder of notes and lesson materials from my Berklee days. Inside this folder was everything from Max Roach solo transcriptions, to South Indian rhythmic cycles, to 4-way independence studies. Flipping through the pages of sheet music was like stepping into a time machine and being transported back to the grimey, unventilated practice studios on Mass Ave. Awh, the good old days.

While taking a closer look at the contents of the folder, one page of handwritten transcriptions jumped out at me. Quintuplet based grooves?? It took me a few minutes, but I finally remembered the source of the music. It was from one of my lessons with the great, Casey Scheuerell. I studied with Casey during my last two years of college and learned a tremendous amount from him. Not just about drumming, but also about the music business as a whole. We spent just as much time talking during our lessons as we did playing on the two kits he had set up in his office.

5groove 300x225 Quintuple the Pleasure, Quintuple the Fun — From the archives

Loop #85

You Zappa Heads and prog-rockers will enjoy today’s loop. It’s geek funk to the fullest and should probably never leave the confines of your own studio. Loosely based on the above transcription from my lessons with Casey, it’s a 4/4 groove with quintuplets on the hi-hat and a 2+3 rhythmic phrasing. To make things easier for tracking to a click, I actually recorded this as a halftime groove in 5/4… just listen to the shaker for the 8th note pulse. Anyway, I’d like to see someone try to dance to it. Let the math rock begin.

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158 BPM

July 21, 2009

The Art of the Power Ballad

It’s almost as if it were a sign from God. I was driving around earlier today, trying to think of something interesting to record and desperately scanning the FM dial for some inspiration. Then, out of nowhere, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Well, a ton of bricks drenched in obscene amounts of reverb.

“Is This Love” by Whitesnake. One of the penultimate power ballads of the 80′s, this particular track took “big drum sounds” to another level. I mean, just listen to that snare drum! I remember being 10 years old, sitting in my bedroom, trying to make my Ludwig Acrolite sound like that. Why wouldn’t it decay for twelve seconds after I hit it?? Did I need special heads? Finally, two decades later, armed with a bunch of mics and a plethora of plugins, I set out to achieve the Tommy Aldridge sound that had eluded me in my childhood.

Loop #84

For today’s loop, I set my kit up in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, taking advantage of it’s natural “big room sound”. I also placed a few ambient mics (wireless, of course) on two nearby satellites to help capture the overall “vibe”. All the while, a scantily clad Tawny Kitaen frolicked on top of my two 24″ kick drums. Just another day in the studio.

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74 BPM

July 14, 2009

Excessive

Excessive crash cymbals? Check.
Excessively large 2B drum sticks? Check.
Excessive amounts of reverb? Check.
Excessively loud brass snare drum with coated blackdot heads? Check.
Excessively nerdy gear checklist. Check.

Loop #81

Why just use a touch of compression on the bus when you can throw limiters on every individual track? This loop comes from the “more is more” school of mixing.

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74 BPM