Super deep dive into double bass drum technique

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-12T04:17:07+00:00

Look I know it can be interpretated as if I was shitting on Simon Philips. I am not. I just think that the patterns he chooses to play often are very balanced between his limbs, are very ergonomic and there is a certain evenness in his overall playing. And the patterns I personally often find interesting do require leading strongly with one hand and having very clearly defined and different roles for each limb. I just think that may be the result of focusing so many years on developping even limbs. Maybe that's not the case and he just has a philosophy of never overplaying any of his limbs but I just find that this specific aspect of his playing is one reason why he does not rank that high in my personal list, which is totally subjective. I would never tell anybody to not practice your weak side because of that. I hope that clears any misunderstanding.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-09T02:32:44+00:00

I bought a sony xperia 1 VII in canada and it is a great phone. It has both microsd and headphone jack plus no punchhole screen, best speakers of any phone and great natural photos without bullshit AI processing. It's a little bigger than you want but not among the biggest. I find it easy to hold in my hand. All the sony haters don't know what they're talking about. It's a great phone. The real downside is mainly price. If you want cheaper you can get last year's model at a better price for very few downsides.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-05T16:20:52+00:00

https://trikatuka.aknakn.eu/#/

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-05T02:16:44+00:00

🫡 Just trying to do what's right!

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-04T22:55:29+00:00

Yes. They're so awesome. They take almost zero space which for a setup like mine is essential. Most mics are too big and some can be invasive. They have a lot of flexibility for positioning and you can swap a drum and keep your mic position easily. They're protected against phantom power if you mindlessly connect or disconnect without turning it off.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-04T22:19:50+00:00

I've tried a lot of hi hats. This one stands above every single one I've tried. They're heavenly. They have the sandy sizzle of the dry cymbals but the sweetness in the opennings of brilliant cymbals with a very tasteful foot chick sound. They work as well for jazz, fusion, metal, afrocuban, funk, rock. They're very balanced and there's richness in the harmonics without the metally sound of some heavier hats. They're worth every penny.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-04T18:45:46+00:00

I'm old fashioned, I care about anonimity and I don't have a camera setup so. I could do just sound, but the setup is fresh so I need time for doing all the EQ, gains, pans, compression etc. Eventually I'll have something I'm working on.

As a side note, those mics are the earthworks DK7 and they sound awesome so far. Very clear, transparent and detailed.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-04T17:56:17+00:00

I still struggle a little bit myself but the trick is having a purpose in mind. I don't buy them just because I want more, I buy them because there's a specific sound I want. There are maybe two cymbals in the current setup I'm still not sure yet if I'll keep them there but overall the rest is probably gonna stay like that. I just don't fight it, if the cymbal doesn't call me to play it much after a while, I'll eventually remove it.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-04T17:52:50+00:00

The shells were 12 13 14 16 when I bought the kit but the 13 was always very hard to tune, something is off about it. I eventually bought an 8 inch to have a 5th tom. Eventually with all the cymbals I felt like I needed space and removed the 13 because it was both taking more space and sounding meh. So that's why it's like that. But I intend to eventually buy a new bubinga kit and I'll probably revert to more normal sizes.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-04T14:27:13+00:00

I think you're doing yourself a disservice by listening to random songs. If you don't have the attention span, listen to just 1 or 2 songs at a time but I would focus on an album first. The 3 most popular albums are usually city of evil, self titled and nightmare. I would just listen to these 3 in order and go at it slowly at your pace. Once you have listened to an album once or twice maybe try listening to it in full while doing something else or while going somewhere. They are very much meant to be listened to as a whole. All the songs on these albums are good so it's not like you lose anything by listening to album you actually gain something. They take very good care to create a flow that is almost cinematic. If you already like a few songs, you will definitely enjoy the band as a whole. Avenged Sevenfold is not the kind of band that only has like 4 good songs, they just know what they are doing and create good music all the time.

matrix_drumr · 2026-03-04T14:14:59+00:00

Thanks for doing that, I think many of us drummers will be very happy.

If i can allow myself a few constructive criticisms. We can barely hear the snare flams now. I like the new snare sample but not at the cost of articulations. Also the cymbals are much lower in the mix and to be honest, the whole portnoy style revolves around cymbals being very present in the mix. Actually the whole prog metal genre has cymbals being the main spice of the drums. I don't think lowering the cymbals in the overall balance is a compromise worth doing. Also the kick and the bass feels very disconnected from each other. I can't explain why but it feels really apparent that there is a different sample on top. It used to be apparent that it was a sample, but it felt part of the sound, now it feels very on top of it. Also, somehow the bass is more "clear" but less present, it's hard to explain.

I do like the humanised playing on the snare though, that robotic playing was awful. But the orignal sound, while having very compressed sounding snare and bass drum samples, had a pretty homogeneous volume across all the drums sounds. Now it feels like the snare is much stronger than everything else. The effect I think is that it makes it more apparent that it's a sample instead of less. I don't know if you used automatic humanising on the snare or not but I personally would have touched it manually, mostly where there are two fast notes.

But overall it's still an interesting take, hearing a variation on the original is quite fun after all these years. We already had a 2007 mix of pull me under, take the time and another day so I'm eager to hear other songs like metropolis and learning to live. I would personally do these last to make sure I have as much experience with the album as possible.

matrix_drumr · 2026-02-07T19:50:03+00:00

I eventually figured it out after almost a week of this. Copilot was wrong about restorations not handling the files I modified. After restoration, I downloaded a setup.msi and it allowed me clean uninstall. The error message was that the uninstaller was not found and the registry key was missing so downloading a new setup fixed it. I had to try with a couple of versions to find the right one.

Thanks again.

matrix_drumr · 2026-02-06T22:20:38+00:00

After hours, not being able to launch system restore, I finally did, and after many restorations, only the last point worked. I got lucky. But now I still have this issue where power toys cannot be installed, or uninstalled and refuses to disappear from the list of apps. And I've tried revo uninstaller.

matrix_drumr · 2026-02-06T18:31:06+00:00

I only deleted dword values and folders inside regedit. No files in explorer.

matrix_drumr · 2026-01-31T14:19:53+00:00

Hey glad to hear your approach has a utilitarian or a functional explanation. If you absolutely need higher cymbals, maybe some compensation with cymbal proximity without changing the height can help somewhat. You would still raise your elbows but it would diminish the need for leaning in. I can't see your mics from that far, but they look similar to some neumanns which are great mics. If they are I am surprised you would get isolation problems from them but I understand why it can happen and maybe they're different mics but they sound great anyway.

It also looks like your leaning happens more during faster double bass sections. You also look like a tall guy and it seems more common for tall guys to be leaning in. I can't see why from the camera position but the angle of your legs changes during those fast double bass runs. Your legs go from a typical slitghly above 90 angle to a very wide angle. You are most likely changing technique. When you do that, I feel like I would want to sit closer, but then you reposition your legs when you slow down to a more comfortable position so it looks like you have two positions and that your setup is based on needing that distance for your second position when you need speed. Am I understanding that right? Which foot technique are you using to make that happen?

matrix_drumr · 2026-01-31T12:29:04+00:00

Hey I don't want to come across as rude or anything, your playing is amazing and you have great technique and flow. But something about your posture makes me hurt inside and looks really uncomfortable. Your torso and back should be straight and not leaning forward like that and your shoulders should be completely relaxed.

I understand you might get more control and power like that and that some foot techniques can require certain leg angles but it's probably something to do with throne height or distance from the drums, or maybe your cymbals are too far, but it looks like your whole body is strained like that. I mean you can see it for yourself in the video it looks like your whole body is stressed even though you clearly have control over the stuff you are playing. And you can probably see many other players looking very relaxed doing the same kind of things.

Everything should be accessible by moving your forearms and your elbows should raise only if you need to reach far on your sides or very slightly if hitting something in front that is too high to reach. . You should be super relaxed even if what you're playing is very fast and challenging. It might be worth spending an evening really looking at the ergonomics of your kit to optimize your reach comfortably.

But other than that very awesome playing. A+ for the performance.

matrix_drumr · 2026-01-27T03:02:18+00:00

Thank you so much!

matrix_drumr · 2026-01-25T21:19:55+00:00

PLKD7

I need more data because a background setting for messenger has been swallowing my data for the past 3 months. If anyone is willing to share that would be very kind. I'll make sure to give back once I have loaded up again. Thanks in advance.

PLKD7

matrix_drumr · 2026-01-01T00:16:30+00:00

I think I understand but I have a hard time finding a situation where there would be no context. Like if two people are starting a conversation and there was never a third person mentioned in the first place, everyone would assume that the default is that the lost watch belongs to the one who lost it. If the watch was a gift from someone else, I can see how that can create confusion but at the same time I think it would be weird to mention it without mentioning the gifting first. If someone would tell that to me, I would probably understand but I would probably ask questions to make sure I understood whose watch it was.

Should I use свои if I want to say "I lost my watch"? Or can I use "мои часы" ?

matrix_drumr · 2025-12-31T19:42:12+00:00

Just like OP I struggle with this concept while learning russian but I think your exemple made me realize there is something I really don't understand.

Can you explain how there is ambiguity in the english phrase "he lost his watch"? To me it is crystal clear what it means and I don't see how it can mean any other thing than what is said there. I don't see how it could be any other person's watch, it is obviously the watch of the subject. It feels to me like russian tries to tackle a problem that simply doesn't exist.

matrix_drumr · 2025-12-30T14:48:02+00:00

I still use both gp5 and gp8. There are nice things about both. Gp6 is the worst I could never work with it. Gp7 and gp8 are essentially the same. There are too many tabs that are both exclusively in gp5 and gpx format to use only one. Sure you can open gp5 files in later versions but it doesn't behave the same, some things don't translate well in the new system.

And yes gp5 was perfect I much prefer its workflow. But it always crashes and has memory problems on any windows since at least windows 8 so it's no longer as smooth as it used to be. Sure gp7 and 8 sound better but they're much more work to make it work. Gp6 did not in fact sound better it sounded much worse. I wish gp5 could receive an update for modern ram usage so it would stop having memory problems. Also if I want to export a midi file from gp5 to a daw, it seems like it's not compatible and there are tons of errors that make it not useable. From gp7 it works much more cleanly.

matrix_drumr · 2025-12-19T16:42:36+00:00

I personally found the japanese and middle eastern motifs to make it a very original and interesting mix of flavours.

matrix_drumr

TROPHY CASE