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S.S. Professor - Just the facts
Page Updated
07/11/2013 10:35:57 PM
During the clinic, Bob Morgan, Chris Stankee, and Lorne
Wheaton talked about working with Neil Peart, the development of Paragon
cymbals, and the development of the Drum Workshop S.S. Professor drum kit. Lorne
took questions for about 45-60 minutes. After the clinic, they held a drawing.
Go back to S.S.
Professor home page
General
Bob Morgan (Sabian Sales Manager)
Chris Stankee (Sabian
Artist Rep)
Lorne Wheaton (Neil
Peart's drum tech)
Background and how he started in the music business
and with Neil
Tuning
Equipment and maintenance
Monitors
Larry Allen
Neil
and Rush's upcoming projects
Interesting Q&A
The Raffle
AndyO's observations
General
Where the clinic was held: Guitar Center,
Hollywood, parking lot (in the back of the building)
How many people attended:
Approximately 100 Miscellaneous Notes:
- Rained the night before and during the morning of the
clinic.
- Drums were on a covered stage in the parking lot.
- A 2-person camera crew filmed the event.
- A man rode up on a BMW motorcycle about an hour before
the clinic began. He was dressed all in black with a "Rush Crew" shirt. I'm
guessing he was Neil's riding partner Michael. He picked up a drum and a
cane that were lying on the stage earlier, and then drove off again. He returned
later, hanging out with the clinicians.
Bob Morgan (Sabian Sales Manager)
- Bob talked about how they brought Neil's
30th Anniversary kit to the NAMM show, and it "caused quite a stir." So
many people were stopping by to look at it, they had to shut down
Sabian's booth .
- When they approached Neil with the idea
of bringing the 30th Anniversary Kit on tour, Neil didn't understand
why. Bob convinced Neil by asking if he'd go see Valentino Rossi's
motorcycle (a famous motorcycle racer). He asked Neil why he doesn't like logos on his
cymbals, and Neil said, "Would you put paint on your jewelry?" He said he sees
his cymbals as fine pieces of jewelry.
- The Paragons have a gold ink that has a
"flip flop" effect. You can see the logo at one angle, but not at
another.
- How Neil started playing Sabians:
- Bob got Neil his first Sabians through Cathy Rich (daughter of famed drummer
Buddy Rich). Cathy told Bob that her son Nicky wasn't happy with the Zildjians
he was playing, so Bob said he'd send out a set
of Sabians for Nicky to try. Cathy asked him to send two sets, since Neil was coming
in two weeks, and he and Nicky would be playing drums together.
- While Neil was in Las Vegas, he went to the Bellagio
and saw Jamie Borden, who was playing Sabian. Neil "heard something in
Jamie's playing and sound that got his attention." (Note: Jamie Borden
later put out a DVD called A step-by-step breakdown of Neil Peart's
grooves and fills.)
- When Neil was rehearsing with Rush for the SARS
concert, he used Sabians the entire time. But when he went on stage, he
used his Zildjians. ("That's the kind of guy Neil is.")
- Neil signed 10 cymbals for the tour to
raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief.
- When Bob was walking around on stage, he
almost stepped on the autographed cymbal! The crowd started yelling at
him to watch out.
Chris Stankee (Sabian Artist Rep)
- Chris talked about spending the day with
Neil at the Meductic, New Brunswick, Sabian factory.
- He talked about how Neil's favorite response
is, "Hmmmmmm."
- They started with the bell of the ride
cymbal, which was a different place for Chris and the cymbalsmiths to start.
He said that Neil wanted to "have the bell of the cymbal resonate--or open
up--the whole cymbal."
- Chris talked about how hard Neil hits the
drums: "You have no idea how hard he hits until you're right next to him."
- Chris got into some interesting, technical
discussions about how cymbals work. He said you're basically directing the
vibration through metal and across the surface of metal. For Neil's cymbals,
on the top, "pinpoint tonal grooves" (the circles on the metal) let the
vibration glide across the surface. On the bottom, they have the "wide"
traditional, deeper grooves. Sound vibrations crawl over the grooves, so
it's withholding the sound. The tradeoff is you lose high end with the
pinpoint grooves, and lose response with the traditional deeper groove. They
hand-hammer the bells of the cymbals to lower the fundamental pitch.
- When Chris played the two 16" crashes, they
had two slightly different tones. Chris said this was because they're
handmade.
- The China cymbals are unique. The 20" has a
wide lathe on top and bottom. It has more hi-end and piercing mid-range. The
19" China is the "crown jewel" of the Paragons. Chris talked about how Neil
used to always play a 19" Wuhan China. He could never get another cymbal
company to match it. For this particular cymbal, they used the HHX hammering
(over hammering a thinner cymbal gives it that trashy sound). Chris said
they got lucky with this cymbal. When Neil came over to the Burbank office,
he had Chris clamp down four felt pads. Chris was worried, because he hadn't
noticed that before. But the cymbalsmith got it right, and Neil was happy.
Lorne Wheaton (Neil Peart's drum tech)
►Background and how he started in the music business and
with Neil
- Lorne grew up in Toronto. He went to the Coffee
House to see bands like Rush.
- Lorne was a drum tech for Alex Van Halen
(Van Halen), Steve
Smith (Journey, Vital Information), and Keith Carlock (Steely Dan,
Sting) before he worked with Neil Peart. He also worked with the Max
Webster band in the 80s, with whom Rush toured during Moving
Pictures tour.
- Lorne was a carpenter on the Test for Echo
tour.
- Neil keeps Lorne busy even when Rush isn't
touring.
- Lorne and Neil are close friends now.
- In October 2000, Liam Burt called
Lorne and asked if he wanted to be the drum tech. He showed up and
looked at the cases and the drum board. He didn't know where to
start. He said he had no idea they would ask him to be a drum tech
someday, so he hadn't been paying attention before. He said the
first time he put it together, it took him all day. He brought Neil
in and felt proud that he'd been able to put it together. Neil sat
down and said, "I dunno."
►Tuning
- Neil tunes his own drums after Lorne sets
them up. He starts with the bottom 3, and then goes up.
- Bass drum resonant head (front) is tuned
higher than the batter head (back). This gives the sound a
"point" and helps the person doing the house mix.
- For the toms, Lorne said that DW drums have
the note of the drum printed on the inside shell. He just makes
sure he has the drums tuned to this note, and then Neil tunes
them from there. He said the drums are made so well, you pretty
much know when you hit the right note.
- The top three toms are tuned very high. You
can barely turn the lugs. Neil is going for a more resonant
concert tom sound.
- Neil doesn't use much EQ on his drums. No
reverb. The drums have the sound Neil wants to hear.
- The heads that they use include:
Remo Ambassador Coated (snare), and DW crimped heads (made by
Remo) on the toms. You can't buy these heads in a store, as
they're custom-made for DW by Remo. Lorne said that crimped
heads are more like a "marching drum head." The bass drum has a
Remo Power Stroke 3 head, with a double Falam Patch (for more
attack). The resonant bass drum head is tuned higher to give a
"point to the bass drum." This tuning helps the front of house
engineer.
►Equipment and maintenance
- Lorne rarely changes Neil's drum heads
(except for snare and toms he uses a lot). Many of the same heads were on the kit
that were on it all tour.
- Neil plays hard but with a lot of
finesse. He doesn't break a lot of heads.
- Lorne talked about the bass drum pedal
breaking in Phoenix. He said the 24-karat gold had actually
weakened the pedal.
- Lorne got Neil to switch to Roland
electronics. Before that, he used ddrum and Simmons pads.
- Lorne polishes the cymbals, cleans the
drums, and checks the drums before and after soundcheck. He
said the cymbals are more brilliant than what you see off
the shelf because he polishes them so much. ("Neil
likes them shiny.")
- Lorne said because of Neil's
unique 360-degree
setup, it's really hard to change drums during a song. He
said that when he's done this with other drummers, they hit
him with their sticks, but Neil is a gentleman and easy to
work with.
- Neil doesn't break a lot of hardware or
cymbals. He's very happy with his DW drums and the new
Paragon cymbals.
- Lorne has to get the cowbells welded back
together sometimes because "Neil beats the crap out of
them."
- The drum kit sits on four
drum boards with flanges. It fits into 9 cases.
- The drum deck (or boards)
are made of 3/4" Baltic Birch. This sits on aluminum.
- The drum hardware is DW 9000
24-karat gold, except for the hi-hat, which is the DW 5000
series (Neil likes the 5000 series better).
- The stands thread into the
drum deck like screws.
- The kit is based on Keith
Moon's "Pictures
of Lily" drum kit. For Neil's kit, there are five Rush
albums represented: Grace Under Pressure, Man in Star
(standing in for 2112 and some of the older albums),
Counterparts, and Test for Echo).
- Two men named Javiar and
Louis painted the kit.
- The drum kit took eight
weeks to build.
- If you put a price tag on
it, the kit would cost $60,000 - $70,000 (including
electronics)
- The drums have an "Enhanced
Sound Edge," which basically means they have a 20-degree cut
in them to allow the resonant head to ring more.
- The drums are 7-ply maple
above, and 8-ply for 13x9 and lower.
- For the 15x13 floor tom (to
Neil's left), the drum has Vertical Low Timbre (VLT). This
means the drum is cross laminated. On the outside of the
drum, the wood grain is spun vertically. This takes the
stress off the shell and also gives the drum a lot more
bottom end. The bass drum and some of the other floor toms
use VLT as well.
- The snare drum is the Edge
Neil Peart model. Lorne said they used to use the Edge only
for outdoor, but by the end of the tour they were using it
for both.
- Lorne said that Neil
sometimes refers to the malletKat as the "MIDI marimba."
- The most-asked about piece
of equipment on Neil's kit are the fans that keep Neil's
hands dry.
►Monitors
- Lorne got Neil to try in-ear
monitors, and he loved them immediately. Geddy and Alex
got them, too.
- Neil's in-ear monitor mix is low
guitar, low vocals; high bass and high sequencers. Lorne
said Neil can hear the guitar and vocals just fine
coming out of the PA.
- Lorne listens to the same in-ear
monitors and mix as Neil, so he can see how it sounds.
- Lorne said the person who does the
house mix has the hardest job. He said Geddy is
particularly demanding (but not in a bad way). He just
wants the sound to be the best it can be for him and for
the audience.
►Larry Allen
- Larry Allen gave away the Ludwig
Super Classic Counterparts kit to his family and
friends.
- When the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame wanted one of Neil's drum kits, Lorne had to
call everyone who had pieces of it. Eventually, he
got everything back and put it together. This drum kit is
off in Quebec now—not in
the Hall of Fame.
- Larry Allen, Neil's drum tech for
the first 22 years, was "blowing Neil's head off"
every night with the monitors. "It was brutal."
►Neil and Rush's upcoming projects
- Confirmed R30 DVD coming out
in October.
- Anatomy of a
Drum Solo DVD in November. Lorne
was with Neil when they filmed the new DVD. It
covers in detail his last three drum solos.
- Lorne said the new book is
called Roadworks and is due out in
early 2006. It's in the final stages of editing
now.
- Rush is expected
to go into the studio for a new studio album
after Christmas.
►Interesting Q&A
- Q: How were the Rio
shows?
A: “The Rio shows were hell. But the
crowd made up for it.”
- One person said he
didn't like the high tom sounds now,
compared to the concert toms of old. "It
didn't sound good to my ears."
Lorne didn't have any comment for him.
- Q: Will Neil ever
return to acoustic percussion?
A: (emphatically) "No! Triggering is
much easier."
- Q:
What's with all the gold hardware?
A: "It's a bling-bling thing."
- Q: Why
did Neil switch back to matched grip?
A: He was losing some power, especially
with the upper toms. But Neil switches
back and forth all night between the two
grips.
►The Raffle
The raffle was raising
money for Katrina relief. They'd raised
over $4000 so far. Some of the raffle
items included:
- An entire set of heads
that they never put on Neil's kit (both
sides).
- A
Pro-Mark gift certificate to create a
signature series kit.
- A DW 9000 single bass drum pedal.
- A signed Paragon cymbal by Neil Peart
(he signed 9 of these).
They also
sold DW and Sabian posters
($2) showing Neil with the drums, and
gave away Neil Peart cards.
One guy
won about 7 sets of prizes, including
Neil's signed cymbal, the DW
9000-series pedal, and the entire set of
heads. People were jealous.
When Bill asked how much he spent in
raffle tickets, he said $400.
►AndyO's observations
- There were rumors flying
around almost until the very end about Neil
showing up for this clinic. The mystery
motorcycle man added to these rumors.
- The kit does not seem as
large as it appears in pictures or on stage.
The placement of the toms is
ergonomic and tight.
- The drums do
not looked banged up at all. Some of the
hardware is chipped, but it still looked
good.
- A Magic 8 Ball sat on one
of the floor toms.
- The drum stool is not
attached to the floor.
- A drum case and cane were
lying on the stage prior to the clinic. A
mystery man who rode a BMW motorcycle took
both items and drove off. I'm guessing he
was Neil's riding partner Michael.
- People were able to take
pictures on the steps in front of the drums,
and later on the stage. After the clinic,
one person was able to sit behind the drums—escorted
by the mystery motorcycle man.
- Only Lorne
consistently pronounced "Peart" correctly.
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