At Odds with Nerves

It has been about 20 years since I last sat in a recording studio and worked through songs over and over until its right, waited for the other players to do the same while drinking coffee and playing pool to kill time. It was a great experience for me. I learned so much about the recording process and was in awe of the recording environment and the equipment used. I recall reading a book about audio and sound at the time. It detailed out frequencies audible by humans and at what levels of loudness they are generally perceived by the human ear. The Fletcher-Munson curve is one of the graphs in the book and it is used by Sound Engineers to improve the recording. This graph shows that lower and higher frequencies are less perceivable and require higher volume levels in the recording or playback process.

Photo Courtesy Lance Troian

20 years ago I was an idiot. Not necessarily for anything I did or didn't do, but I was 20 years younger and more stupid than I am now (though some would argue I am still as thick as two short planks). That said, I was at Woody's place recording his original songs last week. His 'recording studio' is like many others of this era. In his basement with a mixer and a 12 track Korg recorder. I set up my drums and microphones and started recording as best as possible. The previous week I used Rhythm Rascal, a software application for creating drum patterns, to create the dummy drum track for 2 of the songs. I created the basic drum parts that matched the songs patterns and sent it to Woody. He used it with one of the songs to record the guitar parts and together they became the bed track for all other instruments to play to in the recording process.
 Since the guitar part was recorded to a click or electronic drum line, the drums needed to be recorded. In the 20 years that passed since my last recording experience, I must have forgotten how different it is to play live versus being recorded. When I am playing live and a mistake is made, I can usually cover it up and carry on without notice. If I miss a drum or I miss the beat by a fraction, it may be noticeable, but is forgotten by the next bar or phrase. Recording is definitely another bowl of goats. You can't miss a drum or be out of time because that mistake will be played over and over (and over if we become famous). 
 After about an hour, going through the same song, trying to get the recording perfect, I found myself nervous. Not because I was worried that Woody and Lance thought I was useless (the only two listening to me at the time), but because I was half way through the song and hadn't made a mistake. My muscles tensed and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I started getting that nervous shaking that comes when you are about to make a speech in front of thousands of literary academics ( I'm guessing). Once I noticed the flying larvae in my Santa belly I had a good chuckle at myself. I found it amusing that after all of the playing experience, I still get nervous when I play.  At this point I still have a minute or so left in the song that I am recording and I am trying to relax and play what I want and need to play to get a great track down. Breath, think about my parts, play on time, DON'T F***-UP!  I did manage to finish without incident and it may end up being the final take.
 The recording sessions were at the end of three weeks of a busy farm and work schedule. My wife and I were in Vermont acting as judges for a Cashmere Goat competition, I worked days and nights to get a new virtual application environment running for a client, we were cleaning pens and barns to get ready for breeding season, Becky was training a cow to be milked for a buyer and we setup our booth at a Fibre Festival to show and sell our yarn.

Little Breakthroughs

The past week has had a good share of enlightening moments. It started last Saturday in Kitchener at the KW Knitters Fair. My wife and I setup as vendors, selling our Cashmere yarn and complimentary products. It's a fairly big publicly attended event catered to Knitters, etc and we always do well selling our products. While I was tending our booth, I noticed that many of the ladies walking through were wide-eyed with beaming smiles. During a conversation with one woman who was looking at our products, I pointed out that everyone seemed to be very happy. She said to me that, for knitters, being able to walk around a huge venue full of wonderful fibre that they can experience with all of their senses - it was better than chocolate!  'nuf said.
In the quiet moments that day, I was trying to figure out what I needed to do to improve my drum rolls - particularly the left hand.  Nothing was entering my little head, so we packed up and headed home - 2 hour drive to find a sick yearling cashmere goat when we landed at the farm. An after hours Vet call was necessary, but luck was with us and our Vet was on call. The goat was successfully saved and is recovering nicely. 
Throughout the next week I read and watched videos of drummers playing and teaching drum rolls. After watching some Buddy Rich I was particularly intrigued with the four-stroke he plays with his left hand. He plays traditional grip, but I play matched grip, so watching his technique or instructional video for traditional grip does not help me. 
By Tuesday I had not found any helpful info and decided to try to figure something out on my own.  One of the traditional grip techniques that I came across had you move your second and third finger back and forth under the stick to create an extra bounce at a quick pace. I tried to apply that thinking to my matched grip left hand and came up with an idea to squeeze the second, third and pinky finger up into my palm in a sequential order. The technique would be as follows: play the first stroke normally, action the first bounce with the second finger, action the second bounce with the third finger and action the third bounce with the pinky. That will create a four-stroke roll that can be played quickly - with enough practice. I grabbed a stick and hit the bed and tried the new idea. My fingers were either completely uncooperative or just plain spastic. But I felt it could work, so I kept at it. The more practice, the less spastic and the more cooperative.  I only had time to practice a few minutes at a time a couple of times a day.
My practice time was limited by the work I was doing at my `real` job. I was assigned a project to install and configure the relatively new Virtual Desktop management tool called VDI-in-a-Box from Kaviza (now owned by Citrix). I have built other Desktop Virtualization environments, but it was a first for me with VIAB. Also this week I was migrating, transitioning a client`s messaging server from a stand-alone box to a fully fault-tolerant and load balanced solution. I learned much.
That gets me to the whole point of this blog post. After a week of limited but efficient practice, I improved my double and quad-stroke roles greatly. I was enlightened by many great drummers old and new, Buddy Rich, Peter Erskine, a few unknowns on Youtube and Gil Sharone. If you haven`t heard or seen Gil Sharone - google him! 
 I found a way to improve my speed and consistency and now have a great technique to practice (and practice).  
My `little breakthrough`at the end of the week came when I was practicing to random songs on my MP3 player (Blackberrry Torch). I have a playlist of songs I want to practice as they have some techniques I like to work on. I always choose shuffle and jam out to what ever starts playing.  After warming up with four stroke rolls at 114bpm I started the MP3`s. Ex Girlfriend by No Doubt blasted through my headphones first. I can`t think of any specific technique i want to practice in that song - I just  LOVE playing it. A Led Zeppelin song and a couple of Rush songs played, then Tight Rope by the late great Stevie Ray. For as long as I can remember that song has made me sing and play air drums and other weird stuff.  But I have never been able to grasp the groove the drummer is playing. The shuffle is thick and has been elusive for me. The Snare strokes never seem to stop, like he`s playing the snare with both hands - but there is a sweet high-hat pattern on top. When I started playing to it that night - I had it. The four-stroke roll is the technique that makes that song, and I was able to play it - for the first time EVER. My stroke is nowhere as smooth, but I had it - which means I can practice and improve it until it does sound as good. 
Drumming is about making small strides throughout a lifetime of playing, always trying to improve just a little bit at a time. It`s those little breakthroughs that keep me interested.

Luck vs Success

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
~ Thomas Jefferson

 When I first read this I thought it made sense, however as I contemplated some more I began to realize it's just a motivational phrase. I have had some luck, but much more success. As far as hard working people go, I am not an all-day -  all-nighter. I do enjoy both physical and mental challenges and it seems that I also like to take on more work/play than I have time for. 
When I think back a bit, it wasn't luck that the Barn foundation happened to be finished the day before we brought 1000 bales of hay into it. It wasn't luck that I finished my Microsoft Server certification and landed a job with an IT firm in Markham. It wasn't luck that LivingRoom Experience asked me to be a member of their band. 
It was luck when it didn't rain on my hay after baling it, but it wasn't luck that we frantically loaded it all onto trucks and trailers and drove it under cover - avoiding the rain.
Hard work brings success, luck is just part of life.
I have heard some say  'I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time'. There are elements of truth there. But if you didn't get off your ass to be at the right place at the right time and have the 'right stuff' (which takes work) - you would have been 'Out Of Luck' !
Luck can smack you in the soft cheeks sometimes without you realizing it. In that case, it takes work to realize when a lucky opportunity presents itself (and therefore is no longer luck).
After that philosophical hogwash - its time for a glass of wine and a nap.

"Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of genius."
~ Robert Heinlein

Entertaining weekend

When I say Entertaining weekend, I mean 'Holy Crap'!  Friday morning started early - farm chores, then rounding up goats and sheep to load on the truck and trailer destined for Quebec. It might have been easier if the livestock were all in one pen but we had to collect them from 5 separate pens. After an hour and a half of catching and carrying them to the truck, we were drenched in sweat and body-tired. But it was worth it, 18 animals traveled to new homes in Ontario and Quebec. Also in the trailer was all of our fibre inventory. The main cause of the trip east was the Festival Twist Fibre event where we had a booth assigned as a vendor to sell our precious cashmere, alpaca/cashmere blends and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep wool. My wife and a friend hopped in the fully loaded truck and headed off (later than expected). 
I was left to finish chores, then focus on my real job. 
That night was another excellent practice with LivingRoom Experience. Another new original hit the instruments and we were all very happy with the initial results. I am working on some double-bass technique now that I decided to take the plunge and buy a double pedal.
Saturday I was alone on the farm  and took care of the usual chores - just another day - EXCEPT... I had to milk a cow. Hmm, never done that before. Well, at the end of that routine I figured I did OK because both the cow and I were still alive. 'nuf said.
The rest of Saturday consisted of my 'real job', looking after a weekend project that should have been planned a little better by the client we were dealing with. As much as I would like to get that whole ordeal of my chest, I am just going to say 'Thank the drum gods for Saturday night'!

The annual party at the neighbours was the scene in the picture above. Dr Crane is playing as they have the last 2 years and doing an excellent job of entertaining and playing great tunes. Lance and I walked up to catch the band before they went on. Dave Campbell (drummer) provided some thoughts on drumming after I asked a few questions.
Phil: Are those shoes what you wear when drumming?
Dave:  I dunno...
Phil: I wear an old pair of Converse All-Stars because I like the flat sole.
Dave: I dunno... Well, I used to wear moccasins, but the guys in the band said 'Why do you wear moccasins?' . I said 'I dunno' and now I wear normal running shoes. It really doesn't make a difference.
Phil: Ya - I wore crappy sandals to practice once. I played for a bit and thought - 'Ya... I still suck"
Dave: I used to pour coke on my foot pedal boards, for better grip. The guys in the band said 'What are you doing that for? Don't they have enough grip?' I thought - ya. so I stopped doing that.
Phil: Are you going to add any items to your kit?
Dave: No, I would like to remove a few. 
Phil: I am adding my electronic pads for fun sounds.
Dave: I have an electronic kit I use for smaller gigs. Once we where playing on a cruise and there was so much beer on the floor that when the ship tipped in our direction the beer pool was so high it caused my kick and floor tom to stop working.
Phil: Shit, that's funny.  What size are the pads on your electronic kit? 
Dave: I dunno - 10"
Phil: I like 8" because I have short arms. I play like one of those dinosaurs... 'big head, short arms... arrgghh!'

The host of the event is in the picture as well and deserves a big Thank You for the great party - Pig roast, corn, cash bar and live band. It was an outstanding night weather wise, the neighbours always attend, friends that we haven't seen for years seem to show up out of the blue and everyone has a good time. Ego's and testosterone seem to be vacant from this event every year -  just a lot of great people having fun.  That was Saturday night!  Oh ya, I had to get on a couple of conference calls for work during the evening, but it was hard to hear :).

Anyway - I want to give a big shout out to Gord and Ash for a super evening. The Picture above is of the party barn taken from my farm. The Barn is bottom right, the night is everywhere.

Where did July go?

It's mid-August now and plenty has happened since the Canada Day gig. Several hay fields cut and baled, the hay mower finally packed it in, 2 bulls and several does went to new homes. Kids and lambs are being weaned (most of the screaming has now ceased), the kitchen sink is back in and the pigs have doubled in size.

 

I have also been practicing some new original songs with the band and trying to polish the current ones. It is always as much fun to try new things in practice and screw up as it is to play live and not screw up. Sometimes it takes a lot of trial-and-error to find the right sounds and rhythm, and sometimes it comes quick. In 'Friends', I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to play the bass pattern. The problem was that my foot couldn't do what I wanted it to. But after a few months of practice, I was able to play the three quick beats that gives it a bit of a funky blues feel. 

One of the things I like about working with Woody and Lance is the fact that I have some freedom and can take liberties in practice until I find the structure I want to use in the song. And the more sounds I can produce and space I can fill, the happier they are; the happier I am.

Canada Day 2012

Canada Day, 2012

    

Photo Courtesy Stacey Latour

After a frustrating Saturday, cutting hay on a new field full of large rocks, breaking knives and bending the knife guards, having the drive chain fall off and breaking more knives, in a very hot and humid, sun filled hay field, I felt as though I had been through an iron-man tri-athalon. My left hand blistering from sweat on the steering wheel, my shoulders became tense and sore from constantly looking back at the hay mower (to see if was broken again) and my index finger needed recovery from a metal splinter I had to remove with tweezers.

But Sunday was much different. Sunday I loaded the car with my drumkit and headed down to the beautiful Couchiching Beach park in Orillia. It was sunny, but slightly cooler and there was a gently cool breeze off the lake. The stage was under a tree in the shade and crowds of people and families were enjoying all of the events, games, rides and vendors. 

Setup went well but we only had 15 minutes to get our gear on-stage, powered up and get started. Unfortunately my electronic drums were not coming through the main speakers. After replacing cables and Direct-Input devices, the sound men finally got it working and we were playing the first song as our sound check. So ... no sound check.

About 45 minutes later our set was complete and we felt good about it. There were a couple of small flubbs, but probably unnoticeable. I was particularly happy with our original song 'Friends' (see link below). The groove was stellar. My bass drum foot was doing what I wanted, Lance (on Bass guitar) was in the pocket and Woody's axe was razor sharp.

The band would like to thank Steve Parkes and Jesse Parkes for the sound production, Stacey Latour (my sister-in-law) for the video and still pictures, and our family and friends for the enthusiastic support.

Please check out some video footage of the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9wo7PWN0d0&feature=plcp


 

Upcoming Show

The last several days have been good for the band. We were asked to play in the Canada Day Festivities at Orillia's Couchiching Beach Park. For me, its an opportunity to find out if my live performance equals my practice performances. There is quite a difference between jamming with the boys and live stage. In the basement with Lance and Shawn, I let it go - I don't really care what comes out and I am looking for sounds and rhythms that fit the song. Keeping time for the guys is key, but sometimes that gets lost when I am trying something new. 
The Couch Beach show will be the first show with the electronic triggers added to the main kit. I'll post a picture when I get it set up there. 
An update on my previous post is that I added another hand trigger in Welcome To the Machine. At the beginning, before the drums come in full, I play a right hand trigger in the Junk Yard Roland Kit and the Left Foot trigger on opposite beats, to really give a piston Push-Pull sound. I play it on top of the bass guitar playing up and down octaves. 
What also came of out of the request to play at Couch Beach was the hurried but thoughtful creation of the band Name. A few ideas were tossed around and brainstormed, and in the end we decided on LivingRoom Experience.
All three of us were dedicated and long time members of 'Johnny Flamingo and the Livingroom Experience'. Since none of us were Johnny Flamingo, and the name is not only well known ( in these parts), but also the fact that there were many fans of Lance, Woody and me as the backup to Johnny Flamingo, it made some sense. Not a terrible name either. 
With that decided I registered the domain names  livingroomexperience.ca, livingroomexperience.com and lrx.ca.  We'll have a web site up soon (need some decent pics first).