I've spent the past few weeks at Bellville Studios recording drums for the upcoming Mark Haze album. It has been a blast working with the legendary Theo Crous, who is not only a fantastic engineer and producer, but also very easy to get along with and lots of fun to work with.
It has been quite a while since I've been in a studio, which proved to be a bit of a hindrance for me. I think I've grown so accustomed to not hearing enough of myself due to poor on-stage monitoring at shows or just the loudness of our rehearsal room, that I actually found that playing in studio is a lot harder than I remembered it to be.
You see, playing drums on a studio recording immediately puts your abilities as a musician under the microscope. If at any point you're slightly out of time with the click track, the engineer's hawk-like vision notices this while he examines the waveforms on the screen, and even though the untrained ear might not notice it, that little error can be catastrophic in the long run. I had to re-play several parts to get them just right, as contrary to my prior knowledge, you can't always fix human error with a Pro Tools plugin.
However, the recordings so far are sounding great and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it. Bellville Studios is an incredible place to work and this is noticeable just by looking at the equipment on offer. I had the privilege of playing a Yamaha Absolute Maple Custom kit along with a rare Ludwig Black Beauty brass-shell snare. The sound quality and feel of the kit was fantastic and the sound that Theo got out of it is world-class. I cannot wait for you to hear the finished product.
Apart from recording, I have been enjoying life in Cape Town, although I think the wind is about 10km/h stronger outside my apartment than anywhere else in the city. I've discovered a ton of fun places to eat and hang out at, all a few minutes away from home. The joys of living in the city... :)
Although I haven't been blogging as much as I would like to, I hope you've been enjoying my Twitter updates. If you're not already following me, and you're interested, feel free to do so HERE.
Adios, until next time! :)
Showing posts with label Drums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drums. Show all posts
07 March 2012
24 January 2012
Begin New Transmission...
I'm not even going to count the number of days/weeks/months since my last post. I've been busy, so here's a quick round-up of everything that's happened in the past few months.
My last post was on 23 September 2011. I got engaged the next day, which was our 7-year anniversary, on top of Table Mountain. I then got married a little over a month later on 11-11-11. It was awesome and being married is fantastic. Nicole and I are very happy. We received a lot of gifts and kind wishes from our friends and family, which are very much appreciated. On that note, we have moved into a new apartment in Cape Town and are enjoying life in the concrete jungle, although we have a great view of Table Mountain, which makes it seem far from the city.
I had a really fun Christmas and New Year and have been enjoying the summer. It is good to be performing again. If you didn't realise, my brother, Mark Haze, came 2nd in the last season of Idols SA, which has helped our band tremendously. We no longer perform as 12th Avenue, but rather as his band. It's basically the same as always, just better shows, and since we are all basically session musicians now, it opens us up a bit more to collaborate with other artists, which is quite cool. Mark also signed to Universal Music, which is pretty awesome. We've been working hard on new material and will be heading into studio in a couple weeks time to record his new album, which Universal will be releasing.
The shows have been very well attended and it's great to see so many new faces in the crowd, as well as everyone else who has stuck with us through thick and thin. It's been good to travel more than usual lately too, even though I miss home during tour.
There it is, the last few months in a nutshell. It doesn't sound all that exciting the way that I'm writing it, but it has been quite a roller coaster of a time. When I have a bit more time and energy to put into my blog, I'll maybe go into more detail. Maybe not, though. Just because I have a blog doesn't mean that I have to share absolutely everything that goes on in my life. That's what Facebook is for, right?
If you're in Cape Town this Friday, 27 January 2012, get down to Mercury Live in De Villiers Street. We'll be performing there and it should be a blast. Get your tickets at Webtickets.co.za
Adios!
My last post was on 23 September 2011. I got engaged the next day, which was our 7-year anniversary, on top of Table Mountain. I then got married a little over a month later on 11-11-11. It was awesome and being married is fantastic. Nicole and I are very happy. We received a lot of gifts and kind wishes from our friends and family, which are very much appreciated. On that note, we have moved into a new apartment in Cape Town and are enjoying life in the concrete jungle, although we have a great view of Table Mountain, which makes it seem far from the city.
I had a really fun Christmas and New Year and have been enjoying the summer. It is good to be performing again. If you didn't realise, my brother, Mark Haze, came 2nd in the last season of Idols SA, which has helped our band tremendously. We no longer perform as 12th Avenue, but rather as his band. It's basically the same as always, just better shows, and since we are all basically session musicians now, it opens us up a bit more to collaborate with other artists, which is quite cool. Mark also signed to Universal Music, which is pretty awesome. We've been working hard on new material and will be heading into studio in a couple weeks time to record his new album, which Universal will be releasing.
The shows have been very well attended and it's great to see so many new faces in the crowd, as well as everyone else who has stuck with us through thick and thin. It's been good to travel more than usual lately too, even though I miss home during tour.
There it is, the last few months in a nutshell. It doesn't sound all that exciting the way that I'm writing it, but it has been quite a roller coaster of a time. When I have a bit more time and energy to put into my blog, I'll maybe go into more detail. Maybe not, though. Just because I have a blog doesn't mean that I have to share absolutely everything that goes on in my life. That's what Facebook is for, right?
If you're in Cape Town this Friday, 27 January 2012, get down to Mercury Live in De Villiers Street. We'll be performing there and it should be a blast. Get your tickets at Webtickets.co.za
Adios!
02 September 2011
Backstage passes
Continuing in showing off my collection of partially focused cellphone photography, I snapped a few pics of some backstage passes I've collected from various shows I've played or been involved in somehow. Check it out!
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| Hard Rock Cafe - Cape Town - 1999 |
I was only 11 when this show happened, but I got this backstage pass when I went to the soundcheck with my uncle, whose band headlined the event. It was the New Year's Eve/Millennium Party and it was also my first visit to the Hard Rock Cafe.
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| Lanners Landing - Klapmuts - 2002 or 2003 |
One of the most intense shows I've been to. This took place before I joined 12th Avenue. I was working as a roadie/lighting technician (underage labour) for the band at the time. The crowd was so crazy that someone picked up a monitor from the front of the stage and passed it around the crowd!
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| Southern Exposure Festival - Observatory - 2003 |
My first (unofficial) show with 12th Avenue. Their drummer at the time had hurt his hand and I filled in for him.
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| "Crazy" EP Launch - Mercury Live - Cape Town - 2005 |
Our first EP launch was a major DIY effort. We had these passes made for the band and crew and spent the entire night before the show inserting the CD sleeves into the cases, as we printed the first set of discs ourselves.
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| "Crazy" Tour - 2006 |
My second tour with 12th Avenue, which included my first trip up the Garden Route.
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| RAMFest - Rawsonville - 2007 |
We played the opening night of the inaugural RAMFest outdoor festival. It rained really hard for most of the night, but stopped when we hit the stage, and we got the funniest stares ever from the late night staff at the local KFC. I suppose we asked for it showing up in our stage clothes...
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| "Rock N Roll Circus" Tour - 2007 |
Much of this tour is a blur to me. I do, however, remember falling asleep for a few seconds on stage in Durban, due to pure exhaustion, as well as Mark and I having to ice our feet after walking on hot tarmac to the beach.
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| Seether SA Tour - 2008 |
Nights 1 & 2 of Seether's "Homecoming" tour. Good times!
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| Seether SA Tour - 2008 |
The venue for the Durban show didn't have enough space for dressing rooms for the support acts, so Shaun from Seether was cool enough to share their room (and their food) with everyone.
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| Seether SA Tour - 2008 |
Final night of the Seether tour. What a party!
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| FIFA World Cup FanFest - 2010 |
We were selected to play four shows at the various Cape Town FIFA FanFests. We met some fun football fanatics (alliteration...nice) at those shows.
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| Random Festival - 2010 or 2011 |
I don't actually remember what show this is from, but I thought it was cool that the promoter made custom passes for each band.
30 June 2011
Listen up!
Firstly, 12th Avenue have released a new single - "Taking My Heart With You", featuring the vocal talents of our guitarist, Bjorn Faree! Listen to it on the SoundCloud player below:
Taking My Heart With You by 12thAvenue
In other news, I hosted a drum workshop last night, with the help of Mark Haze and Brian Lee, where we discussed playing in studio, preparing for recording, different styles used on our albums, and drumming in general. It was very well received. A big thank you to Paul Bothner Music, our sponsors, who arranged the event. I'm looking forward to doing something like this again.
Mark heads up to Johannesburg soon to continue his journey on Idols South Africa. The Top 100 round will be aired this Sunday at 17:30 CAT on M-Net - DSTV Channel 101 & 170 (HD). Check it out, as you might just see Mark perform a few more songs. Keep following his progress on Idols and check out his website - www.markhaze.com
Do not fear, as 12th Avenue, will still be alive and kicking when he's away. Even though we won't be touring during this time, the rest of us are still going to be meeting up regularly to rehearse and write new material. So once Mark's back from dominating on Idols, we'll be able to play a few shows for all of you. Hooray! :)
That's all for now. I'm going to check out Transformers 3 next week. Will let you know what I thought and maybe talk a bit of nonsense about movies, since I haven't done that in a while.
Taking My Heart With You by 12thAvenue
In other news, I hosted a drum workshop last night, with the help of Mark Haze and Brian Lee, where we discussed playing in studio, preparing for recording, different styles used on our albums, and drumming in general. It was very well received. A big thank you to Paul Bothner Music, our sponsors, who arranged the event. I'm looking forward to doing something like this again.
Mark heads up to Johannesburg soon to continue his journey on Idols South Africa. The Top 100 round will be aired this Sunday at 17:30 CAT on M-Net - DSTV Channel 101 & 170 (HD). Check it out, as you might just see Mark perform a few more songs. Keep following his progress on Idols and check out his website - www.markhaze.com
Do not fear, as 12th Avenue, will still be alive and kicking when he's away. Even though we won't be touring during this time, the rest of us are still going to be meeting up regularly to rehearse and write new material. So once Mark's back from dominating on Idols, we'll be able to play a few shows for all of you. Hooray! :)
That's all for now. I'm going to check out Transformers 3 next week. Will let you know what I thought and maybe talk a bit of nonsense about movies, since I haven't done that in a while.
20 June 2011
Still alive....
I have literally 5 minutes to blog here, so I'll keep it short.
I'm still alive, even though it's been over a week since my last post.
I would've blogged tonight, but Nix won tickets to an awesome Jazz Big Band show in Cape Town tonight, so we are going to that. I'm really excited. Haven't been to that sort of show in a loooooooong time.
12th Avenue have an acoustic show on Friday at Berties Moorings in Gordon's Bay. I hope everyone that reads it comes, because it's the last show of our current tour.
On 29 June at Paul Bothner Music, Plumstead, we're hosting a workshop around recording for their Drum Month. This means that most of the talk revolves around drumming on a record. This means that I have to do most of the talking. Wish me luck...
Okay, that's my 5 minutes up. Adios!
I'm still alive, even though it's been over a week since my last post.
I would've blogged tonight, but Nix won tickets to an awesome Jazz Big Band show in Cape Town tonight, so we are going to that. I'm really excited. Haven't been to that sort of show in a loooooooong time.
12th Avenue have an acoustic show on Friday at Berties Moorings in Gordon's Bay. I hope everyone that reads it comes, because it's the last show of our current tour.
On 29 June at Paul Bothner Music, Plumstead, we're hosting a workshop around recording for their Drum Month. This means that most of the talk revolves around drumming on a record. This means that I have to do most of the talking. Wish me luck...
Okay, that's my 5 minutes up. Adios!
23 May 2011
Track by track - 12th Avenue (self-titled) - Why I played it the way I did...
This one is for the drummers, and for anyone else who might be interested in the writing and recording process of the drum parts on 12th Avenue's latest record.
Track 1 - "Walk on the Water"
The snare sound on this track came about by accident. After soundchecking the kit and getting a good sound to build from, we decided to record this track first. It was only the next day when we starting the next track, that we realised we hadn't hooked up the underside snare drum microphone. However, when listening to the song, we realised that it gave a nice industrial sound, so we kept it as is. The song features a fairly solid rock beat with fast paced fills. It was inspired by Josh Freese's drumming on Lostprophets' 2006 "Liberation Transmission". I was also listening to quite a bit of Paramore before recording this, which inspired quite a few of the snare-heavy fills.
Track 2 - "Wasting Time"
Lots of breaks and accents in this one. I planned a lot of the fills and breaks around the guitar riffs. The guitars also help to accentuate some of the drum parts through scratches and slides, which add another percussive element to the song. The drumming during the guitar solo is bit of a tribute to my favourite drummer, John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). In fact, several parts of the song are very Bonham inspired. The use of the splash and china without any bass drum or snare, just before the last chorus, was kind of borrowed from the Seether track "Burrito" where John Humphrey does a similar sort of thing. In addition to my 10" splash, I also used an 8" splash cymbal for quicker decay.
Track 3 - "Sally"
A bit more of a blue/jazz inspired track, drumming wise. Most of the drumming you hear on the track came about by accident. I really just jammed it out with the band, as I couldn't remember which part came next. I was quite surprised that it sounded so good when I listened back to the take. I tried to keep a lot of the drumming fairly simple in this one, as the song has quite a bit of dynamics to it. We went for a bit of a deeper tone on the snare and toms on this song as well, which gives it a nice vintage feel. To add to this, I used a 16" thin crash in the last section of the choruses to give an older, more worn-out feel to the song. Again, there's a big John Bonham influence, as well as influence from Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters).
Track 4 - "Taking my Heart with You"
This is probably my favourite song to play on the new record and also one of the hardest to play live, especially when singing such high backing vocals. Amazingly, it was done in a single take. More Josh Freese inspired stuff happening here. It's also the only song on the record in 6/8 timing.
Track 5 - "Lost in Confusion"
Even though it's the most simple song on the record, it took me the most takes to get right. There's nothing too crazy going on in the song, but the straight-forward beat, along with the pumping bass guitar notes, drives the song.
Track 6 - "Nightmare"
This track has a lot of subtle effects and really nice offbeats that fit in nicely with the bass guitar work in the second verse. The choruses are straight forward, but build up to an epic climax. We used a lot of the underside snare mic on this track, which makes the ghost notes in the verse sound really great. The simplified fill at the end of the song actually came about by accident, as I miscounted the bars and thought the song was ending a bar later. The explosive reverb on the bass drum at the end of the song ends the record off really well.
Track 1 - "Walk on the Water"
The snare sound on this track came about by accident. After soundchecking the kit and getting a good sound to build from, we decided to record this track first. It was only the next day when we starting the next track, that we realised we hadn't hooked up the underside snare drum microphone. However, when listening to the song, we realised that it gave a nice industrial sound, so we kept it as is. The song features a fairly solid rock beat with fast paced fills. It was inspired by Josh Freese's drumming on Lostprophets' 2006 "Liberation Transmission". I was also listening to quite a bit of Paramore before recording this, which inspired quite a few of the snare-heavy fills.
Track 2 - "Wasting Time"
Lots of breaks and accents in this one. I planned a lot of the fills and breaks around the guitar riffs. The guitars also help to accentuate some of the drum parts through scratches and slides, which add another percussive element to the song. The drumming during the guitar solo is bit of a tribute to my favourite drummer, John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). In fact, several parts of the song are very Bonham inspired. The use of the splash and china without any bass drum or snare, just before the last chorus, was kind of borrowed from the Seether track "Burrito" where John Humphrey does a similar sort of thing. In addition to my 10" splash, I also used an 8" splash cymbal for quicker decay.
Track 3 - "Sally"
A bit more of a blue/jazz inspired track, drumming wise. Most of the drumming you hear on the track came about by accident. I really just jammed it out with the band, as I couldn't remember which part came next. I was quite surprised that it sounded so good when I listened back to the take. I tried to keep a lot of the drumming fairly simple in this one, as the song has quite a bit of dynamics to it. We went for a bit of a deeper tone on the snare and toms on this song as well, which gives it a nice vintage feel. To add to this, I used a 16" thin crash in the last section of the choruses to give an older, more worn-out feel to the song. Again, there's a big John Bonham influence, as well as influence from Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters).
Track 4 - "Taking my Heart with You"
This is probably my favourite song to play on the new record and also one of the hardest to play live, especially when singing such high backing vocals. Amazingly, it was done in a single take. More Josh Freese inspired stuff happening here. It's also the only song on the record in 6/8 timing.
Track 5 - "Lost in Confusion"
Even though it's the most simple song on the record, it took me the most takes to get right. There's nothing too crazy going on in the song, but the straight-forward beat, along with the pumping bass guitar notes, drives the song.
Track 6 - "Nightmare"
This track has a lot of subtle effects and really nice offbeats that fit in nicely with the bass guitar work in the second verse. The choruses are straight forward, but build up to an epic climax. We used a lot of the underside snare mic on this track, which makes the ghost notes in the verse sound really great. The simplified fill at the end of the song actually came about by accident, as I miscounted the bars and thought the song was ending a bar later. The explosive reverb on the bass drum at the end of the song ends the record off really well.
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| My drum kit! Ain't she purr-dy? :) |
19 May 2011
A few things you didn't know about me
It's been too long since I last blogged and for that I apologise. If it's any consolation, I've decided as my next blog post, I'll divulge a bit of information that most people probably wouldn't know about me. It's probably not even that interesting, but whatever. If you got this far, you most likely have nothing to do and you'll read the rest anyway! :p
Fact 1: I have a birthmark under my toe. Don't ask me which one. I'm not prepared to take my shoes off right now to check, as it is cold, but I think it's the 3rd toe on my left foot.
Fact 2: Another foot one (don't ask). I always put my left shoe on first. Maybe it's a result of doing the Hokey Pokey in preschool.
Fact 3: I am Scoleciphobic (I have a fear of worms). Those legless buggers freak me out for some reason. Caterpillars are not so bad, since they have legs, but if it squirms...no thanks!
Fact 4: I taught myself how to play drums when I was 11. My grandpa and brother discovered my talent when I sat down behind a kit in a music store and started playing a beat.
Fact 5: I have never smoked a cigarette.
Fact 6: I literally got goosebumps when I saw John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)'s drum kit on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in London.
Fact 7: I once fell asleep for a few seconds behind the drums at a show in Durban a few years back. It was the second last show of an enormous summer tour and we were on stage at about midnight. I drifted off in the middle of song out of pure exhaustion. I felt really bad at the time, but I laugh really hard at the story now.
Fact 8: When typing messages on my cellphone, I have a terrible habit of accidentally typing "o" instead of "i". I'm just waiting for me to type "I'm just coming around to fetch a few thongs" instead of "things"! - Can you spell awkward typo?
Fact 9: I once ordered bottomless coffee at Mugg & Bean and drank 9 mugs of coffee in a couple of hours. I felt so sick that I drank a litre of water, which made me feel worse.
Fact 10: I have 6 less teeth than the average person. All 4 of my wisdom teeth were extracted, along with 2 other teeth when I was 13, as my jaw was too small for all those chompers. And yes, I had braces for 2 years and somewhat resembled the evil robots from Terminator. :)
So there you have it, a few things that I'm guessing you didn't know about me, but now you know.
Fact 1: I have a birthmark under my toe. Don't ask me which one. I'm not prepared to take my shoes off right now to check, as it is cold, but I think it's the 3rd toe on my left foot.
Fact 2: Another foot one (don't ask). I always put my left shoe on first. Maybe it's a result of doing the Hokey Pokey in preschool.
Fact 3: I am Scoleciphobic (I have a fear of worms). Those legless buggers freak me out for some reason. Caterpillars are not so bad, since they have legs, but if it squirms...no thanks!
Fact 4: I taught myself how to play drums when I was 11. My grandpa and brother discovered my talent when I sat down behind a kit in a music store and started playing a beat.
Fact 5: I have never smoked a cigarette.
Fact 6: I literally got goosebumps when I saw John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)'s drum kit on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in London.
Fact 7: I once fell asleep for a few seconds behind the drums at a show in Durban a few years back. It was the second last show of an enormous summer tour and we were on stage at about midnight. I drifted off in the middle of song out of pure exhaustion. I felt really bad at the time, but I laugh really hard at the story now.
Fact 8: When typing messages on my cellphone, I have a terrible habit of accidentally typing "o" instead of "i". I'm just waiting for me to type "I'm just coming around to fetch a few thongs" instead of "things"! - Can you spell awkward typo?
Fact 9: I once ordered bottomless coffee at Mugg & Bean and drank 9 mugs of coffee in a couple of hours. I felt so sick that I drank a litre of water, which made me feel worse.
Fact 10: I have 6 less teeth than the average person. All 4 of my wisdom teeth were extracted, along with 2 other teeth when I was 13, as my jaw was too small for all those chompers. And yes, I had braces for 2 years and somewhat resembled the evil robots from Terminator. :)
So there you have it, a few things that I'm guessing you didn't know about me, but now you know.
23 December 2010
I want an X-Box
I wasn't originally going to post another blog entry before Christmas, but I decided that I don't really do this as often as I should, so here it goes...
Remember when you were a kid and you'd write these long lists of things that you'd like for Christmas? The thing at the top of my list was always drums and when I finally got drums at age 11 (as a Christmas present), the list would normally consist of drum-related items like cymbals, hardware, skins and sticks. Occasionally I'd have things in there like a new skateboard and of course video games.
This brings me to my wish list for this year. I know it's not going to happen, but we're all allowed to dream. So, instead of boring you with my usual list of drums and drum-related equipment, yachts, private jets, and a troupe of dancing jelly beans, I'll just give you my number one for this year:
X-Box 360 with Kinect and all Rock Band/Guitar Hero/Band Hero equipment, and extra controllers (why does it only come with one?)
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| Gimme, gimme, gimme!!! |
I tried out Kinect the other day and decided that nothing else compares to it. X-Box is already awesome on its own, but I think they've really stepped it up now. Must...have...now!! Of course I'd still want to play regular games too, because it's just that cool, and we can't rule out all the X-Box instruments, especially the drums. Gotta have the drums!
Oh, and in case you were thinking "What an idiot, he didn't ask for games!", I'd like plenty of games with it please, especially the Lego games. I played Lego Harry Potter the other day and it's probably the most awesomely fun game I've played in a long time.
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| "It's Levi-oh-sa, not Levioh-saaah!" |
Speaking of Harry Potter, Mark, my brother/singer/guitarist, said that he wants to try to make Butterbeer sometime after having it during his trip to America. I think I need to nag him about that one...
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