Lesson and Drum Practice Pricing Incl GST
- 30 minute lesson $40
- 60 minutes lesson – $60
We have a Pearl 22″ kit with a double-kick pedal setup in a small isolation / sound-proof recording room, and also a Premiere 20″ kit setup in the lounge and main control room for the studio, which is a 16-channel Logic Audio based setup.
My Curriculum Ideas
The chart below is a plan for a full year of drum tuition I created for secondary school drum teaching:
Your Drum Teacher: Tom Atkinson
Over 70 songs registered with APRA, 7 albums, and 4 international tours, I have some unique experience to share. The picture below is from a UK tour with Breaks Co-op! Read all about it in my Music Curriculum Vitae (PDF) and via my portfolio website www.funk.co.nz
Song Production Example
This track below is produced and features fully re-recorded drum parts, keyboards replacing all guitars and bass, percussion, and would make an ideal instrumental karaoke audio version for a great cover by QOTD. In the overdub you can hear me playing a “rototom” with one hand while tuning it up or down with the other hand changing it’s pitch:
The demo above is my cover of the Queens of The Stone Age track “Lost Art of Keeping a Secret”. All parts are performed by Tom, with the highlight being the rototom overdubs, keyboard solo. The final album version should include vocals, this mix is a rush instrumental bounce.
Video from my old studio in Ponsonby
Below is a comparison of the sound quality of pro audio mic running into balanced preamps compared to a consumer mobile phone:
The quality difference is obvious: the studio microphones sound way better!
Lessons for Drum Set Covered
I like to provide something unique, so I’m going to “invent” a method of teaching for this semester. I will call it Permutations, and essentially live-blog it here.
Rudimentary Permutation Method for Drum Set
In engineering terms, a permutation is a stepwise transformation or pattern, which gradually traverses the entire “set space” semi-mathematically if you like.
For example a paradiddle is compared with some common strokes:
RLRL RLRL (single strokes)
RRLL RRLL (double strokes)
RRRR LLLL(quadruple strokes)
RLRR LRLL (the four stroke paradiddle)
RRR LLL (triplets are three notes in the space of four)
RRRRR LLLLL (pentuplets are five notes in the space of four!)
The first row – right, left, right, left – is the main way most people would play a straight 16-th roll.
Kick Drum Rudiments
Shown below is all 8 of the possible double kick (two kick notes one 16th note apart) patterns:
- Keep a steady 8th note hihat with snare on the 2 and 4
- Then introduce kick drum permutations, this would be 32 patterns:
- 8 x single kick patterns (Rock beat 1 is one of these)
- 8 x double kick patterns (Rock beat 2 is one of these)
- 8 x triple kick (Primus uses this alot)
- 8 x quadruple kick
A harder to explain, but easier to play, and funkier sounding set of perms, is the set where the kick drum timing “ducks under” the snare drum, popping out just one 16th-note later.
- Disturbed by snare kick permutations swing/straight
- No Single kick – it exists in the Steady set above
- 2 extra double kick patterns not in the steady set
- 3 extra triple kick patterns not in the steady set
- 4 extra quadruple kick (some great beats in here!)
Multitrack Drum Recording Sessions
I have a 16 channel recording setup based on Logic Audio 9. This is $60/hour but with a 3 hour minimum booking requirement. Drum lesson recording is free, because it does not require setup time.
