Hi NerfLad
Any chance you can share with us where you got the recorded arrangement of So What you played at PASIC '08?
I paid some musician friends of mine to make the track.
Hi UE Nastasi
Totally Cool Blue Tribal kit It's awesome.
Did you chose the tom mount on the bass drum for a reason or just to keep future options open or is something to do with what looks like a Mic cable going through the mount hole?
I wanted the option of the bass drum tom mount so I could run a cable through it to the mic inside (without having a hole in the front head) or perhaps mounting the toms on the bass drum if I did a small session or something that required a drastically cut down drum set.
In the photo the toms are mounted into the rack legs was that for some quick photos or are you making a slight change to your rack setup?
I was just experimenting with the idea of not having a bar running across the front of the kit.
Hi sde_leeuw
First of all I can't stop listening to your 19 days performance at the MD festival it is just incredible, the cymbal and drum sound is incredible. The choice of cymbals is just fitting the song so well.
thanks.
You said in an interview on dutch television that Jeff Porcaro was one of your inspirators/examples as a drummer. How huge would you think he would be these days if we think of the technical possibilites that are possible 20 years after he is passed away? Maybe a difficult and vague question I understand, I am just interested in how you think about it.
I don't really understand what you mean by 'technical possibilities'. Do you mean in recording - or drum technique?
Hi HutchinsonDrummer
I was just curious as to what exactly is the cover art of your album "Sanity and Gravity"? Who ended up doing your artwork?
yes it is just a regular power plug placed in a scanner. Artwork was by Pete Smith.
Hi Volentry
I've recently been more conscious about the tightness and accuracy of my notes when I play. Your level of precision is where I set my goal to be at, are there any exercises or methods you have found useful that helped you in developing said accuracy? I think it's partially a mental thing too, like concentration and such.
Just listening carefully and noticing the small details. I think it's a good idea to practise bass drum articulation. Find some real tongue twisters (toe twisters) and try to play them as accurate as you can.
Hi Sam Sanders
Hey Gavin, on your latest Porcupine Tree post on Facebook I wrote 'awesome, hi gavin' and it was deleted
I have no idea why - unless you have previously been posting videos of yourself in the comments columns and one of the other administrators banned you.
Hi SantiBanks
I wanted to travel to the UK to see one of the shows but unfortunately couldn't commit to it. Any chance that one of the gigs is recorded and will be released in any kind of way? I'm really curious how you guys pulled this off live.
we didn't record any of the shows so far - because there were only five of them - so it seemed too early to do that kind of thing.
Now, I do have a question regarding recording. In "the old days", a lot of recordings where done as a live band (band plays in a large room and that's recorded). Nowadays a lot of recordings evolve from musicians adding their bits and pieces from their own home studios (which seems the case for some of the projects you do). How do you find working in a way like that compared to recording (and thus interacting in real life) with a band in the studio?
It's more fun to all play together - and you get a much better idea of what it's going to sound like when it's finished - but a lot of those 'let's all play together' sessions ended up with everyone replacing their parts and we just kept the original drum tracks.
How do you try to capture that energy on a studio recording when recording at home and do you find it more difficult to record that way?
recording this way is of course just an illusion to the listener. You just have to try your best and hope that the producer knows what they are doing.
cheers
Gavin