forget the stripes

After some experimentation, I've decided to go back to my original Emperor Coated's for my toms. Those Pinstripes sing like all hell when they're brand-new, but after a few weeks of playing them, they died out relatively quickly and the heads showed remarkable wear (by way of many deep divets - which ultimately effected the overall tone). The attack on them are higher pitched and more cutting (thus, the singing more) than the Emperors, but I like a flatter attack for metal and funk playing. Plus I know that the Emps take a longer time to wear, just due to the coating, let alone the heavy double-plies. When I put the Emps back on this time, I didn't obsess about tuning but made sure I followed a few basic guidelines and they sound surprisingly good as is, for now. Although, I did give the bearing edges a quick shave with sand paper to refine them. I love a day off (considering I work six days a week). I changed those heads at 9:30 and have been playing since then. Rest assured, I'll be playing ALL DAY LONG. I absolutely love the drums. They boom and smash - what can be cooler?!

"nasty"

Valentine's Day rocks! My wife-to-be just hooked me up with a new cymbal that's described as "nasty" by the manufacturer. It is the new Sabian HHX Evolution O-Zone 18" Crash cymbal and it lives up to its rep. It is freakin awesome (as is my lady). It's got 8 2" holes around the shelf of the cymbal and creates the attack of a crash with the decay of a china, plus with a boost of projection. I normally stick with only Zildjian cymbals, and I was given the option to return it for something else, but I truly love it. And besides, unless it's very very undesirable, I never return gifts given to me. Anyway, another reason I have never ventured away from Zildjian is because I never had any positive exposure to others. I've always seen a lot of legends use stuff from the HHX series, but I had never tried one myself. I have to say that Sabian is definitely competitive, especially on their high-end stuff. I'm so stoked! With a five-piece and a healthy amount of cymbals I think I've got my hands full for now. Eventually, I'd like to get a new exotic wood kit (mid-life crisis) and the cymbals are always transferable. Additionally, I'd still like to get a 14" crash, a 6" zil-bell and like a 6" or 8" splash. Maybe a second set of hihats wouldn't kill me either. I recently tried out the Zildjian Mastersounds and they are sick. I love drumming.

those drums, making music

It's been a while...

In regards to those heads I got from Remo, they're pretty cool, but not exactly what I'm looking for. The Powersonic bass head is pretty sick, yet I already use Aquarian's and I like the thought of nothing on the face of them. I can remove the pad that buttons onto the face of the Powersonic, but why even bother with all of that. The SuperKick II is the best head for the kick so I'm sticking to it even though the Powersonic is nice. For the toms, they sent me Emperor Suedes. They have a nice feel to them, but they lie in the gray area of tone too much. I don't know, I have them on an Imperialstar kit in the shop so maybe if they were on a different kit, they'd sound better. I have been using regular Emperor Coated, but recently decided to try out a classic set of Pinstripes. I was paid to change and tune heads using the Pinstripes, then I heard what nice tone they had and then wanted to throw them on my kit. I absolutely love them, although I still like the Emp Coated's. The Stripes really sing out though compared to the Emps. I get a duller attack using the Emps. But drum heads are like strings for a guitar: you constantly experiment with gauges and materials, etc. It's always an experiment and depends on your application. Next, I'd like to try a set of Evans EC2 heads for the toms. I'm religious about sticking with my current bass and snare heads though (at least until something better comes along so who knows). I'm also definitely thinking about selling my New Beat hihats for a set of Mastersounds. Plus, I'd like to add a few more cymbals, especially a 14" Avedis crash. Drumming is cool shit.

Also in life, I have since started giving drum lessons at the music shop that I work at. I absolutely love it and my schedule keeps getting bigger and bigger. For now, I'm just offering lessons on my days off. The demand is there, as is the supply. I think, if anything, I'll continue expanding my schedule as the opportunities come. I really love people, teaching, drums and music so there's really no end in sight here. I'd much rather teach drums for a living than actually having some regular form of employment. And besides and not for nothing, but, the money in teaching is way better than most average jobs out there. Most importantly, I have the best students and I'm really passionate about it all.

As for recording and songwriting, I really haven't spent much time on it. I record some practice and impromptu jam sessions with friends, but I'm not too interested about it at this time. I spend most of my free time either practicing myself or developing curriculums for my students.

Overall, I'm well and quite happy.

china

Yeah, I'm still alive guys. I haven't spent much time online for a while now. I don't know, the internet was a blackhole, but life outside has beckoned and I've been drumming a lot. I'm even thinking of giving lessons soon since I have a few interested people.

Anyway, the point of this post is to mention that I've acquired a sweet Han Chi 16" china crash cymbal by my awesome girlfriend for my birthday. I absolutely love it (and her) and it sounds incredible. Ultra-crashy, if you will. Here's my analogy: an empty twelve-pack in a plastic bag swung against a brick wall. It is perfect for the breakdowns.

I've been recording almost all of my practice sessions (as a learning/reference tool) so I'll eventually start uploading some of the better stuff.

Finally, I had to call Remo today to request an updated price list and to ask a question about a particular product and the rep offered to send me a bunch of awesome drum heads for me to demo. I can't wait to get my hands on them and I'll write a review of each after I've tried them. Remo makes the best shit, especially for heads.

properly tuned

I can't believe how good my set sounds. I recently bought Remo Emperor (Coated) heads for all my drums (Remo CS 14" batter snare head & Aquarian SuperKick II bass head) and that kicked things up a major notch. I've read all kinds of blah blah about how to properly tune drums heads, yet I never got the exact sounds I wanted from each of them. Then I'm at work and remember seeing drum tuners some time back so I ask our merch transfer guy if he's got any at our main store. Well, it turns out that we had two different kinds there. A week later, he brought them on the next transfer. So I signed them out (employee perk at our shop) for my day off and gave them a try. First, I tried the Tama Tension Watch tuner. This thing gets zeroed out on glass and then you put it 10mm from the rim near at each lug. Of course, you criss-cross around each lug and tune it up to the "recommended" tension. Well, if I moved the thing a hair for any particular lug, I'd get a different reading. I'm sure if I had measured everything with a tape measure at each tuning point and all this crap I'd get pretty close readings (I know because I tried that for one tom and it worked ok). But since my heads have quasi-porous coating on them, just how I set the tuner down to the head changes the reading. This unit is just way too sensitive to be practical. Then I tried out the Regal Tip Torque Wrench tuner. This thing is simple, accurate and awesome. In no time, I had every lug evenly tensioned and the "recommended" settings were pretty decent. There's just this little dial on top of the wrench so as you turn it, you just set it to the number you want. It's fucking sick and a must-have for any drummer out there. I can't say enough good things about it - but like I said, it's such a simple device and not much too it really - so what else can I say? All I know is that my kit sounds perfect for the first time ever! Also, last night I bought a used Zildjian 18" Crash so now I'm balanced out on the cymbals since I already had a 16" of the same. With one on each side of the toms, I'll never have too far to reach to get that crash in on-time. I'm stoked and gotta go jam.

long overdue

So I decided to delete my myspace profile and there are several reasons why. First of all, it served as a major distraction, in general. A lot of times, I should've been doing other things instead of logging into the service. This would include everything from laundry to jamming. Also, my so-called "friends" rarely ever commented on my music or even bothered to send a "Hello, how's life going?" message. Furthermore, myspace is truly just one big popularity contest and I'm not interested in anything remotely like that. Lastly, I'm an independent artist and would rather showcase and promote myself mostly using my own resources, such as my personal site and this blog. I really have no use for myspace. And oh yeah, those lame-ass bulletins from "Tom" really got on my nerves: as if I give a shit about rumors of shutting down and the status of his servers. He doesn't even own the company anymore, Rupert Murdoch does. Myspace is an original concept for networking and stuff, but it is just so heavily commercialized and most people on there are wanna-be models and think they're hot shit when they are truly as average as they come. A bunch of my friends seem to find it useful for staying in-touch with some of their distant friends (as did I), but if people can't pick up a motherfucking phone or get in their car to make a visit, what the hell kind of relationship can be had strictly online? I just don't think it's worth it all. I found my ego always getting involved in shit and I spent way too much time looking at girls I thought were hot, but knew I'd never initiate anything since I have a perfect woman in my life. And obviously, looking around at a bunch of hot chicks almost kinda sorta constitutes cheating - just ask my girlfriend, she surely didn't like it when she'd click "back" on the browser just find some chick's photo page. So yeah, I have the numbers of people I want to stay in-touch with and know where they live. I'd like to leave things at that. Myspace is a waste of time and energy for me and can lead to too many distractions and ill motives. Myspace made me a little evil so I'm done with it. Just look at how long it's been since my last post on here.

In other more important news, I've taken a renewed interest in drumming. I've replaced heads and learned a lot about tuning them. I've also invested in a few dvd's and music books to get some info on the subject of drumming. I grew up a drummer and I ought to just stay one. After all these years, I've realized how it's better to specialize in just one instrument versus being a little familiar with a bunch of them. I wish I would have realized this sooner because I'd be a pro by now on the kit. But I have had a ton of fun playing bass especially, and guitar riffs are a blast too. I'll still play guitars once in a while or for a break, but the vast majority of my time and energy will be on the kit. It's just my thing, really.

I really have no clue when I'm going to produce more recordings. I've been recording my drum practices, but that's just for my reference really - not so much for songwriting, etc. For now, I'm just working on different skills and techniques, but eventually I'll compose whole songs for the drums. Right now it's all about stick control, timing, accenting and fills. But when I do finally write a whole song on drums, I'll probably be really tempted to throw some bass and guitar on top.

I have been on the hunt for musicians to jam with, but lately, people are either: into different styles, too far away or too fucked up on substances to make anything worthwhile happen. It's sad really, but what can I do. I'm always willing to try something out with someone or jam with a group, but none of these have really ever gotten off the ground over the last few years. It hasn't been a complete waste though. I've increased my skills and have had a lot of fun. But I long for the day where I can find others to meaningfully collaborate with. And then again, I'm not the easiest musician to get along with since I'm a perfectionist and a little manic/obsessive about writing. Most people just fizzle out on me instead of adding fuel to the writing fire. Oh well. Life goes on and in the meantime I'll be hitting those skins.

uh

Yeah, about this music thing. Well, uh, new shit will be coming eventually. I really haven't been too disciplined about production in a while. I've been playing a lot and working with others now and then. I have also been doing a great job at beating the piss outta my gear, though. Also, life is life: started a new career and have a domestic (that sounds so lame) relationship to nurture. In the meantime, enjoy my vast catalogue of interesting audio textures! hahaha