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Tech NewsSploidYou Need to Hear the Unreal Sound of a Snare Drum In an Abandoned Nuclear Cooling Tower
Those giant, curvy, concrete towers that rise above nuclear power plants aren’t only useful for cooling superheated water. Once decommissioned, the massive structures can also be used to naturally create amazing sounds and effects when playing instruments inside them. That’s what a band called Thunderpussy discovered while recording a performance inside one of the two … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Tiny Drum Set Sounds Amazingly Good
Who needs a set of fully-tunable miniature drums? A guy who does most of his drumming with a bearded, bandana-wearing puppet. Ricky Syers may not be a household name, but you might recognize the video of his puppet Chops expertly bashing his way through Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.” Back then Chops’ kit was repurposed aluminum cans, … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsSploidWhy Drums Only Sound as Good as the Room They’re In
I’ve spent a fair bit of time in the company of drummers, and every last one has been a little bit weird. That level of independent limb coordination must do something to your neural circuitry. Some of them hide their strangeness… unless they get to talking about “room tone.” Then they start describing sounds as … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsSploidOne-Man Band Will Rock You
The standard power trio usually includes a drummer, a guitarist, and a bassist. In his latest YouTube video, mega virtuoso Rob Scallon decides to be all three at once. Adding an electric guitar, an electric bass, a 12-string acoustic guitar, an upright bass, and what looks like a whamola made from a used shovel, Scallon … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsSploidWatch a Tiny Puppet Drummer Rock Out to Rush’s Tom Sawyer on Soup Cans
The art of puppeteering is taken to a whole new level by Ricky Syers as he not only brings Chops the puppet to life, but also has him perfectly rocking out along to Rush’s Tom Sawyer on a set of equally tiny soup can drums. He may or may not do requests, but hopefully Led … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Legend Owns the Drums Heard on Almost Every Major Album in the Last 20 Years
Ross Garfield is the farthest thing from a household name. But if you’ve even listened to Nirvana’s Nevermind, Metallica’s black album, Michael Jackson’s Bad, Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers or dozens of other seminal records from big-name artists, you’re already familiar with his work. Garfield is the drum doctor, a … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsThree-Armed Cyborg Drummer Is the Killer Beat Machine of the Future
Seeking to “push the limits of what humans can do,” researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a wearable robotic limb that transforms drummers into three-armed cyborgs. The remarkable thing about this wearable arm, developed at GT’s Center for Music Technology, is that it’s doing a lot more than just mirroring the movements of the drummer. … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidWatch and listen to the fascinating process of making a steel pan drum
Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of banging and hammering and mashing and even torching involved in making a steel pan drum but watching it all come together and to see flat steel get shaped in the most irregular pounding way to create the most perfect sounding notes for each section is pretty damn awesome. I … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Hear How Your Name Sounds As a Hip-Hop Beat
With Typedrummer Kyle Stetz created an incredibly simple website that still has the power to destroy your morning’s productivity. The idea is simple: turns whatever you type into a hypnotic sequenced drum beat. You can create the humble beginnings of a hip-hop track by simply mashing your keyboard. And you can easily create a custom … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsKorg’s Cliphit Turns Whatever’s In Reach Into an Instant Drum Kit
With a pair of drumsticks (or pencils) and a good imagination, anything can be turned into an impromptu drum kit. But Korg doesn’t want you to have to settle for imaginary sounds, or your terrible beatboxing skills. Its new Cliphit uses three cabled clips that attach and turn almost anything into drum pads that trigger … Continued
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Tech NewsRemote Control Drumming Toy Keeps the Beat Without Any Electronics
If you’ve lost count of how many times you’d wished you could’ve drummed along to a song with a set of remote controls in your hands instead of drumsticks, here’s an adorably-odd toy called Mr. Knocky that does the actual drumming for you—without electronics, batteries, or incompatibilities with your OS of choice. The plastic remotes … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s theme played by two guys on one drum kit
These guys play a brilliant cover of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air using a very complicated drum kit where they have to share most of the drums, cymbals and specifically the kick. This is the first time I have seen anyone playing drums four hands—and four feet. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidDad makes crazy sound effects by playing drums on his kid’s back
Let’s not freak out, guys. It’s a kid and his dad having fun. The dad, who is in the band Atticus Avenue, uses his kid’s back to play the drums and ends up creating some awesome sound effects and a fun drum beat because of the combination of squeaks, squeals and laughter coming from his … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsGlowing Sticks and Long Exposures Turn Drumming Into a Visual Feast
It can be mesmerizing watching a talented drummer beat away on a set of skins, but even more so when they’re sitting in the middle of a long-exposure camera rig with a pair of glowing drumsticks in hand. What’s usually a blur of arms and sticks suddenly becomes an intricate web of mid-air streaks and … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Bionic Drummer Arm Is Like Def Leppard 2.0
Like Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen who lost his arm in an accident but kept on performing, aspiring drummer Jason Barnes didn’t let losing his right arm two years ago deter him from realizing his dream. He built a crude prosthetic using springs that allowed him to keep on drumming, but after enrolling at the … Continued
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Tech News
Drum Solos Revisited
The drum solo has long been synonymous with extravagant posturing, with the worst excesses of rock’n’roll virtuoso exhibitionism. The reputation is unfortunate, but whatever one thinks of drum solos, the forthcoming album of solo drum work by Machinefabriek is something entirely apart from the usual associations. The source audio for Machinefabriek’s album — its bland … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidDrums can sound completely different depending on where they’re played
Wow, this is really cool. Audio Zéro recently made a video called Wikidrummer that shows how the same song on drums can sound completely different depending on where the drums are played. Out in the field, on a road, underneath a highway, inside a garage, in the park and so on can change the overall … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsGadgetsBuild This Tiny Drum Machine and Rock Out Like It’s 1984
They’re still in use by musicians today, but those full-size electronic drum pads seemed to have hit their peak with consumers sometime in the mid-80s, alongside Casio’s ubiquitous electronic keyboards. But if you’re feeling nostalgic, and handy with a soldering iron, this miniature DIY modern alternative won’t end up collecting dust in the corner of … Continued
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Tech NewsA Miracle of Editing Turns These Kids Into Virtuoso Drummers
Simon Panrucker turned his two nieces—and himself dressed in a creepy cape—into amazing drummers with video editing. Yes, that means that these adorable little girls can’t actually play drums like Bonham. Panrucker set up a little toy drum kit and had his nieces bang away at them as they saw fit. Then, he sliced up … Continued
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Tech NewsRelationships Perfectly Summed Up In a Drumming Duel
When you’ve been in a relationship a while, you and your partner develop a natural rhythm for your day-to-day interactions: which is perfectly encapsulated in this drummer versus drummer performance featuring Charlene deGuzman and Miles Crawford. It’s also a pretty good representation of every text conversation you’ve ever had. The couple argues over what to … Continued