DIY percussion

[drundall]

Today I had a session with a drummer and he used a BIG can of Trader Joe's coffee beans and a box of cereal for a shaker and it sounded great. Any other made up instrument stories?

[Chrisc_o]

I have a wood working shop, and I was tracking a song about clear cutting of the boreal forest, so I pulled out a 50 odd inch coiled bandsaw blade and used it as a pseudo tambo, tossing it a few inches into the air and catching it in time with the tune. We then took some bits of different hardwood (oak, maple, birch... and started knocking them together, but woodblocks already exist, so not so original I guess, but gave a real authentic quality to the track because the sound wasn't as polished as real woodblocks.

I made a prototype kick drum skin from a sheet of corrugated plastic to get a ton of attack for a particular song. The sound was awesome, but it just didn't respond like a real skin, otherwise it would have found a full-time home on my house kit.

[tINY]

I mixed for a blues band where the "drummer" played a Jack Daniels box with a pair of brushes....



-tINY

[Glenn Kuras]

I used a metal pot (about 6" deep) and a wooden spoon as a cow bell one time.

Glenn

[pjplayer]

DIY percussion is ace. my most successful attempt was probably a plucked drying rack as a bass drum (not played live, sampled). waste paper bins and kitched utensils (especially aluminium for a really nasty sound) work well too, but normally after a great deal of vst treatment.

[rodge]

theres an experimental group called the sound of animals fighting, alot of the samples used in their tracks and live are pulled right out of the kitchen of a LA apartment.

[drmmrboy]

Old kitchen chair w/ 6-7 hollow metal rungs. V shaped back, all different lengths, & sound. Raked with a drum stick, up & down. Burrick, burunk. Way cool.

Floppy disk, wide tooth comb. Poor mans guiro.

[flanagan]

Err, A big glass jar with a wooden spoon and a small bag of super lightly tapped. ^

[Stevil]

i drum triggered plexiglas, sawblades, hunks of metal.
sonic smashball & some verb makes for nice tom/timpani sounds.
sparklets water jugs, pringles cans, pots & pans, metal bowls w/ water in em, xerox toner bottles, washer dryers. just tap on everything & see what resonates.

[beyond]

I've got 2 excellent shakers made of Pringles cans, (the small ones are good) one is filled with cous-cous and the other with Basmati rice. Sound astonishing! + I get a good snack... really hard DIY-work!

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by drundall

Today I had a session with a drummer and he used a BIG can of Trader Joe's coffee beans and a box of cereal for a shaker and it sounded great. Any other made up instrument stories?

One of my percussionist buddies several years ago used a 12 oz TJ's can of French Roast during an improvisatory recording session.

I didn't see him take it out of the fridge and I shot him a glance in the middle of the jam when I saw it.


After, he said, "What? You're worried about damaging your coffee beans?"

And I said, "As a matter of fact, yes... you're bruising the beans and wearing off the vital, natural protective coating."

He said I was full of it.

But when we opened the can, there were all these little bits and pieces of coffee bean casings everywhere.

Smelled really good, though.


__________

Gotta love Trader Joe for the 24 oz cans of French and Midnight Bay Blend (or whatever their dark blend is called) for 10 bucks. It's much cheaper than the supermarket crap and it tastes great if you make it strong enough.

I just finished my fourth mug of Bay Blend, which is my normal morning ration. Great stuff. The only stuff available around here that I like better is from the little roaster a nice stroll from my flat: Polly's Coffee [unpaid plug: they do mail orders via the net]

[sears]

tweezers scraping a ridged tin can