MY PERCUSSION COLLECTION
My percussion collection include an array of instruments from diverse backgrounds: congas, bongos, timbales, timbalitos, maracas, shekeres, güiro, güicharo, güira, cowbells, quijada, claves, quinto cajon, cuá, catá, bata, tambora, pandereta, repinique, surdo, shakers, tamborim, pandeiro, agogo bells, wooden agogo, frigideira, cuica, afoxe, reco reco, cabasa, berimbau, caxixi, samba whistles, cajon, cajita, bombo, palo de agua, cascajuellas, triangle, tom tom, rototoms, tambourine, castanets, sleigh bells, wind gong, spoons, woodblocks, temple blocks, finger cymbals, mark tree, washboard, key tree, bell tree, wind chimes, shell chimes, bamboo chimes, stone chimes, toy hammers, flexatone, slapstick, ratchet, bean shaker, bird calls, frame drum, clay pot, djembe, talking drum, gankogui, axatse, sakara, log drum, slit drums, kanjira, kalimba, karimba, dumbek, reque, mazhar, dhol, tar, duf, tabla, dholaki, tasha, swordstick, monkey drum, garba, duff, kartal, duffari, damroo, ghungru, madal, bodhran, rattles, angklung, kokiriko, glockenspiel, vibraphone and marimba.





Being an inquisitive percussionist, I collect instruments at every possible opportunity. My percussion collection commenced with congas and moved quickly from there. As I have worked in the recording studio extensively, any sound, no matter how quirky, will find its place on a record, jingle or motion picture soundtrack at some stage. As a result I have used all the instruments in my collection at one time or another. The instruments in my collection range from sound effect instruments, rhythm instruments, to tuned percussion instruments. In terms of shakers for example I have a vast collection; plastic, metal, aluminium, and with all kinds of materials inside; rice, sand, beads, beans, etc. I recalled working on a Little River Band record [No Reins] and looking for that 'perfect shaker sound' for this particular track. The perfect sound for the intended track ended up being a tiny plastic medicine bottle filled with sugar! At one Hunters & Collectors session I played a table, and on a James Reyne extended mix I played two plancks of wood in the chorus! Some interesting acquisitions of late include some beautiful brass snare drums and metal shakers I found while touring India, wonderful gongs purchased while on tour in Singapore, some Aztec shakers from Mexico, a real quijada thanks to my friend Javier Leon Quiros who sent it from Lima, Peru and a beautiful kanjira courtesy of guru Karaikudi R Mani. My latest acquisitions courtesy of professional endorsments include a wonderful range of percussion instruments from Meinl and a special set of Sabian cymbals and gongs.

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MY RECORDING STUDIO
Apart from my percussion performance expertise, as a versatile artist one of the areas I have always being interested in has been the recording studio process. As I commenced playing percussion, I also commenced to record myself while practising and improvising creatively. This led to the art of composition and documenting works in the recording domain. The recordings made a start with stereo cassette recorders bouncing tracks from one machine to another, then four track reel to reel recorders, eight track portastudios, adats, and now in this new era of recording technology, on my portable laptop computer.

As the professional recording and session work has changed drastically, so has the delivery of the contemporary professional session. In the last few years I have found myself in a position where artists and producers asked me to contribute to their projects not only by performing the percussion tracks, but also by recording the parts on my own, in my own studio, providing the artist/producer with wav files at the end of this process. This style of work opens a wonderful way of contributing and collaborating on projects worldwide.

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MY RECORDING SESSION PROCESS

▪ The artist/producer sends me the files via the internet, or on a cd via post

▪ The files are usually mixes of the following tracks: click track, drum stereo mix, band stereo mix

▪ The files I receive are either wav or mp3, which I then import onto my system

▪ I then record an array of percussive parts as specifically asked, or by contributing my own ideas to the percussion base of the particular project. The files I record are at 24 bit - 48,000 Hz

▪ I then send the recorded percussion wav files via the internet or on a hard copy cd via post

Over the years, apart from my own projects, I have worked on session projects in this 'new style' with artists such as Powderfinger, Lisa Young Quartet and a cappella group Coco's Lunch to name a few. The Powderfinger material was featured on their last number one ARIA charting album Golden Rule. The Lisa Young material was featured on her Grace album, a winner of an Australian Jazz Bell Award in 2007. The following are some excerpts from some of these recordings. The excerpts you wil find below are my own 'percussion mixes' of some of these projects, as such they showcase my work upfront. If you are interested in this area of my professional work and seek further information and/or would like to discuss a project, please feel free to contact me.

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EXAMPLES FROM MY RECORDING STUDIO SESSIONS

From: Powderfinger
Album: Golden Rule
Track: Burn Your Name [excerpt from my percussion mix]
Percussion: shakers, tambourine, ibo, kanjira



From: Powderfinger
Album: Golden Rule
Track: Poison In Your Mind [excerpt from my percussion mix]
Percussion: surdo



From: Powderfinger
Album: Golden Rule
Track: Stand Yourself [excerpt from my percussion mix]
Percussion: shakers, tambourine, maracas



From: Powderfinger
Album: Golden Rule
Track: Awake [excerpt from my percussion mix]
Percussion: pandeiro, claves, maracas, Indian ankle bells



From: Lisa Young Quartet
Album: Grace
Track: Mani's Samba [excerpt from my percussion mix]
Percussion: shaker, conga, tamborims, agogo bells, frame drum

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EXAMPLES FROM MY COLLECTION OF PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
For a larger image, description and a sound file, please click on any of the images below.

Congas

Bombo

Berimbau

Ibo

Cajon

Vibes

Marimba