Fishbones
Silver Member
This thread is partly inspired by KIS's "Origin of your perfect drum sound" thread http://drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77221 and partly inspired by a conversation I recently had with a guitarist.
While discussing Jeff Beck, my buddy began to rant about how much he was in love with Beck's tone, and how he had a "sonic identity" unlike any other. I asked him exactly what he meant by this, and he began describing his belief that each individual should have a unique "sonic identity" that one can be identified by. Pretentious as it may sound, it got me thinking. It seems that in order to set oneself apart from the crowd, many musicians have established unique tonal characteristics and, in doing so, created a personal "sonic identity" for themselves. I'm talking the sound of the instrument; disregarding the playing itself, it seems that many great drummers in history have had unique traits to their individual drum sound - think the Tony Williams ride sound, the Bonham kick drum sound, the ?uestlove snare sound - the list goes on. So now I ask of you: do you guys see a major importance in establishing a unique identity for yourself through tonal means alone? Once again disregarding the playing itself, can you find significance in employing personal sonic traits to create a musical identity for yourself? I found my conversation with my guitarist friend quite interesting, and I thought maybe you guys would too.
EDIT: Please excuse the poor wording -- I had to rush through this rather quickly.
While discussing Jeff Beck, my buddy began to rant about how much he was in love with Beck's tone, and how he had a "sonic identity" unlike any other. I asked him exactly what he meant by this, and he began describing his belief that each individual should have a unique "sonic identity" that one can be identified by. Pretentious as it may sound, it got me thinking. It seems that in order to set oneself apart from the crowd, many musicians have established unique tonal characteristics and, in doing so, created a personal "sonic identity" for themselves. I'm talking the sound of the instrument; disregarding the playing itself, it seems that many great drummers in history have had unique traits to their individual drum sound - think the Tony Williams ride sound, the Bonham kick drum sound, the ?uestlove snare sound - the list goes on. So now I ask of you: do you guys see a major importance in establishing a unique identity for yourself through tonal means alone? Once again disregarding the playing itself, can you find significance in employing personal sonic traits to create a musical identity for yourself? I found my conversation with my guitarist friend quite interesting, and I thought maybe you guys would too.
EDIT: Please excuse the poor wording -- I had to rush through this rather quickly.