DESCRIPTION:
https://www.reverbnation.com/barricadesatnight
https://www.facebook.com/SomethingToTell/
https://barricadesatnight.bandcamp.com

Barricades At Night is an alternative rock band from Huntsville, AL. I was contacted by their guitarist, Ryan, to contribute to this full-length in February of last year. After pre-production, I tracked all of the drums and percussion over the summer and it was officially released on 30DEC16. This is a FANTASTIC rock record and I'm honored to have played a part in its implementation. Side note, but Ryan mixed and mastered this--utilizing my wet mixes with slight augmentation--and did a bang-up job.

Presented here is the first half of 'VOIDS', I'll post the second half either later this month or early next month. If you enjoy this music, I hope you'll consider purchasing a copy of the record; the Bandcamp link is above.

Gear-wise, I used 13"/16" Reference Pure tom-toms with Remo Vintage coated Emperors, my usual 20" kick with a 20" Powerstroke III coated head, and my 6.5"x14" Sensitone brass snare (for most of the tunes; more on that in the next vid) with a Controlled Sound X head. On "I Guess", I use a hybrid setup with an 8"x14" Pearl limited edition maple snare on my left (Black X head). I relied more on my varied assemblage of Zildijans to color the tonal palette of each tune, switching cymbals out on a song-by-song basis, pretty much. You may peruse an equipment list here: http://travisorbin.com/equipment.htm, or just ask me in the comments about a particular model.

Notes:
"Polaroid" (0:00)
-0:06 - the count-off was planned to be a part of the song, thus my shit-eating grin
-2:35 - 3:05 - bridge contains some unpredictable orchestrations
-3:20 - 'the big payoff', the chorus groove finally picks up to a 2&4 feel on the very last repetition
"I Guess" (3:38)
-the demo for this contained industrial/electro elements, so I capitalized on that by adding some hi-hat overdubs in the intro and verses (I used 15/14s in the drum set tracking portion and 13/12s for the overdubs to provide further contrast). I added filters and various effects to these elements, then Ryan later did his thing as well--too cool how it all came out
-4:38 - 5:08, 5:38 - 6:08 - these verses features a quasi 3-8 feel on the hi-hat overdubs
-6:23 - I actually had to punch in this part and be extra-attentive, as I was beating the ride so hard it was bouncing off of the side snare haha
"Devil on My Heels" (7:16)
-for the intro, the crash crescendos and tambourine were recorded through the overheads and room mics, with the rooms cranked and the OHs only present for a little 'bite'
"Stand Still" (9:26)
-9:54 - 10:07 - verse is broken up here with some some fun, colorful orchestrations
-10:09 - 10:43, 11:27 - 12:01 - choruses feature a tambourine accenting the backbeat (even during the half-time parts), but resting during the brief ride pattern; this was present in the demos, and is totally something I would've done anyway haha
-11:15 - 11:26 - verse is broken up again, this time with a ride pattern
-outro features a pedal hat in 3-8 (mostly), something else that was present in the demo that I also would've totally done - Ryan must be in my head, haha. I overdubbed a ride bell here and soaked it in PanMan (listen with headphones), and automated the room mics to boost the whole time, on which Ryan later capitalized
"Bayonet" (12:44)
-13:50, 14:54 - vocal complementation
-14:04 - 14:20 - love the sound of my K crash going into the second verse; dynamics are obviously crucial here
-14:25 - 'the big fill'! -- every rock song needs one amirite?

If you'd like to purchase an isolated drum movie for any of these tunes, please visit: http://travisorbin.bigcartel.com/product/tunes

Full drum set transcriptions:
"Polaroid"
http://travisorbin.com/images/BarricadesAtNight-Polaroid.JPG
Tempo = 130 BPM
"I Guess"
http://travisorbin.com/images/BarricadesAtNight-IGuess.JPG
Hi-hat overdub chart
http://travisorbin.com/images/BarricadesAtNight-IGuessHi-HatOverdubChart.JPG
Tempo = 128 BPM
"Devil on My Heels" & "Stand Still"
http://travisorbin.com/images/BarricadesAtNight-DevilOnMyHeelsAndStandStill.JPG
Percussion overdub chart
http://travisorbin.com/images/BarricadesAtNight-DevilOnMyHeelsAndStandStillPercussionOverdubChart.JPG
Tempo = 155 BPM
"Bayonet"
http://travisorbin.com/images/BarricadesAtNight-Bayonet.JPG
Tempo = 120 BPM

http://www.travisorbin.com