Tag: drums

Bright & Shiny

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Trent Davis

A few years back I started recording an album with the local band Bright & Shiny. It appears that the album is now on Production Hell and may never see the light of day.

I was given temporary tracks to record along to. This was helpful but frustrating at the same time since the main songwriter likes to play “free-time” with fluctuating tempos. As the drummer, being the one who is in charge of the tempo, I was concerned with this. I have spent my life trying to have a more consistent tempo and now I’m having to fight that. That being said, I tried to get the tempo to be more consistent while allowing the songs to have the varying feel that the songwriter was after.

Since these songs may never see the light of day, I decided to share the video performances here in hopes that it might generate enough interest in this project to get it finished. I was working on videos that show the main drum performance along with little pop-up videos of the backing percussion. Sadly, I only got this far with the first song, but this is why there is a black border around the videos.

I’ll present each song along with some notes on each one. Keep in mind that the tracks I’m playing along to are not the finished performance from the rest of the band.

Soothsayer

This is one of my favorites. As such, it’s the one that I got the furthest with. This song is inspired by the character of Lodz from the HBO show Carnivàle.

I created a tempo map for this song. The first half is played loosely to a click in that the beginning of the chorus speeds up a bit then slows down towards the end so it lines back up on the click as the next section starts. Once the song changes about halfway through, the tempo goes all over the place, speeding up then slowing down, then speeding up again with no rhyme or reason, never getting back on the original click. I had to do my best to keep it sounding smooth and intentional.

The Places We Must Go

I really like this one and I would love to hear how it would have ended up. I had some pretty big plans for this one, percussion-wise.

Crooked Tree

I got a chance to dust off my brushes for this song. I have since done a lot more brushwork so I cringe a little bit when I look back at this video. Still, I think it sounds pretty good.

Christopher and Anna

The backing vocals are missing from this scratch track so there are some awkward pauses here and there.

Fallen Trenchcoat

This song starts out pretty mellow but builds in dynamics towards the end. If memory serves, this song is about three-ways.

Don’t Take My Meds Away

They pulled a fast one with this and added an extra section after I had finished my recording. I had to splice in a previous take of different section at the end when it starts to fade out.

Genesis Story

This was the first song I recorded for Bright & Shiny. I was really fighting the tempo on this one and I chose to keep it tight with the click. As a result, it doesn’t flow very well. What I should have done was what I ended up doing with the rest of the songs which is meet in the middle, acting as a bridge between a tight click and the loose “sloppy” sound of the wavering tempo.

I like the chorus because I get to play a driving Charlie Watts beat like the one he plays in Midnight Rambler in the faster section.

Your Face Is Upside-Down

I tried to take a different approach with the beat for this song. To match the title I turned the beat upside-down by swapping the kick and snare parts during the verses.

The End Holding Your Hand

There are some rather tasty double-bass triplets at the ending buildup in this song.

This Waiting

There are some decent driving beats in this song as well as some subtle hi-hat pedal work.

That’s all..

I would love to finish this project but it seems to have died. If anyone is interested in seeing this get finished, let me know and I’ll pass this along to those involved. Maybe we can generate enough interest to make it happen.

News – March 6th, 2019 – Cymbal Cart, Lathe Bed Extension, and YouTube Videos

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Trent Davis

I finished the cymbal cart

The cymbal cart is finally complete. It holds all of my cracked cymbals and has freed up a lot of floor space in my shop. This was a fun project and was great welding practice. I realized that I still have a long way to go until I can consider myself a good welder. This means that I have a lot of good things to learn. It’s pretty exciting, actually.

Lathe Bed Extension

I just installed the bed extension for my Nova Comet II lathe. I can now turn something up to 41-1/4″ in length. I intend to make a number of rainsticks and tube toms with this configuration. The cool – and slightly ridiculous – thing is that I can add another bed extension if I want to. In fact, I can keep adding them as far as I want. I guess that would come in handy if I wanted to turn a telephone pole or an alphorn. You laugh but I just might make an alphorn.

New clips on YouTube

I got a good opportunity to record the other day but I didn’t have anything in particular that I needed to get recorded. Instead, I just played. I put down about 8 minutes straight of brushwork to use for the backing track for YouTube videos then I played a series of short beats for stinger music.

The video above is one stinger beat that I particularly liked because I got to play around with my chime cymbals a bit. If you’re interested in what a 12″ Sabian Glennie’s Garbage sounds like, that’s the last cymbal that I hit.

The next video is part of an eight-minute improv brush performance that I’m going to add bass guitar, keyboards, guitar, and percussion to. The end result will be an eight-minute background track for some of my YouTube videos that I’m working on.

News – September 4th, 2018 – Live Performance and Woodturning

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Trent Davis


Live Performance with Cody Weathers

I got to perform with Cody Weathers and The Men Your Mama Warned You About this past weekend.  This is only the second time I’ve sat in with them, the last time being almost a year ago.

I felt that the show went well.  I didn’t have time to do a rehearsal and I wasn’t that familiar with the songs but we got through them without any major problems.  Cody is the singer/songwriter and usually plays drums.  The guitarist was unable to perform so Cody asked me to fill in on drums so he could switch to guitar.

The music is sort of a Dave Matthews meets Ella Fitzgerald in that it is slightly funky rock with scat vocals mixed in.  It’s a lot of fun to play.  

I’ve included recordings for seven of the eight songs we played below.  Keep in mind that I was very unfamiliar with the songs so be gentle in your criticisms.

At First Sight
Mad About You
Deep
Catnip
Puppy
Thin
Dead Man’s Blues

For those that are interested, here is a list of the gear I used during this show:

Drums (Premier XPK)

  • 14″ X 20″ Kick
  • 5-1/2″ X 14 Wood Snare
  • 14″ X 14″ Floor Tom
  • 4 X 6″ Tama Mini-Timbale

Cymbals

  • 13″ Sabian AAX Studio Hats
  • 16″ Sabian AAX Studio Crash
  • 12″ Sabian Glennie’s Garbage
  • 10″ Custom Wuhan China Crash
  • 12″ Custom Wuhan China Crash
  • 21″ Sabian AA Raw Bell Dry Ride
  • 22″ Sabian Omni
  • 13 different custom chime cymbals

The two custom Wuhan china crashes and the 13 custom chime cymbals are all ones that I made myself by modifying cracked cymbals.  You can see my process for modifying them in the article on Cutting Down a Pair of Wuhans.  This isn’t the exact cymbals that I used for this show but it shows my process for making custom cymbals.  You can hear them in the recordings since I play them quite a bit.  The Wuhans have a very trashy hiss-like sound and the chimes are … well … chimey.

Finally Turned a Few Bowls

I’ve had a lathe for years but never had an interest in turning vessels (cups, bowls, vases, etc…).  I finally decided to give it a try this past weekend and I have to say that I’m hooked.  I don’t really have the right tools to pull this off easily but I’m getting the hang of it anyhow.

In the process I got to be familiar with Howard’s Beeswax & Orange Oil finish.  I was introduced to this through the videos of Carl Jacobson.  If you haven’t checked out his videos then I very highly recommend you do.  He is one of the nicest, coolest guys you’ll ever meet and his woodturning is amazing.  

I had previously used Hut Crystal Coat with generally positive results.  I think I’m more satisfied with the finish of the Howard’s since it has a more silky feel to it.

From this…
…to this.

It’s kind of difficult to tell but the piece pictured here is pretty small.  I went digging through my box of turning stock and found a piece of (what I believe is) bubinga.  It was pretty small, too small to use the Nova chuck to hold it.  I got to use my cole jaws which could just barely hold it securely.  I like the way it turned out.

News – January 8th, 2018 – Outfeed surface, Recording, and Cthulhu

Trent DavisOne Comment

Outfeed table

Almost a year ago I decided to try a new work surface for my outfeed/assembly table.  I wrote about this here.  After using and abusing it for almost a year, my official opinion is that I don’t really care for it much.  I found the texture to be problematic in that it retained glue and stain.  I also set my chop saw on it and it was bombarded with hot metal shavings which would melt into it and turn it into a big sheet of sandpaper.  Let me be clear; this isn’t a fault of the material.  All this shows is that it isn’t well suited for something that it wasn’t designed to handle.  Makes sense.

In the end, I decided to go back to my old standby: white hardboard.

 

 

Recording Woes

It is proving more problematic to get time to record lately.  In the meantime, I will be using that opportunity to perform and write-up the Shure SM57 right-angle-mod and also the MXL 603 capacitor mod which makes a $100 condenser mic sound like a $500 condenser mic (your mileage may vary).

My Amazing Wife

My wife doesn’t like to show off her work so I am doing it for her.  This is a felted Cthulhu that she made as a Christmas present for her brother.  I’d love for her to start a blog because she does some really amazing work.  If you’d like to see more, let me know and I’ll pass it along.

 

Other work…

There are a few other things in the works that I can’t speak of yet but I’ll post an update when they’re secured.

 

 

 

 

 

News – December 11th, 2017 – Teaching, last-minute performance, and woodturning

Trent Davis

Sorry for the delays in my posts.  The holidays are always pretty hectic so I’ve been busy.

Teaching

Two weeks ago I was given the opportunity to teach a class for The Guild of Oregon Woodworkers on The Care and Feeding of Your SawStop.  The class went really well, with over 20 saw owners attending.  I got to do a hot dog demo in order to demonstrate how to remove an activated brake and blade from the saw.  I will be creating an article for this blog consisting of the documentation that I created for the class in the coming weeks.

 

Last-Minute Gig with Cody Weathers and The Men Your Mama Warned You About

It’s short notice but I have a gig on December 16th at The 45th Street Pub & Grill in Portland starting at 9:00.   I’ve been friends with Cody for a few years now but I’ve never played with these guys so it’ll be interesting.  Swing on by if you’re in the area.

Wedding Pens

A friend of the family is getting married in a few weeks and they requested that I make them pens from their birth woods, Ash and Hazel.  I’ve never turned either of these woods and I didn’t know what to expect.  To make things even more interesting, the hazel was still wet and was already starting to warp and twist.  From what they say, they only need the pens for the actual wedding ceremony so I just need them to last a few weeks.  This is good because the hazel pen seems to be cracking in a few places already.

 

Studio Desk Part 5

I’m still working on the articles for the studio desk.  It’s done and I’ve been using it for over a month but there are several things I want to change about it and a few components I decided to add to it so there is a bit of a delay in updating the articles.  I hope to have part 5 posted this week.

 

 

 

News – November 2nd, 2017 – Wiring, teaching, and recording

Trent Davis

I’ve been lax in posting news updates.  I’m going to try to be better about this.

Wiring

I’ve got the studio desk pretty much done, but I’m doing some additional wiring, such as adding a few electrical outlets to the desk itself.

I’m also making all new audio cables.  This includes 32 XLR cables for inside the desk, 16 XLR cables for the drum mics, dozens of 14″ TRS cables, and a 16-channel XLR snake.  I keep pushing this off since I’m not looking forward to that much soldering.  Tedious work while hunched over a workbench gets old really quick.  I’m going to do these in batches.

 

Shure SM57 Right-Angle Mod

I have several Shure SM57 microphones that I am going to perform the right-angle mod to.  I plan on documenting this thoroughly so anyone can do this.  In the following picture you can see the microphone on the right, which has the right-angle mod applied, is much more out of the way than the one on the left, which does not have the mod applied.

Teaching

On November 29th, I will be teaching a class for The Guild of Oregon Woodworkers on the care and feeding of a SawStop (the class isn’t advertised on their site yet).  It’s been a while since I taught a class so I’m really looking forward to this.  I’ll try to convert all the info into articles on my blog so if you are unable to make it to the class – due to previous commitments or the fact that you are thousands of miles away from Portland Oregon – you can still make use of the information.

 

Recording for Bright & Shiny

Recording is still going on for the album by Bright & Shiny.  It’s hard for me to get time to record, lately.  I only have the drum tracks to a few songs left, then I can proceed with the auxiliary percussion.  After that, I will begin posting videos of each song.

 

The Map of Alice

Sadly, I had to call it quits with The Map of Alice.  There were some personality conflicts and the visions for the project were just not lining up.  It was mostly fun while it lasted.

News – July 24th, 2017 – New Sabian Ride

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Trent DavisOne Comment

This weekend I added a new cymbal to my setup.  It’s a Sabian Vault Custom Shop HH 22″ ride with a semi-lathed pattern on the top and a completely lathed underside.

 

I used it at our regular Sunday gig at McNallly’s Taproom (we play each Sunday from 3:00 – 5:00).  The band plays Gypsy Jazz so it was a good venue to try out this cymbal.  I added a Pro-Mark Sizzler to it to see how it would work and it performed admirably.  I typically use a 20″ Sabian Ed Thigpen Crystal Ride with the sizzler but this 22″ cymbal is my new favorite.  Tapping it with my brushes caused it to sizzle for quite a while and it didn’t get the annoying vibrato sizzle towards the end that other, thicker cymbals get.  It complimented the cut-down Wuhan cymbals well, although it made my LP Granite Blocks rather hard to reach.

The lathing and hand hammering make for a beautiful cymbal, but also of note is the pronounced bell.  I haven’t had a chance to use this at higher volumes yet but some preliminary tests show that the cymbal crashes well, and even though I’m not one who crashes their ride cymbals, I ended up crashing on it several times and I loved the sound.

 

I’ll post some video of the cymbal soon.  It’s got a nice satisfying wobble to it when you hit it and a nice, dry, smoky sound.

 

News – June 15th, 2017 – Performance video update

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Trent Davis

The recording for the upcoming album by Bright & Shiny is progressing well.  I have been playing around with the video for a few songs and although it isn’t finished, I decided to share an early version of one of the videos.

I’m playing around with the title sequence and cutting back and forth between different camera angles.  Although the drum performance is pretty much finalized, the rest of the song is not the finished version.  Also, none of this has been mixed and mastered.

A few interesting things to note with this song is the use of some of my “Rescued Cymbals”.  In addition to the small chime cymbals that I use in pretty much every song, I am also using two cut down Wuhan Lion (or China) cymbals which are positioned above my two main rack toms.  I’m also using a 12″ Glennie’s Garbage positioned above my hi-hat.  This is quickly becoming one of my favorite cymbals.

Enjoy…

News – June 5th, 2017 – Recording Progress

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Trent Davis

Recording Progress – Bright & Shiny

This weekend I managed to get time to record two more songs for Bright & Shiny.  The two songs are titled This Waiting and The End Holding Your Hand.

I was particularly happy to get The End Holding Your Hand recorded because of how I go about recording.  While I am working on a song, I listen to it repeatedly while I drive to-and-from work each day.  I use that time to write out different parts and memorize the structure of the song.

Unfortunately, I don’t get many opportunities to actually record since I need to get the family out of the house.  This means that I may sometimes end up listening to a song quite a bit before I get to actually record it.  In the case of this song, I listened to it repeatedly for over three weeks.  As you can imagine, I was pretty damn sick of it by the time I got around to actually laying down the tracks.

When I record, I also film.  I am working on videos of each song to compile into a mini documentary on the recording of the drums and percussion for this album.

I only have two more songs to record then I’ll be focusing on the auxiliary percussion.

Here are rough-cuts of the drum performance videos.  The drum tracks need to be mixed properly and the track I’m playing along with is only a temporary scratch track.  I’ll update them when I get a final mix of the songs.

This Waiting

 

 

 

 

 

The End Holding Your Hand

 

 

 

 

 

These drum tracks are a little more sparse than I typically prefer but that is intentional since I needed to leave space for auxiliary percussion.

Here’s an example of a song with finished percussion, although it isn’t a final mix.

Soothsayer

Photo taken after recording the track "Crooked Tree" by Bright & Shiny

News – May 5th, 2017

Trent Davis

Current Projects

I’ve got several projects in the works and many more planned for the near future.  Below is a list and description of what I am currently working on.

 

Bright & Shiny

Photo taken after recording the track "Crooked Tree" by Bright & Shiny
Photo taken after recording the track “Crooked Tree” by Bright & Shiny

I’m about halfway through recording the drum tracks for the upcoming album by Bright & Shiny.  The style of music has been described as “dark cabaret”.  I have a video of the various percussion tracks I recorded for the song Soothsayer that I may post soon, pending permission from the song copyright holder.

 

Jongwon Kim

I will soon be recording and performing the drum tracks for the upcoming album by Jongwon Kim.  I will also be recording the bass guitar parts that will be performed by Kevin Cameron.  I actually already have several of the drum tracks recorded but I put that project on hold as it seemed that the song structure was going to be changing.

Here is one of the tracks that I performed.  I made a video of the recorded performance.

 

 

The Map of Alice

The drum setup for one of our gigs.
The drum setup for one of our gigs.

I have recently joined the project The Map of Alice.  This is a live band that performs improv gypsy jazz.  The band consists of two guys on acoustic guitar, myself on drums and my daughter Audrey on accordion.  We perform somewhat regularly in the Hillsboro area,  We are planning on doing some recording and video soon.  Their YouTube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcJrxAe-Ol-VXn_HRz2DtYg

 

SM57 Right-Angle Mod

The SM57 on the right has had the right-angle mod applied. The one on the left with the cable plugged in) has not.
The SM57 on the right has had the right-angle mod applied. The one on the left with the cable plugged in) has not.

I have already performed a right-angle mod on one of my SM57 microphones.  I have several others that I will be doing this to.  I’ll be making a write-up on how to do that once I get a chance to actually do this.

 

Shop Cabinets

Ugh. Too shallow.
Ugh. Too shallow.

I badly need to make new shop cabinets.  I threw these together a few years back without much thought to them other than making them a uniform width and easily swappable due to the cleat system installed in my shop.  They’re too shallow.  I’m making new ones that are 16″ deep and will have doors.

 

Studio Desk

One of the many iterations of the studio desk I've been planning.
One of the many iterations of the studio desk I’ve been planning.

I’ve been long planning on making a new studio desk.  I’ve designed 9 different versions and I haven’t been 100% happy with any of them.  I have a few requirements that are making this challenging.

  1. It needs to be on wheels.
  2. It needs to have one side that is a computer desk for the recording engineer and the back should have a computer monitor that mirrors the engineers display for the musician.
  3. It needs to have rackspace.  Specifically, I need one 4u rack for the PC, and one 4u (or two 2u racks) for the musician’s side which will have patchbays and tuners and one 4u (or two 2u racks) for the engineer side with the power strip and the recording interface.
  4. It should be wide enough to house a single computer monitor and two studio speakers.
  5. It needs to be self contained.  I want to be able to plug one power cord and one ethernet cable into the back or side of the desk and have everything work.

I’m getting closer to a final design.  I’m toying with the idea of designing it like a road case so I can pack it up and throw it in the back of my car and take it out for some remote recording.

 

Road Case for Live Shows

Speaking of road cases, I’m going to design and build a more portable version for housing a mixer and any live gear.  I’ll keep you posted on any progress on this.