A7X Uses The Rev’s Favorite Drummer Mike Portnoy For The Next Record

Avenged Sevenfold recently announced on their website that they will be recording their next record with Mike Portnoy of  Dream Theater. A7X’ s former drummer, James “The Reverend” Sullivan, was found dead in his home early this year. Mike was Jimmy’s favorite drummer, hence why he will be doing the next record. The Reverend was a fantastic drummer, and an influence to many. Click HERE for a full article on the matter.

Josh Freese Playing the Song “Wish” Live with Nine Inch Nails

Josh Freese just posted a new video of himself yesterday, playing the song Wish on tour with Nine Inch Nails in 2008. Josh recently left NIN for good after touring with them for years off and on. This video was taken with a few flip cameras that Josh set up around his kit, and looks and sounds incredible. Enjoy!

As you may have noticed, my blog was recently hacked. It took me a few weeks to get everything sorted out, and get my blog back up and running, but now I’m back in business! Luckily nothing was deleted, and I have snuffed out all of the hacked files so I am again ready to start posting about all things drums! Please keep checking back for the latest drum news, info, tips, advice, lessons, and tons more. I hope everyone had a great holiday season/new year, and I greatly appreciate you spending a little time on Boomdrum!

Pick The Right Head For your Sound

I have always had trouble picking heads for different situations. Granted it does come down to preference, and to know what you like for certain things, you simply have to experiment. There are some heads though, that I always use as my default, and that I know will sound good in pretty much any situation. I am a Remo fan, but used Evans heads for a long time as well, and have some suggestions for both. I believe that the most versatile head that Remo makes is the coated ambassador. These heads always sound great, tune up well, and consistently allow me to achieve a great balance between attack, and warmth/tone. I use coated ambassadors for an alternative/indie band that I play with, and recently did a reggae/rock session with them the other day. They performed great in both situations. I am also a fan of the clear ambassadors, and the clear emperors. A clear head will give you more sustain, and tends to be brighter, as the lack of coating allows the head to vibrate more.

Remo Coated Ambassador

many people underestimate the importance of the resonant head, but it serves a great purpose than some might think. The resonant head is where most of your tone comes from. I prefer to use a clear head on the bottom, and pick which one depending on the situation. Most head companies make resonant heads specifically. I usually use clear ambassadors as my resonant heads, but a clear emperor will work great as well. I like a thin resonant head as it gives me more sustain to play with. Evans also makes a great resonant head called the Evans Resonant.

Clear Ambassador/Clear Emperor

As far as bass drum heads go, I used to use the Evans Emad head which I still consider a great head. It comes with it’s own dampening ring that fits in a plastic casing on the outside of the head and provides a good amount of dampening when paired with an inside dampening. the only bad thing I noticed about this head is it becomes a bit boingy when tuned high. It is definitely meant to deliver a low, rock punch and tone. The other head I have been using quite a bit recently is the Remo smooth white bass drum head. It also delivers a great deep, punchy attack while maintaining a fair amount of tone.

Remo Smooth White/Evans Emad

The bottom line when picking out a head is experimentation. Find a head that best describes you as a player, and helps define your sound. Its all based on preference, so have fun!

Hey all! I recently entered a contest at Coverband2010.com and the winner receives a Gretsch Catalina Ash 5-Piece Black Shell Pack, plus some really cool additional hardware, and better yet, a free trip to NAMM to perform.  If you have some spare time, I would really appreciate your vote!

Voting Instructions:

1. Go to www.coverband2010.com

2. Click “Create New Account” on the left side of the page.

3. Create a New Account.

4. Log In to you email address to receive your password.

5. On the Coverband2010.com website, log in.

6. Click on the “drums” link at the top or click here to go straight to my drum video.

7. Click the little arrow in the blue box next to my video!

Thank you again for your support!

]]> http://boomdrum.com/uncategorized/vote/feed 1 http://boomdrum.com/uncategorized/hey-everybody http://boomdrum.com/uncategorized/hey-everybody#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:27:58 +0000 NickAdams http://boomdrum.com/?p=8

Hey there! My name is Nick Adams and I’m a working professional drummer/musician in LA. I love anything and everything drum related and want to share it all with you! On Boom Drum I’ll post everything from cool drum videos and product reviews, to tips, exercises, and all kinds of stuff in between. You may even find a few guitar and bass videos up here as well. I’ll put up whatever inspires me musically. Check back often because I’ll be posting a lot, and there will always be new and interesting stuff for you to check out. Thanks for the visit and Enjoy!