Gearhead Thoughts: Back to Double Bass, and My Studio H Experience

I have just survived playing without a double bass pedal for almost a year.  October last year, I decided to take a vacation on double bass and return to single bass drumming, as documented in this October 2009 blog.  Now, I am happy to say that I'm back to playing double bass.

I got myself a second-hand DW 5002AH Delta 2 double bass pedal two weeks ago.  I bought it from a friend, and I think I'm the third or fourth owner of this pedal.  It's an old model, but it's still in great mechanical condition.  I just needed to clean it up a bit after I got it.  I made some research on this particular model, and I reckon that this particular DW model was built circa 2002, judging from the footboards with the words "chain drive" casted above the distinct 5000 trademark.  This model must be the first to have DW's Delta ball bearing hinges, with its distinct red finish.  Plus, this model was the first to be featured with optional accessories such as pedal weights and stacking Elevator heels.  The DWs I got have the weights, which are those round things screwed at the top end of the footboards.

Back in the day, when I was still starting out, DW's 5000 line of pedals were the most sought-after drum pedals, and these were the benchmark and cutting edge in terms of design, technology, and playability.  In fact, they were my dream pedals.  Until, the Japanese came out with their Iron Cobras (Tama) and Powershifter Eliminators (Pearl), which offer plenty of high tech features and player customization.  Then, American pedal manufacturers such as Axis and Trick took pedal innovations notches higher.  Nowadays, there are so many great drum pedals to choose from, and I guess we somehow owe it all to DW.  As far as I'm concerned, the DW 5000 pedals are the pioneers of the modern bass drum pedal.

It's cool that I now have a DW 5002 double pedal.  Though second-hand, I can still say that I'm able to get my dream pedal.  Though it doesn't offer as much customization as the Cobras and Elims which I used to have, the DW still has that great feel, which is what matters the most.  I don't know if it comes with maturity, but I'm probably getting less techy when it comes to pedals.  I would still love to have a high-tech set of pedals someday, once it's time for me to upgrade.  But for now, I'm enjoying these good old 5000's, which still feels great even with all its mileage and battle scars.  And now, I have to shed off some of my double bass rust.  Better get my footwork back on track.

***


It's great timing that I got back to double bass.  Recently, I was called to do this recording session.  We recorded an original progressive rock composition, so it was an opportunity for me to go back to my rock roots and play some double bass.

It's a privilege for me to do a recording session at Hit Productions' Studio H last Sunday afternoon.  It was my first time to do a session there, and it was a treat for me.  Hit Productions is among the best audio production houses in the country, and their flagship Studio H reflects their quality, innovation, and their knack for the latest technology.  For me, Studio H is like the 19 East of local recording studios.  The studio is so well-equipped.  The house kit is a Mapex Saturn, which sounded sweet.  They have a stable of over a dozen snare drums of different shells and sizes, some of it are custom-made models from companies which I never get to read about in my drum magazines.  Plus they have a wide selection of cymbals.  I am particularly impressed with the set of Paiste Twenty cymbals, which I was able to try for the first time.  If I were to use Paistes, the Twenty would be my line of cymbals.  However, for the recording, I need brighter, heavier cymbals.  Plus, they have enough drum hardware for drummers who need to improvise with their set-ups.

Studio H also has a baby grand piano, and plenty of high-tech recording tools and gadgets.  The recording facility is also a haven for guitar and bass players, for there's an impressive collection of electric and acoustic guitars & bass guitars lined up along the walls of the mixing room.  It's simply topnotch, and by far it's the most impressive recording studio I've ever visited.

Going back to the recording session, one of the bosses from Hit has this original progressive rock composition.  For me, the song's got an old-school feel in it, with a twist of Frank Zappa & Black Sabbath.  The song is funny.  It is about this fictional superhero, who will be revealed as a homosexual later in the middle of the tune.  There's some straight-ahead parts in 4/4, then the tricky odd-time pre-chorus, which I counted out was in 19/8.  It was a challenging session for me because first, it's been a long time since I last played heavy progressive rock music.  Second, I have to learn the song on the fly (while the people I worked with already knew the song).  And third, I am recording with complete strangers!  It sure took me some time to learn the track on the spot, particularly the transitions and the different grooves.  Yet, at the end of the day, I thought it's a great challenge for me, and I hope that I'm able to satisfy the songwriter & my fellow sessionists.  Though I wish I had more time, I think I could have done a much better job.

For that session, I set up the Mapex house kit with 3 toms (10"-12"-14").  My cymbals were a mix of Zildjians, Sabians & Paistes.  My ride cymbal was a 22" Sabian Neil Peart Paragon Ride, which sounded big yet crisp.  My effects cymbals were a Paiste Twenty splash & China, which sounded well on the mix.  The hats and the crashes were all Zildjian.  I also used my Old Faithful 14" Tama Starclassic Maple snare drum.  No disrespect meant to Studio H's snare drum collection, but I thought of using my own drum so that I can hear how it sounds on recording.  And finally, I hooked in my DW 5000 double bass pedal, which I got to use on a few fills & some straight-ahead passages.

I hope to have another opportunity to work again at Studio H.  I had a blast.

Steve Jordan Interview on Modern Drummer October 2010

I have learned so much from the interview on Steve Jordan in the latest issue of Modern Drummer (October 2010).  Here are some quotes which are worth reflecting on.


"When someone asks me to produce their record, I talk to them about what they want.  Your job as a producer is to make the artist happy, not to have the artist be a vehicle for you to make the record you want to make."

"None of my favorite recordings were done with a click, so the verse often feels one way and the chorus shifts gears.  To me, that's the real stuff.  If you're going to play with a click, you have to know how to manipulate your playing around the click."

"Swinging is not based on technique.  It's based on a feeling --- period.  I would take a drummer who has no technique any day of the week over a more efficient drummer, if he swings better."

"If you're going to play the drums, you have to be very confident."

"But I don't like the word swagger.  It may be appropriate, but it seems egotistical.  There's a difference between a destructive and a constructive ego.  If you go around thinking you're better than everybody, you'll crash and burn in a second.  But constructive ego is about understanding that you have to work hard to get to a certain point where you feel confident enough to execute."

"You're overthinking.  You get back to the soul of the music.  When you're thinking about stuff, you're not being a conduit for things to happen.  You can't over intellectualize something that's based on feelings."

"When you first start playing as a professional, you're searching for 'your sound' and all that.  But when you grow up, you realize it's about finding the sound for the song.  You don't want to force your sound on top."

"There are some people who are anti-rudiments.  But I'm glad I studied them, just for agility's sake.  I'm not the king of rudiments, by any means.  I am happy that I developed those skills so I could be versatile, but they shouldn't rule how you play."

"That's why people play so much stuff, because they can't play a steady beat.  But when you get into playing a steady groove and you can hypnotize somebody with that beat, that's the bomb.  And it takes confidence to know you can do that and not care what anybody says.  People might think you don't play fills because you can't, but you have to do away with all that.  They'll feel it when it's good."


Great work on the interview, MD.  And thank you Steve Jordan for the words of wisdom & inspiration.

New Era Drum Tracks

I want to look back at my recording sessions, and share some of my thoughts about my drum tracks in our New Era album.

I played drums on four tracks in our album - Sweetest Thing, Don't Ever Let Go, Your Smile, and Pangako.

Sweetest Thing

"My bandmates and I were in the studio, working on "Sweetest Thing", which is the last song we finished for our upcoming album. This is an original song written for us by our dear friend Mike Luis of Freestyle. Mike is a genius when it comes to songwriting, and the song is sooo good that it gave my bandmate Paolo quite a headache while he was working on it in his computer haha, figuring out some of the notes Mike used (because Mighty Mike wasn't able to chart the notes, I think). It's a groovy, bouncy, and catchy tune. Anyway, the vocal parts were recorded on Wednesday night. Earlier that day, we had a last-minute decision to have my drum parts recorded live. At first, we thought of programming the drum parts. But I thought that I should play the drum parts live. I like the song, I like Paolo's drum ideas for it, and I was determined to put my mark in that song. And so, we booked a recording date at Blue Door Studio in Quezon City (the same studio where I recorded my drum parts for 'Pangako'). I was scheduled the next evening."

"In the studio, I set up a small kit which I felt would fit the song just right. My drumming inspiration for this song is Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer and producer of Philadelphia-based hip-hop band The Roots. I went for the less-is-more approach. For this track, I want my drums to sound crisp and tight, almost like a toy, but still "realistic" enough for listeners to say, 'Hey, those are live drums!' I used three drums - an 18"x 20" kick and a 14" tom, which are both from my Tama Superstar kit, and my 5.5"x10" Black Panther Premium Maple, my choice snare drum for this track. I set up a few Zildjian cymbals - a pair of 12" A Special Recording Hi-Hats and a 16" K Dark Thin Crash (the said cymbals belong to my drummer friend Marco Katigbak), and my 20" K Custom Medium Ride. I thought of using my 8" A Custom Splash, but I find it too bright-sounding for the song, so I decided to remove it on my studio set-up. Paolo thought of using flammed cross-sticks for the backbeats on some of the verses, which is why I had my 13" Tama Artwood Maple snare drum on standby for that purpose (since I won't be able to play cross-sticks on a 10" snare). But later on during the session, we decided not to play cross-sticks anymore. And so, it was the 10" Black Panther all the way."

--- excerpts from my October 29, 2008 blog


I am pretty much happy with the outcome of this track, as I was somehow able to estimate the sound and feel I envisioned for the song. We got the tight, snappy, toy-like sound out of the drums, plus the bouncy & playful feel. The 10" Black Panther snare was the star of the drum set-up I used in that track. I remember feeling quite loose during this session, so it enabled me to become more playful behind the kit. Yet, I was having that "?uestlove-ish", less-is-more vibe, and I was making sure that my parts would still serve the music right. The tricky part in this track is the bridge part, where the groove shifts to a tight 16th note feel, against the shuffle grooves played through the verses and choruses.

This is one fun song to play, and drummers who'll play to this song can go loose. I look forward to playing this tune live.

Don't Ever Let Go

"I just recorded some of my drum tracks this week at SoundsRite Recording Studio in Makati, which is operated by drummer Boyet Aquino (who is best-known for his work with Francis M's band Hardware Syndrome). The studio has a good reputation for its high-end equipment and facility & quality recording results, and its clients include a good number of big names in the music biz. Though Boyet has an impressive collection of high-end drums, I still chose to use my Tama Superstar kit."

"On the Monday night session, I recorded Don't Ever Let Go, which was written by Paolo. This is quite a difficult track for me because of the crafty drum parts Paolo envisioned for the song. This was the old song which we recorded at Blue Door Studio a couple of years ago, but had some bad luck. I'm already through with that unfortunate experience, and I'm glad that I'm able to perform better in the studio this time, without any technical problems."

"I can't remember what I ate that time, or if the stars were aligned during those nights. But for some reason, I feel good with recording my drum tracks at SoundsRite."

"In the studio, I brought with me my Tama Superstar kit, which has birch shells (birch drums are tried and tested in recording/studio situations). My toms are fitted with clear Evans G2 batters. My 18"x20" kick drum is fitted with an Evans EMAD batter and an Evans EQ3 Resonant black front head (with 5" offset hole). Though my drums are pretty much set up for live situations, I was eager to hear how it performs in the recording studio. At first, the drums sounded big and boomy. After some tweaking, we were able to get decent tom sounds which responded well in the mix and complimented the songs. I should try coated batter heads next time for the toms, for a warmer sound. The kick drum's heads needed to be loosened and Boyet placed some cloth inside in order to kill some of the overtones (because of the EMAD head, I don't have any muffling inside my kick drum). We were able to get a decent, thuddy, low-end sound from the kick."

"Opting to play simpler drum parts in the recording compared to what I would normally play on a gig, I only used the 10" and 14" toms, though I had the 12" tom set aside, in case it's needed. I was also able to use my 5"x13" Tama Artwood Maple and 5.5"x10" Black Panther Maple snare drums. I tried my Old Faithful 5.5"x14" Tama Starclassic Maple, but the Magic Drum and the Cat sounded more fitting for the songs. I was also able to use my two broken Zildjian K Custom Dark crash cymbals. Even if they had those cracks and were de-modified, they still retain that K Custom magic in their sound. It still has that complex, trashy & sophisticated character, while the damages dried up its decay. I kept these old cymbals because I felt that they'll work well in the studio. And gladly, they did."

--- excerpts from my April 26, 2008 blog


Don't Ever Let Go has become a favorite among most of our loyal friends and following. The story behind the making of this song is interesting. First of all, Paolo wrote this love song based on one bandmate's past relationship experience (guess who). Second, during the first couple of drum recording sessions for this song back in '07, the computer at Blue Door Studio crashed - twice! And during that time, never did that incident happened in that studio, which pretty much has a decent track record. And it's so funny and coincidental that the two gear crashes happened during the sessions for this one song. There's really something about this song.

Finally, we were able to record the drum parts at SoundsRite studio in the summer of '08. I think the delays on the drum recordings in '07 were destined to happen. Because during the SoundsRite sessions, I was more confident, I was more prepared, and I had my then-brand new Tama Superstar kit prepared for recording.

I think I finished the recording in a couple of hours, which surprised me because I never thought I'll finish that soon, considering the sensitivity of the song and some of the more specific drum parts Paolo wanted. Those drum fills during the bridge and the last chorus? I can't remember the number of times I did retakes! I would have played the drum parts differently in this track. But this was Paolo's composition, so with him being the composer and producer, I have to respect that.

I said this to most of our friends, and I'll say it again... Don't Ever Let Go is the most challenging song that I've recorded in our album. And it's even more challenging to play it live. Believe me, it's not as easy as it sounds.

In this song, my main snare drum is my workhorse "Magic Drum" 5"x13" Tama Artwood Maple. Plus, I have once again proven my theory on broken K Customs in this recording session. Despite the defects, they sounded lovely in the studio.

Your Smile

"I recorded Your Smile, which was a bit easier for me because of its groovier, more straight-ahead nature; yet we need to make sure that my parts feel and sound right for the songs."

--- excerpt from my April 26, 2008 blog

Many listeners would think that the drum parts in Your Smile are programmed. But no, the whole thing is 100% live recording. It might not sound obvious during the first half of the song, which is mostly straight-ahead cross-stick grooves. But once the snare drum comes in at the last chorus after the bridge, that would hint the use of real drums played by a real drummer. Listen to the dynamics of the snare drum backbeat. I was in my "drum machine" mode during this song's recording session, yet I still want it to feel like it's human. And I have to say, this is one of my favorite tracks in our album.

Two snare drums were set up for this track. The main snare is my "Old Faithful" 14" Tama Starclassic Maple. It has the die-cast hoops, so I played the cross-sticks on that drum. On the left side of the kit is the 10" Black Panther Maple, where I played the backbeats of the last chorus. In case you're wondering about the splash cymbal model I used for this track, it's a 12" Zildjian Extra Thin Splash, which my good friend Rommell Garcia lent to me.

Pangako

"Recording began at around 12am. I did a couple of practice takes then made adjustments such as fine tuning the drums, making sure that the drum sounds will fit nicely with the song. (Studio Assistant) Ian double-checked the microphone set-up and prepared a click track for me. Then we went on with the actual recording. I'm not aiming to finish quickly or become a one-take wonder. The most important thing for me is to serve the music by playing drum tracks which will compliment the song. But still, we need to be efficient and productive with our studio time."

"On my first take, I wasn't quite warmed up yet, and I was still absorbing the feel of the song, the drumkit, and the studio room. But I felt confident that I'll be able to do better takes as we progress. I think it was on my third or fourth take when I finally got in the zone. I was fully warmed up and my focus was on a high level at that point. I thought I made a couple of good takes. But we know the drum parts can still get better."
"Recording resumed at around 3am. I lost a bit of momentum, and my hands got cold because of the strong air conditioning. But good thing I regained focus, and I was able to do my best takes of the night. In order for me not to repeat the whole take, we just went back to the parts which needed refinement, such as cymbal crescendos and embellishments, some fill-ins, and some hits which will lock in with the bass guitar parts."

"My drumkit for this session is a Premier Artist Birch kit, which belongs to my good friend Ernest Ramos. I used two toms - an 8"x10" rack tom and a 14"x14" floor tom. Both toms are fitted with Evans G1 Coated batter heads. The kick is a 16"x18". Don't let its small size fool you. It's the biggest-sounding 18" bass drum that I've ever heard. It has a solid low-end thump, which often surprises those who hear it. The kick is fitted with an Aquarian Super Kick I Clear batter head, which contributes to that huge sound. The front head doesn't have a hole for the mic. I don't want to make a hole because the kit isn't mine and I don't want to ruin the nice white Aquarian coated front head. So we removed the front head and put a pillow in it (Ernest didn't put any muffling on his kick). The snare drum I used is my Old Faithful 5.5"x14" Tama Starclassic Maple, which is fitted with an Evans G1 Coated batter head and an Evans Snare Side 300 resonant head."

"I used my Zildjian cymbals. My hi-hats are a pair of 14" K Custom Dark Hats and my ride is a 20" K Custom Medium Ride. The two crash cymbals used are my semi-retired damaged cymbals, which I both acquired from my friend Bennii Obana sometime last year. On my left side was my freshly-cracked 17" K Custom Dark Crash, which I recently retired from gigging. On my right side was my de-modified 18" K Custom Dark Crash which had so many hairline cracks when I acquired it, I had it cut after I wounded my finger. Even if these crashes are damaged, they still have that spirit in their sound. I thought that I'd just save these cymbals for studio work, where I think they'll sound well. And they did sound exceptional in the studio."

--- excerpts from my November 16, 2007 blog


My drumming inspiration on Pangako is Jeff Porcaro. This is a love song with a pop arrangement and mass appeal, and I can't think of any other musical inspiration better than Jeff Porcaro, who was not only a groovy pop rock drummer with a solid foundation. He was a master of great feel and sensitivity. He had the knack for playing drum parts which fits best for the music, in relation to its theme and emotions. What mattered to Jeff the most is how the listeners feel the music. I recorded my drum parts for Pangako with Jeff Porcaro in mind. In fact, I think some of the drum fills I used reflected his huge influence on me. May this be my humble tribute to one of my favorite drummers. May God bless Jeff Porcaro's soul.

To fellow drummers who are curious about the accent cymbal I used during the bridge/guitar solo part, that was the broken 18" Zildjian K Custom Dark Crash on the right side of the set-up, which was trimmed down because of multiple hairline cracks. It sounded like a trashy china/crash hybrid, and it sounded great on recording. So, before disposing those broken cast cymbals, think about it first. You'll never know how they'll sound like in the studio. You'll never know if it's magic.

***


Final thoughts...

The music on Dry Your Eyes and Pangarap Ko'y Ikaw were arranged, programmed, and recorded by Jay Durias of South Border. So, if the songs are coming from a musical master, I wouldn't dare touch it! But if Jay would ask me to record the drum parts, I would have done it.

That Side Of Me and Prelude To Ecstasy might have been more slamming if we were able to record live drums for it. But it's alright, because it turned out just fine. Playing it live during our gigs would be a different story...

Come Back... It's the most perfect drum recording... Because there are no drums on it! ;)

I'm planning to play more live drums on our next album, and I would love to do something more refreshing and out of the box. I'm looking forward to that.

K24/7 - New Era: A Dream Come True

December 18, 2009... This is a date that I will remember. It was a Friday night, and my band K24/7 is scheduled for our usual weekend gig at Off The Grill. It was pretty much routine... Until our manager Alona David gave us the most pleasant surprise. My bandmates and I were each handed a couple of CDs, with Ate Alona greeting us a sweet Merry Christmas...

It was our new album. K24/7: New Era.

Earlier this week, Ate Alona, road manager Jason Reyes, and I met up to check the final CD design and listen to the final audio mix, before the production of the first batch of CDs. It was all good, and it's a go. We were expecting the manufacturing to be finished sometime next week. It went ahead of schedule. And so, management gave us the surprise last night.

For me, it's a dream come true. It's definitely a long time coming. I am now on my 12th year as a professional musician, and I've been with K24/7 since early 2004. One of my career dreams is to become a recording artist and to make albums. Finally, this dream came true. This is my first album/recording credit as a professional artist, and this wasn't handed to us in a silver platter. New Era is approximately 5 years in the making; a product created from blood, sweat, and tears.

When I held my copy of New Era for the first time, I took a moment, holding the album with both hands, and I just stared at it. I had this mini flashback of the last 5 years I had with the band, and that moment when my bandmates began making the first demos. In those 5 years, K24/7 has faced adversities along the way. We went through the tough times, from studio and gig mishaps to bandmember changes, from songwriting hardships to production concerns... We went through various challenges, whether musical, personal, financial, or whatever imaginable obstacle. And just as we thought that things seem to be on track, something would come up. Wow, those 5 tough years... What a journey it has been! Unbelievable.

It was a huge sigh of relief. I felt like all the stress in my mind and body was took off of me. Suddenly, I broke a smile and there was peace of mind, like a big monkey was mightily taken off my back. And it felt really good. While writing this blog, I have our album playing in the background. I may have listened to our songs thousands of times. This time, it sounds and feels way much sweeter.

At times, we were on the verge of losing hope, going through depressive stages, and the like. But we just hung on to our dreams, and we never gave up and called it quits. I like what our dear friend Jean Ramiro told us one time... She described K24/7 as a very resilient group. Now, I see New Era as a testimony to K24/7's strength, persistence, and determination.

I always believe that God has His reasons, and in life, there are reasons why things happen. Looking back at what happened in the last 5 years... Yeah, we know the album is waaaaay overdue. But the wait seems well worth it. I am grateful to the Lord for all the blessings, and as well as for the adversities and the lessons learned.

Our acknowledgements are well-documented in our album sleeve, and I would like to thank all the wonderful people who love, support, and believe in K24/7. Personally, I sincerely thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much for hanging on with us; for the patience in waiting for our album to come out. I would also like to offer my deepest gratitude to the unsung heroes... To our management - Alona David, producer Alvin Llanderal, and Jason Reyes; and to everybody involved with the production of New Era... Thank you very much for helping make my dream & K24/7's dream come true.

Now that our album is finally out, this is just the beginning of a new chapter in K24/7's history.

Let me know what you think or feel about New Era. I'll most likely write more blogs about our album in the near future.

*****

K24/7: NEW ERA is currently available at our gigs. Drop by at any of our gigs, and go grab your copy! Php250 only. For info, sked, and updates, just visit K24/7's Facebook Page.

"Pangako" Drum Recording Session

Seven a.m... Ah finally, there's sunshine! Most of you out there are just starting your day, while I just ended mine. I just finished recording my drum tracks for our single "Pangako". I said yesterday on my previous blog that I'll share my thoughts about the recording session. And here it is...

We were supposed to start our recording session at 8pm last night. But we moved it from 8 to 11 pm, because our keyboardist Teddy forgot to inform management about a prior commitment that he needs to attend to early last night. Teddy has the Pangako play-along track that we'll be using, and we can't start without him. It's all fine with me, because a few extra hours of rest and relaxation before the studio work were welcome.

I made it at Blue Door Studio at around 1030pm. Teddy and I both arrived at the same time. Ian, our recording engineer for the night, welcomed us. Minutes later, our manager Alona David and our road manager Jason Reyes arrived. They brought food, so we ate first while waiting for Paolo to arrive. Ted and Pao have to be present because their inputs for the song are essential. Teddy prepared the demos and my drum play-along track, and he'll be doing most of the important work in his studio. Paolo always has great musical ideas, and I value his inputs and suggestions. Oh yeah, I drank two cups of coffee and a few glasses of Coke to get me going. Caffeine and sugar help me during times like this hehe!

Recording began at around 12am. I did a couple of practice takes then made adjustments such as fine tuning the drums, making sure that the drum sounds will fit nicely with the song. Ian double-checked the microphone set-up and prepared a click track for me. Then we went on with the actual recording. I'm not aiming to finish quickly or become a one-take wonder. The most important thing for me is to serve the music by playing drum tracks which will compliment the song. But still, we need to be efficient and productive with our studio time.

On my first take, I wasn't quite warmed up yet, and I was still absorbing the feel of the song, the drumkit, and the studio room. But I felt confident that I'll be able to do better takes as we progress. I think it was on my third or fourth take when I finally got in the zone. I was fully warmed up and my focus was on a high level at that point. I thought I made a couple of good takes. But we know the drum parts can still get better.

It was already around 2am, and studio owner Eric Villadelgado, Ate Alona's drummer husband Joel "Jumi" David, and Angel's manager Jojo Pascasio were already present in the studio. After doing those two good takes, the computer suddenly needed to restart. I think it was a process overload or something. I was reminded of the computer crash on our studio session last year, so I hope it's not a repeat of that unlucky incident. Good thing Ian got it all figured out. It's just a simple restart, and we just need to delete some stuff we no longer need in order to lighten the load. While Ian was refreshing the board and the computer, I took a break. It's just wrong timing for me because I already built momentum at that point. But it's okay because I know it will come back.

Recording resumed at around 3am. I lost a bit of momentum, and my hands got cold because of the strong air conditioning. But good thing I regained focus, and I was able to do my best takes of the night. In order for me not to repeat the whole take, we just went back to the parts which needed refinement, such as cymbal crescendos and embellishments, some fill-ins, and some hits which will lock in with the bass guitar parts. Paolo had some great ideas for the drum parts, so we worked on those.

We finished the drum track recording at 4am. While we were listening to the drum parts, we felt good for doing a wonderful job. I feel a sense of accomplishment, and I'm looking forward to finishing the whole song. There's still plenty of work to do. We still need to record E's guitar parts, refine some of the keyboard sounds, and do its final mix. I hope that my drum parts have given justice to the song. And once it's on air, I wish listeners would appreciate what we've made.

We are delighted with the drum and cymbal sounds. My drumkit for this session is a Premier Artist Birch kit, which belongs to my good friend Ernest Ramos. I used two toms - an 8"x10" rack tom and a 14"x14" floor tom. Both toms are fitted with Evans G1 Coated batter heads. The kick is a 16"x18". Don't let its small size fool you. It's the biggest-sounding 18" bass drum that I've ever heard. It has a solid low-end thump, which often surprises those who hear it. The kick is fitted with an Aquarian Super Kick I Clear batter head, which contributes to that huge sound. The front head doesn't have a hole for the mic. I don't want to make a hole because the kit isn't mine and I don't want to ruin the nice white Aquarian coated front head. So we removed the front head and put a pillow in it (Ernest didn't put any muffling on his kick). The snare drum I used is my Old Faithful 5.5"x14" Tama Starclassic Maple, which is fitted with an Evans G1 Coated batter head and an Evans Snare Side 300 resonant head.

I used my Zildjian cymbals. My hi-hats are a pair of 14" K Custom Dark Hats and my ride is a 20" K Custom Medium Ride. The two crash cymbals used are my semi-retired damaged cymbals, which I both acquired from my friend Bennii Obana sometime last year. On my left side was my freshly-cracked 17" K Custom Dark Crash, which I recently retired from gigging. On my right side was my de-modified 18" K Custom Dark Crash which had so many hairline cracks when I acquired it, I had it cut after I wounded my finger. Even if these crashes are damaged, they still have that spirit in their sound. I thought that I'd just save these cymbals for studio work, where I think they'll sound well. And they did sound exceptional in the studio.
And last but not the least, we didn't have a drummer's throne. So yes, I was sitting on a state-of-the-art, high-performance monoblock plastic stool hahaha!

Overall, I'm happy with my drum recording, and I'm glad that things turned out well this time in the studio. I was sharper and more well-prepared for the studio work this time, and my focus and patience have become effective for me. I'm now eager to finish our song. I'll just post updates here in my blog.

We have a gig tonight, I should rest right now.

Witnessing A Master At Work

I have a good number of musical mentors and inspirations. This past year, I've blogged a number of times about Benjie Mendez, one of my local drumming idols and one of the best Filipino drummers ever. And it's a privilege that I've become good friends with Bagets, and got to know the man better as a person, beyond his status as a Pinoy drumming icon. It's an honor and a blessing.

Last Monday, Jason Reyes (K24/7 road manager) and I accompanied Bagets to his recording session. The night before, Bagets asked me a favor; requesting if I could help him take his drum equipment to Asiatec Pink Noise Studio (along Roces Avenue, QC) for his recording date, since he knows that I have a van. Good thing there's nothing scheduled to do during the day, so I agreed on helping him transport his gear.

Jason and I made it at Bagets' home (in QC) at 9am. Bagets' calltime at Pink Noise is 10am. When we arrived, Bagets was still in his pambahay clothes. He just woke up, had a smoke, then talked about his drummer visitors the night before, going to sleep at around 4am, and the Heroes TV series which he's currently crazy about.

Bagets' personal drumkit was used for the recording session. His drumkit is the Pearl Session Birch SBX, and this recording was the first time these drums were actually used! Bagets bought this drumkit brand new over a year ago. And he never actually set it up and played on it! It was in its box all this time! Bagets is quite obsessive-compulsive with equipment, and he claimed that he doesn't want to take out this drumkit until his new house is fixed or until he's got complete equipment or something like that. In fact, he almost sold this beautiful drumkit! But I'm glad he did not. And the recording is a nice opportunity to hear the potential of these birch drums.

So, Bagets prepared himself, then we loaded all the drum gear in my van, then left for Pink Noise at around 945am. Around 20 minutes later, we arrived at Pink Noise. This is a first-class, state-of-the-art recording studio which has made quite a big name in the local music biz. Pink Noise recently moved from their old site (which was also within the QC area), so the facility is pretty much brand new. The studio is at the second floor of the building, so it was quite a chore carrying the gear from my van at the front parking lot, then to a hallway, up a flight of stairs, and finally inside the spacious studio. The studio facility is very impressive, with all its high-end equipment and well-designed studio rooms. Studio engineer Dominic Benedicto welcomed us.

After moving Bagets' drum gear in a studio room, the three of us had brunch at a nearby KFC resto, since we only had coffee for breakfast and we were all hungry. Of course, the meal became more enjoyable because of the kwentuhan, mostly about music and fellow musicians. After that, we went back to the studio. This was a great opportunity for me, because this was my first time witnessing Bagets work on a recording session. Actually, it was my first time to witness a topnotch drummer work on a recording.

Bagets was called to do drum tracks for a number of songs, which will eventually become part of an album planned to be released in Australia. First thing he did was listen to the first track which he'll be working on. After a few minutes, he moved to the drum room and began setting up his drumkit. Here I witnessed certain examples of how obsessive-compulsive the man is... His drums and hardware neatly wrapped with cloth and plastic, holding every gear with cloth (so that there wouldn't be any dirt or finger marks left on it), all memory locks already set in place, folded plastic bags separating multi-clamps from the stands (to avoid possible scratches)... Man, I think he's even more OC than me!

Bagets has these distinct drum sounds in most of his recordings. So I was keeping an eye (and ear) on how he tunes the drums. His drums were still mounted with stock Pearl Protone drumheads, which are pretty decent heads, though not as good as the high-end and tried-and-tested Remo or Evans skins. Bagets wished that he had single-ply heads for his toms such as Remo Ambassadors. Though the Protone skins projected a decent sound, he wasn't really contented with it. So he kept tuning until he found a decent sound on each drum.

The drums sounded really lively in the studio, thanks to its recording-friendly birch shells. Bagets began doing his warm-ups, and he was already burning then. He even shared to me some of his personal tricks, which I consider as a gold mine of understanding his distinct drumming style. Later on, he let me play the drumkit so that he can hear the drum sounds from the mixing room. There he realized that the drums indeed sounded wonderful. By the way, Bagets' drumkit sounded and felt really good when I played on it. After a coffee break and another batch of kwento, Bagets went on and began working.

The demos were quite a pain in the ass. Imagine... These are digitally-prepared play-along tracks; yet for some freaking reason, the notes were not quantized, the instruments were not on the dot with each other, and tempo was off in various parts! Bagets was scratching his bald head all day, shouting out all his classic hirit. Being a drummer, I know how it feels when we are playing along to a track with an awkward tempo and feel. And Dominic found ways to make it easier for Bagets, by somehow making the click tracks much clearer for him to play along. Besides, Dominic said that it is why he called Bagets for the job, because he believes he can pull it off.

And Bagets did pull it off! That day, he nailed down four tracks. And each track was a challenge to lay down. There were certain moments where in we were watching Bagets from the mixing room, and Dominic, Jason, and I were just laughing, shaking our heads, and just can't believe it. Bagets has once again done his magic. Dominic was at awe with Bagets' time sense. The phenom was so on the dot with the click track, we can't even hear it anymore; instead, we felt it. It's like the man was born with a metronome in his body. And of course, Bagets made it feel oh so good! There was one moment where in he was beginning to feel tired of one song, he made this incredible one-bar drum fill to end the track! Ah, the magic of spontaneity.

Besides witnessing Bagets do his recording work, it was fun hanging out with the guys, cracking jokes in between takes and laughing at Bagets' famous one-liners. One realization... Despite the challenging session, Bagets was somehow able to keep his cool. He's a true professional recording artist. And another... Even seasoned pros and masters can still have a difficult time at the studio. It's about confidence and composure, and being on top of your game.

I feel very privileged to witness a master at work in the recording studio. It's so inspiring. The next time I lay down my drum tracks for our recordings (hopefully very soon), I now have an added arsenal of ideas, tricks, and inspiration.