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Looper's Delight
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Very cool ideas, I forwarded this to a couple of drummers I know who are pursuing similar concepts. Rick, we need pictures and audio clips! :-) On Friday, February 10, 2006, at 02:34 AM, loop.pool wrote: > Kevin and I have been having an off list discussion about our love for > simulating > electronic sounds by using all acoustic methods and he asked me about a > Drum and Bass kit that I had eluded to in an earlier post. > > I sat down tonight (my first night out of bed after five days of one > of the worst viral bugs that i've had) > and wrote it out.I thought I'd share for anyone out there who is > interested in the acoustic kit and it's possibilities in > looping. This kit mics like a dream with a split mic channel with > two D112 Kick mics and on Shure SM 81 or > AKG C1000s overhead.........................mono all the way baby! > > yours, Rick > > ************************************************ > D&B/DOWNTEMPO specialty kit > > What I set out to create was the equivalent of what the software > program ReCycle does > for audio drum tracks. > > You can pitch the kit up (jungle, D&B) or down (Trip Hop, Downtempo, > Abstract Electronica, Chill), > slice it up and then rearrange it. > > Consequently I wanted to acoustically reproduce the sounds of drum > sounds pitched up or down on a sampler. > (the higher the pitch, the shorter the envelope----the lower teh pitch > the longer the envelope) > > Additionally I wanted to use cymbal combinations that sounded more > like artificial synth drums, old analogue drum machine sounds > or even highly processed drum sounds. > > What I came up with was > > a two side drum kit > > LEFT SIDE (jungle, D&B, analogue drum machine----higher pitched) > > three custom made snare drums (using old fiberglass Pearl concert tom > tom shells from the 70's) > 6", 8", 10" These are on a rotating even plain off of an old > Ludwig tri-tom so that I can rotate which ever one close in to me > > They sit to the left of an 8" Marco Mineman Meinl electro hi > hats.............very high pitched, very electronic sounding---just > like normal hats pitched > upwards on a sampler > > then the main snare drum---------------whatever I'm into but I"m > digging an old 60's piccolo Supraphonic that I"ve had forever tuned, > surprisingly, rather full (not high pitched) Still it sounds like a > normal snare drum---it's got a killer die cast rim on it, though for > all that great electronica rim click stuff (and reggae, african and > latin). > > The kick drums are bizarre inventions of mine (inspired but the > drummer of Mari Boine's band from Norway) > One is a 12" Purecussion tom tom with thick naugahyde glued to both > sides of the head on an LP footpedal designed for cowbells and > woodblocks > the other is the 14" tom tom with hideous amounts of gaffing tape > covering both sides with the same footpedal assembly > > the 12" 'kick' is tuned up like a hi pitched Drum and Bass kick > the 14" sounds incredibly like a massive TR 808 drum machine kick > ..........you know the one you hear in rap all the time that has a low > but > very clear fundamental tone and a long envelope. > > both of these kicks sound like hell from a foot away, but if you put > your ear right next to them they sound like god , so I mike them > incredibly tightly. > > RIGHT SIDE (half speed, trip hop, downtempo, chill) > > a big double headed 26" kick drum tuned close to slack and very , very > deep but without a lot of sustaining tone > a big 10" X 14" Ludwig Coliseum snare drum (also with that awesome > Ludwig die cast rim---the absolute loudest die cast rim made on > earth--I know because I've owned one of all of them at one time or > another) tuned incredibly slack with the snares just rattling. > I really wanted that long, sloppy, detuned vibe of a trip hop beat > that was originally at 120 beats a minute > and piece de resistance, two very old 60's Japanese crash cymbals > purchased at the flea market. Because the Japanese make such > incredible drumsets these days, a lot of people forget that they made > the world's worst drum sets in the 1960's...by > far....................bad for world > drummers...................excellent for me.........lol > These things are so cheap that they are very thin and as we know in > the cymbal world, the thinner > the cymbal the lower the pitch (give the same diameter). > I use these two as ersatz downsampled hi hats. I don't even put a > clutch on them, nor do I tighten them down. > Just resting on each other they sound like perfectly like detuned > samples of normal hi hats > > I compliment this all with an array of small specialty cymbals that I > have collected over the ages...........including cymbals that sound > curiously like the > TR 808 ride cymbal sounds------flange cymbals-----mega bells-----jing > cymbals from china-----stacks of small splashes and cut down cymbals > that make really nice white noise crash sounds. > I'm also proud of the finishing touch which is an invention of mine: > One very, very heavy set of six 60's Japanese hi hat cymbals that I > put goggles on and beat the holy living hell out of with a ball peen > hammer. I squashed the bells to flat and then put as many pings into > them as possible. The more pings, the more overtones. this thing > makes the most awesome simulation of a synthesizer white noise, > clapping sound and they are loud as hell. By using felts and > tighening and loosening the wing nut I can > change the length of the envelope from very tight to very long from > song to song. > > Then to make things interesting I play these things with a plethora of > different kinds of beaters and sticks to get different timbres out of > them: > I have chicken scrapers that make it sound like a very, very quick > multiple digital delay hit on a snare drum..................knitting > needles whose > head sounds like electronic hi hats on even a normal pair of > hihats----various kinds of brushes----a bunch of inventions of mine > where I > but a strip of the fuzz side of velcro on several different sizes of > stick, mallets and brushes and the I sewed everything from dry Indian > jingles > to tambourined jingles to poker chips to seed pod gourds to the stick > side of several strips of velcro and , voila, instant percussion > stick. > > this is a particularly cool effect if you are doing some kind of a > hand over hand accented pattern like a bo diddley beat with a velcro > stick in one hand and a normal stick in the other. You hear the > accented tom tom lick of the bo diddley beat but you simultaneously > hear a funky constant 8th note pattern on whatever jingle texture you > have provided.................it's like having your own maraca > player..................without having to pay him or her...........Bo > Diddley eat your heart out.