drums and other things…

i've been thinking about pulling together a percussion video for some time. i figured it would be good practice getting reacquainted with my gadgets, not to mention my drumset. after a long, long time working on the phd, i haven't spent nearly as much time behind the drums as i'd have liked. so since i've finished up, i've been trying to set aside some time each day to get behind the kit and play. even if it's for only fifteen or twenty minutes.

this little project in particular pushed me to revisit audio recording. i spent quite some time with my zoom H2n handheld recorder trying to figure out where in the room it best captures the sound of the drums. i then had to figure out how to quantize all of the different percussion tracks, which wasn't all that difficult so long as my playing was in time. to be sure, my shaker game needs a lot of help. but i think i can get it back with a bit more practice.

and lastly, i had to put some time into reacquainting myself with video editing software. the techniques i used are easy enough, but syncing the video up with the audio was kind of tricky at moments. sadly, the compression when uploading to sites like youtube or instagram makes the timing of the video and audio seem a bit off. something to keep in mind for future videos.

ps: the shaker is oatmeal in a lock'n'lock container; the cowbell is an empty metal bucket; and the tambourine made of is coins being rattled in that same bucket.