This is what I have to look forward to.

Thanks Kristy!

Snare Re-Doins Pt. II

Project number 2 was just finished yesterday! I took my sweet ass time with this one. I've been lazy. It happens! It also doesnt help when I go to get heads, finally, and they are out of Hazys. What can you do?

This bad boy is a 14x7 steel Tama Rockstar snare. Rockstars usually arent the best thing on the market, but I really like this snare drum. It looks like a serious beast. Appears so much larger than my 14x7 yamaha birch. Its strange. 

BEFORE:

This is the kind of stuff I was dealing with! WHO DOES THIS!?

Again, I didnt really DO much. I just took everything off and then just used Brasso to just shine everything up. Nothing really all THAT special, but I think it came out pretty good, yet again. The finish could have come out a little bit better. It almost seems a bit scratchy or foggy? maybe? I dont know if its something I did. I used a green pad, it wasnt rough at all, but it had a little something to it. So maybe thats what did it. It had too much shit all over it and like, deposits? stuck all over the steel. Using an ordinary rag didnt seem like it would do anything for it. So I went with one of those green pads. No idea what its called, but it comes on the back of sponges to do dishes with, know what im saying?

Here is was it looks like now!

Now as for tuning. I went with the standard, using the dial of course. Bottom head 82, top 85. I think it sounds pretty good. Its a looser tuning than what I like but im not use to steel snares nor their tuning, but after I played around on it a little bit and heard it mixed with everything, its pretty good. Id like to re-do it again in the future with a tighter tuning, maybe 85 bottom, 90 top. I think thats what I use for my yamaha.

Then again, I assume steels are supposed to be tuned lower. Essentially im going for that Death Cab For Cutie sound with it. If you listen to "summer skin" off Plans or "grapevine Fires" off Narrow Stairs, youll know what I mean. Thats what I was going for. Something loose, little ringy, long sustain, give you lots of play for stick work.

Its loud as fuck when you really bang on it too, so overall I guess thats just its nature. Ill see what happens in a couple months. I would really like to re-do it and tune it differently.

FINALLY!

Trick 'R Treat is coming out! New trailer was just released! Ive been waiting since 2007 for this movie! after last years hold up, I wait NO LONGER! Perfect for this coming Halloween! Although I do believe its going to be straight to DVD and not be released in theaters, like it should be.

Unmissed Conncections

So theres a new band out, they have a new song up. This part is no big deal really. Though they blogged about, what im guessing, is the whole meaning to this new song. Who these people are, what band they were in, what band they are all in now, doesnt really matter. The whole point of me even blogging this, is to remember it. When the blog, the band, the people, me, are all gone. I read this and much like a lot of the things I've ever read in the past and probably will read in the future, a light bulb went off.

Now I wouldn't say that I have a hard time expressing myself on certain views when asked but sometimes other people just say better shit, so, fuck it. I read this and felt very much in tune with what was said. This persons views, whether they are true or fictional for the sake of song. Whether this event occured or it was made up for the sake of story. I very much feel the same way. What its REALLY about, I could only guess, but many things in art are always left open to the viewer, the listeners, own interpretation.

This is the blog which I am re-posting is from this band called Nocturnal Me.  Now how you feel about this song, these dudes or bascially anything else, I dont care. This isnt some shameless promotion, this isnt some fan blog(though maybe it is? haha). This is simply a series of words which I felt was in some essence, "ME" and I wish to document them, much like the large amount of book quotes that are throughout my blog. Excluding the mind games part, im not too into games, PERIOD. I do like to get in their mind though, but MY intentions are not for games. The mind is the best and only way to really KNOW things about a person. Which I love doing. Ive probably pointed out things you do, say, weird ticks you might have, your fears and why you have them, and have in a minor way, poked fun at you for them, but I asure you, its all in good fun.

"This Isn't Love 

"This is not my scene"...I thought to myself...

"This shouldn't be anyone's scene"...the other side of me replied...

Any place where you can smoke inside is bad news now a days, and for me its doubly true. I can barely breathe as it is, I don't need the help of vaporized nicotine and stuffy situations. The last thing I want/need is to waste my breathe on common conversation with anyone within these walls. I came in here with the home team and even we don't exchange more than a glance and some suttle nuances throughout the night. Words are overrated and oxygen is at a minimum. 

I grab a drink and a seat (in that order) and decide to let my mind unfold for a while. I've always had the tendancy to look people in the eyes whether they're right in front of me or across the room. It's one of my only qualities that I continue to develop on a daily basis, and I also think that's what got her attention. This place wasn't crowded by any means but there were enough people there to call it a competition...

She works, I watch
She looks, I smile
Lather, rinse, repeat

For hours it goes like this until a subconcious connection is formed to the point where I feel familiar once she comes over to greet me.

"This is my kind of girl"...

Someone who doesn't cling to the stereotype of male dominance in romantic relationships. I HATE approaching women. 24 hours a day they are bombarded with insincerity and sketchiness and I refuse to fall into that category. From a very young age I decided that playing the game that way was not going to work for me. If I was going play the game at all, I was going to do it my way...Patiently, intelligently and planned. You can never lose as long as you don't invest yourself too much, and in this situation that's my M.O. Calm, cool, collected and detached. I never had a problem sleeping alone, and tonight is no exception.

The conversation navigates familiar waters. Where are you from? What do you do? What are you majoring in? Where do you live? What's your dog's name? Have you ever been to Amsterdam? How about this humidity? Do you have a cigarette? Why don't you smoke? Can I buy you a drink? etc...etc...Until finally, 6 syallabels are muttered which attack the crux of the situation with percision that only a female mind can conjure

She asks..."What are your intentions?"

At this point I'm always extremely honest. I'm a very affectionate person by nature, I love women and I love being close to them...If there is an opportunity for close combat, I'm just as eager as the next dude. But there IS something slightly different about me: I thoroughly enjoy mind games and I'm not ashmaed of it. The chase means more to me than any close encounter ever could...There is just something much more enthralling about playing a chess match and getting inside someone's head vs. getting wasted and getting in someone's bed. Call me old fashioned, but I'd just like to think I'm avoiding desperation with this mindset.

She can't take my honesty. It's obvious she's been jaded by her past and my answers seem to make her confused/angry/happy all at the same time. Am I a wolf in sheep's clothing? Another regret that she is bound to make? Or am I diamond in the rough? An opportunity she will likely never see again for months to come?

The questions remain unanswered. A few more drinks and she doesn't really care about my intentions; at this point ours may have morphed into one and the same. The time comes to pull the trigger and in my usual fashion I am gunshy. The lack of mystery unveils the situation for what it is and all I really want to do is go home and get a good night's rest. My causal irreverence towards the situation offends her to the point where she surrenders her Stoli 7 and Lime, shakes my hands, and bids me adieu immediately. 

I remain unphased, unattached and unwilling to compromise my vision in order to gain experience. I'm only interested in someone who can capture my full imagination and it's obvious that tonight was no more than a conversation piece and a lesson.

The truth is simple:

It isn't much if you don't mean it. 
And it isn't love if you don't need it. "

Drum Tuner!

Okay, since finishing that Pearl Piccolo and not being happy with the sound of it, I decided that I was going to re-tune it. So I took the wires and both the heads off and started over before I actually delivered it to Luke. 

However this time around, I made the decision to go out and buy a tuner. I'm not sure of my reasoning as to why I never really wanted one but think I was always a little confused about them, so I avoided it. I also thought I never really "needed" one. Guitarists have tuners, So I used that as my justification on going out and buying one because I for some reason felt that using one was "cheating". Since an experienced drummer should be able to tune them by ear, yadda yadda yadda.

So I went out and bought this guy right here. Its called "Drum Dial". I must say that I'm totally in love with it. I forumed around a bit and some seemed to like it and some seemed to dislike it, but that goes for anything really. Tuning is a really hard thing to do. I've been tuning drums for 7 years and Ive always said "hm, that sounds alright" after EVERY drum that Ive ever tuned. That is now a thing of the past to me, hello confidence!

"DrumDial quickly and precisely tunes all drums by accurately measuring drumhead tension NOT tension rod torque. Tension rod torque can be used to tell you when you are over tightening a bolt to prevent thread damage, but is not accurate for drum tuning because of the difference in screw tolerances, plating, corrosion, and thread wear. You can eliminate these problems by using a DrumDial to measure drumhead tension directly from the drumhead, allowing you to precisely tune your drums faster and easier than ever before."- www.drumdial.com

I love it mainly cause the manual gives you a bunch of standard tensions for different size drums. So you get a starting point to try, then fine tune what you like and dont like from there depending on what sound you want out of your drum(s). Since I've been doing snares over I've already been finding out what I like for snares, I'm definitely not following the tensions that are given in the manual. I dont really agree with the tom tensions but, I do like the kick drum tensions they gave. I'm happy with them, even though I should probably put new heads of my kit, I'm getting my custom hopefully soon, so whats the point?

For lukes snare, I was lucky enough to find someone in a drum forum who was using a Drum Dial and had the same exact snare. So I used the tensions he had used and I think the drum sounds fantastic now. Although I'm not sure if the drum dial just served as a placebo or not, since I'm not aware of what my tensions were BEFORE I re-tuned it with the dial. Kind of bummed on that. It's still ringy, but I'm happy with it now. 

I've come to realize that the drum dial isn't "cheating", to be honest I really don't even know why I have this sort of guilt about it haha because I can still go by ear and learn that way, then just use the dial to even out the lugs I went either too far or too loose on. I can definitely tell already though just by using it once the huge difference there is when you have ALL your tension around the drum perfect on both tops and reso heads rather than a "guessed" tuned drum.

If you want ALL the info about how it works, go to www.drumdial.com. The site is pretty much a blog within itself.

OH, Hey, Australia!

LOOK WHAT I GOT IN THE MAIL TODAY!

We're getting closer and closer! Now all I need is to save the money!

Saving starts soon!

Now that I have this thing, anyone down for a Canada sesh!?

Snare Drum Re-Doins Pt. 1

I took up a project 2 weeks ago. I saw this snare drum sitting in Luke Taylors basement. Its a Pearl Piccolo 13"x3". Its been in his basement for lord knows how months. It wasn't being used since the top head had exploded, there was a VHS tape sitting inside the thing for gods sake. So since I have nothing else better to do with my spare time, I decided to take it home and refurbish it.

It was my first time ever taking a snare or any drum for that matter, completely apart, tuning both TOP and Bottom heads on a snare AND replacing snare wires. I figured it "good for me" since I love drums and don't ever shut up about them or stop looking at drums, drooling on the internet. So why not learn more, since you can never know too much about something you're sincerely passionate about.

Here's what it looked like BEFORE:


Now I was really trying to refrain from using the word "refurbish". Since it sounds really intense and like hard work. Where I didn't really do much. I just kinda "cleaned" it. Though I did take the time and got some polish from my grandfather and clean all the hoops, lugs and tension rods so they'd shine real nice.

Here's what it looks like NOW:


I think it came out pretty good. The only thing that stresses me out is the tuning of it. I don't know what it sounded like before hand. I'm also not familiar with Steel snares, especially piccolos. I think its way too ringy, but i'm not sure if that's just the nature of this drum/steel drums in general. Maybe I choked it or the strainer isn't set right, it could definitely be something with the bottom head. It doesn't sound awful but I personally don't particularly like the sound very much but that could have been because I did something incorrectly. 

Though for a first try, I give myself credit. You have to learn some how so its an experience. There's another snare to "refurbish". So i'm going to try my luck with that one. It is also steel, but I believe its deeper, so this one will also sound different, but I am interested in seeing the difference between a 5-7 inch steel snare and a 3".

When my kit is finished and I get my new snare, I plan on changing the bottom head on my 14X7 Yamaha and see how that goes. So if I struggle with that one its only my back up and not my ONLY snare that I have.