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Here I have put together a collage of the things that have influenced and inspired me in the 6 years of playing drums. 

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My Top 5 Inspirations/ Influences

1. My Mum and Dad/ family: From the day I first said to my parents that I wanted to be a drummer they were both very supportive of my passion. They got me lessons at a local rock school and within 6 months of playing the drums they brought me my first kit. Ever since then they've always shown up to my gigs and when I couldn't drive they always took me to the gigs I was playing. And the rest of my family have always been supportive and come to as many gigs as they can. Having my families back when it comes to playing drums and music inspires me to want to be the best musician I can be.
2. Foo Fighters and AC/DC: When I was a kid I remember my parents buying the latest Foo Fighters album or AC/DC album, they would play it through their stereo in the living room, and I would jump around like a maniac. As if I was in my very own mosh pit. I think this whole time period really influenced me and made me fall in love with rock music. Which is the genre of music I like listening to and the style I love playing the most.
3. Dave Grohl: Dave Grohl has not only influenced me in the way I play ,in terms of coming up with drum hooks and playing the drums with purpose and power, but he has also been a massive inspiration to me. I think that to lose Kurt Cobain and to then start his own project, which then became one of the biggest rock bands in the world. And then for a similar circumstance to happen again with Taylor Hawkins, and again to write an album to get through the pain. Is incredibly admirable and inspirational as I think all of us go through loss, sadness and pain, and I believe Dave Grohl has really shown that music can be used as a tool to help.
4. Jeff Porcaro: Jeff Porcaro had a massive influence on my playing. He was the first drummer I had listened to that really played for the groove and feel of the song. And I think he was really a good demonstrator of less is more and how when a drum fill is used it should be to fit the song. This is something I've really tried to implement in my own playing and I now consciously try and think of playing behind, on or in front of the beat.
5. Playing to huge audiences: One of my biggest inspirations in music is to play to big crowds, whether it be in arenas, stadiums or festivals. I think this for me is what gives me drive and determination as it is something I've wanted to since the day I picked up a pair of drum sticks.

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This week I've decided to research what sort of techniques I'll need to learn and what things I need to bare in mind when recording drums for my DAW track. The things I've noticed when listening to the the track is:

1. The kick is incredibly punchy.
2. Snare has a lot of crack to it and a gated reverb.
3. With the toms there is reverb as well but it's definitely not as much as the snare.
4. There's not a lot of cymbal bleed, the cymbals seem to really stand out.

After I listened to the recorded finished track I went onto Youtube to try and find any behind the scenes in the studio, however I was unsuccessful. After this I decided to go onto the Wolfgang Van Halens instagram to see if I could find anything behind the scenes. I found a picture of the drums all set up for recording. I noticed that:

1. He's using six overheads. Two are directly above the drum kit in what looks like an X and Y position. There's two more on each side. One is angled more towards the left cymbal and high hat and the other is angled towards right crash and china, however there is another overhead on the china. The last overhead is directly above the ride.
2. With the kick drum he's using two mics. One in the hole of the kick and one outside. He's also using a pillow/ blanket over the front of the bass drum to isolate the kick sound and eliminate any bleed.
3. In terms of the drums. He's used a coated head on the snare drum with one bit of moongel to get the crack of the snare but kill some of the resonance/ring. On the toms they are also using coated heads for a warm sound. And after listening to isloated drums of some of their other songs, it sounds like the toms are tuned quite low so they don't ring as much.
4. I have also noticed that they're is a room mic.

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This week in class we answered a series of questions with a classmate about ourselves. I learnt a lot about myself in this exercise. For example when I was asked about "Who is your music for?" I discovered that my music is initially for myself and the other members of my bands. I think if you don't like what you write how can anyone else? So I think that first of all the band have to be satisfied and love the songs we create. But then I do believe that other people will like the music if they're into a genre you represent.
I think my biggest takeaway from this class came from the question "When did you last feel proud and why was this?" I answered with when my band did our first gig in six months. This was because the band had gone through a lineup change and we'd spent a week, three weeks before the gig, writing 8 songs that were complete instrumentally but had no melody or lyrics. We also reworked two of the other songs we had. So when it came round to doing the gig, we played so well and it felt like we had been a band for a couple of years not a couple of months. I felt so proud of what we had achieved in such a short amount of time and it made me realise that as musicians we are often chasing the next gig, recording, piece of equipment, and it's not very often you get to sit back and look at what you have and be content.

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Nick Raskulinecz

Genre- Rock, Hard Rock, Metal

Producer Influences- Joe Barresi, Jim Scott, Rick Rubin.

Band Influences- Metallica, Aerosmith, Alice In Chains, Van Halen, Rush, Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Era- 1995 to Present.

Key Albums- Foo Fighters: One by One, Foo Fighters: In Your Honour, Alice In Chains: Black Gives Way Blue, Rush: Snakes and Arrows, Rush: Clockwork Angels, Velvet Revolver: Contraband.

Michael "Elvis" Baskette

Genre- Rock, Hard Rock, Metal.

Era- 1990-now.

Key Albums- Mammoth WVH 1 and 2, Alter Bridge (every album since 2007), Slash, Incubus, Stone Temple Pilots, Limp Bizkit

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Case Study 1- Alter Bridge: Addicted to Pain

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Case Study 1- Alter Bridge: Addicted to Pain

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-Uses swell effect at the start of the song so that the riff has more of an affect on the audience.

-Bell sound on when the crash cymbals are hit during intro.

-Guitar has great low end punch.

-Band has two guitarists and Baskette has made the most of it with layering the guitars.

-Layered vocals with reverb.

-Guitar solo is made sure to be louder than the rest of the guitars.

-Michael Baskette is known for having really punchy kick drum, low tuned toms with barely any ring and a snare with a lot of crack to it. He adds a lot of reverb to give it the huge sound.

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Alter Bridge || Addicted To Pain (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

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Case Study 2- Mammoth WVH: Another Celebration At The End Of The World

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Case Study 2- Mammoth WVH: Another Celebration At The End Of The World

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-The drum intro really demonstrates his huge drum sound.

-Guitar is panned left and right each time to to create suspense.

-All the guitars are layered really well and each guitar part sticks out.

-Vocal harmonies are distant but can still be heard in chorus but really add depth to the song.

-Feedback used before breakdown.

-Guitar solo really stands out.

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Mammoth WVH – Another Celebration at the End of the World (Official Audio)

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-Distant vocals used in the intros.

- Quite clean reverb sound guitar.

- Backing vocals/Harmonies mixed really well.

- Guitar solo stands out.

- Drum sound sounds like more natural than the previous two songs.

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- Each guitar part is panned left and right.

- Quite compressed drum sound.

- Guitar goes to left and right at same time in pre chorus.

- Harmonies really add depth to the vocals.

- Backing vocals are really clear.

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- Acoustic strumming in the background of intro to give it momentum.

- Drum sound is really natural and the snare has a lot of crack to it.

- Every drum can be heard really clearly.

- Backing vocals have a lot of reverb on.

- Guitar has a lot of gain.

- Bass part is really clear.

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Case Study 3: Alice In Chains: Check My Brain

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Case Study 3: Alice In Chains: Check My Brain

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- Guitar has a lot of low end and the main riff is really clear throughout the song.

- When bass comes in it really makes a difference in the song.

- Vocal harmonies throughout the song are done perfectly, they don't out weigh each other, they support each other.

- Drum sound: Kick has a lot of punch to it, toms are very low and snare has a lot of crack to it.

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Both Michael Baskette and Nick Raskulinecz work primarily in the genre of rock, hard rock and metal. And I believe that the thing that stands out to me the most about these producers, is they can make these really in your face heavy rock songs, that just makes you feel great. And then you can go to another song on the album which is quite a sad song and it can just make you feel incredibly emotional. A lot of this is obviously to do with the songwriting but I do believe that without certain choices made by the producer, the song definitely wouldn’t feel the same.

This is something I really want to work into my band as we have written an albums worth of material that in same places is quite emotive so I believe it's really important that when we go in the studio we already have an idea of what we'd like to get from the songs.

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When doing research on Nick Raskulinecz I noticed that his USP is he is more than a producer. What I mean by that is if you watch any footage of him in the studio he is always in the room with the band when they're writing the demos and he is air drumming and just getting really into the music and asking them to try different things out. I think that it is very unique for a producer to be that involved in a recording process.

My USP:

I believe that my USP consists of a few unique factors. The first one is I can contribute with songwriting. I someone in my band can come up with melody for a song then I more often than not can write lyrics for that song. I did this in the summer when I did a writing session with my band. We had ten songs that were instrumentally finished but needed lyrics so we spent the week writing. I was able to write lyrics for most of the songs and even if what I wrote didn't stick, it was a good starting place. With songwriting I'm also able to help develop a song in terms of structure and what the song does next, I just get a sense/feeling of where the song needs to go. My second selling point would be that in the studio I'm able to go in and confidently record the drums. I can usually record everything that needs to be done in about 5 takes. My third and final selling point is live I'm able to not just be a drummer but a performer.

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The thing I need to improve on the most are rudiments. For me my drumming and my technique changed completely and I really started to see improvement when I started paying attention to even basic rudiments such as the paradiddle and double stroke roll. I feel that in order to improve further I need to branch out and learn as many rudiments as possible, as I just feel like having those rudiments available to use in my playing for grooves or fills will improve my playing exponentially. I think a tool that would be useful to use as well would be to learn how to read music as it will allow me to learn songs faster and also could open up doors in the future for gigs and potentially session playing.

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The skills I have are I am able to play live gigs consistently and be a good back bone for the band while also being able to become a performer. I'm also able to contribute to ssong writing in a couple of ways and I am also able to put down solid drum takes when it comes to recording.