I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s been a while, so I’ll re-tell the story. Somewhere along the line I’ve developed an obsession with recording myself in performance situations. There’s no substitute for listening back to what you’ve played with an objective ear in order to learn from your successes and mistakes. I used to post some of these, but as the RIAA has been getting more and more “sue happy” aver the past few years, I haven’t posted any for a while. It does let me get an audience-ear view on some of the new equipment I’ve gotten lately and see how it sounds, so that I can share!
First, I’ve been using the Zoom H2 for the recordings, and it sounds absolutely awesome! Mine is frequently sitting on my mallet stand, so the percussion is the perfect volume a bit too loud, but from the right vantage point, you’re looking at near-release quality!
My seriously modified snare drum sounds really good with the symphony. I have to do some tweaking on the snares, as I think they may be a bit too dry. Or, I could just practice more instead of trying to get them to cover for my bad technique!
Black Swamp triangle beaters are great. I’ve finally gotten used to the balance (I’ve always used straight beaters in the past, so the top-heavy ones take some getting used to). My triangle is less “over-tonish” than others of the same model that I’ve heard, but these beaters go a long way towards pulling a sound out of it.
Finally, I picked up a pair of Vic Firth “Becken” cymbal mallets just to see what they’re all about. It’s taken a while to get used to them – the heads are huge, which makes me think that I don’t have to hit the cymbal very hard to get a sound. Actually though, the opposite is true – I end up having to really lay into it in order to get through all that yarn. I still haven’t gotten a good sound on p notes or softer, but from a mp on up they really pull a great tone out. And on rolls they really sound great – I didn’t know some of those tones were in my cymbals!
OK, I think that’s all the fun I’ve had lately (or at least what stands out as I sit here listening to the playback of my last show). I’ll be back with more when I’ve got something for you. If you’ve used any of these and have different reactions, or if you have some favorite alternate choices, be sure to leave a comment!
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