Ableton LIVE is nothing like any other sequencing program I have ever used! It is not intuitive. It is not user friendly. It’s a pain in the _ _ _ to figure out. I spent hours reading, watching videos, surfing the  web for help. Finally, I uninstalled it. YUCK!

During the next year, I keep hearing and seeing things about how Abelton LIVE is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and how no musician should ever be with out it (OK, I made that last part up). So again, I downloaded a trial copy and gave it another shot. It was another exercise in futility though. I just didn’t get it. And after hours of struggling, I didn’t want to anymore. I resigned myself to just not getting it.

I was still on the Ableton email list though, and a few weeks ago they sent me an email stating that I should upgrade to version 8. Well, here we go again! So i downloaded it. Am I a gluten for punishment? Maybe. But something in the back of my head keeps telling me “This is an amazing piece of software. FIGURE IT OUT!” So I dug in again. I don’t know if I got smarter since the first time I downloaded it, or the documentation got better, or the program has evolved, but I actually started to figure this thing out. I sequenced the old Steve Miller song Fly Like An Eagle using an amazing VST plugin from Genuine Software for the organ sound called the VB3, and used Reason for the synth sound effects. Then I set it up so I could trigger the different sections/sequences with my Alesis ControlPad. Now I can sit down at the kit, and start the song, control what section I’m playing, and arrange the song anyway I like. AWESOME!

I will say that some very basic information I needed was really hard to find on the web, and I spent hours searching for it. Little things, like how to turn down the volume of the click. After a hour of searching, I finally found it buried in a forum somewhere. So, I’m dedicating a new section of my blog to using Abelton Live with the drums. Stay tuned.

Sticky Reed & the Last Fair Deal at Cadillac Jacks (with a smokin' guest sax player)

The core of the band has been together for years, consisting of Carl Moel on Harmonica, Tim Underwood on Acoustic Guitar and Dobro, Scott Stevens on Acoustic Guitar and Dobro, and my very good friend Greg McMullen on Bass. Greg and I played in Relic together, and that’s how I came to play in the band. We play interesting versions of early blues from legends like Muddy Waters and JellyRoll Morton to recent blues from folks like Chuck Berry and William Clark and more. This band is great to play in, for three reasons: 1) it’s GREAT music, 2) it’s acoustic, so I don’t have to wear ear-plugs (and neither does the audience!), 3) the band can really groove.

We actually did some recording in the late winter/early spring of 2011 so we could get a demo into the hands of some club owners. Take a listen to Sticky Reed and the Last Fair Deal.

Straight-forward, except that a few of the transitions seemed a bit off-time, and the bridge section was played extremely odd with quarter-notes on the snare. I struggled a bit, but I figured it out…no big deal. Till I got to rehearsal. The band had learned the full length version of the song (five plus minutes). I apparently learned the radio edit (three minutes tops). So after muddling through it a time or two, and trashing all the changes, we decided to table until I’d had a opportunity to learn the other arrangement.

So when I got ready to learn the other version, I thought, “Lets see if I can find a version of this on YouTube.”

Well I found it. It’s a version of the band on the “Ed Sullivan” show (the same show where I first heard The Beatles). And low and behold the drummer was Carmine Appice. Huh. No wonder I struggled with the timing and bridge. Carmine is nothing short of amazing. Here’s the video, and even though I feel it’s a bit “over-acted,” his performance is nothing short of amazing.

FYI – you can catch the bands live performance on Jimmy Fallon here.

So… I’m on a new mission…I’m going to put together a drum kit that is naturally a low volume kit (hopefully).

Now some of you may think that’s a oxymoron – a drum set that is not loud – but I think it can be done. You see, different woods/materials have different sound characteristics. For instance, I owned a set of Ludwig Vistalites back in the day. Vistalites are made from Plexiglas, they were the loudest drum set I have ever owned. I just got a great deal on a Gretsch Catalina Club Rock kit that is made of Mahogany, and much to my  my surprise, the kick drum and toms are much softer sounding than my PDP Maple LX or MX kit. I have also heard that Birch drums are loud,  but I have no experience with that.

As far as cymbals, I recently began to checkout Dream Cymbals (I’ve always been a Zildjian guy), but there is something intriguing about the sound of these cymbals. They remind me of the old Zildjians from the 50′s and 60′s. I recently bought a set of 14″ Bliss Hi-Hats, and was amazed to find that next to my 13″  Zildjian K/Z hats, they are much quieter.

So here’s what I’m doing… a small jazz BeBop kit (18′ or 20′ kick, 12″ tom, 14″ tom) made of Mahogany, and a set of Dream Bliss cymbals. Certainly the new 14″ Bliss hats are going to be a part of this setup. The main requirement of this set… low cost. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Drum technology has really come a long way in recent years, and even cheap drums in the hands of a drummer who understands drumhead selection and tuning can sound pretty phenomenal!

There may be hope for this old rocker after all. Stay tuned…

Allen Holdsworth at Gillys in Dayton Ohio

Last night a very good friend took me to see Allen Holdsworth at Gillys (thank you David!).

I will admit to not really knowing much about him, although I’d heard his playing for years and just didn’t know it. The real reason for going to the show was to see Chad Wackerman. Again, I didn’t know much about him either, but I did know he had chops that wouldn’t stop, and that’s reason enough for me.

Chad play’s DW drums, which I have always been fond of. His set was a beautiful sparkle finish outfitted with Evans heads, and although that combination should have sounded absolutely killer, his kick and toms left alot to be desired. The kick drum was boomy, and the toms had no virtually no resonance. This could have been due to old heads, or a poor sound guy, or both, but either way, it was what it was. I’m not sure what brand of cymbals he was playing, but they sounded amazing, as did his DW snare.

Now, irregardless of the tone of his drums, to say Chad has great chops is an understatement. He was playing licks that I could not even dream of playing! And not just the occasional amazing lick…he played them all night long, in every song. In fact, David and I kept waiting for him to settle into a groove, and it never really happened. I really didn’t matter though. One thing that really struck me…Chad really didn’t look like he was enjoying himself much. He played amazing, but seemed preoccupied. I’m hoping I don’t look like that when I play. This is something to be conscious of from this point forward. I ALWAYS have a great time playing. I need to show it!

All in all – the music was amazing, and in this intimate and relaxed setting, it was a perfect evening. I really wish more people would come out and support this kind of fusion and musicianship. I also want to say THANK YOU to Jerry Gillotti for bringing great music and artists like this to Dayton for so many years! By the way, Allen Holdsworth is a phenomenal player, and if you ever get a chance to see him, do it. You won’t be disappointed:

The first gig was relatively easy. We had 15 or 20 minutes to get setup after the previous band, but we were the last act. And to make things even easier, we did a mid afternoon sound check, so I had plenty of time to get the big Gretsch Rock kit setup. Once sound check was over, We just moved them out of the way and staged them for later in the show. The gig went off without a hitch, because when it was go time, I moved everything into position, and was perfectly comfortable for the hour and a half gig.

Last gig was a bit more difficult. We were one of eight bands, and our placement was 3rd from the last. We had 15 minutes to get our gear in place, get mic’d up, and go. About half way through the previous bands set (Stranglehold – a Ted Nugent tribute band who was really tight!), I started staging my gear off-platform, and was ready to go. Cymbal stands are always packed at the correct height, so getting that right was the least of my worries. I just needed to get the kick drum, double-bass pedal, snare and hi-hat placed first, and everything else just falls into place from there – or is supposed to.

In order to help the transitions between bands, there were some very good stage hands who were extremely helpful. Once the previous set was down off the riser, I headed up with the bass drum. Once I got it set in place and turned around, here were all these stagehands hauling up gear, in all the wrong order. “Where does this go?” “How about this?” Before I knew it, I had the monster 26″ bass drum, ride tom, and 2 huge floor toms all on the riser in all the wrong places, cymbal stand positioned all around, and nowhere to move them to I could get things setup correctly. In fact, they were starting to mic-up the drums before I was even close to setup!

As you might imagine, I did finally get everything positioned close enough to get though the gig, but I was mostly uncomfortable thoughout the gig. You can watch the highlight video below. The only really bad thing was that my hi-hat tripod wasn’t set level, so every time I’d start to pump the hi-hats, the stand would tilt in toward me like it was going to fall over. Never did, and after a couple of songs I realized I was just going to have to deal with it, because we typically try to keep the music flowing with out dead-time between songs. All in all I had a great time playing, but I’m really considering a rack setup to make things a little easier (maybe).

You start by hitting the “Manage” button and adding your song library. Each song can have lyrics added to it and a length.

Then, add a setlist and order your songs. You can have lots of different setlists.

By hitting the “Perform” button, your setlist is displayed.

Clicking a song title displays the lyrics. and you can swipe your finger across the screen to display the next songs lyrics. You can even resize the text so that all lyrics show up on a single screen.

Now if I could just find an easy way to mount my iPad to a stand instead of  setting it on a music stand!

As you know, I’ve spent my share of time in recording studios, usually behind the console. But recently I’ve had the opportunity to work on the other side of the glass playing drums, and I’ve got to tell you, it was a blast!

Guitarist, writer, and engineer Mark Lieberman contacted me a few months ago and asked me if I would be interested in doing some drum tracks for him in his home studio. Mark is an amazing guitarist, and a monitor engineer with the Three Dog Night crew. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity! Mark and I are both Mac guys – use Digital Performer as our software of choice  - we both love to rock – and we both love the recording process –  so it was a great fit.

We did two different sessions using my 3 piece Pearl Masters kit with a cheap PDP maple snare, and tracked maybe 5 or six songs. The other day Mark sent me a track titled “Rain Down” which he had recently completed, and after one listen, I was blown away. Amazing guitar work, and an amazing mix made this one a track that I just had to share. The drumming isn’t bad either! Enjoy:

Rain Down

My favorite drum shop (Columbus Percussion), had a few. Gordon tells me that they are having trouble keeping them in stock. Hmm, that’s a good sign (I think). I really wanted to see a set of hi-hats. They only had two pair of hats… a set of Bliss 14′s, and a set of Bliss 15″ hats. I’ve had Zildijan 15′s before. Typically they are just too much for me, and this was also the case with these. So, we setup the 14′s. I will admit, at first I was going to pass. There was a whole row of hi-hats all setup and ready to play from Sabian, Paiste, and Zildjian, so I played the comparison game.

Hi-hats these days have a much more focused sound than they used too, and granted all of the sets I played that day we’re very, very focused. So when comparing them to the Dream Bliss hats, I just flat didn’t like them. The “chick” sound was much softer than everything else, but the open wash was more “noise” sounding. But something in the back of my mind said “Take em home and try them out… see how they blend with your other cymbals.” Cymbals are very personal, and they have to work together.

The price was certainly right! Just $135.00 for the pair. I would expect to pay $400.00 for a set of hats. SOLD!

So far I’ve had them for two days. And I love them! They sound very much like the old hats you’d hear on 50′s and 60′s jazz records, and 60′s and 70′s rock records. They feel more musical to me, yet I can’t explain why just yet. I still have the band experience to put them through before they are keepers, but so far… they are sooooo good!