Metalworks Institute's Drum Clinic

Audio Engineering students at Metalworks Institute participated in a drum clinic, last month. The idea behind the clinic was to simulate a drum session as it would unfold in a professional recording studio.

Instructors, Elliott Sairan and Alf Annibalini, held multiple three-hour sessions of about thirty students each. Mark Homer was brought in as the professional drummer.

The clinic was held at Metalworks Studios, so students had the advantage of learning in an actual studio environment. “Nobody who comes here [to MWI] misses out on an opportunity like this. This is the best possible place to teach,” said Sairan, commenting on the studio environment.

Sairan played the role of the Producer. He said, “As the music producer, I describe to the students the nature of this particular session. I introduce them to the session drummer, Mark Homer.  I let them know that he is overdubbing a drum performance on an already existing song.”

The role of the Engineer is to mic the drums according to the sound desired, and make sure there are no technical glitches during the session. Annibalini, who assumed the role said, “The students get to participate with professionals going through all the motions of what it would take for the real process, as opposed to just observing.”

Homer, who has been playing drums professionally for about 25 years, explained to the students what is expected of him in the session. He taught them how the drums produce sound and how construction, skins and wood all work to produce varying types of sounds. He even showed students how to tune the drums.

He said he enjoyed being around the students and giving them his perspective and added, “It’s important to me to give them as much I can to make sure they have what they need to succeed.”

After the drum clinic, the students are split into groups of three to five to run their own recording session. Here, Mark comes into studio, and the students assume the role of the Producer and Engineer. They are tasked with transforming an existing song into another genre. 

Annibalini said, “It’s important they get as much hands on experience as possible, but supervised hands on experience, so we can still guide them.”

“Recording sessions are very dynamic processes where both the engineer and the producer must work efficiently in order to get the job done well.  The producer’s job is mainly to keep their eye on the end result.  The engineer must make sure the sounds are high quality and that they maintain consistency throughout the session.  Also, if there are equipment problems (as there were) it is the engineer's responsibility to get things working quickly so that the session doesn't slow down and lose momentum,” explained Sairan.