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.