Friday Feature: Aaron Ashton

ANNOUNCEMENT: Aaron Ashton, Ryan Tilby and Keith Sorensen (and possibly another special guest or two) will be performing an exclusive house concert in Cedar City this Saturday night, February 4, 2012. Details on the Facebook page.

Pretty darn excited to introduce you to one of the premier musicians in the intermountain area. Violinist Aaron Ashton has traveled many musical paths, and isn't afraid to blaze new ones. His repertoire ranges from classical to celtic, from folk to funk, and from jazz to just about everything else.

I first met Aaron when he was the concert master in the Utah State University Symphony Orchestra and I was the timpanist, circa 1999. It's sort of a funny/embarrassing story, actually. Aaron approached me after rehearsal one night and told me he was forming a band to play jazz and celtic music, and was looking for a drummer who might be interested. I pointed him in the direction of one of the guys in the department that I respected. (You know the closing scene of "Dumb and Dumber?" Yep, not so smart was I!)

Luckily for me, the other guy moved out of the area, and a couple of years later I ended up playing for Aaron's band, In One Ear. Not only did I get to know Aaron and his playing, I was introduced to many other great players and a mind set of playing, performing and composing both in and out of the box.

Since then, Aaron and I have worked together on a ton of projects, recordings, bands, shows, etc, including The Aaron Ashton Band, Hillside Nine, Lokalgrown and many more.

But all of that doesn't begin to scratch the surface of Aaron's career and accomplishments. He has played on countless film and TV soundtracks and video games, made cameo appearances on roughly a gazillion albums, and produced and engineered a gazillion more.

He was also a member of Enoch Train and founded Blue Sky Music Camps, a premier summer workshop for aspiring musicians.

Oh, and one more thing - Aaron is both an Aggie (Bachelor's degree from Utah State University) and a Cougar (Master's degree from Brigham Young University). True story.

By the way, I'm sorry if this sounds like a eulogy. Dude's not dead. In fact, he's well this side of forty, and still growing and evolving as a musician and as a person. I just respect the guy as a colleague and friend, and can't say enough good about him.

(I'd better stop myself. This is getting embarrassing.)

Just visit his webpage, buy his album and catch a concert. I'd say "or," but you should really do all three.

This was one of my favorite shows I've played with the Aaron Ashton Band. Great players all around.

Gear Up: Microphones Part 2

Last week, I mentioned a few suggestions on some microphones to get started with for drums.

This week, where in the world do you place them? What will get the best and most consistent sound?

First, don't reinvent the wheel. Whenever you work with a good sound tech, watch what they do, and ask them questions (nicely, at appropriate times, and respectfully, of course) about why they do it the way they do. Listen and learn. There are also myriad websites that have very clear, complete information.

I'm definitely not a sound engineer, but there are a few really simple concepts that I have used for years that have produced good, consistent results. Again, there are a lot of factors at play here, including your drums/heads, tuning, the size and shape of the room, how loud you play, other sound sources on the stage, etc*.

One semi-funny story: Back in the day, I played with a band called Hillside Nine. We got a gig playing at a high school for a huge senior party. Lots of fun. After sound check the engineer asked if there was anything else we needed, and I jokingly said, "Just make us sound amazing, okay?" He replied without missing a beat, "Ah, okay. I'll turn the 'Talent' knob all the way up, and the 'Suck' switch completely off. Will that work?"

Oh, if only it were that simple! Anyway, on to the good stuff.

Snare and Toms
Line up the end of the microphone (the end where it captures the sound - it usually has a screen) with the hoop/rim of the drum, at least an inch above the hoop - mine are about 2-3" up - and angle the mic at the dead center of the drum. The microphone will end up at about a 30ish degree angle up from the plane of the drum head. Try it out. You'll like it!

Kick Drum
My drum's resonant (front) head is ported. That means it has a five inch hole cut in the head, at about the 4 o'clock position. I have had good results putting the mic through the port, with the end of the mic (again, the screen/capture side) about three inches inside the drum, pointed at the dead center of the batter head. If your kick drum doesn't have a front head (or if you've removed it for recording), move the mic to about the halfway point of the shell, right in the middle, and point it at the center of the resonant head.

Overhead/Cymbals
I like to use two identical mics to capture the cymbals and full kit sound. One mic sits over my left hand area, pointed at the place where my left side crash overlaps my hi-hat. The right side hangs over my ride cymbal where it hangs over my floor tom. Both are just above head level, out of range of an errant stick stroke.

Especially if you're using mics a lot, and even more especially in a recording setting, it's worth experimenting with different placements - angles, heights, alignments and how far over the drum it sits.

Happy drumming!


*Okay, one MAJOR tip: the best mics, sound engineer and placement won't make your drums sound good if they don't already. Before you go to the gig, make sure that your instrument is in good working order - heads in good shape, and well tuned. This will have the BIGGEST impact on how good you sound. That, and the P word: PRACTICE!!