drumming secrets

Italy is famous for many things: history and historical remains, art, food, the coffee, the wine, landscapes, cars, fasion, music, people, hand crafted musical instruments....... actually too much to mention. I feel honoured to be able to travel to that beautiful place very often and always for a music reason!

After 5 years of playing with Stef Burns touring through Italy, in 2010 we decided to have 1 year off. No tours, no new album,....just 'space.....and time' (title of SBG song on World, Universe, Infinty) Even though we picked up writing songs together; me, him and our fantastic keyboard player Fabio Valdermarin. In an earlier blog you've probably read about our demo and basic track recording in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). This time we felt the urge to continue working on this new album and start recording drums......

It worked out that it would be best to get together in Trieste (in Nothern Italy, close to the Slovenian border). Trieste itself appears to me as a very beautiful city that has a rich and cultural history. Although I didn't see much of it, due to the fact that we only had a few days to record drums, the short walks I had after dinners going from my appartement to the studio and back, gave me a little chance to see a few sights and feel the energy of Trieste! Most of it the evening, though.

To re-unite with Stef and Fabio  was absolutely fantasic! I think I can say that we've become like a great little family (pronounce with Italian accent). Our touring crew was also partly there: Nicolo and Luca, my 'fratello' in Italy.

Meeting the manager of the "Scuola di Musica 55", Gabriele Centis made us feel very welcome! And guess what? He turns out to be a great drummer....fantastic player with great independency and brush techniques; he showed me some great stuff and before we knew it we were both teaching and learning from eachother....and I have to admit: I was learning a little bit more from him then he was from me! It was such a suprising adventure that crossed our path! Also another proof that I've you are open to the world, things will come onto your path! Like little give aways....

Next thing was to meet the engineer Fulvio.....and the studio's "live room" (or how they call it in Trieste: "The Auditorium"). Also Fulvio appears to be a good drummer too who decided many years ago to focus more on the production side of music, rather then being a musician himself!

One can tell this guy has a total passion for recording; judging the microphones he uses, the way he sets them upin the recording room, how he non-equalizes the recording tracks and how well he can judge whether a track I did was good or not! It´s great to see and hear that this engineer aims for perfection in a musical way, not so much in a technical way. He´s got great ears, and even more important: a great feel for the right performance being tracked! When Fulvio gives input about timing, energy, musicality and sound, you´d better listen to his feedback, because this dude is a serious pro!! He had a clear idea where to put my drumset and how to mike the kit....the sound is unbelievable: open, clear and solid at the same time. Not a Poppy sound but a real Rock 'n Roll sound!!

With Stef and Fabio, we learned the songs by listening through before, make leadsheets, do a quick runthrough and then simply track them. After every take we discussed the actual feel of the drum track and tried to improve my performance into a certain level of perfection, that would still suite the song.

Because we are all busy and hard working musicians, it took a short time to analyse and learn the tracks This way we are able to get our performance to the highest and most solid level and everything will sound 'fresh'. Because Stef has a clear idea of what direction the songs should go into, it has been great to have him as a musical director; it's so important to have guidance to stay on a certain track once you are recording the drums!

The songs that are going to appear on our album, some of them of which we wrote together, are true rockongs, but in played a modern way. We used a clicktrack for all the songs for editing convenience, but we managed to keep that swell laid back rock feel......

There's going to be a second time to record the rest of the songs, also in Trieste. I can't tell how much I am looking forward to that. And when that will take place, I will go into details about Fulvio's miking techniques and do a little interview with him, ok? Looking forward to our next gathering....