Drums

Someone once asked me, "Gil, if you're a drummer, why in the hell don't you have pictures of drums on your website? And where in the hell are the pictures of drummers and stuff like that? Huh? Huh?" Well, I thought about it for a while and decided to start a drum page. After releasing his grip from my throat, my friend allowed me to run home and start this page.

In 2003, I bought a beautiful Ludwig Birch Classic five-piece kit from Groth Music in Bloomington, MN which is a really cool store. There's a picture of it below. I'll have some more pictures later. If you want to check out different Ludwig sets, go to www.ludwig-drums.com for a good look at their stuff!

I also had an Eames custom kit pictured above. The 18" kit really packed a punch. The shells are hand-made in Boston and they used both Ludwig and Rogers hardware. I bought this one at Krazy Kat in San Antonio which is a great place to buy quality used equipment. The guys there are very knowledgeable and helpful. Check out their site at www.krazykatmusic.com and see what they have to offer. I picked up the snare separately about eight years ago in Bloomington, MN. It's a Ludwig piccolo snare and is one of my favorite drums.

I use Sabian cymbals exclusively. I love the Studio ride and the AAXplosion crash is great. I'm glad I didn't take a close up of the cymbals because they really need a cleaning. I'm doing that tonight.... really!

The wood box you see next to the drums is a custom made cajon by Manuel Navarro. You can check out some neat stuff at www.rumillajta.com/cajon.html and order the cajon or his other Peruvian instruments.

Oooh! Now to the right is my Ludwig Birch Classic. This drum kit packs a punch! I'm very, very pleased with this purchase!

It has a warm tone but can get as loud as you want when you're rockin'.

You have to hear how big the 20" kick sounds. It rocked right out of the box, but when I switched to an Evans EQ1 head for the kick... holy smokes! The toms are 10" & 12" with a 14" floor.

I was thinking of buying a new kick pedal but changed my mind as soon as I tried the Ludwig pedal. It has great response and you can kick the crap out of the drums without even trying!

Thanks to Brian Annett, bassist for The Whitinos, I have another kickass drum kit! He's the one who convinced me to buy it.

IN THE STUDIO!

Right before Christmas 2004, I went into the studio with True Stories to record a CD. It will come out in a few months after we do what we have to do. I used my Ludwig Birch Classic on most of the recordings and it sounded great! I also used the cajon on two songs. I was really pleased with how well the cajon sounded. Donny Meals from Edit Point Studio did a darned good job!

You can tell by the picture to the right that the cajon has been getting alot of use. I don't clean the playing surface because the natural oil from the hands seems to help the wood and the sound as well.

If you're wondering about the brushes... yes, I use brushes on the cajon as well as the hands. I found that I can get some neat sounds from the cajon using brushes, hands, knuckles, and medium sized rodents.

Of course, you need to know how to properly mic your cajon for the studio as well as the stage.

Note on Mic setup for Cajon

I learned early on that no one knows how to mic and mix a cajon. Never, never mix it like a bass drum. Because it resonates so well, you'll get plenty of bottom by bringing up the highs and mids and taking out most of the lows in the mix.

For live shows, it's best to have a good condenser mic attached directly to the cajon and facing the sound hole. Since I couldn't afford a good condenser mic, I screwed a mic clip base to the back, attached the clip, and slipped in a 58 I stole... I mean... borrowed from my brother. It works great.

For recording at Edit Point, Donny used two high-falootin' mics (Trans-Fabulator 5000X or something) and placed one in the sound hole and one over the playing surface.

I thought it was a pretty good idea but not quite to my liking. I decided to improve on Donny's idea and set up the mics as shown in the picture to the right.

For some reason, Donny took away my coffee cup and had me tied up in the control room. I think it's because he likes me alot and respects my vast knowledge when it comes to recording so he wanted me close by to benefit from my sage advice.