Project 4 Task 2 - Research by Jacob Garratt-Dennis https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3 en-us 2017-10-04 10:31:41 UTC 2023-06-22 06:33:03 UTC hello@padlet.com Research jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/259900428 "When night falls, she cloaks the world in impenetrable darkness." Burzum 1993, from the Filosofem album.

Black Metal, the genre that took the forbidden darkness of man and embraced it wholly, with extreme ideologies, menacing music and fierce attitudes.

Origins

Emerging from the and New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) of the 70s, and the Thrash Metal scene of the the early 80s, Black Metal is the most extreme form of Metal and Music in general, with blast beats, dissonant harmony and lyrics ranging from cold winters, Satanism, Paganism, National Socialism and pretty much everything in between. As you would gather from what i have just stated, Black Metal is no stranger to controversy.

In the 80's many bands would form that became Proto-Black Metal. Bands such as Hellhammer and Celtic Frost from Switzerland, Sodom from Germany, Mercyful Fate from Denmark, Bathory from Sweden, and the band that actually came up with the term "Black Metal" Venom from Newcastle, England. With Venom's music and lyrics reflecting strong satanic themes and occultism, and from an intense dislike of religion came "Black Metal" as "Black" is commonly associated with the Anti-Christ and darkness, the opposite of the religions of today's "Light".

A very important part of Black Metal is a drumming technique....The blast beat. It connotes chaos, hate and high intensity. It's almost impossible to find a BM band who doesn't use a blast beat used in at least a few sections in one of their albums.
To develop the blast beat, you must invest at least 10 minutes a day to gain control and consequently, speed, it is also advised that one uses a metronome.

Regarding the vocals, in BM as the message is dark, hateful and ancient, thus, intimidating, diabolical vocals are used, here are some examples from bands from the Second Wave scene :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP897M7JuII Marduk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZmDL_PzvdY Mayhem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXYLSlq0cG4 Darkthrone

All very important second wave bands.

In the 90s, the second wave scene emerged, including names bands like Darkthrone, Burzum, Gorgoroth, Enslaved, Immortal, Urgehal, Dark Funeral and Marduk. The Second Wave would begin to take a very explicitly Satanic, Anti-Christian/Religious and Pagan stance (Enslaved) , making use of topics such as the Occult (Bathory), War (Marduk), Old Pagan Lore (Helheim) and also the weather and fantasy (Immortal). With many news articles regarding church-burnings and murders, there came much outrage at this extreme scene, it became very notorious.

The most known scene is Scandinavian Scene, which had a great deal to add, in the 80s and 90s many bands, crucial to the genre formed, such as Darkthrone (Who i will speak about in depth, as i feel that they really make up a lot of what is Black Metal and are a perfect example to use), Mayhem who in 1987 released their debut E.P "Deathcrush" and Bathory, who in 1984, contributed to the scene by using aggressive music, combined with Satanic themes, leaving a huge impact on the genre for the following decades.

Darkthrone

Darkthrone, from Kolbotn, Norway, Formed in 1986 by Gylve "Fenris" Nagell orignally as Black Death,  who in 1991, released their first full length, "Soulside Journey" (which was actually Death Metal instead of Black Metal) with very technical drumming, typical in Death Metal and conventionally polished production. This was the first and only Death Metal release that they did. Fenriz stated in 2010 in an interview Ultimate-Guitar "Modern studio technique w****** and all they lure in with their "expertise" and all bands who openly choose it. Many don't know better; they think metal should sound like a wall of guitars with some plastic click bass drums and instant gratification sound." (Rosen, 2010) 

Fenriz has also stated in an interview in Dayal Patterson's "Evolution of the Cult" book, that "It became apparent that what we got a kick out of was, to put it simply, Celtic Frost, Motörhead, and Bathory. Throughout 1990 it was more and more of this but the songs we made made were still death metal-we had 13/16 beats and s*** like that, it was almost jazz-and i was thinking in my head, 'This professionalism has to go, I  want to de-learn playing drums, I want to play primitive and simple, I don't want to play like a drum solo all the time and make these complicated riffs." (Patterson 2013)

 The band took a stand against the over-produced sound of Death Metal and instead chose to return to the more "organic" sound of the 80s and combine it with a cold and desolate feel. Naturally members left, Dag the bassist, took his leave because of the change in the band. The other guitarist, besides Nocturno Culto, Zephyrous also left, but not for the same reason as Dag left. Some have said that it's because of his Misanthropy, while Nocturno Culto has said in an interview in 2002 "I can tell you that one of the reasons why Zephyrous left the band was because he felt left outside." Smith, B (2002)

Darkthone, having been very active in the inception of Black Metal, and still to this very day! Are legends today. Having released the "Unholy Trinity", three albums of very cold and inspirational Black Metal, 92's "A Blaze in the Northern Sky", 93's "Under a Funeral Moon" and lastly 94's "Transilvanian  Hunger", these albums are often described as the pinnacle of their career. It should not be hard to understand why, the cold riffs and demonic vocals, truly make these three albums masterpieces of Black Stinking Metal.

Here, I will link some albums from Darkthrone, with Gylve Nagell (Fenriz) and sometimes Ted Skjellum (Nocturno Culto) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP_8tAPNa2Q&t=157s Fenriz "Soulside Journey" Commentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv0MJSGxIm0 Fenriz "Under a Funeral Moon" Commentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDjGbVLhoU8&t=11s Fenriz "En Vind Av Sorg" Commentary

The Rebirth of Black Metal

In 1991 Euronymous opened a record store, "Helvete", Norwegian for Hell, it was a centre-point for Black Metal, with people actually living there such as Varg Vikernes of Burzum, Bård Faust of Emperor and Euronymous himself. Many people from the scene came to Helvete to hang out and talk together about records, ideologies and sometimes crimes, in addition to this, there would be parties thrown there that often, unsurprisingly, involved some lawlessness, lots of young metalheads would come to Helvete to speak to Euronymous, to get records, it was a social place for the Black Metal scene.

In the early 90s, crime would become common in the Black Metal scene, with Euronymous stating in an interview with Kerrang! In 1992 : "I look after the economic side of things, and my record label provides the foundations. We have a group of militant people, that care of things of things that need to be taken care of." Wolmer, T (1992). Euronymous's shop was beyond doubt the reason Black Metal was established, and as many bands looked up to Euronymous and were inspired by him, consequently, more young metalheads were introduced to Black Metal and then more bands were formed.

"If you stare into the abyss for too long, the abyss stares back at you." Friedrich Nietzsche

Sources and Credits :

Rosen, S (2010). Darkthrone: 'Sound Had People Fooled; They Took It As Black Metal Album'. Available at: https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/interviews/darkthrone_sound_had_people_fooled_they_took_it_as_black_metal_album.html accessed on: 25/06/18


Darkthrone(Nocturno Culto) interview 2002

By Bradley Smith. Available at : http://www.nocturnalcult.com/Darkthroneint2.htm accessed on : 3/7/18

Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult (2013) By Dayal Patterson. Available at : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Metal-Evolution-Cult-Extreme/dp/1936239752/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530799024&sr=1-1&keywords=Evolution+of+the+cult

"We are but slaves of the one with horns" Wolmer, T (1992)
available at : http://www.burzum.com/burzum/library/articles/kerrang/

Interview with Euronymous
By Esa Lahdenpera for KILL YOURSELF! MAGAZINE.
Typed/Edited by Thorns. Available at : https://www.fmp666.com/moonlight/mayhem.html






]]> 2018-05-11 11:20:45 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/259900428 Regarding the "Sound" of Black Metal jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/265854785 In BM there is a very deliberate lo-fi sound quality, the reason for that is, the bands hated the commercial sound, it was not organic, the feel natural feel of the instruments was not there. As the 80's were progressing, bands like Hellhammer, Mayhem, Venom and Bathory :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WxzNmbrT2 Hellhammer - 
"Satanic Rites" Demo 1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC4vthHVa78 Mayhem - "Deathcrush" 1987

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzXR3umgPBc&list=RDuSlTStCPKl4&index=6 Venom - "At War With Satan" 1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dWwKDCRV8o Bathory - "The Return" 1985

had this distinct sound, the raw, more primitive sound. This sound became something special, a rebellion towards polished sound, commercial mainstream culture, it connoted the atmosphere that the bands wanted, that a polished record could not give. Dark, cold, eerie and dangerous. You don't get that feeling so much when everything sounds like it's been produced to perfection. Gold ore turn into a shiny ingot is not natural, it gets put under a process that changes it from its natural form to manufactured material, though being organic in nature, the same is with music.

The years passed by into the 90s and bands either took to either side of an extreme contrast in sound. You have the "Necro sound" which is as it means, it sounds like death, dirty, and evil, with no triggers on the bass drum, raw unmixed recordings of all aspects of a band, guitars, bass, vocals and drums, some bands didn't even use a bass, like Darkthrone's "Under a Funeral Moon" and "Transilvanian Hunger".

"A Blaze in the Northern Sky" Darkthrone's first Black Metal album, released in 1992, the actual first second wave Black Metal relase, had a very raw sound quality, very chaotic, dark and eerie, a theme which would prove to stick in their later Black Metal albums, one of the most notably being 1994's "Transilvanian Hunger" which had a blast beat for the whole album, again strengthening the simple, raw nature of the music, necro vocals and freezing guitar riffs. Fenriz stated in an interview, that whilst he was at work in winter time, pondering on the events of 1993 : Church arsons and the murder of Euronymous, a member of Mayhem, legendary role model for many young BM artists, and founder of Deathlike Silence by Count Grishnackh, another member of Mayhem and man behind Burzum, the riffs came to him.

Another direction that bands took was drastically different, for example "In the Nightside Eclipse" by Emperor, a much more technical album, featuring high speed complicated drumming, triggers, the addition of synths! (Fenriz from Darkthrone has expressed his dislike for synth in Black Metal, claiming that it strayed from the true spirit of Black Metal) and more advanced guitar playing.

A challenge I think i will face might be getting the sound to the lo-fi quality that i want. The reason i want lo-fi is because this is Black Metal and that means adversity towards mainstream culture and for that matter, polished, clean and over produced sound. If i can do this, i will be very happy.

Here is an interview with Count Grishnackh from Burzum, who explains very well the reason for this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ-J8bHK0Cs

If you comprehend this stance (anti-mainstream, trends, what's accepted by the masses), you can more clearly understand where Black Metal comes from. ]]> 2018-06-06 12:01:39 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/265854785 Drum Transcription : Gorgoroth - Profetens Åpenbaring jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/266577503

]]> 2018-06-11 10:19:01 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/266577503 Questionnaire jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/266635344 For my questionnaire, I asked the drummer, Joe Yoshida, numerous questions about his playing and technical skills and preferences, I was answered with some really good information, which I could apply to my drumming. 

The reason I asked these questions is because I wanted to learn things from Joe, as he has toured many times, and is a skilled renown drummer. Some things that I wanted to learn from him was information about his techniques, how he utilises the qualities of his sticks and what he does before and during a show. 

I was really impressed with the answers I received, he explained in 
great detail about his technique, also the reason he uses different techniques for contrasting styles and even tips about nutrition before a gig. 

For the first question, I wanted to ask Joe what genres he finds challenging because I thought it would be interesting to hear the struggles a successful drummer has with certain styles, the answer was perfect, I would expect to hear Latin as it's far from the drummer's comfort zone and requires a lot of time to be able to play it. 

Question 2-3, "What sticks do you use", these are questions that I can't not ask a drummer! As I am rather fascinated in the difference in sticks, and other minor details, like pedal settings, cymbal height and even stool height! What I wanted to get from this question was just that, why Joe chooses certain sticks for different styles, what they grant him and also what perhaps they hinder. 

I absolutely got my fill of spec-nerding in his answer, with great detail about how the weight and thickness affect the playing. I also received amazing information about the "Rebound" range by Pro-Mark, which i might just invest in, as rebound plays a huge part in my drumming. 

For question 4, I asked Joe how he has to adapt his style to what he is playing, I knew that this would go hand in hand with the latter two questions as sticking is of course essential in playing.
Something different that i got from his answer to this question, was about his foot technique, he said that he uses heel-up for the most part, but that he does occasionally use heel-down for lighter playing, since it "allows me to release the beater off the drumhead and improves the tone production of the kick." 

I was perhaps expecting a bit more about spring tension and (or) the beater's distance from the head in this question, nonetheless I am quite pleased with the information I received here.

Now, the big one! For the last question I wanted to know what "essential" things Joe would recommend a drummer does before playing a live show, i actually asked this because a a few days prior to, i played a show which did not go well, i was filling for a drummer in a friend's band and many things went wrong, but i did learn some valuable lessons! 

I find rehearsing what you are to play to be among the most important things. I didn't expect what Joe said about not finding the practise pad pre-show workout very helpful. I can see what is being said in some ways, though i do find it useful. I think that what he said about hydration is extremely important aswell as nutrition, if you don't have energy, how will you be able to play a show?  
Something i have incorporated into my warm ups recently are stretches of my inner and outer forearms, i find that it get the muscles prepared.

I loved what joe said at the end, his mantra "make it count, as if it really is your last show". I can see how this prevents one from taking a show, or anything, for granted. I can take that from this, to prepare correctly for a show, as in the past I have faced problems being ready.





]]> 2018-06-11 15:03:54 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/266635344 EP Cover jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268075153 Front :]]> 2018-06-21 09:37:50 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268075153 EP Cover jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268076379 Rear :]]> 2018-06-21 09:47:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268076379 jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268076884

]]> 2018-06-21 09:50:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268076884 jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268077359 2018-06-21 09:54:47 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268077359 Basement of Euronymous's shop "Helvete" jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268079926 Various members of the Black Metal scene came to Euronymous's shop "Helvete" and hung out and supposedly held secret meetings, these members being part of the "Inner Circle" of Norwegian Black Metal, where by some accounts, talk about Church arsons, murder and other matters were discussed.

In the early 90s, Euronymous closed the shop, because of the unwanted attention that he was getting from the Police from Varg Vikerness's arrest for arson.

After Euronymous shut the shop, it became a Café, but the people in the Café did not like the look of young Metalheads coming into the place to visit the basement, so the Café closed, and once again it became a place of darkness....Currently named "Neseblod" in Oslo. Many metalheads from all over the world visit this shop out of burning desire to experience the enviroment that the originators of Northern Darkness dwelt in.
]]> 2018-06-21 10:18:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268079926 Gorgoroth "Under the Sign of Hell" jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268080177 For this project, I have chosen to cover "Profetens Åpenbaring" by Gorgoroth from their album "Under the Sign of Hell". The reason that I have chosen this, is because from the first time I heard this band, they put me under a spell, their music is dark, epic and awesome!! Here is a link to the original version of the song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rH0oP7B_k0
]]> 2018-06-21 10:20:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268080177 Bathory's Self Titled jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268080302 This is the album that the song I am covering "Necromansy" features on. I chose this song from this band because Bathory were the first to incorporate the Black Metal sound with the Aesthetic
This is a link to the original version : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdXx0A1sugI
]]> 2018-06-21 10:21:25 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268080302 My Un-edited Versions jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268081260 My Final version are in my main Project 4 Padlet page, under : "My E.P"
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1O0jUsAsBeQ4fbXJUZVvHdrQEomD1FOLn]]> 2018-06-21 10:27:52 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268081260 Review of My Original Recording /version of Gorgoroth jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268337811
Drums - 
sticking: I feel that my sticking has improved massively since our first rehearsal, and that my technique has benefitted from the practise that I have done in my own time (triplets at 120-130 BPM), as I have gone from only whipping motion, which felt rather sloppy, to fingers and whipping motion. I am pleased with how the hi-hat and ride hits are in the recording, I feel that I've kept time well. 

bass drum: Since the first rehearsals, I was rather worried that my feet weren't going fast enough, but I kept practising and I did get them to the speed that I wanted. On the recording, I am extremely happy with how to bass drum sounds, it is more or less consistent, and that's good enough for me!

timing: The first handful of rehearsals that we did, I used a metronome through a little speaker, which was "okay" but we still found ourselves losing time, so on the day we recorded, I used a metronome through my moniters (inner ear metronome) and that made everything ten times tighter than before. What a revelation that was!

dynamics: There weren't any dynamics in our playing because we didn't want any, we wanted it to be an assault.

character: The character of our track was aggressive, epic and raw, it was to my liking and i really liked the drum sound, being so violent, and the guitar sounding like it was being emitted from a dark dungeon, deep underground. 

Guitar - 
strumming: Mik's guitar playing was perfect for what we wanted to do, it kept this visceral feeling to it, though some parts were off, i loved it. It somehow got across what we wanted, which was, rust! The corrosive feeling of rusty metal. 

chords: Like i said above, some notes were off, but this was a good thing as it enhanced the affects.

timing: The timing is very good on this recording, good thing i used that inner ear metronome!

Group: 
timing : I must add that i have learned to play with an inner ear metronome which ensured good timing and allowed the guitarist to keep in time with the drums.

togetherness: We played very tightly together, i am happy about that.


]]> 2018-06-24 13:05:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268337811 Review of My Original Recording / version of Bathory jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268338100
Drums - 

sticking: I think that my sticking is good in this song, I used the Moeller technique which uses a whipping motion. 

timing: For this song, I think the timing was good in the main sections, but when in was counting us in, I now realise that i wasn't keeping to the song's opening drum section! Which was rather silly, but this i can learn from. I still think that it sounds good, because it sounds rusty. For the main sections in the song, my timing was perfect. 

dynamics: For this song, I wanted no dynamics, because I did not want our material to sound like what is mainstream!

character: The character that the drums had was very war like, I think this because the bass drum hits actually sound like a cannon! I am very happy that I got this sound, not using any effects, but placing the mic in front of the bass drum. 

Guitar - 
strumming: I am happy with Mik's guitar work, i think that we both got a bit confused at some points, but overall I am happy with it, it sounds how it should.

timing: The timing was under strain at some points in the track, this was partly because of me, not remembering to keep the hi-hat count when the song was changing sections, and partly because Mikołaj was struggling to pick as fast as the song was.

character: I love the guitar sound here, because it sounds so raw! On purpose, I placed the mic quite a distance away from the amp, which already had reverb on it. The result was very sinister and eerie.
                                                                                   
Group: 
timing : The timing was good for the most part, only in the intro and change was it somewhat foggy. We could improve it by practising these parts alone so we have more experience doing them.]]> 2018-06-24 13:11:38 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268338100 The Logo of Deathlike Silence, Euronymous's Record Label jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268338528
In the Norwegian Black Metal scene, there was strong opposition towards mainstream culture in all of its forms (hence the phrases : No fun, no core, no mosh and no trends). Also, we see an image of Anton LaVey, the founder of "The Church of Satan" overlayed with an "anti" sign, the reason for this is that Anton LaVey's "Church of Satan" was a life affirming, atheist organisation, members of the Norwegian scene hated this, as it is not Satanism, it's atheist life-loving group, and a church!

In an interview with Euronymous, he says : "I believe in a horned devil, a personified Satan. In my opinion all the other forms of Satanism are b*******. I hate that some people think up idiotic ways of making eternal peace in the world and dare to call it Satanism, like so many do. Satanism comes from religious Christianity, and there it shall stay. I'm a religious person and I will fight those who misuse His name. People are not supposed to believe in themselves and be individualists. They are supposed to OBEY, to be the SLAVES of religion."

Interview with Euronymous
By Esa Lahdenpera for KILL YOURSELF! MAGAZINE.
Typed/Edited by Thorns. Available at : https://www.fmp666.com/moonlight/mayhem.html
]]> 2018-06-24 13:21:47 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268338528 Review of Finalised Audio jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268338823 For the edited versions of my tracks, my mission was to just enhance the rawness of the songs, I wanted to make the tracks sound more aggressive, chaotic and rustier. 

I did this by using the EQ to make it just that bit more low-fi, i think it has worked, it was very easy, as the original recording was already quite low-fi, so all I had to do was bring the rawness out further. 

I have also used a limiter, to stop the recordings from being dangerously loud, I knew that I had to do this when I first heard them, they were tremendously loud and ominous!

EQ]]> 2018-06-24 13:28:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268338823 Drum Technique, Personal Preferences and Potential Injury jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268447736 I have been drumming since i was a child, (ten or more years) but it has only been in these last two years that I have really gone in-depth and found what works for me and what doesn't.

I like playing with 5a drum sticks because I have found the rebound that they give to be perfect for what I mainly play, metal. I use my fingers a lot, to control the stick and activate the rebound. The rebound works splendidly for blast beats, at very fast speed (180+ in my experience) but I do not use fingers so much when I am play tempos under 150 BPM, because you simply don't need to, you can just use your wrists, albeit combined with fingers to utilise the rebound.

In the last few years, I have developed an obsession with the technical aspects of the kick drum pedals, like spring tension, I used to absolutely loathe not being able to play two rapid Bonham notes on a pedal at a high speed, it used to drive me crazy, I didn't like the loose and heavy feeling of the hits. I eventually got double pedals and delved right into customising it! These pedals have a direct drive, which is, instead of a chain, a metal link connecting the footboard and the beater, and I could feel the difference already, it felt so good, but still not complete, so I therefore changed the spring tension, making it tighter, and I figured out that to play like this, I would certainly have to get used to it before going tighter. After a while, indulging my love of extreme metal music (mainly death metal at the time) playing along to songs by Amon Amarth, I realised that i needed even higher spring tension, so after some time i got used to that. I found this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDJXH_EHke8 

I was inspired, and I spent a long time practising, obtaining a healthy balance of speed and control, at this time, the only place i could practise was at my drum teacher's studio, which, as i was living in Spain at the time, meant asking my Dad if he could take me across the border to Gibraltar (where my teacher's studio was), I would sit on that drum stool and try to keep up to songs, which was unfair to myself, so I got very unmotivated for a while. 

When i moved to back to England, after being accepted into ACM, i spent along time playing drums, before term started, and i worked out that bass drum head tension was also very essential. I started adjusting the head's tension and i would begin to realise that this greatly affected how fast the beater would spring back for the next hit, this should certainly be described as a revelation. Soon after, I figured out that stool height was also just as crucial to having the feeling I wanted on the bass pedals, for example, if I have the stool set lower down, my heels are more intact with the floor and the footboards of the pedals, which gives a more impactful feeling, whereas if I set the stool higher, my heels will not come into contact with the pedals, it will just be the upper half of my feet, which while it does seem to enable me to play faster, it doesn't feel quite right, but maybe I should try it out and see if I can warm into it.

For my set up, i like to have my cymbals very close to me and low, so i don't strain when i go to play them. I have heard many times "make your playing as easy and fun as possible" but i never understood it to be honest, but now i do, instead of making things hard for myself, I've chosen to make my drumming as energy efficient as possible. I have my toms directly in front of the snare, preferably with no gap in between them, or at least a tiny one, I find this extremely useful for playing 180+ BPM Metal, as i have to move around VERY quickly, for fills at this Tempo, there is no chance i'm going to let myself strain, that's where injuries happen. Some injuries that i know of in Drumming are Tendonitis and Repetitive Strain Injury, a technique is not just a fancy thing that enables you to play faster, it enables you to keep drumming. ]]> 2018-06-25 10:52:29 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268447736 jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268563758 Limiter]]> 2018-06-26 07:19:35 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268563758 Drum Transcription : Bathory - Necromansy jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268964666 2018-06-29 11:54:21 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/268964666 Transcriptions of My Chosen Pieces jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269065544 For my project, there were no drum scores for either of my songs, and so I have chosen to transcribe the two songs that I am covering. This has proved to be an immense task, and a bit of me regrets starting it, but it will help me in terms of my musician skills and my grades. I will post the two scores here when i finish them. 

As I was in the process of creating these transcriptions, I encountered many challenges, such as the software not placing the notes where I wanted them to be, having difficulty working out which notes certain drums fell on and also to my surprise not knowing until late that it is possible to copy and paste bars. This sped things up a lot, and I am sure that it has shown me to ease up on the perfectionism. Also, I was finding doing all of the layers of bass drums, rests, toms, snares and cymbals on a bar to bar basis, extremely difficult, and so, I found it easier to do the rest of the score with the base beat so I could modify it afterwards. This enabled me to work far more efficiently, both time and work wise.

I have learned a lot about notes and rests, from using them as opposed to only studying them and their values. ]]> 2018-07-01 09:29:21 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269065544 Performance Notes jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269066213 My accomplice and I used these to make sure that we played tightly together.


I worked out the sections of each song and wrote the number of bars in each section down, labelling sections in alphabetical order to help us distinguish which section we were to play. 

I did this because having the sections written down is, in my experience, better than relying on your mind, because you may have nerves or any other type of distraction hindering your ability to remember.

We placed these sheets on music stands in clear sight, so if we needed them, they were there. It worked really well and ensured that we always played tightly together.]]> 2018-07-01 09:49:40 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269066213 Questions for Eamon Bicknell jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269066781 Question 1 : What was the idea behind your project?

Question 2 : Did you manage your time effectively?

Question 3 : Looking back, what were the main challenges in this project? 

Question 4 : What songs did you choose?

Question 5 : How did your rehearsals go?

Question 6 : How did you feel prior to your performance?

Question 7 : How did you feel during your performance?

Question 8 : What went well?

Question 9 : What did not go well?

Question 10 : What would you do differently next time?]]> 2018-07-01 10:10:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269066781 Interviews jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269250362 I wrote these interview questions for when I interviewed my other performer to be prepared, organised and to make sure that I covered everything I wanted in the interview.

Post interview thoughts

These mock interviews helped very much as I was more confident after running through them with someone, I felt comfortable describing stages of my work , what my thoughts were on it and what I could do to improve it.]]> 2018-07-03 09:20:44 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269250362 Interview : Rauði jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269252656 This is my trial run interview. ]]> 2018-07-03 09:49:19 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269252656 Performance Interview Script jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269252945 2018-07-03 09:53:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269252945 How My Research Has Contributed to My E.P jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269470152 EVERYTHING in my research has been geared towards fully understanding the genre of Black Metal. This has helped me in terms of my mind set, attitude and beliefs. It is said that Black Metal can be dangerous as it forms beliefs and ideologies that can be challenging to others and that it is only for strong characters, this is absolutely true. For me, I found it challenging, forging and cathartic. On the journey I have also developed new skills as an artist. I have developed my drum style and technique, I have learned to write scores using Sibelius and I have learned and developed my knowledge of music production. ]]> 2018-07-05 12:17:07 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269470152 Album Art for "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" - Darkthrone jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269587297 These three album artworks were sign of the start of something different, all of the albums at the time (early 90s) featured colours and young death-metallers in sneakers, as Black Metal was still at its inception.

This change connoted the start of the Black Metal scene and the invasion it would begin.]]> 2018-07-06 21:41:41 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269587297 Album Art for "Under A Funeral Moon" - Darkthrone jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269587347 2018-07-06 21:43:13 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269587347 Album Art for "Transilvanian Hunger" - Darkthrone jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269587496 2018-07-06 21:47:09 UTC https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269587496 Mayhem and Darkthrone at helvete. jg7198 https://padlet.com/jg7198/cgxs60k7mdg3/wish/269935120
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