Virtual Drums from Junk

So, I've spent the morning building a drum set out of found objects and homemade instruments... but I'm not building it physically. I'm building it inside the computer as a .sfz file.

Then the .sfz file is loaded into the Dimension LE program that came with my new sound interface and, voila, instant found objects drum set.

Here's a sample: Download Drum Sample

So what's making those sounds?

Most of the actual drum sounds were made by tapping a cardboard cigar box and then editing the .wav file to get a sound like the particular drum.

The snare portion of the snare drum, part of the hi-hat sound, and all the shaker type sounds where made with the Witch Gourd Jug (pictured) which, in addition to being a musical jug, also contains gravel and can be played as a maraca.

The cymbals were made using our dogs' metal water dish, partially full of water.

I think this experiment worked pretty well. Maybe some of the drum sounds could be tightened up a bit to get a better thump. And the ride cymbal plays a little too loud... but all fixable.

Junk Music

OK, so I've been using a lot of found object - or junk - musical instruments to support my cigar box guitars recently. (You can hear examples of this on my page at Cigarbox Nation.)

So, I went looking for other junk music out there... found stuff like this - a lesson plan for K-3rd graders on making music with found objects. Now, it's very cool that someone might be teaching youngsters to express their creativity (but too bad it's for an after school rather than during school program). It seems that folks think found object music is just for kids... and very little kids at that.

But I also found Donald Knaack - a percussionist who's been doing serious music on junk longer than I've been alive, lol.

Definitely catch Knaack's podcast. A real gem is a sound made by hitting a piece of metal and then dipping it in water. He talks about it in the lengthy intro in his podcast and then you can hear it in the piece he plays.

Speaking of cool sounds... Rebekah (my wife) recently reminded me of a cool sound she learned from our late friend Peggy O'Neal. I don't know where Peggy learned this and can't ask her now.

To make this sound, you take the oven rack out of the oven; tie a shoe lace to each of the back corners; wrap the laces around your left and right index fingers; stick the fingers in your ears so that it blocks out external sound; lean over so the oven rack hangs freely; and have a friend tap the rack lightly with a hard object - I think we used a wooden spoon, but a drumstick works well too.

The sound is an amazing chime sound... it's also really hard to record. Can't do it with a mic. So I had an assistant, Dylan Seals, with the rack set up, hold a cigar box guitar between his fingers and recorded the sound from the guitar's pickup.

Check it out: Oven Rack Sounds

The recording isn't bad, but the live experience is better... try it!

Still, that recording has come in handy in my recent music recordings... I've sampled it and used both as a chime and as a piano sound.