Drummer

About me

I am a drummer with all my heart and have been playing since 1994. My core areas are Funk & Soul, Rock, and Fusion but I always like to challenge myself and get into new and adjacent genres such as Jazz or Latin. Of course, I play the blues – if I have to. Having been trained as a drummer in an orchestra initially, I can read sheet music as well. As you can guess from my kit and my playing, drummers like Simon Phillips, Billy Cobham, and Jeff Porcaro had a huge influence on me.

My style is characterized by a straight „in the face“ groove which is complemented by interesting fills to provide the guiding grid for fellow musicians. I do play open-handed which gives me more freedom to create interesting grooves or fills on the toms with my right hand while maintaining the beat on the left. Yes – I love tom fills and use them very musically with different underlying rudiments and dynamics as breaks between different parts or as part of the beat trying not to kill everything else. Seeing the drumkit as a complex musical instrument rather than a simple beat box, I aim to add a flavor of groove and musicality which modern music often lacks. Playing with each other rather than against – thats the secret formula.

Projects

Drumkit I – „Simon Phillips Style“ TAMA Starclassic Bubinga Elite Cordia

My main kit is a Starclassic Bubinga Elite Cordia which sounds very percussive and puristic with great punch and and nice attack supported by single-layered head such as Remo Ambassador. It follows Simon’s „new“ set-up and thus requires ambidexterity in open-handed playing, i.e. playing the ride and hi-hat with the left hand and snare with the right – not crossing the arms.

  • 24″x16″ (x2) Bass Drums
  • 10″x8″ TT
  • 12″x9″ TT
  • 13″x10″ TT
  • 14″x11″ TT
  • 15″x13″ TT
  • 16″x14″ TT
  • 18″x16″ FT
  • 20″x14″ Gong Bass
  • 4x Octobans Low Pitch

Snares

  • 14″x6.5″ TAMA Simon Phillips Signature SP1465H Monarch (#389, signed)
  • 14″x6.5″ TAMA Limited Edition Artstar Cordia/Bubinga/Birch
  • 14″x5.5″ TAMA Silverstar Mirage Acyl
  • 14″x5.5″ TAMA Simon Phillips Signature SP1455H Gladiator (#116, signed)
  • 12″x5.5″ TAMA Metalworks
  • 12″x5.0″ TAMA Simon Phillips Signature SP125H Pageant (#43, signed)
  • 10″x5.5″ Tama Artwood Limited

Cymbals

  • 22″ Zildjian Avedis Ride (70s stamp)
  • 22″ Zildjian China Boy Low (80s stamp) (still looking for a 24″ Swish ;))
  • 14″ Zildjian Avedis New Beat Hi-hats (70s stamp)
  • 20″ Zildjian Sound Lab Prototype / K Sweet X-Thin Crash
  • 18″ Zildjian Sound Lab Prototype / K Sweet X-Thin Crash
  • 16″ Zildjian Sound Lab Prototype / K Sweet X-Thin Crash
  • 12″ Zildjian A Custom Splash (looking for adequate alternative)

Mics

I use relatively high quality microphones on my drums as the nature of the Bubinga shells require microphones with a broad frequency spectrum and excellent attack to record the natural character of the drums. Moreover, condenser and especially small condenser microphones minimize off-axis coloration which is really key when having so many toms and mics.

Each bassdrum has a self-built rail with an inbrazed cable installed so that I can use closed front-heads which support the natural sound. The toms mics are mounted at the outer side of the Starcast mount using a TAMA MHAM10 which gets attached to the 2 screws of the Starcast and holds a Shure A56D mic arm in combination with a A53M resonance absorbing clamp. This way, there is triple protection (Starcast mount, clamp, mic-internal) that minimize resonance at the capsule.

  • Bassdrum: Shure beta52
  • Snares: Shure beta57
  • Hi-hats: Neumann KM184
  • Overheads: AKG C414
  • Toms: Neumann KM184
  • Gong Bass: Shure SM27
  • Octobans: Shure SM57

Drumkit II – Tama Silverstar Mirage Acryl

I use this kit mostly live with my Funk & Soul Band as it looks fantastic with nice lights. It follows the same open-handed concept with the Ride on the left.

  • 22″x16″ Bassdrum
  • 14″x6″ Snare
  • 10″x7″ TT
  • 12″x8″ TT
  • 14″x12″ FT
  • 16″x14″ FT

Cymbals

  • 21″ Zildjian A Custom Medium Ride
  • 22″ Zildjian Oriental Trash
  • 13″ Sabian AA Fusion Hi-hats (80s)
  • 20″ Zildjian A Custom Crash
  • 18″ Zildjian A Custom Crash
  • 16″ Zildjian A Custom Crash