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Online Drum Tracks: Aquarian Drumheads And eDrumSessions.com, Part 1As a professional online session drummer, I record online drum tracks in many different styles. This may require different drumhead choices, so it is important for me to have many drumhead choices. In this two-part article series I will describe some of the Aquarian products I use when recording online drum tracks at eDrumSessions. I am not being compensated by Aquarian for this article. However, in the interest of full disclosure I will mention that I am an endorser of Aquarian products. I use Aquarian drumheads in any situation which I have control to do so, and that would certainly would apply to online drum tracks I do through eDrumSessions. In this first installment, the following products I use for online drum tracks will be covered: Texture Coated, Classic Clear, American Vintage, Modern Vintage, Texture Coated with Power Dot, Jack DeJohnette signature, and Super Kick 1. All of these are one-ply models I use for online drum tracks. Lets begin with good old Texture Coated heads. Texture Coated heads are my first choice for general playing. The Aquarian coating process has become the industry leader. Chipping almost never happens, and the sound of brush “sweeps” remain nicely even-sounding through many recordings of online drum tracks. It is advantageous to have the surface not get too smooth too fast from brush playing. I also use Classic Clear heads. Using them as bottom tom heads is a given. If I need more articulation out of my toms, I go to the Classic Clear heads as batter heads as well. I tend to favor the warmth of coated heads in general, but some online drum tracks may call for intricate tom work. One can always tune coated heads tighter to achieve more articulation, but that may not be the best option depending on the style of music. The Classic Clear heads are very useful if I need to tune the toms low but still need a lot of articulation. Again, I default to coated heads. “Tribal” tom work, for instance, can lose some of its weight with clear heads. This is applicable to all clear heads from any manufacturer, not just Aquarian. The last time I used Classic Clear heads for online drum tracks was on a song for a client from Azerbaijan. The song was an up-tempo, fusion-esque song that called for a lot of articulate tom work, as well as some soloing on my part. I went for the Classic Clears to get that articulation. Although some warmth was sacrificed, for that particular piece of music it was a wise choice. I have also gotten good results using them on my Ludwigs for a Bonham-esque sound for with of my online drum tracks clients. American Vintage heads are slightly larger in diameter to fit vintage drums. They have a special coating that is different than the Texture Coated heads. The coating is more textured, which means louder brush sweeps. This is not usually a concern for online drum tracks, but it is helpful live. The coating on the American Vintage model sounds warmer than Texture Coated heads. Of course some of the attack is minimized, unless they are tuned really tightly. They sound great tuned tightly for straight-ahead jazz music. These heads also sound amazing on my vintage Ludwigs, tuned in any range. They sound beautifully warm and “squishy” when tuned down low, and are a great choice for online drum tracks that require few but dramatic tom hits. Modern Vintage heads have the same general properties as American Vintage, but are made to fit modern drums. This enables me to get a vintage sound out of a modern kit for online drum tracks. In Part 2 of this series, I will discuss my use of Texture Coated with Power Dot heads, Jack DeJohnette Signature heads, and Super Kick 1 heads on online drum tracks. eDrumSessions Custom Drum Tracks Recommended In New Book By A&R BigwigThe below link is from an Aquarian Drumheads website Artist News post. eDrumSessions founder Shay Godwin, a Los Angeles session drummer, has been mentioned in a new book by Robin Frederick, former head of A&R at Rhino Records. Frederick’s book, “Shortcuts To Songwriting For Film And TV”, follows her bestseller “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting: 126 Proven Techniques for Writing Songs That Sell”. In the book, Frederick recommends that composers and songwriters use eDrumSessions.com for drum tracks that will raise the quality and professionalism of their music. Read more on the Aquarian website. Bln.kr Is Like A “Hootsuite For Bands”A recently-developed program called Bln.kr is helping artists share music to all their social networks from one platform and monitor audience feedback. Bln.kr is highly useful on a time management level, as artists need to be active on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Managing multiple platforms takes time, and Bln.kr saves you a lot of time by consolidating everything on to one dashboard. Another advantage is the real-time display of plays, downloads, ratings, comments, etc. That way artists can monitor fan reactions to new material. Also, one does not have to toggle between windows (Twitter, YouTube, FB, etc) when interacting with fans as it is all on one dashboard. Some of my online drum track clients have used this service to promote their music, with success. Check it out! Session Drummer Shay Godwin Mentioned In Review Of TNB AlbumSession drummer Shay Godwin was mentioned in this review of TNB’s “Heroes Are Human”. The album was recorded entirely at eDrumSessions studios, where composers and songwriters can get the very best online drum tracks available. Online Drum Tracks Benefit from New Full-Range Drumhead Film from AquarianOnline drum tracks from eDrumSessions.com have been benefitting from Aquarian’s new “Full-Range” drumhead film. Session drummer Shay Godwin, founder of eDrumSessions, is an Aquarian endorser. As an endorser, Godwin has been receiving heads with the new film previous to its retail release. The new “Full-Range” film has added more clarity and brightness to the Aquarian drumhead sound. This has been accomplished without losing any of the amazing low end “beef” that Godwin appreciates. The eDrumSessions online drum tracks sound has just gotten even more mega than it already was. |
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