Drummers on Drumming

Hello hello…my name is Ben Hilzinger and this is the Big Fat Snare Drum Podcast. We took a few weeks off, but to make it up to you, we have an insanely long episode. Terry Keating is one of my favorite YouTube personalities for obvious reasons. His enthusiastic approach to hosting a show and overall education style makes my heart so happy. Check out his John Bonham page Bonzoleum. I initially wanted to have him on the show to discuss 5 hidden gems in Bonzo’s catalog that drummers might not necessarily know unless he or she is a huge Led Zeppelin fan. I’m not NOT a fan, but I’d fall in the category that a lot of my peers fall into of “yeah I know Fool in the Rain, Good Times Bad Times, Rock 'n Roll and When the Levee Breaks, but I know I SHOULD know more.” I don’t think we’re a small group, so that's why I wanted to have Terry on. Anyways, we immediately started talking like old friends and so I put all my notes away and just pushed record. It ended being an almost 2 hr conversation about what makes Bonzo Bonzo, why people are obsessed with his gear as much as his playing (sometimes more), and just tons of anecdotes/fun pieces of trivia that only a Bonzo aficionado would know. I was gonna try to edit it down, but Terry is so fun to listen to so I basically kept the whole thing running. This might take a few listens, but this ended up being one of my favorite drumming conversations in the past few years. Thank you Terry for being so generous with your time and enthusiasm for all that is Bonzo. Alright, shutting up….cheers!

Today's episode is brought to you by Clearsound Baffles. Clearsound Baffles are a transparent, acoustic shielding product that dampen loud instruments and significantly improve live sound. They dampen harsh, high-end frequencies, eliminate a huge amount of bleed into the open mics on stage, and they let your drum kit breathe the way it was meant to. So, keep your drums sounding great, keep your engineers happy, and keep the band vibing. Visit their website to check ‘em out and they have a discount code for our listeners. Enter "bigfatdiscount" at checkout to get 10% off.

Find out about all the Big Fat Snare Drum Products at www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram / Facebook/ Twitter.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always believed that, in order to be a better drummer, I need to listen to more jazz and more importantly…jazz drummers. You know…cause that’s what everyone tells us right? Well, I’ve found EVERY way possible to avoid getting into the genre because, quite frankly, it’s intimidating, I don’t know where to start, and I don’t know what to listen for. That's why I wanted to get my good friend and even gooder drummer, Anthony Fung, on the show to give me (and I guess you too) his choice of the 5 records to start with to begin our jazz-loving journey. All the links to the albums are listed below. Cheers!

Today's episode is brought to you by Clearsound Baffles. Clearsound Baffles are a transparent, acoustic shielding product that dampen loud instruments and significantly improve live sound. They dampen harsh, high-end frequencies, eliminate a huge amount of bleed into the open mics on stage, and they let your drum kit breathe the way it was meant to. So, keep your drums sounding great, keep your engineers happy, and keep the band vibing. Visit their website to check ‘em out and they have a discount code for our listeners. Enter "bigfatdiscount" at checkout to get 10% off.

Find out about all the Big Fat Snare Drum Products at www.bigfatsnaredrum.com and follow us on Instagram / Facebook/ Twitter.

This episode is also sponsored by Waves Audio. This podcast would take me soooo much longer to edit if it wasn't for the Waves Vocal Rider plugin. It "rides" the fader in real-time and keeps both my and my guest's audio at a consistent level without the need to overcompress. I also use an endless of amount of their plugins for my musical recordings such as Abbey Road Saturator, CLA Drums, the SSL Channel, and many more. We are an affiliate member of Waves and if you purchase any Waves plugin via the link below, you directly support the show and me. I love you.

To view the entire Waves Catalog:

https://waves.alzt.net/xYDXy

Podcast Artwork by Trevin Frame

Today is another episode of Behind The Company w/ the baldmen themselves…Danny and Mike of Baldman Percussion…creators of The Junk Hat. Big Fat Snare Drum shared a booth with the boys at Winter NAMM 2020 and it was a pleasure getting to know these two goofballs so I’m happy to have them on the show to talk about the story of how they met, the humble beginnings of The Junk Hat, and their plans for the future. I had a lot of fun with this one. Enjoy!

Find out about all the Big Fat Snare Drum products at www.bigfatsnaredrum.com. Follow us on Instagram / Facebook/ Twitter.

This episode is also sponsored by Waves Audio. This podcast would take me soooo much longer to edit if it wasn't for the Waves Vocal Rider plugin. It "rides" the fader in real-time and keeps both my and my guest's audio at a consistent level without the need to overcompress. I also use an endless of amount of their plugins for my musical recordings such as Abbey Road Saturator, CLA Drums, the SSL Channel, and many more. We are an affiliate member of Waves and if you purchase any Waves plugin via the link below, you directly support the show and me. I love you.

To view the entire Waves Catalog:

https://waves.alzt.net/xYDXy

Podcast Artwork by Trevin Frame

This week’s guest is E-Man..drummer for Andy Grammer…but he's also worked with Gwen Stefani, Cody Simpson, producer Tyler Johnson and many more. E-man also provides remote recordings via his home studio and definitely knows how to get great sounds…check out his Instagram and YouTube channel to see what I mean. I wanted to get him on the show to breakdown his favorite plugins he uses to record/mix and why. Again, I’m just as much of an audience member as you are for this one…so I was excited to hear what he had to say. He is also releasing a YouTube video today associated with this episode so you can see the exact settings he used for the audio that we’re going to drop in. We have also partnered up with a few of these companies to offer some giveaways and discount codes...with the details in the show description. Alrighty. Cheers!

Today’s episode is brought to you by Clearsound Baffles. Clearsound Baffles are a transparent, acoustic shielding product that dampen loud instruments and significantly improve live sound. They dampen harsh, high-end frequencies, eliminate a huge amount of bleed into the open mics on stage, and they let your drum kit breathe the way it was meant to. And they actually have a discount code for our listeners. Enter "bigfatdiscount" at checkout to get 10% off

Find out about all the Big Fat Snare Drum products at www.bigfatsnaredrum.com. Follow us on Instagram / Facebook/ Twitter.

This episode is also sponsored by Waves Audio. This podcast would take me soooo much longer to edit if it wasn't for the Waves Vocal Rider plugin. It "rides" the fader in real-time and keeps both my and my guest's audio at a consistent level without the need to overcompress. I also use an endless of amount of their plugins for my musical recordings such as Abbey Road Saturator, CLA Drums, the SSL Channel, and many more. We are an affiliate member of Waves and if you purchase any Waves plugin via the link below, you directly support the show and me. I love you.

To view the entire Waves Catalog:

https://waves.alzt.net/xYDXy

Podcast Artwork by Trevin Frame

This week’s guest is Jessica Burdeaux. Jessica’s story is a prime example of how you can consistently grow your Instagram following while remaining true to who you are as an artist and person. Her career so far includes a guest spot/live lesson on Drumeo, becoming a Reverb.com spokesperson, and performing with the 8G band for Late Night w/ Seth Meyers. In this episode, she breaks down the 5 key social media focuses that worked for her and hopefully they can translate to your world as well.

This episode is brought to you by Clearsound Baffles. Clearsound Baffles are a transparent, acoustic shielding product that dampen loud instruments and significantly improve live sound. They’re really great if you don't want to keep pushing the mute button on your live zoom performance. They dampen harsh, high-end frequencies, eliminate a huge amount of bleed into the open mics on stage, and they let your drum kit breathe the way it was meant to. So, keep your drums sounding great, keep your engineers happy, and keep the band vibing. Visit clearsoundbaffles.com to check ‘em out. Enter "BIGFATDISCOUNT" at checkout to get 10% off.

You can find more information about all Big Fat Snare Drum products at www.bigfatsnaredrum.com. Follow us on Instagram / Facebook/ Twitter.

This episode is also sponsored by Waves Audio. This podcast would take me soooo much longer to edit if it wasn't for the Waves Vocal Rider plugin. It "rides" the fader in real-time and keeps both my and my guest's audio at a consistent level without the need to overcompress. I also use an endless of amount of their plugins for my musical recordings such as Abbey Road Saturator, CLA Drums, the SSL Channel, and many more. We are an affiliate member of Waves and if you purchase any Waves plugin via the link below, you directly support the show and me. I love you.

To view the entire Waves Catalog:

https://waves.alzt.net/xYDXy

Podcast Artwork by Trevin Frame

Today's guest is Sahir (aka Sai) Hanif...owner of Masters of Maple drums and Ghost Tech Touring. Sai has the oh-so-common task of wearing many hats within the music industry so I wanted to get him on the show to discuss the dichotomy of being the top dog as a Production Manager one day and then switching to more of a compliment to action as a studio drum tech the next (all while running a successful drum company). Sai explains the main roles for each job, but his stories and advice will serve as a great resource on how to navigate the music industry with the proper perspective and attitude.

Masters of Maple has also teamed up with Music Cares and The Grammy Foundation to help with artists displaced by Covid-19 in the form of re-issuing one of their most popular drums and donating all the proceeds to the relief fund. We discuss this at the top of the show.

Follow us on Instagram / Facebook/ Twitter.

This episode is brought to you by Clearsound Baffles. Clearsound Baffles are a transparent, acoustic shielding product that dampen loud instruments and significantly improve live sound. They’re really great if you don't want to keep pushing the mute button on your live zoom performance. They dampen harsh, high-end frequencies, eliminate a huge amount of bleed into the open mics on stage, and they let your drum kit breathe the way it was meant to. So, keep your drums sounding great, keep your engineers happy, and keep the band vibing. Visit clearsoundbaffles.com to check ‘em out. Enter "BIGFATDISCOUNT" at checkout to get 10% off.

This episode is also sponsored by Waves Audio. This podcast would take me soooo much longer to edit if it wasn't for the Waves Vocal Rider plugin. It "rides" the fader in real-time and keeps both my and my guest's audio at a consistent level without the need to overcompress. I also use an endless of amount of their plugins for my musical recordings such as Abbey Road Saturator, CLA Drums, the SSL Channel, and many more. We are an affiliate member of Waves and if you purchase any Waves plugin via the link below, you directly support the show and me. I love you.

To view the entire Waves Catalog:

https://waves.alzt.net/xYDXy

Podcast Artwork by Trevin Frame

This is Part Deux of our conversation with Mike Avenaim. Make sure to check out Part One. 

This episode is sponsored by Clearsound Baffles. Clearsound Baffles are a transparent, acoustic shielding product that dampens loud instruments and significantly improve live sound. Perhaps you’ve seen them at your church or on tour with artists like Khaleed, Zara Larsson, or Gladys Knight, just to name a few. They’re those clear, plexiglass circles that mount in front of cymbals and snares. They dampen harsh, high-end frequencies, eliminate a huge amount of bleed into the open mics on stage, and they let your drum kit breathe the way it was meant to. Check them out at www.clearsoundbaffles.com

Today’s guest/expert is Mike Avenaim…a Los Angeles-based musical director, drummer, producer, composer, and mixer. He really does it all…and does it all pretty damn well. He’s worked with Scott Weiland, Lil Nas X, Tori Kelly, Hailee Steinfield, Nick Lachey, Leslie Odom Jr. and tons more. We discuss the incorrect use of compression styles, misunderstanding routing, mono vs stereo, gain staging and much more. While I usually like to keep these short, Mike is a treasure trove of knowledge and I was happy to let him unload. Because of this, I am splitting our conversation into two episodes…so please enjoy part one.

This episode is sponsored by Clearsound Baffles. Clearsound Baffles are a transparent, acoustic shielding product that dampens loud instruments and significantly improve live sound. Perhaps you’ve seen them at your church or on tour with artists like Khaleed, Zara Larsson, or Gladys Knight, just to name a few. They’re those clear, plexiglass circles that mount in front of cymbals and snares. They dampen harsh, high-end frequencies, eliminate a huge amount of bleed into the open mics on stage, and they let your drum kit breathe the way it was meant to. Check them out at www.clearsoundbaffles.com

Today’s guest is Stephen Taylor…a Nashville based drum educator/performer and owner of Stephen’s Drum Shed. I’ve been following his online videos for years and am super stoked to have him on the show. With this pandemic essentially eliminating all live performances and keeping everyone home, a ton of drummers don’t have access to their drums. Sooooo I thought I’d talk with Stephen and brainstorm about ways we can still improve when we cant actually quote on quote “practice”. Of course, you can work on a drum pad and all that stuff…but we wanted to discuss the less obvious ways to still move your skillset forward. Alright…shutting up. Enjoy the show!

This episode is brought to you by Clearsound Baffles. Check them out!

Today’s guest is Blake LaGrange…a mastering engineer and the owner of www.mastering.com...where he teaches students the skills to become his or her very own mastering engineer. I met Blake during a session for which he was the recording engineer and we bonded over our love of Jimmy Eat World’s production choices...sooooo shoutout to Zach Lind. Mastering is a very intimidating subject, but it doesn’t have to be. In these days where you have a little more spare time on your hands, learning new skills can be a great way to come out of this whole mess on top. I wanted to get Blake on the show to break down certain myths about mastering…but also his approach to taking control over your art and believing in yourself and your own ears is extremely inspiring. Enjoy!