Tour Diary: What I Learned On the Road With Metal Heavyweights Mushroomhead
I spent two weeks on the road opening for legendary metalheads, and in the process learned a ton about myself and touring on a professional level.
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The Oncoming Cacerolazo: Stories and Sounds from Puerto Rico’s Massive Protests
Drumming and loud sound are such large parts of Puerto Rican culture, it only makes sense they’d be the focal point of this week’s protests. Take a listen!
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A Brief-ish History of the Drum Kit
Got 10 minutes to learn about the history of the drum kit as we know it today? We talk about how individual drums, players, and genres helped the kit evolve.
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One Mic Two Mic Drum Mic Room Mic
Some quick and handy approaches to getting a great sounding recording of your drumkit, even if you only have a couple mics lying around your home studio!
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Quick Tracks Nº 11: Make a 60-Second Rhythmic Funk Groove à la Prince
Welcome back to the dance floor, Quick Trackers! Once a month, we hook you up with a short production or songwriting challenge, aimed at helping to up your musicianship. To respond to the challenge, just email us, leave a comment, or post to social media with the hashtag #quicktracks and tag us @learntosoundfly. For this month’s challenge, let’s…
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Wrist and Hand Exercises for Drummers
If you’re a drummer, warm up your hands and fingers before playing to prevent injury and increase dexterity. Use these exercises to do just that!
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Using Effects to Transform the Sonic Contours of Your Electronic Drum Pad
Musicians today use audio effects for literally everything. Guitarists, keyboardists, vocalists, saxophonists, you name it. Effects play a huge role in defining your personal sound to achieve the exact, desired impact no matter what instrument or genre you play. Yet, in my experience, drummers tend to be wariest of using effects processing in a live setting.…
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5 Stick Bag Essentials for the Gigging Drummer
Drummers today are expected to come prepared and ready to play every session and every night on the road. After you’ve done the work to learn the music you need for a performance, the next step is to make sure you have the right tools to get the job done. In most performance situations, you may…
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How to Use Polyrhythms to Create a Perfect Beat
We’ve all felt it before: four-on-the-floor fatigue. That feeling when you’ve listened to too much music with the same square beat. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4… Don’t get me wrong — I’m a technohead, so 4/4 is my jam. Lots of music is built on 4/4 rhythm for a reason: It’s familiar and easy to dance to. Sometimes you might…
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14 of the Most Commonly Confused Terms in Music and Audio
Once upon a time, remixing a song meant actually redoing the mix. Many vintage consoles (some Neve 80-series, for example) have a button labeled “remix” that changes a few functions on the desk to optimize it for mixing rather than recording. But sometime in the late 20th century, the word “remix” began to take on a new meaning:…
