Getting a sampled kick and an acoustic kick to sit together in a mix so they read as one powerful, cohesive instrument is one of my favourite studio puzzles. I love the musical options a blended kick offers: the body and beater of the real kit with the consistent low-end and punch of a sample. In...
Read more...
Technique
I love the sound of a vintage snare: that warm woody body, the subtle overtones...
Lessons
When a kick drum on a recording lacks weight, the instinct is often to reach...
Technique
I want your electronic snare to feel like an acoustic one when you’re playing...
Grooves
I’m obsessed with pocket — that deep, elastic place behind the beat where...
I want your electronic snare to feel like an acoustic one when you’re playing live — not just in sound, but in response, dynamics and how it sits in the pocket. Over the years I’ve spent hours mapping SPD‑SX pads for live gigs and studio...
I’m obsessed with pocket — that deep, elastic place behind the beat where neo-soul breathes. Over the years I’ve condensed dozens of warmups, transcriptions and studio tricks into a compact daily routine that takes 15 minutes but moves the...
I’ve spent years chasing that elusive neo-soul pocket: a warm, behind-the-beat feel laced with whispery ghost notes that sit perfectly under the singer or keys. This week-long plan is what I use with students and in my own practice to lock that...
I want to show you a fast, practical way to get a 1970s "roomy" drum sound from a tiny home studio using just a single dedicated room mic plus three different stereo mic-pair options. The idea is not to imitate a huge studio exactly, but to capture...
I get asked a lot how I dial in a Ludwig Black Beauty for modern pop. It’s one of those snares that can sound cinematic, dry, fat, bright or anything in between depending on what you pair it with — heads, tensions and damping make all the...
I love using my Roland SPD-SX on stage — it’s fast, reliable, and lets me add sampled sounds that glue with my acoustic kit. Yet I’ve repeatedly seen the same frustration: samples that feel “late,” disconnected from the pocket, or that...
I often get asked how to capture brushed jazz on a small, budget kit without fancy microphones or dozens of channels. I’ll be honest: a good performance and a sensible room matter more than expensive gear. That said, with a matched pair of Rode...
I want to show you how to take paradiddle variations and turn them into four playable neo-soul pocket grooves you can call on in sessions. Paradiddles are a goldmine for phrasing, ghost-note placement and hand/foot independence — all the...
When I mix electronic tracks, one of my favourite little rituals is making the kick drum punch through a dense arrangement without sacrificing low-end power or the breath of the synths. The quickest, most musical way I’ve found to do this...
I get a lot of messages from drummers who use the Roland SPD‑SX live and complain that their samples feel “flammy” or that hits double up when they play fast. I’ve experienced the same thing myself on stage: you think you’ve hit a clean...