Roto-tom hi-hats

Here is my latest Modern Drummer article from November 2014.  It covers making your own Roto-Hats from the frames of Roto-toms. 

Motor Rhythms featured on The Throne drumming podcast

Check out The Throne a Drumming Podcast this month for a feature interview with Jordan and the Motor Rhythms drum set.  Thanks to Colin for his time and interest in the project.  Click HERE to listen to or download the episode.  It is Episode 64: Can I use your drums?

Carol of the Pulley Bells

Happy holidays to everyone!

I hope you have a great holiday and a wonderful new year.  I have been wanting to record this song for a while now and thanks to some new equipment I was finally about to make it happen.  Carol of the Pulley Bells features several parts of the Motor Rhythms set.  Most of the notes are played on the one octave of pulley bells that I have, but the receiver drier chimes, brake drums, and clutch spring plates are also used.  I hope you enjoy it!







And I had to post this too, just because it is awesome.

Modern Drummer January 2014

The January 2014 issue of Modern Drummer features a Shop Talk article that I wrote.  The article is called Add Some Metal, and it is about adding pieces of the Motor Rhythms car part set to a traditional drum set. Thanks to Mike and everyone at the magazine for the awesome layout!

You can see more of what is in the full issue here  Modern Drummer

 

Mercury, for Sleeping at Last

Last month I had the pleasure of recording the Motor Rhythms set for a song entitled Mercury, by a talented artist named Ryan O'Neal.  Ryan is from the Chicago area, and has been writing and recording music for years under the name Sleeping At Last.  His current project was released on September 17th, and is called Space 1.   It is a 6 song EP drawing upon the solar system for inspiration.

You can find out more about Ryan here.....     Sleeping At Last

and check out the Space 1 EP on iTunes.

The Forgotten Foot lesson series part two

Here is the second foot pattern in The Forgotten Foot lesson series.  It is a three against four poly-rhythmic foot pattern.  Feel free to ask questions.  Enjoy!

Drum kit of the Month!

Next time your at the local book store or music store pick up a copy of the newest issue of Modern Drummer, and flip to the last page. There you will see that Motor Rhythms is the Drum kit of the Month for January 2013, and the cover article is about Vinnie Coluita, so that alone is worth checking out.

I want to say a big thanks to all the guys at MD for the interest they have taken in Motor Rhythms, it has been very cool.

The Donating Drummer

I read about an awesome guy this week and wanted to pass his story along.  Mark Powers is a percussionist who has stepped out of the box and created an amazing idea called The Donating Drummer.  You can read all about it at his site, but the basic idea is that he donates his own income from a gig to help someone else create, solve, learn, build, teach, or anything else you can think of.
So click below and think up something to submit!

The Donating Drummer


You can find out more about Mark at his personal website.

Powers Percussion

The Forgotten Foot lesson series part one

This is the first of two posts which will feature short lessons from my drum book, The Forgotten Foot.  The book was published in 2011 by Hal Leonard Publishing.  The lessons will give a brief look at some of the material in the book.  Each part will cover a different foot pattern; a triplet foot pattern, and a three against four foot pattern.  The first lesson is the triplet foot pattern.  Enjoy.   You can pick up a copy of The Forgotten Foot HERE. 

Build Your Own Octobans

It has been a little quite around the Motor Rhythms shop since the SoundWalk performance in September, but there is news about some magazine articles.

First off, in early October I had a photo session and interview with Hot Rod Magazine for a one page feature in an upcoming issue of the magazine.  It will be in the 'Hot Rod Anything' section, and it is due out early next year.

The Motor Rhythms drum set is also going to be featured as the "Drum Kit of the Month" early next year in Modern Drummer.

Currently, in the November 2012 issue of Modern Drummer I have an article on how to construct your own Octobans or tube toms using PVC pipes.  Here is the cover and the article from Modern Drummer.

SoundWalk 2012

Over Labor Day weekend, at the beginning of September, Motor Rhythms had its first public performance.  The kit was selected to be part of SoundWalk 2012 in Long Beach, California.  SoundWalk is an annual event featuring performances and installations that all explore sound.  I had a lot of fun playing and interacting with everyone who came out.
 

This was the best audience of the night.

Modern Drummer and Car Talk

Here is a quick update from MR land.


The new video has been featured on the Car Talk website. Car Talk is a great radio program on NPR, it airs Saturday mornings each week. Here is a link to the feature.

My Engine is Making This Strange Sound....

and drum roll please......... my first magazine article is printed in the March 2012 issue of Modern Drummer!  The article is a Shop Talk feature and it is based on my blog post about building a custom floor plate for multiple drum pedals.  Mike Mangini of Dream Theater is the feature article, so it is a perfect issue to take a look at next time your at the local drum shop, or book store.

New Video!!

It has been a long time coming, but the first Motor Rhythms video is complete!  Give it a look and please forward the video if you know someone who might like it.  Not much more to say other than I hope you enjoy.

iPad and SoundCloud

This post is not completely a Motor Rhythms post, but more of a technology post.  Technology, which I hope to use with the MR set once I am more familiar with the possibilities.  I recently purchased an iPad and have been spending the last few weeks finding apps and leaning how to use them.  There are some really great ideas out there for music and recording.  I also found SoundCloud, which I had not explored yet.  SoundCloud is a social networking site, but it is based around sounds.  You upload sounds that you like or that mean something to you.  It could be your band's new song, an outdoor field recording, or your child's first words.  That is the beauty of it, where ever you are you can record sound and upload it to your SoundCloud page.

visit the Motor Rhythms SoundCloud page here.....

http://soundcloud.com/motor-rhythms


So here are a few of my sounds.  The first is a sampled recording that I made using an app called Loopy HD.  I went around inside an auto repair shop and recorded several sounds including an oil pump, air ratchet, impact gun, and a vehicle lift. Then using the Loopy HD app I turned those sounds into beats.

The second is a short beat on the Motor Rhythm set.  It uses a wide variety of sounds from the kit.

Motor Swap Video

I replaced an engine last month and filmed the whole job.  Over eight hours of work are compressed into two and a half minutes.  The sounds are where Motor Rhythms comes in.  Using a looping app for the iPad I recorded several different sounds in an auto repair shop.  Some of the sounds include an oil pump, air ratchets, and impact guns.  Then I looped the sounds together to form the rhythms that are in the video.

I hope you enjoy it!

Receiver Drier Chimes

A receiver drier, also called an accumulator, is part of the air conditioning system on a car.  The receiver drier's job is to store liquid refrigerant and also remove debris and moisture from the a/c system. They are usually made from aluminum and inside they have desiccant material to absorb and hold moisture.  The receiver drier is replaced when a major repair has been done to the a/c system, like replacing the compressor or condenser.



Here is a receiver drier still on the vehicle.  They
are often located behind the front grill or bumper. 



Another receiver drier still on the vehicle.



After saving receiver driers for a while, I decided to see what could be done with them.  I began by dissembling one.  Using a hack saw I cut the top off of the drier.  Once the top was off, all the guts could be removed and I was left with a hollow cylinder.  I found that it sounded a lot like a chime.        



The internal parts of a receiver drier.



With a Korg CA-40 Tuner, a saw and a file I have been slowly cutting the chimes to tune them as close to each individual pitch as possible.  I do not replace a lot of receiver driers at work so it is a slow process to add new notes.  The goal is a full octave of chimes, like the pulley bells.  As of right now there are 9 chimes total, but they are not chromatic.  The receiver driers that I have now are from a variety of different types of cars including Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes Benz, and BMW.

For mounting the chimes I drilled two small 1/8" holes near the top of each chime.  Then I strung all of the chimes on a wire above the pulley bells.  They have a good tone and blend well with the rest of the Motor Rhythms set.

completed set photos

The Motor Rhythms drum set is complete! Well almost, there are a few minor bugs to work out. I would say it is about 95% complete.  Now I am focusing on getting a good quality sound and video recording of the set in action.

Here are some photos of the set and a list of all the pieces.

Instrument List

- Pulley Bells, 15 notes
- Receiver Drier Chimes, 9 notes
- Brake Drums, 4 tones
- Reservoir Drums, 4 total
- Air Cleaner Gongs, 2 tones
- Oil Trap Wood blocks, 4 tones
- Gas Tank Bass Drums, 2 total
- Flywheel hi-hats
- Washer Bottle foot drum

Oddly enough, regular drum sticks do not sound very good on the set, so I am using a variety of different mallets and beaters.  For sticks I have hard felt beaters, as well as rubber, hard plastic and brass mallets.  There are tennis ball beaters for the gas tank bass drums and a super ball beater for the washer bottle foot drum.


 

Drum Pedal Base Plate - tutorial

This blog post ran in the March 2012 issue of Modern Drummer. Here is a copy of the article.

2011 Drummies!

The results are in and The Forgotten Foot was one of the runners-up for drum book of the year in DRUM! Magazine's annual Drummies awards.  It is awesome to be on a list with such amazing drummers and authors.  Thanks to DRUM! Magazine and to everyone who voted.  Here is a link to the full results of all the polls.  The results are also in the August 2011 issue of DRUM! Magazine.   

Drummies! 2011 Results (click on media or scroll to bottom of the page for books)

 



The Forgotten Foot is now on Facebook.  After logging onto Facebook click here to visit the page, or just search for The Forgotten Foot.  I will be adding new photos and more content as I find time.  Stop by if you want to become a fan or leave a comment.     

April Update

Here is an update on the Motor Rhythms project and life in general.  In my free time I have been working on fixing some problems with the existing instruments and building a few new ones.  The most current creation is a set Receiver Dryer Chimes, which I will be posting about soon.

I was able to get in a snow hike at the end of March.  I turned 30 years old in March, so this was a bit of a  birthday hike.  I went with a friend who also turned 30 in March.  We went up to Mt. Baldy, which is the closest 10,000 foot peak in the LA area. It was a great hike.  I took us about 7 hours to make it to the top and back down.  Here are a few photos.

There will be more posts coming soon. I also hope to have some good quality video/audio in the next couple of months.