Dua Lipa "Houdini" free drum lesson

 Download the PDF here.

 

I decided to make a drum lesson for my students of this great song by Dua Lipa. I hope you find this useful!

Jason Bonham performing with a Roland TD-50 on Howard Stern with Sammy Hagar

It is always super cool to see a well known drummer using a full e-kit live, and that is exactly what legendary drummer, Jason Bonham did with the mind blowing Sammy Hagar band along with Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani. How did it sound? I think pretty damn good! But I think Michael Anthony could have been a bit louder, though that is nothing to do with the drum sound. Jason is an awesome drummer that doesn't get enough credit due to being in the massive shadow of his dad, John Bonham. I loved watching him perform on this Roland kit.

I've been a fan of Sammy Hagar since I was a kid and loved his work with Van Halen. This Howard Stern performance was to announce their tour next year where they will be playing classing VH Material. Sammy also invited David Lee Roth as well as Alex Van Halen to join them anywhere on tour publicly on the air. I would be simultaneously amazed and surprised if one of them actually shows up on some of these dates, and completely mind-blown if both do. I really hope they do. The fans would absolutely love this.

 

Anyway, Van Halen were no stranger to e-drums, since Alex played electronic drums on 2 of VH's most seminal albums, 1984 and 5150! I absolutely love Alex's hybrid sound of Simmons electronic toms and kick with his signature Ludwig snare sound and Paiste cymbals.

Playing a Roland TD-07 A2E Live with Demonic Sweaters

 

Demonic Sweaters performing live at Hidden Hemp in Brooklyn, NY. Electronic drums, no amps, fully digital performance! Follow Demonic Sweaters on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/6FNgcaIJ1PGGcDmQFU53tb?si=1FYtkoqySjqA0rO1RB18ew. Special thanks to Connie and Giovanni Garcia for the footage to help complete this video! Also thanks to David and Hidden Hemp for letting us put on the event!

Expanding the Alesis Nitro Mesh to a monster 13 piece drum kit!

 

Check out this amazing step by step video by Kevin Williams on how he expanded his Alesis Nitro Mesh to a compact monster drum kit! 

 

What are the Best Electronic Drum Modules for A2E conversion?

I get asked this all the time. What are the best electronic drum modules to buy for acoustic to electronic drum projects? Can you just use the Alesis Nitro/Surge module for A2E? 

Let's answer the second question first. No. 

Well, yes you can, but it won't be great. Alesis Nitros, or really ANY Alesis module will not make a good A2E module because of its lack of parameter adjustments which allow you to fine tune triggers. Your results with an Alesis module will likely be horrible to 'sort of okay'. That being said, avoid Alesis modules. 

Here's a list of modules I like and that I think make great A2E modules.

1. Roland TD-17 - The Roland TD-17 is a moderately priced module that has excellent built-in sounds, USB audio/midi, sample import, and is all around the best module you can get in its price range in my opinion. Personally, I would even place it above the TD-27 because of its price advantage, and I had better luck with configuring acoustic triggers with it. 
2. ATV XD3 - While not nearly as full featured as the TD-17, the ATV XD3 has extremely low latency and excellent onboard sounds. It is about half the price of the TD-17 as well. A wide variety of triggers will work with it as well. Even though there are little trigger adjustments (even less than Alesis!) it seems to do just fine with just about any trigger you connect to it. Simplicity is its strength!
3. Roland TD-8 - The Roland TD-8 is an older module, lacks USB, but has standard MIDI i/o. The sounds are a little dated, but also some of them are quite nice. It has 4 individual analog outputs, a ridiculous amount of onboard sounds ranging from acoustic, to percussion, and electronic. It also has man of Roland's V-Drum editing parameters such as shell depth, tension, head type and room ambience. (the TD-17 has all of these too). You can usually find them for under $400. It also features many individual inputs without using a cable snake. 
4. Roland TD-6 - BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! The TD-6 has the exact same sounds as the TD-8, but with less editing features and a smaller screen and less outputs. However, that being said, you can usually find the TD-6 for under $200 which makes it a great choice for A2E. It has a lot of inputs, and the onboard sounds are very decent. 
5. Roland TD-27 - If you're looking for a flagship module that isn't $3k, then the TD-27 is for you. While personally I do not like it as much as the TD-17, it does have advantages such as multitrack USB audio, more onboard sounds, and editing features. In addition to that, it is actually newer than Roland's official flagship module, the TD-50, which I think does not sound nearly as good as the TD-17 or TD-27. 

Based on this list, I encourage you to research all the specific features for each module to figure out which one is right for you. But I have personally tested all of the modules in this list with A2E projects, and all of them work very well. I hope this list helps!

The Paiste PST7 Light Hi Hats are the budget Giant Beat Hi Hats! PROOF!

I had been eyeing the PST7 Light Hats for some time now, and finally picked up a pair about a week ago. I have always loved the light and hissy white noise of the Giant Beat hi hats, but never could justify spending that much money ($400) on a pair of hi hats. 

I had a PST7 Light Ride in the past, and liked it, but didn't love it, but when I started hearing demos of the PST7 Light Hats, the first thing I thought of was Giant Beats! 

Don't believe me? Check out this link to a "Sound Room" on Paiste's website where I added the two 14" models. While not EXACTLY the same, they are very near 90% identical. The pitch is very close, and I think they must be around the same weight. My PST7s are 788g/1059g. Which is a very nice weight. 

I can honestly say that neither sound better than the other in my opinion based on those sound samples, With my eyes closed I would probably just think they are two different cuts of the same model hi hat. Also it should be noted that the person demoing the hats clearly hit them differently. The PST7s are bing hit with the shoulder of the stick on the edge of the hat most of the time, and the GB player is using the tip of the stick. 

The other day I took the PST7s to the studio and recorded them, and was blown away by them. They sound perfect to me. Great articulation with no harsh or weird overtones, and they have that cool 'white noise, hissyness' that I love so much about the Giant Beats! Check out the recording below! Pick up a pair of PST7 Light Hi Hats here! They're only $169 brand new!

Clone Hero Electronic Drum Mapping Key

 

This will help you select the correct pad while mapping your drums in Clone Hero.