August 2021 – Volume 45 • Number 8
On 31st Aug 2021
Articles in August 2021
Yamaha Super Rack System, April 1990
When SimCity—a video game that allowed players to conceptualize and build simulated metropolises—debuted to the public in 1989, it became a phenomenon. Given the massive architecture of the 1990 Super Rack System, it appears a few folks in the Yamaha…
Mike Reid
Taking it to In the Heights, Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys, and Beyond. Mike Reid started playing drums at the age of three and never looked back. The Baltimore, Maryland, native joined his school and church bands to begin his first…
16th-Note Accents
Excepted from Accent Control Accents add color and dynamic variation to our drumming, and they’re an extremely essential aspect of every drummer’s technique. The 16th-note accent patterns that follow should be practiced using the four stickings shown: (a) alternate sticking…
The Healing Power of Silence
The center of a musician’s world is often thought to be within their love for sound, melody, and rhythm. Most of you reading this article will be big fans of sound in general—creating sound, appreciating sound, and listening to sound.…
NEW GEAR - August 2021
Status Audio Between Pro Wireless Earbuds I have to dig that Status Audio was founded by a drummer, New York’s James Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi’s company was recently crowdfunded to the tune of $1 million (a very good sign, indeed), and he…
Roger Hawkins October 16, 1945 – May 20, 2021
Roger Hawkins—one of music history’s most recorded drummers—died peacefully at his home in Sheffield, Alabama, after a few years of declining health. He was 75 years old. Hawkins has been called an architect of the Muscle Shoals sound. He was…
Bobby Bond
The Beat Goes On As time marches on, and we lose more and more of the rock-and-roll hitmakers of the 1960s, those stars still soldiering on via ‘60 rock cruises and package tours have become living embodiments of the era…
Burn, Baby, Burn!
Hello, everyone. I hope your summer has been going as well as it can be. Welcome to another special issue of Modern Drummer. Come on, you have to admit the last few issues have been pretty amazing. (Thank you, MD…
Killing the Mud Monster
There are tons of things that can kill your home-studio project. A nuclear error is recording a crappy song to start with. But you also need to beware of signal-chain distortion, really awful gear (mics, preamps, etc.), format futz-ups, bad…
Funky Shuffles
Music has changed a lot, but it’s important to see where the shuffle evolved from, because it really has a lot to do with all of the other rhythms that you play. For example, when I was playing “Kissing my…
Dynamics Mechanics
Excerpted from Rhythm & Chops Builders I believe that a drummer should be able to pick up sticks and make music on any sound source. The two biggest keys to doing this are having extensive rhythmic and rudimental vocabulary and…
Gretsch
Classic Renown 57 I was immediately aware I was in two kinds of big trouble when I opened the initial press-release announcement for the Limited Edition Gretsch Classic Renown 57. Big Trouble Number One: The photos of the kit in…
Judy Cocuzza
The Return of Betty Blowtorch Betty Blowtorch was one of the most ferocious, hard-rocking, and riotously in-your-face all-female rock bands to ever tread onstage. From 1998-2001, drummer Judy Cocuzza, guitarists Sharon Needles and Blare N. Bitch, and bassist/vocalist Bianca Halstead…
Peter Criss
Excerpted from the February 1999 Cover Story Peter Criss—born Peter George Criscuola—is a true rock ‘n’ roll survivor. The Brooklyn-bred drummer, whose affinity for jazz prompted him to seek out Gene Krupa as a youth, ran an ad in Rolling…
Earl Young
Legendary Timekeeper for The Sound of Philadelphia Earl Donald Young, bassist Ronnie Baker, and guitarist Norman Harris formed the Philadelphia-based rhythm section known as Baker Harris Young. That the trio helped change the music world is not an understatement. In…
Terry Bozzio
Modern Drummer, July 1994 “Even though I’ve got that humongous drum kit sitting there, I’ve learned I don’t have to use it all at once. Igor Stravinsky thought nothing of having five solo cellos play a section in the middle…
Low Boy
Custom Lightweight Bass Drum Beater Customizing stuff is one of my guilty pleasures—I’m always “building” cars on manufacturer websites that I have no intention of actually buying—so the opportunity to design my own beater was what initially attracted me to…
8 Affordable Home Recording Tools
There certainly hasn’t been a bucketload of good about pandemic lockdowns, but when you have ambitious and creative musicians stuck at home, they tend to figure out ways to get their music out there. Many creators upgraded their home studios,…
Justice James on Swingin’ Surf
It seemed like a pretty normal surf show until it wasn’t. The Young Barons were onstage performing their edgy, modern-primitive style of surf music. Suddenly, the drums exploded like Buddy Rich torturing the squares at a 1940s swing dance with…
