Rocking The EVOC

Ryan on Dec 5th 2009

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:

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Old School Vocoder

Old School Vocoder

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.

The Settings

The Settings

Preview Here:

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Get the .wav file here.

Get the .rx2 file here.

Get the .aiff file here.

102 BPM

Filed in 100-120 BPM, Experimental | One response so far

Sunday Stuff

Ryan on Oct 11th 2009

Here’s a great clip of Steve Gadd getting things done at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival. Check out the dynamic paradiddle variations between the snare and cowbell. Classic Gadd. My only question… where can I get one of those vintage “Stuff” t-shirts?

Filed in Videos | One response so far

Lunchtime Lesson – Head Hunting

Ryan on Apr 13th 2009

Herbie Hancock’s legendary “Headhunters” rhythm section, Mike Clark and Paul Jackson, show us how to keep it crisp and funky. Check out some of those linear grooves and then go eat a ham sandwich.

Filed in Videos | One response so far

Linear drumming for dummies.

Ryan on Feb 24th 2009

Steve Gadd - Linear Lifetime Achievement Award

Steve Gadd - Linear Lifetime Achievement Award

Linear drumming is a style of playing where no two limbs hit at the same time. These grooves are typically broken up between the snare, kick, hi hat and toms, creating a unique, lilting feel. One of the most popular examples of linear drumming is Steve Gadd’s performance on Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”. If you really want to impress the guy behind the counter at Guitar Center (the one with the phonytail) with your mad drumming skills, be sure to get this beat under your belt:

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

Pop music and Guitar Centers aren’t the only places you can utilize linear beats. They also lend themselves well to funk music. David Garibaldi made the 70’s funkier (is that even possible?) with his slick, intricate linear grooves. Just check out some of his albums with Tower of Power, especially “Bump City” and “East Bay Grease”. With songs titles like “Social Lubrication” and “You Got To Funkifize”, I don’t feel the need to explain any further.

David Garibaldi - Linear fo' Life

David Garibaldi - Linear fo' Life

Loop #18

This beat originally started off as a very basic, 8th note linear groove…. then I decided to start playing with delays while mixing. I timed the delay to occur a dotted eighth note after the original attack, which resulted in an interesting, syncopated feel. To take it one step further, I panned the delay left to right (à la Stewart Copeland) and inserted a low pass filter.

Preview Here:

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Download the Logic session here. (40MB)

Non-Logic fools, get your .wav files here.

83 BPM

Filed in 080-100 BPM, Experimental, Pop, Rock | 7 responses so far