Since seeing Glenn Kotche on the Modern Drummer Festival 2006 DVD playing a cocktail kick drum, I had the idea that this would be a good thing to have in my bag of tricks. I’m currently mainly playing an 18” kick drum and getting a nice big sound out of it so I was pretty sure I could get a usable sound out of a floor tom. The challenge in my mind was to tune the drum so that it had a usable ‘kick’ sound while still maintaining a playable top head.
I bought a used Yamaha cocktail kick pedal from a shop in Boulder Colorado, and so I had the kick pedal covered. Both of my floor toms are 14” in diameter. The Gretsch floor tom has legs so I figured it would be easier with legs to position. I put a 14” Remo coated Powerstroke on the bottom, replacing the clear ambassador, and tuned it really low, almost, but not quite flappy. The batter head was a Remo ambassador weight renaissance which I kept.
It didn’t take very long to get a decent kick sound that was quite usable, especially when miked up in my studio. The top head was harder to deal with however. if I tuned the batter where I would normally tune a floor tom, it sounded like a kick, if I tuned it higher it sounded like a muffled timbale. I ended up bringing the resonant bottom head up a little bit from flappy, and then bringing the batter head somewhere between floor tom and timbale.
Bottom line is, this is a compromise. I see this configuration as a way to do some low volume acoustic gigs, like small coffee shops and such, where I might be accompanying acoustic instruments with no amplification at all. I think with the cocktail kick, a snare, one cymbal and high hat, I’d be well equipped for that kind of venue. Of course I’d need my box of do-dads, shakers, and sound makers to round things out.
The other place I could see myself using this setup would be in the studio for tight break beats or loops.
I’ll try to post some loops with this configuration.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Thank you Billy Martin for the Clave Notation!
I was working in the great book by Billy Martin, "Riddim, Claves of African Origin", and in the book he presents a really great notation system used for conveying clave rhythms on the drum set. The system was so useful that I immediately found myself using it right away with little practice. I would recommend buying this book by the way. Billy has been a huge inspiration to me, and his book is very insightful. It shows clearly the depth of his personal approach and method to acclimate these styles into his tasteful repertoire.
This clave concept sparked a revelation for me: Everything can be considered a clave. Each groove, no matter how it's painted has a predominant pulse, which can be thought of as a call and response. Personalizing this into my own playing has a tendency to make my playing more conversational at its core. This frees up my embellishments to maintain the conversation with the other musicians I'm playing with. Even some thing as simple as "boom chick boom boom chick" becomes:
QUESTION: "Boom Chick?"
ANSWER: "Boom boom chick!"
This may sound strange, but it's apparent as you start to think about the dialog between instruments, and extend that to the drum set. You can hear this between musicians in some choral music where a group of singers may repeat a phrase as an ostinato pattern as a ‘call and response' and other groups of singers singing related patterns over top.
Related to this, I'll mention the tune "Boozer" from the John Scofield album "A Go Go". Medeski, Martin, and Wood back up John Scofield on this album, and on this track they work together to create this kind of simulated drunken banter. As you listen to the track imagine the music is a drunkard talking, boasting, belching, and spitting a bit. I think you'll get what I mean here.
Back to my main thread here, I started using a variation of Billy's clave notation to quickly document groves I play on set, so I can remember them later. I also used this to map out difficult patterns that I can understand, but have trouble lining up between my limbs. It works well on paper, but also in a mono-spaced font in the computer world. Here is a description of how I have been using it.
Legend - Beat Notation
Count 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
R Hand | | | | | | | |
L Hand | | | | | | | |
R Foot | | | | | | | |
L Foot | | | | | | | |
x closed HH
o open HH
x foot HH
@ Snare Drum
- Cross Stick
^ Rack Tom
v Floor Tom
* Kick Drum
There is basically a vertical line for each part of the pulse. In this case a measure of 4/4 is represented by each 8th note. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. The spaces in between represent the e's and ah's in 1e&a. The horizontal positions aren't instruments, but instead limbs, so you can easily see how the rhythms relate to each other as a whole.
Then along each horizontal limb, you map out the orchestration that is played by each limb, which may change. Here is an example groove in the clave notation:
Count 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
R Hand x x x x x x x x
L Hand | | | @ | | @ |
R Foot * | | | | **| |
L Foot | o | | o | | o
And here is what it sounds like: clave-notation-example.mp3
The situation has come up a half dozen or so times in my life where I had to sub for a group and get up to speed on a nights worth of songs in just a few days. On 3 occasions I had to do over 40 unfamiliar songs in less than 48 hours. This isn't bad if you are somewhat familiar with the songs, but if they are completely foreign then it can be quite a challenge to do without some excellent notes. I usually will use a kind of Nashville number system hybrid wherever possible which is similar to the one Billy Ward describes in his great book, "Inside Out: Exploring the Mental Aspects of Drumming".
It's pretty easy to document a groove or feel in the clave notation and include it with the Nashville style chart to make a more complete reminder of how the groove is constructed.
I was recently asked to fill in playing a nights worth of mostly Grateful Dead tunes. I had never had the opportunity to listen to the Dead and had no idea what I might be in for. I got the list of songs and started listening and making notes. Most of the grooves are pretty standard kind of feels, so notes like: "2 beat country swing" and "Slow blues shuffle" were enough to suffice for many of them, but for the trickier tunes this system worked really well. I was able to do the one and only rehearsal with the band without any actual wood-shedding. The band was very happy and surprised that I was able to hop right in so quickly. They Bass player, who I play with regularly, told them "Oh yeah, he does his homework all right!". Can't beat an introduction like that to other musicians.
This clave concept sparked a revelation for me: Everything can be considered a clave. Each groove, no matter how it's painted has a predominant pulse, which can be thought of as a call and response. Personalizing this into my own playing has a tendency to make my playing more conversational at its core. This frees up my embellishments to maintain the conversation with the other musicians I'm playing with. Even some thing as simple as "boom chick boom boom chick" becomes:
QUESTION: "Boom Chick?"
ANSWER: "Boom boom chick!"
This may sound strange, but it's apparent as you start to think about the dialog between instruments, and extend that to the drum set. You can hear this between musicians in some choral music where a group of singers may repeat a phrase as an ostinato pattern as a ‘call and response' and other groups of singers singing related patterns over top.
Related to this, I'll mention the tune "Boozer" from the John Scofield album "A Go Go". Medeski, Martin, and Wood back up John Scofield on this album, and on this track they work together to create this kind of simulated drunken banter. As you listen to the track imagine the music is a drunkard talking, boasting, belching, and spitting a bit. I think you'll get what I mean here.
Back to my main thread here, I started using a variation of Billy's clave notation to quickly document groves I play on set, so I can remember them later. I also used this to map out difficult patterns that I can understand, but have trouble lining up between my limbs. It works well on paper, but also in a mono-spaced font in the computer world. Here is a description of how I have been using it.
Legend - Beat Notation
Count 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
R Hand | | | | | | | |
L Hand | | | | | | | |
R Foot | | | | | | | |
L Foot | | | | | | | |
x closed HH
o open HH
x foot HH
@ Snare Drum
- Cross Stick
^ Rack Tom
v Floor Tom
* Kick Drum
There is basically a vertical line for each part of the pulse. In this case a measure of 4/4 is represented by each 8th note. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. The spaces in between represent the e's and ah's in 1e&a. The horizontal positions aren't instruments, but instead limbs, so you can easily see how the rhythms relate to each other as a whole.
Then along each horizontal limb, you map out the orchestration that is played by each limb, which may change. Here is an example groove in the clave notation:
Count 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
R Hand x x x x x x x x
L Hand | | | @ | | @ |
R Foot * | | | | **| |
L Foot | o | | o | | o
And here is what it sounds like: clave-notation-example.mp3
The situation has come up a half dozen or so times in my life where I had to sub for a group and get up to speed on a nights worth of songs in just a few days. On 3 occasions I had to do over 40 unfamiliar songs in less than 48 hours. This isn't bad if you are somewhat familiar with the songs, but if they are completely foreign then it can be quite a challenge to do without some excellent notes. I usually will use a kind of Nashville number system hybrid wherever possible which is similar to the one Billy Ward describes in his great book, "Inside Out: Exploring the Mental Aspects of Drumming".
It's pretty easy to document a groove or feel in the clave notation and include it with the Nashville style chart to make a more complete reminder of how the groove is constructed.
I was recently asked to fill in playing a nights worth of mostly Grateful Dead tunes. I had never had the opportunity to listen to the Dead and had no idea what I might be in for. I got the list of songs and started listening and making notes. Most of the grooves are pretty standard kind of feels, so notes like: "2 beat country swing" and "Slow blues shuffle" were enough to suffice for many of them, but for the trickier tunes this system worked really well. I was able to do the one and only rehearsal with the band without any actual wood-shedding. The band was very happy and surprised that I was able to hop right in so quickly. They Bass player, who I play with regularly, told them "Oh yeah, he does his homework all right!". Can't beat an introduction like that to other musicians
Pimp My Ride... Cymbal
It's taken me 20 years to find out why my ride cymbal sound sucked for jazz. Back when I was playing for a living I didn't have the financial luxury to buy a bunch of rides to try out. Also back in the 80's and 90's every ride cymbal for purchase in a music store in a 2 hour radius of my hometown in Michigan was geared toward rock and heavy metal.
Ping ping pa ping, is not what I was hearing on old jazz records. I was hearing Ptaw paw pa ptaw. It just didn't' dawn on me that the problem was my ride cymbal. I have to admit, I wasn't playing jazz for money, and in the end rock and roll was paying the bills so it wasn't high on my priority list.
Now that I'm older and have a ‘real job' I can afford to pursue the music that really inspires me, and also have the luxury of having an income that can support some trial and error purchases. Even still I was mostly at the mercy of what local drum shops stocked. From my experience at least 80% of the inventory of most music stores is targeted for new/moderate level of players who wish to play modern popular music (a.k.a. pop rock). That said it's hard to travel all over the state to ‘try' cymbals that may or may not be what you're looking for. Or, that may sound nice in the store but not blend with what you've already got.
Play a ride that crashes
My first clue was that when I really started working on creating a solid swinging ride pattern to vamp over, I was drawn to my 18" rock crash cymbal. It's thick for a crash but as a ride still very thin by comparison. It was the closest thing to the ride cymbal sound I was looking for. Still I was daunted by the fact that it said ‘crash' right there printed on the metal. My problem was that I had inner conflict between my ears and my mind. The ears should always win. Grasping that has made a huge difference in my entire approach to the kit.
It was around this time I discovered www.cymbalsonly.com where Tony the owner personally plays every cymbal that comes in and records it with industry standard microphones and posts the recordings on his web page. He will play every cymbal on its own, and with a kit, including clean single hits and crashes. It was here where I could listen to and ‘try' dozens of cymbals out of hundreds to find out what was really appealing to me. I found out that I really need thinner ride cymbals. And that every ride that is really turning me on also has a very nice crash sound that stands alone also. I ordered a Bosphorus Stanton Moore 22" wide ride and 14" Stanton Moore fat hats. Not because of the name, or the brand, but because those particular cymbals sounded the best to my ears. The only ears I'll ever listen through. When I received those cymbals and played them the first time, I almost cried. I'm not joking. Here was the cymbal sounds that I had always dreamed of, and the exact same sound I heard from the website. Since then I've also purchased a great 18" crash/ride and an 18" flat ride. They are both in heavy rotation in my cymbal bag.
Having a cymbal sound that is conducive to the style that I'm playing is a huge motivator. Or I should say, having a cymbal sound that isn't conducive is very de-motivating. Since I have been playing these cymbals my feel and playing in a jazz situation has improved immensely. If you are struggling with getting really ‘into' the jazz space, look at your cymbals and seek them out, it will help you for sure.
Yesterday I put one of my old ride cymbals up to see what I was missing, and also to verify that it really was the cymbal and not just in my head. I mounted a 20" Custom Dry Ride by Zildjian. Wow. How could I have ever played that thing? It's completely tailored to that dry ping sound. Swing patterns just sounded wrong, though I could still tell that my feel had improved. The bell was nice, very focused. It is still a great ride for the right situation. But that's not the situation I'm in any more, at least for now.
Ping ping pa ping, is not what I was hearing on old jazz records. I was hearing Ptaw paw pa ptaw. It just didn't' dawn on me that the problem was my ride cymbal. I have to admit, I wasn't playing jazz for money, and in the end rock and roll was paying the bills so it wasn't high on my priority list.
Now that I'm older and have a ‘real job' I can afford to pursue the music that really inspires me, and also have the luxury of having an income that can support some trial and error purchases. Even still I was mostly at the mercy of what local drum shops stocked. From my experience at least 80% of the inventory of most music stores is targeted for new/moderate level of players who wish to play modern popular music (a.k.a. pop rock). That said it's hard to travel all over the state to ‘try' cymbals that may or may not be what you're looking for. Or, that may sound nice in the store but not blend with what you've already got.
Play a ride that crashes
My first clue was that when I really started working on creating a solid swinging ride pattern to vamp over, I was drawn to my 18" rock crash cymbal. It's thick for a crash but as a ride still very thin by comparison. It was the closest thing to the ride cymbal sound I was looking for. Still I was daunted by the fact that it said ‘crash' right there printed on the metal. My problem was that I had inner conflict between my ears and my mind. The ears should always win. Grasping that has made a huge difference in my entire approach to the kit.
It was around this time I discovered www.cymbalsonly.com where Tony the owner personally plays every cymbal that comes in and records it with industry standard microphones and posts the recordings on his web page. He will play every cymbal on its own, and with a kit, including clean single hits and crashes. It was here where I could listen to and ‘try' dozens of cymbals out of hundreds to find out what was really appealing to me. I found out that I really need thinner ride cymbals. And that every ride that is really turning me on also has a very nice crash sound that stands alone also. I ordered a Bosphorus Stanton Moore 22" wide ride and 14" Stanton Moore fat hats. Not because of the name, or the brand, but because those particular cymbals sounded the best to my ears. The only ears I'll ever listen through. When I received those cymbals and played them the first time, I almost cried. I'm not joking. Here was the cymbal sounds that I had always dreamed of, and the exact same sound I heard from the website. Since then I've also purchased a great 18" crash/ride and an 18" flat ride. They are both in heavy rotation in my cymbal bag.
Having a cymbal sound that is conducive to the style that I'm playing is a huge motivator. Or I should say, having a cymbal sound that isn't conducive is very de-motivating. Since I have been playing these cymbals my feel and playing in a jazz situation has improved immensely. If you are struggling with getting really ‘into' the jazz space, look at your cymbals and seek them out, it will help you for sure.
Yesterday I put one of my old ride cymbals up to see what I was missing, and also to verify that it really was the cymbal and not just in my head. I mounted a 20" Custom Dry Ride by Zildjian. Wow. How could I have ever played that thing? It's completely tailored to that dry ping sound. Swing patterns just sounded wrong, though I could still tell that my feel had improved. The bell was nice, very focused. It is still a great ride for the right situation. But that's not the situation I'm in any more, at least for now.
Splash Madness
I"ve been really finding some interesting sounds on the kit lately; mostly by using a splash cymbal in creative ways.
I used to have a cymbal arm attached to my high hat stand so that I had an 8" Zildjian A splash right above my hats for easy accents. Recently I purchased new hardware for my Gretsch kit. I"m going for a vintage setup and picked up the DW flat based 6000 series hardware. I got 2 straight stands 1 boom, flat high hat stand and 2 snare stands (one for my 12" tom).
The stands are much lighter weight and I didn"t want to unbalance the light high-hats with a heavy boom arm. I couldn"t really justify a separate stand just for the tiny splash so I had it left over. I ended up putting the splash in some creative places.
On top of the high hats
I started out putting the splash on a separate top hat clutch that I had lying around. This allowed me to put the splash directly above the high hats. It also gave me the ability to easily pull the splash off and use it on the snare, or replace it as the top high hat cymbal. Pretty cool.
Next I tried the splash over the high hat pull rod without any felt or anything just letting it flop there. This provides an interesting pseudo delay effect on all left foot high hat closes. Kind of a "chick shaw, chick shaw" kind of sound, where the "shaw" sound is consistently behind the beat a bit. You could still hit the splash solo. I also tried putting the splash on the high hat rod but positioned where it would rest on my first crash/ride cymbal which is positioned between my high hat and my rack tom. This provided a nice little sizzle when riding on my first cymbal or crashing on it.
In the high hats
I had a lot of fun playing with the 8" splash between the two high hats. It"s a different sound if you put it upside down also. I did have to widen my high hats in order to accommodate the cymbal though. I got a great dirty high hat sound with this technique. Doing pea-soup style accents sounded awesome, almost like a great tape saturation kind of chunky sound. Surprisingly it took really heavy playing to get the splash to start creeping out, even on 13" hats.
On the cow bell
The splash also fits on the cow bell mounting rod that I keep on my bass drum hoop for my cowbells. Again no felt or anything to protect the splash but it was an interesting placement. I also tried stacking the splash on a 12" cheapo Wuhan china on the cowbell, and that sounded really trashy and nice. I was even able to hit the cowbell and stacked china/splash a the same time to get an interesting effect.
On the LP Crasher
I usually keep a smaller LP Crasher on top of the cowbell as above. I found I could put the splash on the mounting pins that run through the crashers. This was similar to the sound of the stacked china/splash but a little trashier and shorter decay.
On the cymbals
I don"t usually use top felts on my cymbal stands. I have a feeling that his helps the cymbals move easier and resonate better, but I can"t really quantify that assumption. So, its pretty easy to pull the nut off a cymbal between songs and throw a splash cymbal on top of another cymbal. This can have different sounds depending on the cymbal. The shape of the bell on the splash and the cymbal beneath it are both important. If the cymbals are too similar in shape it can make the stack sound like big old high hat. If they are different in size it can make a great sizzle sound on rides, or a china kind of sound on a crash cymbal.
Balancing Choices and Limitations
I"ve found it to be a very creative tool to limit my sound sources for a particular track. With a simple 4 piece kit with only 2 or 3 cymbals other than high hats, I have created some great limitations to work within. Appart from being much easier to haul around, I find that for some reason these imposed limitations facilitate better takes. More so than when I was playing a ‘universal" kit designed to be ready to handle any situation without modification. So if the tune really needs a sizzling china sound I can add a splash on my main crash cymbal and get the sound while keeping the limitations. In this case I have to remember that my main crash has been repurposed, and if I want a standard crash sound then I have to rely on my high hats or ride cymbal. Or if the original crash sound is needed, then I can put the splash on my ride. It"s been a lot of fun, and has opened some door for me.
I used to have a cymbal arm attached to my high hat stand so that I had an 8" Zildjian A splash right above my hats for easy accents. Recently I purchased new hardware for my Gretsch kit. I"m going for a vintage setup and picked up the DW flat based 6000 series hardware. I got 2 straight stands 1 boom, flat high hat stand and 2 snare stands (one for my 12" tom).
The stands are much lighter weight and I didn"t want to unbalance the light high-hats with a heavy boom arm. I couldn"t really justify a separate stand just for the tiny splash so I had it left over. I ended up putting the splash in some creative places.
On top of the high hats
I started out putting the splash on a separate top hat clutch that I had lying around. This allowed me to put the splash directly above the high hats. It also gave me the ability to easily pull the splash off and use it on the snare, or replace it as the top high hat cymbal. Pretty cool.
Next I tried the splash over the high hat pull rod without any felt or anything just letting it flop there. This provides an interesting pseudo delay effect on all left foot high hat closes. Kind of a "chick shaw, chick shaw" kind of sound, where the "shaw" sound is consistently behind the beat a bit. You could still hit the splash solo. I also tried putting the splash on the high hat rod but positioned where it would rest on my first crash/ride cymbal which is positioned between my high hat and my rack tom. This provided a nice little sizzle when riding on my first cymbal or crashing on it.
In the high hats
I had a lot of fun playing with the 8" splash between the two high hats. It"s a different sound if you put it upside down also. I did have to widen my high hats in order to accommodate the cymbal though. I got a great dirty high hat sound with this technique. Doing pea-soup style accents sounded awesome, almost like a great tape saturation kind of chunky sound. Surprisingly it took really heavy playing to get the splash to start creeping out, even on 13" hats.
On the cow bell
The splash also fits on the cow bell mounting rod that I keep on my bass drum hoop for my cowbells. Again no felt or anything to protect the splash but it was an interesting placement. I also tried stacking the splash on a 12" cheapo Wuhan china on the cowbell, and that sounded really trashy and nice. I was even able to hit the cowbell and stacked china/splash a the same time to get an interesting effect.
On the LP Crasher
I usually keep a smaller LP Crasher on top of the cowbell as above. I found I could put the splash on the mounting pins that run through the crashers. This was similar to the sound of the stacked china/splash but a little trashier and shorter decay.
On the cymbals
I don"t usually use top felts on my cymbal stands. I have a feeling that his helps the cymbals move easier and resonate better, but I can"t really quantify that assumption. So, its pretty easy to pull the nut off a cymbal between songs and throw a splash cymbal on top of another cymbal. This can have different sounds depending on the cymbal. The shape of the bell on the splash and the cymbal beneath it are both important. If the cymbals are too similar in shape it can make the stack sound like big old high hat. If they are different in size it can make a great sizzle sound on rides, or a china kind of sound on a crash cymbal.
Balancing Choices and Limitations
I"ve found it to be a very creative tool to limit my sound sources for a particular track. With a simple 4 piece kit with only 2 or 3 cymbals other than high hats, I have created some great limitations to work within. Appart from being much easier to haul around, I find that for some reason these imposed limitations facilitate better takes. More so than when I was playing a ‘universal" kit designed to be ready to handle any situation without modification. So if the tune really needs a sizzling china sound I can add a splash on my main crash cymbal and get the sound while keeping the limitations. In this case I have to remember that my main crash has been repurposed, and if I want a standard crash sound then I have to rely on my high hats or ride cymbal. Or if the original crash sound is needed, then I can put the splash on my ride. It"s been a lot of fun, and has opened some door for me.
New Snare Drum
I built a new snare drum this week. It's a 4x14 maple Keller shell with chrome tube lugs, triple flanged hoops and a beautiful Dunnett snare throw off.
I did an intricately stenciled design between each of the 10 lugs in a black stain and then did the overall drum in a dark walnut stain with a satin finish. The overall look of the drum is very antique which was what I was shooting for.
I had some initial trouble with the Dunnett strainer which I expected on a 4†drum. It was tricky to place the strainer so it wouldn't interfere with the top hoop, and still be able to travel the distance to get a good tight snare sound. I ended up flipping the small plate that clamps the plastic strips on the strainer side. This allowed the strainer mechanism to travel further.
My default snare drum batter head is the Remo Renaissance Diplomat weight head which I love because of its great combination of extreme sensitivity and fat feel at medium tensioning. I use this head on my 6x13 maple snare and on my 6 1/2 x 14 steel shell and it provides a great contrast to the deeper shells.
However on this drum it was a bit too sensitive. I'll have to try it again with a different batter/snare side tuning. Anyway I put a Remo Fiberskyn Diplomat on the drum and it sang. I was really shooting for a sensitive bebop snare, and this is spot on.
I would like to get some die cast hoops for it, but that's going to be another hundred bucks, so I decided to play the drum for a while with the triple flanged and see how it does.
I did an intricately stenciled design between each of the 10 lugs in a black stain and then did the overall drum in a dark walnut stain with a satin finish. The overall look of the drum is very antique which was what I was shooting for.
I had some initial trouble with the Dunnett strainer which I expected on a 4†drum. It was tricky to place the strainer so it wouldn't interfere with the top hoop, and still be able to travel the distance to get a good tight snare sound. I ended up flipping the small plate that clamps the plastic strips on the strainer side. This allowed the strainer mechanism to travel further.
My default snare drum batter head is the Remo Renaissance Diplomat weight head which I love because of its great combination of extreme sensitivity and fat feel at medium tensioning. I use this head on my 6x13 maple snare and on my 6 1/2 x 14 steel shell and it provides a great contrast to the deeper shells.
However on this drum it was a bit too sensitive. I'll have to try it again with a different batter/snare side tuning. Anyway I put a Remo Fiberskyn Diplomat on the drum and it sang. I was really shooting for a sensitive bebop snare, and this is spot on.
I would like to get some die cast hoops for it, but that's going to be another hundred bucks, so I decided to play the drum for a while with the triple flanged and see how it does.
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