Work in Progress: Engine Room
One of the pieces I’m working on for our upcoming Works in Progress concert is called “Engine Room”. It’s a piece for two people and it’s played on special drum pads affixed with contact microphones.
I’ve been building prototypes of the pads and I met with On Ensemble’s good friend and all-around-amazing-gentleman, Charlie Campagna, recently to get his input. We tried applying a number of electronic and acoustic effects. Charlie was really helpful and I’m excited about the sound we’re getting. Check it out!
Tags: contact mic, engine room, works in progress
Awesome! A few years ago I saw a tutorial on how to split open the foam inside the drum pad and use one of those cheapo piezo mics you can get from radio shack and affixing an rca output on the bottom of the drum pad. I’m sure it will sound much better with the contact mic. Supposedly there was a way to sync it and use it as a midi trigger but I never got that far. Awesome idea, I’m sure you guys will make it sound great!
dude! this is very cool….i can imagine a whole world of possibilities for On Ensemble with this kind of thing. so portable as well!! it’s going to be a great addition to the group’s sound. have you seen those commercially available practice pads that have little beads or snares in them? that might be a next step, having an on/off kind of snare sound…