AC08

I like to think of drums like synths, infinitely malleable - to begin with it was with guitar pedals, then as I got into recording it was using strange microphones, dampening and tuning and microphone technique to experiment with sound.

In 2015 I made an April fools video saying I’d created an ‘808’ drumhead - which was a fake, of course. It made me think though, could I do it? I started messing around with my drums, placing drums inside drums, different sticks, mic placement, tuning, heads. I experimented with everything.

I’ve analysed the timbre of the sound choices in the drum machine and tried to recreate them using mic placement, dampening, stick choice, drum choice and even placing drums within drums. This, of course, could be dismissed as a gimmick, but it’s really usable in a variety of situations. I really like the ability to control the pitch of the drums.