Shawn Crowder Music

Who says Britney Spears can’t be cool?  This was a fun collaborative project with a bunch of friends, ‘Spear’-headed (haha) by bassist Adam Neely.

This marks the debut of my electronic percussion setup (not to be confused with the electronic drum kit in the video), which I’ve been nurturing over the past couple months.  It appears in the breakdown section @ 1:58.   For those curious, I’m using built-in sounds on the Roland Octapad SPD-30, modified by the onboard editing parameters and FX processor.  Only a small amount of delay and compression were added later in Logic, so the sound you hear is very close to what you actually get directly from the machine.  The Octapad is a great little device with a lot of bang for the buck and a lot of flexibility as far as editing built-in sounds and eliminating the need to bring a laptop or bulky electronic kit to the gig to incorporate electronic drum sounds.

For the regular drum parts, I’m triggering DrumCore sounds via Logic from my electronic kit in this video.

For the polyrhythmically-inclined, I snuck in a fun sticking move in the chorus between the right hand and left foot, making a 3-note sticking with the ride cymbal and hihat.  This outlines the 4:3 dotted rhythm in the melody and 16th-note guitar strumming part that cycles over the barline, while keeping the 4-on-the-floor dance groove going in the remaining limbs.  This is an example of a fun way to apply some ‘out there’ coordination moves in a simple pop setting while (hopefully) elevating the drum part to a higher musical level.  There’s a better camera angle in the second chorus (@ 1:42).

Also check out the ring on Adam (bass player)’s thumb.  It’s called a Hot Hand and it’s super sweet!

Just a quick update: 2011 was a very busy year for me. My time was split between 150 gigs, numerous recording sessions, and teaching. It was also a great year of practicing for me…I am playing better than ever and looking forward to sharing some great new stuff with you in the near future.

For 2012: A number of albums that I played on will be released this year and I’m excited about the live shows that are in the works right now. We’ll be hitting the stage later this year, and I’ll keep the ‘Shows’ page updated with the details.

I’m back in NYC today after recording over the weekend with The Bloodline in Boston.  I’m very excited about the way the new songs turned out.  This upcoming album will include all new material–some songs that you’ll recognize for our recent live shows and some that have never been heard.

This album documents a major evolution in the band’s sound since the last recordings were done.  I can’t wait for you to hear the new songs.  More details about the upcoming release will follow.

For now, here are some pics of my recording setup, also details about the gear below:

Pearl Masters MCX, maple shells.  20″ kick / 10″, 12″, 14″ toms / 14″ MCX snare

I played the matching Masters MCX snare on all of these recordings.  (In the past, I used a 14″ Pearl UltraCast for nearly everything–it has great clarity at low dynamic levels and a thunderous “crack”.  But, I’ve been toying around with this Masters snare for the past several months and I’ve become a huge fan of the fat sound I’m getting with it, using a lower tuning on it than I’ve ever used on my snare drums.  I brought both drums to the session but ended up using the Masters snare for everything.)

The cymbals, left to right (drummer’s perspective):

18″ Sabian HHX Ozone Crash

14″ Zildjian K Custom Dark Hi-Hats

18″ Zildjian K Med Thin Dark Crash

19″ Sabian AAX-Plosion Crash

22″ Zildjian K Ride (or 20″ Zildjian Pre-Aged Light Ride)

16″ Paiste Twenty China

I switched between different rides depending on the song.  The 20″ Pre-Aged is washier, great for crash-riding, while the 22″ K Ride is more “pingy”.  The Pre-Aged ride has a big crack in the bell now after years of playing.  Fortunately, it hasn’t affected the sound yet.  Hoping to “ride” it out as long as possible with that one–it’s been my favorite for 5-6+ years.  Both crashes above and the hats are new to my setup.  I am lovin’ them all–been great for both hard-hitting rock and soft acoustic music, so I no longer need to use different sets of cymbals for each setting.

All Pearl hardware.  Pearl Demon Drive double pedal.  Zildjian Heavy Jazz sticks.

Also, any/every brand of coffee–very important to the sound!

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