Mark Guiliana: Making Acoustic Drums Sound Electronic | Reverb Drum Tricks

Check out the full article on Reverb: bit.ly/3koPMdt
Drummer and composer Mark Guiliana (David Bowie, Brad Mehldau, Meshell Ndegeocello) walks us through a some tips and tricks for emulating drum samples with an acoustic kit and a few toys in a drum lesson with live-band examples featuring bassist Jonathan Maron. From preparing the snare drum with a cymbal to deadening a floor tom with a secondary head and stacking cymbals on top of each other, these are just a few ideas to help inspire you to find new sounds from your old kit.

[@wesleydecru3939]

Never have I seen a bassplayer approve a drumlick with so much feels. 4:21

[@mariaulfah7902]

this is like cream teenager without eric claphands

[@andyplexus365]

can we get a video of you and the bass player just playing for an hour. i think that be goodness.

[@ja773r]

Or three!

[@qipteq1786]

hours or videos?

[@vvviiixxx8745]

Jojo Mayer has a lot of stuff like that!

[@blondeguyy4944]

@@qipteq1786 3 videos of them playing for 3 hours

[@ClamsAnonymous]

hot damn this guy is a killer drummer

[@Reverb]

ClamsAnonymous Yes, yes he is.

[@TheCHRISCaPWN]

totally!

[@Utroll]

+ClamsAnonymous Listen to the song Ever Evolving Etude released on Gently Disturbed from Avishai Cohen Trio... I think there's still drummers struggling in comment section to know what-t-f happend :D I think it's that album that thrown his brilliance to the face of the world

[@ineffableoracular7260]

+ClamsAnonymous I know seriously off the chart, oh and btw David Bowie agrees with you, that's why he chose Mark to play on his new album Blackstar

[@SirWrighteous]

It's like he knows too much to legitimately mess up. He's always got a backup plan, and it's sooo tasty.

[@Strings-jg2to]

Tasty indeed my friend.

[@rhythmista7707]

This is why Mark is my favorite new drummer. His dynamics are incredible, and his concept and perception for the acoustic kit is not only refreshing, but incredibly useful and creative.

[@Alex79642]

In the 80's we had electronic drums to emulate acoustic drums, now we try to emulate electronic drums with the acoustic ones..strange world!

[@tuomas3964]

best of both worlds is the direction we are headed I think :D

[@tatiravera1931]

man search and see Jojo Mayer's TED talk "Distance between zero and one", he has very cool concepts about that topic

[@modestoney1577]

+Ale Kitsch Indeed, you are absolutely right about that. On the other hand you find the pattern of absurdity everywhere throughout life, so it´s strange and at the same time the nature of things. Life is weird.

[@jaggass]

In the 80's you couldn't beat Simmons for electronic drums. These days Roland seem to have mastered acoustic sounding electric drum kits.

[@gasolineandwine]

From Brian Eno: “Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.”

[@DennisAlvey]

I don't even play drums but damn this guy is awesome.

[@Reverb]

+Dennis Alvey He certainly is. You can hear him all over the new David Bowie record - check it out!

[@DennisAlvey]

Reverb.com Actually, that's how I found out about him.... I actually thought the drums on Blackstar were programmed.... No. That's a person... And he's using these tricks which.... WHO thinks of that?! He's insane.

[@TorkG8]

+Dennis Alvey Yep. Me too. Heard Bowie's new record, was amazed at the drumming and had to check the guy out. :)

[@mariaulfah7902]

you should go to hear tame impala

[@dabudamba]

Music 1:39 3:05 4:01 :O 6:04

[@thePeterpumpkin68]

This dude knows where every single note is in any time signature. So precise too! Absolutely amazing.

[@gdserpongjazz1156]

Such a complicated playing..yet with subtleties and graceful playing. A masterful touch!

[@Chuckydrumz]

Seriously... Mark Guiliana is so so so Special on the Kit. Def one of my all time Fav Drummer. legendary Playing 🔥

[@GeoffGillDrums]

love this...this will make a serious FUN sunday trying out this approach.

[@rileydick73]

When I heard blackstar I was so envious of the drummer this is fantastic, I'm so glad I have found my new favourite drummer

[@emrsny1]

Always the best snare sound from Mark's kit. Compliments his groove a lot.

[@jorgeparedesaponte4045]

3:14 that polyrhythm break is magical!

[@kungfuninja55]

I was out of the loop for awhile and this guy I worked with at a music camp told me about Mark and I love this guy

[@Lakolyn]

The drums sound that I've always dreamed of... just amazing !! Technique used wisely to make music and not the other way around !! Thanks for that great video :)

[@lvalledor3440]

As much as I love the ideas you can get to mimic electronic drum sounds, I love the intro to this video

[@locksh]

Reverb are really doing god's work bringing all these musicians in and providing us with such quality content

[@scumbagreseller]

wow watched this like 70x awesome drumming and bass sound

[@JonathanTaylorW]

i'm enjoying the bassist's groove face

[@Reverb]

Jonathan Taylor Jonathon Maron definitely has some serious groove, having played with the likes of Tupac, Maxwell, and India Arie to name a few!

[@elnur.hicaz80]

Beautiful drums sound Mark !

[@bonsaix]

"Pretty traditional sound" - plays nicest sounding snare I've ever heard :')

[@DoppelgangerShockwave]

Not so sure that really came close to an "electronic drum sound," but the sound changes definitely sound good. If you want an electronic drum sound I highly recommend using guitar and/or bass effects pedals connected to mics. I first saw Tony Hajjar of At The Drive-In/Sparta fame do this and the sounds you can get are killer. I also believe Steward Copeland of The Police used them as well.

[@yrussq]

That's just fucking awesome trick!!! Significantly lowering tone while keeping all advantages of high tuning! Amazing!

[@dekidarockman8660]

nice playing, nice sound, nice tutorial !

[@rofflcopterr]

Oh this is great. Thank you for providing this type of general "How'd they do that?!" stuff.

[@BuckAugust]

This is fantastic!!!

[@olejakob9216]

You are my new drum-hero mark! Just watched your Drumeo lesson here and Drumeo has had a fair share of improv lessons but maybe not what I always would call pure improv, yours was pure free jazz improv, it may be that because I’m new to drums , improv and your take on improv attracts me because of your everything is music philosophy, I’m good at rhythms and detecting and dissecting a drum part in a song but because of some birth defects my coordination sucks so like now I have a dd65 kit and i use it with superior drummer, I’m more comfortable assigning the kick to one of the drum pads than to a pedal and even then my reaction is often too late so I love people like you who much like me sit behind my iPad finger drumming or now my dd65 drumming and just hit stuff, not thinking too much about bpms and written patterns, just exploring, cause everyone including me can hit stuff, I’m just not too good at hitting multiple things at the same time and making it sound rhythmically, you’re an inspiration for me and for people like me who loves the drums but are maybe not great at keeping the tempo or patterns in a song cause our legs and arms it not talking together 🙈looking forward to exploring you and your music and musical philosophy more mark!

[@wesleymitchell4933]

Killin it as usual.

[@LittaDNB]

Excellent video. It was easy to hear the differences the different techniques were makeup on my phone speaker

[@illuminationcorner4400]

Incredible drumming.

[@MPJGuitarClub]

VERY educational. This almost makes me want to toss my guitar and pick up on drums! Almost. ;) Very well done!

[@Reverb]

MPJ Guitar Club glad you enjoyed it!

[@JeremiahFernandez]

+EvilAlbear sooo.the dark side consists of people who tossed their guitar in favor of drums?

[@JeremiahFernandez]

well, count me in

[@MichaelBCooper]

Why not both hmm?

[@larrytate1657]

Nobody wants to give away their real secrets. I never hear anyway say working on these exact 8 exercises rly took me to the next level, I wanna share them with u. Here they are transcribed, write them down and then watch my quick playing example of each one.

[@AndreasArianto]

Jonathan Maron is a really awesome bassist! How did he set up his tone to sound like this?

[@hickorymccay2994]

Boss OC-2

[@marcoshan2318]

Very useful technique! Will force our drummer to watch it

[@sweetfoampunishment3286]

Killer drummer and super useful tips!!!

[@CymbalVault]

Sick licks

[@stikkyniks22]

I love the description (0:14) "composer, drummer, maker of sick beats"

[@NicolasZart]

Wow, what rock have I been living under? This is really great stuff, but then again I'm coming from a 70s perspective. Very good stuff.

[@Utroll]

+Nicolas Zart give an hear to Amon Tobin's album Bricolage. I think that was the first decent bridge between advanced electronic music and real jazz culture (it's an old album seen from now but still). I think it's exactly this context that brought the new generation of drummers where they are..; Electronic music and its own sickness, plus their advanced (jazz) drumming technics = bam!

[@NicolasZart]

+Utroll Thanks, will do. I've been bored with music in the 90s, but things are definitely picking up again.

[@Frank1979Zappa]

Nicolas Zart Why bored in the 90ies? I discovered DnB then, changed a lot for me. Still love 70ies prog on the other hand. There's too much good music out there to be bored.

[@martinskrebergene]

Insanely cool vid

[@jmq1984]

Very useful!!

[@danb2140]

Great video!

[@redbeard365]

Amazing and educational.

[@Reverb]

Thanks for watching, +Kris Carter !

[@luisguevara8226]

Mark is SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@josephmorales652]

holy shit!!! I recognized that drum playing from david bowies last album! Good stuff man.

[@moritzk.5755]

nice drum playing!! i love the groove and the sound, is there a genre like this I can listen to?

[@eamonvandenberg1440]

Amazing!

[@nicogj6313]

would love to see a video like this but more on the mixing side. Like the drum sound on currents by tame impala for example. Making the kit sound electronic with processing and gating etc. Cool vid.

[@JeremiahFernandez]

The bassist is my spirit animal

[@atquinn1975]

Some very ear-opening stuff!

[@MrFrankSmith]

but whats happens when you put the little cymbal on top of the head on top of the snare?

[@samhill4275]

Sounds just like Nerve (Jojo Mayer). Love it!

[@useraadmin7437]

Worshipping!This Is Amazing ! Its Exactly I have been looking for learning. just a question : Is the sound go directly through microphone to the output?Is it just Pure audio signal through?To make acoustic drum sound electric, is there any extra FX Plugin[Besides EQ and Compressor, But such as Distortion or Driver ect.] add in the channel?

[@NaturalBirthForMe]

Some awesome shit!

[@enockotieno1130]

that is creativity

[@inkeye1]

I'm also curious on the bass effects setup. Jonathan Maron has a great groove as does Mark Guiliana.

[@adistabaskara3215]

i love mark guiliana

[@johnnyluna7824]

dude is nice on the kit

[@markowalski1]

This guy is my new favorite drummer. Sorry Darren King

[@treynobles]

markowalski they're both fantastic imo

[@devonscope6222]

Wait till you find out about Chris Dave

[@PeterGregoryDrums]

This is great. Thanks! What size is the bottom Sabian Nano hat?

[@gabrielamaral936]

Muito obrigado!

[@pushmotivation-__asher1335]

You’re drumming is fresh AF

[@craignizz6]

great video but does anyone know what head he was using placing over the snare and floor tom, cheers

[@vangelis.deligiorgis]

How to Jojo Mayer:D This is a great video by the way love the stuff you guys are jamming

[@phi6337]

Isn’t the music heard from 0:10 the sample used for the instrumental of “History” by Rich Brian? What’s the original called?

[@ipresent]

Not what I expected but that's good too. When miking the bass, run one mic into a sub woofer. If can be from a home stereo from a thrift store with an RCA in, just get a dynamic mic and some cable adapters. Make sure you wear earplugs because those deep sonic waves hurt long after you finish recording. Run a snare mic through an amp with reverb and some distortion. Both of these can be miked at the amp, or just left in the room for the room mics. If you're putting tape on your heads, try insulation foam tape from the hard wear store. Also, around Halloween, you can get 'Moon Gel' like window decorations. However, if you leave it on too long, it will stain the heads, but so what. Lots of skulls and spiders. Guitar pedals also can be fun. Again, get a dynamic mic and XLR to unbalanced 1/4" cables. I found a good deal on a used DBX subharmonic synthesizer. Not as powerful as I had hoped, but it does alter the sound into a digital medium. Any analog outboard gear hard wear is gonna have a unique effect. I have the Moog 500 series Ladder and Delay. Also a spring reverb unit, compressors, & gates. The 500 series units are a lot of fun. Many are affordable, especially if you build the gear yourself from kits, and you can add even harmonic distortion to give your kits a nice sizzle quality.

[@DanielSabelnikov1]

Sick.

[@dborismusic]

Nice t-shirt Mark

[@Tranchkol]

What is the name of the cheap bossa-nova when Mark is speaking at the beginning ? Plzzzz

[@Gino1875]

At like 4:40 it's so Jojo Mayer it's unbelievable. Like the bass and that! Amazing!

[@Gino1875]

Shows you don't need 25million drums because that IMO is pretentious! Haha! Like you want to see a drummer use everything if they have it all!

[@Gino1875]

+Greg Atkinson lol! Wrote the first comment mid video and then he cites Jojo Mayer as an inspiration! Haha! I would never have guessed! 😜🙈

[@h.j.w2783]

3:13 was next level

[@Simon-iy7mt]

Great concept! I love the irony of it! And Guiliana's playing is just stellar, as always.

[@matthewpaluch777]

Mark Guiliana's Space Heroes!

[@matthewraphael]

This is the guy who was the drummer of the latest David bowie album "blackstar" he has awesome work there

[@XoseGuitar]

Dude is a wizard.

[@ShowTheOreo]

3:09 such a nutty high hat sequence

[@ShawnSalik]

"maker of sick beats" very apt description haha

[@jordandiethrich7341]

Oh my... 3:15 ... that is so nice

[@watergraffiti]

epic!

[@garye4678]

Cool video Mark, thanks for posting. What is the name of the flat small tambourine you're using on the snare? It has a cool sound.

[@Reverb]

Thanks for watching,Gary E - It's the bottom of a Sabian Radia Nano Hi Hat.

[@garye4678]

Thanks.

[@DusanMilenkovicdrums]

Gary E It's actually Meinl CRING Ching Ring, Size: 6", (5 pairs of stainless steel jingles)

[@garye4678]

Thanks for that info Dusan :)

[@DusanMilenkovicdrums]

all the best for my "drum buddies"!!!

[@GreyoftheSnow]

Can someone explain to me what’s going on at 4:20? I know it’s some kind of modulation... I’ve been workin on this stuff but I’m trying to figure out how to clean it up like this

[@nicolasgibbons4683]

Grey Vracin I’m pretty sure he’s reversing it but going from slow to fast until it gets back to the start and then he’s back in the groove

[@PianofanSUI]

what's that bossa song from 0:10? I know it from somewhere...

[@princesmith1978]

Mr. Mark, Deantoni Parks, and Chris "Daddy" Dave are a few who have mastered this approach

[@nicktardifbass7]

OH man this is great, I was worried it was going to go the "Rational Funk" route, but glad it did not!

[@mariaulfah7902]

yeah, this is how tom morello were a drummer could be

[@Merkano2007]

Anyone knows the name of the thing he added to the snare on 3:06? Thx!

[@JoeIzzo]

#markguiliana shows some cool sounds

[@nogoogleplus]

Dude is goooooooooood

[@BIGpony777]

damn, this is some of my favorite playing from him lmao!! ive watched this video three times i might as well just download this shit and crop it

[@TomBear86]

what shirt are you wearing mark, is it a cat empire shirt? sick drumming love your style.

[@alexisesteban89]

Monstruito

[@Laiserball8]

is there a backing track of the bass groove?

[@charlesheap7925]

What's the effect on the bass guitar?

[@sashafrancis-murray6963]

3:13 DANG man

[@jaggass]

I was always fascinated how fat songs sounded when played on tv shows in the 80's with large studio's probably due to size and volume but then accidentally discovered how to replicate that on Audacity. I also discovered that what i did made the drums sound more electronic as well.

[@dincorcelles]

What effects did the bass player use?

[@ridgedchips]

What's the signal chain on that bass?

[@santiagoborjarmijos]

What's the name of that tiny tambourine? Sounds amazing!

[@Reverb]

Santiago Borja Armijos It's the bottom hat on a Sabian Nano Hi Hat

[@santiagoborjarmijos]

Reverb.com There's another one around minute 4:17

[@santiagoborjarmijos]

Dusan Milenkovic Thanks!!

[@DusanMilenkovicdrums]

u r welcome my man!!!

[@danablett]

Anyone know what ride he used here>?

[@jmcleanmoffat]

Can someone please tell me what effect the bass player is using for that phat-ass squishy sound? That tone is SO sick...

[@BrotherCrispen]

I do not know. I'm replying so that I will receive a notification when this question is answered.

[@jmcleanmoffat]

.

[@Reverb]

That was a Mu-FX Octave Divider. He expanded that rig in this other video we shot on the same day: reverb.com/news/mystery-box-challenge-with-mark-guiliana-and-jonathan-maron

[@jmcleanmoffat]

Reverb.com Thank you! So awesome.