The Drum Tuning Guru Podcast episode #5
Interview with Yamaha Artist Relations manager Greg Crane
Danny: Let’s do it. Alright guys, thanks for checking in to another episode of the Drum Tuning Guru. I’m super stoked. I’ve got a great guest today. Long term great buddy of mine Mr. Greg Crane. How are you doing buddy?
Greg: I’m good.
Danny: Thanks for checking in with us and being on the show.
Greg: Yea, it’s a good time.
Danny: So what have you been up to man?
Greg: Oh nothing. We have just got back from Nashville a couple of days ago. We were all in Nashville. We have a summit with our drum artists in the Nashville area and got everybody together and we are kind of doing that this summer. And we are doing one in New York next month and then an L.A. summit in September. So it is pretty cool. Just getting everybody together.
Danny: What are the summits all about?
Greg: What’s that?
Danny: What are the summits all about?
Greg: What we do is just to get everybody together. We have so many artists and so many different parts of the country that we can kind of gather everybody in the main parts of the country, like Nashville, and we get together at S.I.R. and just round table things and talk about what is going on new with us, what is going on new with them, what we can do better, what the, you know just a big meeting…
Danny: A love fest?
Greg: A love fest!
Danny: And your official title now at Yamaha is Artist Relations Manager. Is that correct?
Greg: Yes.
Danny: Right on. So, for everybody out there, why don’t you give us a little background, you know how did you get involved in the industry and what was your progression through the ranks to get to such a cool gig?
Greg: What I did is I started in 1992. I started working for a very large music company. Do we say…?
Danny: Sure we both worked at Guitar Center.
Greg: I started working at Guitar Center.
Danny: Here is the thing; like you meet somebody and you are like I play drums. Right? Or I play guitar or I like guitars. What do you think? It is about a 90 – 92% rate that they work at Guitar Center at some point?
Greg: (Laughing) Yes totally.
Danny: I no matter, not that I am a famous drummer at all but I could get a gig, like I could replace Larry Mullen in U2 which is sort of like my dream gig because that would make a ton of money. When you think about great drumming gigs being in U2 pretty awesome, right?
Greg: That is a big one.
Danny: Check it out right? They are huge, so you would make a ton of money but you know what Larry Mullen he could walk down the street, go to the 7-11, and you know occasionally I’m sure a person comes up and is like oh my God it’s Larry Mullen but for the most part he can just live his life, not like Bono or something.
Greg: Totally. Bono is like Lenny Kravitz. He has got the awe on all the time. Like Lenny Kravitz can’t go down to 7-11 without putting on chaps and you know.
Danny: I am wearing chaps right now actually.
Greg: Oh really? This is for our listeners; don’t talk about Lenny Kravitz, okay cool. Yea man so I started working for Guitar Center and I mean I immediately when I started working there, the only thing in my head was I knew that I was going to be picked up. I was going to be blanking on the drums in the drum department and somebody would see me come and play. And it would be like oh my God you need to join our band. Or you need to come on tour with us. That was absolutely my only thought. I’m going to be here a couple months and that is going to be it man. I’m going to get picked up. I’m going to be the next Steven Perkins. I was in a huge Steven Perkins vibe back then, you know? And after like a month I was like man dude I really love helping people. I really liked it. I really dug the hang, I dug talking about drums and I just really dug that whole scene. And I just decided to stick it out. I’m like yea maybe this is my thing. I can you know be who I want to be. You could be over the top or you could be…if you are shy when you work in that environment if you are a shy person you can be extraverted and it’s cool. It’s like…not play a character but you can be whoever you want. You could just have fun and have fun with the customers and I just really started digging that. And worked there for 12 years and I worked with another good friend of mine who helped me out so much along the way named Danny Thompson.
Danny: We had a lot of good times.
Greg: We had a lot of good times man.
Danny: What was the name of that Dog Drummer’s Night Out?
Greg: Oh yea, those were just so great putting those together and (not to embarrass you) I owe so much to you. Sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you there.
Danny: Well thanks man. I appreciate that very much. I’m super proud that you are in the position that you are in and that things have worked out so good for you and that all these years later, I was at the Guitar Center for 18 years and it is great that we are still buddies and get to work together and it is awesome. It is a small community, there is no doubt about it. The drummer community or music community is pretty small. Everybody you run into…
Greg: G.C. was, yes the Guitar Center gig was when we were there that was more high profile than like a weatherman. You could be walking around Knott’s Berry Farm and somebody would be like “Yea dude, Guitar Center. Way bad.” And you are like “Yea, yea we will talk on Monday bro”.
Danny: What I was starting to say was no matter what...like I moved on from Guitar Center and I have been playing drums and touring and was even in Drum Magazine and all these things that we always on my list of life accomplishments and everywhere I go it’s like, “Hey dude, I worked for you at Guitar Center.” Like I’ll be in Canada playing a Face to Face show and a guy will be back stage and be like “Hey dude do you remember I worked at Fountain Valley for you for like a week?” (Laughing) So how did you end up at Yamaha and ultimately how did you get the Artist Relations gig?
Greg: Well I started working at Yamaha in 2004 and it was cool because I wanted to, I was traveling around a lot and the opportunity came to work with Yamaha and work in National Accounts which actually I still kind of help out the Guitar Center guys. It was a nice transition. And so I started doing that. Then I became the Product Specialist for Drums and I was doing a lot of helping out of the artists and introduced to those guys through help out with warranty things and like that. So that kind of opened the door in getting a lot of relationships with those guys. It just kind of naturally progressed. I have been in this position since April as the manager and it is going great. It has been really, really good. It’s 24 hours man. It’s 24 hours, but I love it man. And it is one of those…you know not to do the old cliché if you love what you are doing you are not going to work. Whatever that line is, but it is true. I really absolutely love doing it. And to me it’s kind of a…like you see your finished product on stage later you know like with Shannon Larkin with this last tour that they did. We put together, me and him, got together and put together his drum kit for this tour that they are on now - Godsmack is on now. So we got together and we had a lot of conversations about what the colors are going to be, what the size are going to be and it’s rack and things like that. We spent a lot of time and we got the drums and they came in time and they shipped them out and they got them set up. And then I went and saw them in Vegas a couple of months ago and I was like “Wow that was for me”. Like look hey we put that together. I worked on that and now it is all done and people are enjoying it. And just seeing our artist happy and making sure that they have everything they need to do what they are doing. We never forget that this is what you (well you as a Yamaha artist) this is what you do for a job. Everyone sees you, oh the rock stars, they are total rock stars and they are this and they are on that and they are getting music awards and they are on every show on the grandola, that is all cool. That is also what they do for a job. It is our job, it is my job, to help you and them to get the job done. To do it for the kids!
Danny: Well I think it is a really valid point. As fun as it is to play for people and all those things if you go to play and your kit doesn’t sound good or you are not happy with your set up I mean it doesn’t matter if there is a ton of people out there. They don’t notice any of that stuff. They don’t know that you don’t think you had your best night ever or whatever. But to every artist that I know, every drummer and musician, that stuff still, I think no matter how far along you go, that stuff still matters more than anything. You want to have a great night. You want to know you played great, you sounded great and you did your best regardless of whether there is 10 people there or 10,000 people. Unfortunately for me I seem to play the best when there is 10 people versus the 10,000 but…
Greg: Which is most of the time. (Laughter)
Danny: But I talk to other guys and they say the same thing. They can play the hugest, biggest show ever and I played like crap. But anyway let’s…people aren’t going to want to hear us reminisce about Guitar Center for a 40 minute show.
Greg: Yammering on.
Danny: Let’s get into a little bit here about drum tone and see what you know is your perspective on some of these things. I’m sure you have some great information from working with guys. I do this; I have this little list. The five elements of good drum tone. You know trying to kind of put something together that gives people like a list to follow almost. The order that I came up with was tuning, player, the drum head, the drums and then the environment that the drums are in. And I’d just be interested to get your perspective on that. Whether your order might be a little different?
Greg: Are you putting those in more important to less important?
Danny: Yes.
Greg: Yes I would say, gosh, probably…
Danny: I put them out like on Facebook and asked other people to kind of put their list together and it was all over the place.
Greg: Yes. I would say probably number one to is player because it is all their mindset like how they want the drums to sound. Some people really like – you know they tune their bottom heads the same as the top. Some people tune the top heads, or the bottom heads just a little bit higher than the top. So the player I think probably in their mindset is number one on what is going to get a good tone. There is a lot of drummers out there that like drums not to sound all that great. Seriously there are drummers out there that kind of like a low fi vibe.
Danny: Which could be fine if that is the style of the music.
Greg: Uh-huh.
Danny: But if you think, all things considered, you take that really good drummer and let’s say it’s Larry Mullen. Yamaha artist. If you went to see him at the big show and the kit had really old horrible drum heads on it and he was playing the same way he always does wouldn’t he sound inferior to how he would sound if the kit was dialed in?
Greg: That is right. The heads would be just all jacked up and pitted.
Danny: Or what is he wasn’t playing on a beautiful Yamaha kit that night. He was playing on a (we won’t even say anything).
Greg: It wouldn’t sound the same.
Danny: You know a cheap kit. Or not even cheap just a kit that just couldn’t be tuned or any of those things, he’d still sound good because he is Larry Mullen, he knows how to play. Or whatever drummer we are using. But wouldn’t those things also all things considered the better quality the drums and the better tuning and all those things make them sound even better?
Greg: I think so. What about drum heads? I mean I would say drum heads on a less expensive, I mean you can take really good heads on a drum kit that is not $20,000.00 or even $5,000.00 and still get a great tone out of a kit just from drum head choices.
Danny: Yes I mean it is certainly – that is going to be a huge factor. I would say more so new heads, fresh heads versus old stuff because there is not like really cheap drum heads. They are pretty much all, in the major companies anyway, they are all pretty much pro quality and things like that. So when you are out there working with some of these pros that you have been touring with what is it that you think makes these guys sound so much better than the average drummer?
Greg: Oh geez. I mean obviously the drums that they choose goes with the music that they play. I’m going to use obviously Yamaha as an example but drummers like Dave McClain who plays with Machine Head. He chooses Oak Custom drums because with the music that he plays (which is super fast) and his toms and his kick drums have to be super articulate. That kit meshes with him really, really well but if he maybe had a kit that maybe had maple shell of rounded bearing edges it would be a lot darker, it wouldn’t have as much punch to it, and that was my projection. I think what kind of makes them, what sets our drums apart is just their choices that they use for their kits that makes them sound so good.
Danny: So choosing the right style of drum kit as far as the wood choices and design of the kit to suite the styles of the music that you are playing.
Greg: Absolutely! Look at like Mike Borden for example. I mean he uses 14 inch, 15 inch and 18 inch, 14 and 15 is rack toms. If he had to play another kit that was say 10-12-16 it just wouldn’t work. One it would look really funny because everybody has seen Mike Borden with big giant toms but he knows that the music that Nathan Ward is playing, or Ozzie, or any one of those guys, he needs big sounding – Oak Custom is what he uses too. You know big sounding shells so he is able to get a perfect sound that works with his music. Does that make any sense? Maybe?
Danny: No absolutely, I think that is a really good point that is probably overlooked by a lot of guys when they go in to look for a new drum kit. They are looking at the color or what other artists are playing the kit versus does this kit really going to feature and fit the style of music I am in. And also the style of player that you are. You know the way you strike the drums and your attack is going to have a huge impact on those things.
Greg: I mean there are a lot of awesome 20 inch kick drums, you know drums out there with 20 inch space drums and everyone is yea I love 20s but with me as a music drummer if I played a 20 inch bass drum I don’t think I would play as well just because it is not my kind of drum. You just wouldn’t be able to perform as well and you have to choose, even though it looks well, it might look really sparkly or whatever with stars all over it but it has got to be the right choice for the music they play.
Danny: And you know one of the things that I have always thought with Yamaha, and even before I worked with you officially at Yamaha, I always rented Yamaha kits when I had to fly out overseas and stuff and wasn’t using one of the kits that I built. And you know my choice in that was purely based around one thing which is Yamaha drums are always going to sound great. You know it’s not, I think Yamaha really puts the sound of the drums that is the number one thing. The quality of the drum kit whereas maybe some of those other manufacturers out there it is really about the paint job and the look and all those kind of things more so than it is about the sound.
Greg: We were just talking about that when we were all kind of getting together and that is what it is. It has got to be the sound of the drums. You’ve got to love the sound of the drums and when we get approached by endorsers or drummers that want to be Yamaha artists that is the first thing. It’s got to be – it doesn’t have to be but you know what I am saying? They have played the drums and they know what they sound like and they know what they are going to get. They have got to be in love with the sound of the drums. I mean obviously we had awesome colors. And we had cool sizers and do all that but it has got to be the sound of the drum that works best for you.
Danny: Right, right, right. Maybe give the listeners a little run down you know in the Yamaha line of drums (you don’t have to do them all) but just kind of maybe the majors. You know recording customs, the maple custom kits, oak custom and birch kits. What are some of the differences in those kits in the shells and how does that impact the sound of the drums?
Greg: Well where our drums begin at is a kit called The GigMaker. The GigMaker comes in a five piece configuration. It is wrapped finishes and sparkle finishes, same Yamaha hardware that we put on all of our other drums. And they sound really cool. I mean we put pin stripes on them and fab them up. We actually did that with a couple Man shows and they sounded really, really great. So GigMaker, then there is Stage Custom Birch. And Stage Custom Birch is a total flag ship line for Yamaha. We have had Stage Custom since the late 90s. I mean Stage Custom is almost like saying Xerox. I mean it has a name. They already know what you are talking about. So about six years ago we changed into an all birch shell. So it is the same sizes that we always offered. You can get 18s so you can make your own kits for Stage Custom Birch. Change up the finishes a little bit, we offered some new finishes in this last Man show, Matte Black and Honey Amber and they sound great. In fact we were talking with a couple guys this last week, one drummer named Eddie Bears and Eddie was talking about getting a Stage Custom kit for one of his friends. A Stage Custom Birch kit who absolutely loved it and uses it for his national studio recordings all the time. So now that people hear it they are like “Wow it’s a Stage Custom Kit”. So Stage Custom and then from Stage Custom goes into our high end drums which would be Oak Custom, Club Custom, Oak Custom, OakShell (which has been around forever).
Club Custom which is fairly new is made of Kapur and it is kind of a vintage vibe. You played Club Custom didn’t you?
Danny: Yes I checked one out for sure.
Greg: Oh yea that’s right. So definitely a vintage vibe. We have a lot of artists that are playing Club Custom now like Matt Cameron, Aaron Comess, and Steve Jordan of course was huge in the making of Club Custom. So that is just blown up. It just became a huge drum kit that everybody now is getting turned on to more and more. So Club Custom and of course we are still doing Recording Custom. Then our Absolute line: Absolute Birch, Absolute Maple. Absolute Birch and Recording Custom use the same shell. So if you ever played a Recording Custom and you liked the way that shell is Absolute Birch has the same shell. It’s still got that really bright you know come back at you kind of tone you know, like the Recording Custom. It is just specked out differently. The dye cast hoops on it and – I want to talk about hoops too with you by the way.
Danny: Oh yes.
Greg: And then we get into our PHX lines. And that is our ultra crazy boutique. 11 ply shells. Amazing sounding kits.
Danny: Cool. Let me ask you just in general between like oak kit, birch kit, maple kit in a kind of general sense (tone or quality wise) what are some of the differences somebody could expect from those kits?
Greg: Oak is if you took like Birch and Maple and combined the two. So you have all the projection and punch, like in your face of a Birch kit but yet has a lot more low end resonance like a Maple kit. A lot of volume and really, really sensitive. So that is who have Oak Custom. So a lot of drummers on the metal side love it. A lot of drummers like Dave Weckl love Oak Custom because you can play at a really lower volumes and it still has a big huge sound. So Maple Absolute is going to have – you had one here and we were playing it today – I mean the sound of those drums are super warm, a lot of low end, kind of has a…kind of hard to describe. Almost vintagy tone, I don’t want to use the word vintagy, it is lame but…
Danny: Is vintagy a word?
Greg: Vintagy? Here we are playing Scrabble. You know it has a vintage kind of vibe to it, our Maple shells do. They send out warm but they have a little bit more bite than normal. On the Birch side really, really bright, you know same specs so you can mix and match them if you want to. You know with the same lugs, same hoops, same colors, same everything. But really bright short to sustain, a lot of attack and I really love just that the sound hits you a lot more as a player.
Danny: Right on. I played that recent kit I had, I rented a few different kits recently. I played a Birch Absolute kit.
Greg: Yes. At the Irvine show right?
Danny: No that was a Maple Custom I think.
Greg: Oh.
Danny: I played a short run of like Northern California shows. The kit I got from the rental place (I can’t think of the name) that you hooked me up with up in Burbank.
Greg: Oh yea, yea, yea. Center Staging.
Danny: Center Staging. And Birch Absolute, that kit was unbelievable. It was just like amazing. It was probably the best sounding drums that I have ever played on in my life. Just awesome!
Greg: Have you ever done, I mean this is with any company whatever, but have you ever done the Maple bass drum, Birch tom combination?
Danny: Huh uh.
Greg: Oh it is awesome.
Danny: I’ll have to check that out. That is a good idea. Yea, I’m going to check that out.
Greg: A lot of people are doing that like Kelly Clarkson’s drummer Miles McPherson just got his new kit and it’s 24 – 13 – 16 – 18 Birch toms, Maple bass drum. It is craziness.
Danny: That is a good idea. I’m going to definitely check that out. Alright let’s talk about hoops.
Greg: Yea, man I love, I frickin’ love switching out hoops. I don’t know why. I love switching out my kit. And I was curious if you have ever done that?
Danny: You know I never thought about it that way. I would say that for years now I’ve been a big fan of die cast hoops over the triple flange. I think that from a tuning standpoint there is an accuracy to the, you know the stiffness of those hoops. I feel like it takes the tone of the drum and kind of centers the attack more when you have the die cast too. So I can’t say that I have switched different hoops to different drums before. I’ve pretty much kind of landed on die cast being what I want on any kit.
Greg: Yea, yea I like messing around with it man. I put wood hoops on my kit one time and I dug it, I liked it, but the tuning range – like I had to tune higher? And it was cool; it would be cool for more like a jazz thing. Like if you would normally tune it higher, like I had to tweak and tune it higher because if you did it too low they would just get flat. Like a blah. You know?
Danny: Gotcha.
Greg: So I then I tried die cast, our aluminum die cast hoops, which I just frickin’ love them.
Danny: Aluminum die cast?
Greg: Aluminum die cast, yea. Like there are other companies that do zinc type, that is the heavier ones. And I mean you know ours are aluminum. They kind of flex a little bit more but they are still die cast.
Danny: Cool. I will definitely have to check that out.
Greg: I dig it. I’m not as big of a fan of them on snare drums but love die cast hoops on tommers.
Danny: Excellent.
Greg: This is Hooper Talk.
Danny: (Laughter) A whole episode on hoops. So when you go see the local band play, you know you are out in the bar whatever and you see…why do so many of the drummers, why do their drums just sound like total crap all the time?
Greg: (Laughter) You know what? I think it’s the room that they are in because a lot of times playing in a bar, you know playing in whatever bar wherever, just for four sets a night or doing a quick…if I’m taking my drums in there (I mean not me or you) but if you just like I’ll take my drums up there and play a couple sets maybe you are not thinking about what does this room sound like? Should I bring a (inaudible 28:55) snare or a wood shell snare? I brought wood shells drums to gigs and that just sounded horrible. It is like it just doesn’t work. Like it is flat. And then you use like a steel and like oh okay there it is. So maybe just not taking the time to think about what kind of room they are in. And the sad state of drummers not maintaining their drums.
Danny: Yea that is what I was thinking. Doesn’t that bum you out just insanely? Like I’m sharing a rehearsal space or something, and this is the most recent thing I am thinking about, you know the other drummer has got his kit in there and no lie those drum heads had to be 10 years old.
Greg: (Laughter)
Danny: And I am just thinking you know a guitar player would never do that. Why is it, why are drummers when it comes to that so lazy? I mean I understand it’s changing out your drum heads you are not going to do if before every gig if you are not getting free drum heads or something you know? Even a guitar player can change his strings before every show if he wants and it is five bucks or whatever. So there is some cost factors, it is a little more cost prohibitive to maintain your drums that way but it is unbelievable, it’s like there is such a lack of – it is just like this laziness thing. Like ah it’s drums, it doesn’t matter, you know? They are just going to bang on them. It doesn’t matter. It is like it so matters of the quality of your band and how you sound within the band and you know there are a lot of drummers out there that are a big part of what made them get to a spot where they could get a great gig in a bigger band, it’s not necessarily that they are playing the most intricate drum part ever it is that they are playing AC/DC to and fro but they know how to do it right. And part of right is making those drums sound insanely good when you hit the two and the four only. And it is just amazing like how many guys don’t think if I just make my overall sound better how that is going to impact me in the eyes of other drummers, in the eyes of the listeners, and the manufacturers that I want to get endorsements with or when I go in to record and all those things. And it’s crazy how much neglect there is.
Greg: Or at least take the mountains of blankets and packing material out of the kick drum. My god, it’s like a camp ground in there. You could make tents out of all of the stuff that has been picked up. And there is no sound. It’s like dunk, dunk, dunk, my God take it out.
Danny: Yes there is a big – you know one of the main things I want to get across with doing these calls and ultimately with the DrumTuningGuru.com website and doing the Online University is just really getting – a lot of drummers they just don’t know where to start. What to listen for. You know what it should sound like before the gig, you know? And that is where all the blankets, and if I put this tape on here, whatever. All the things that you see, no one has really just showed them the difference and why they shouldn’t do it. It is one of the things that I am really hoping to get across is just a new approach, a fresh approach to getting good drum tone.
Greg: You are doing work out there.
Danny: I am doing the people’s work totally. I’m on a crusade. I’m on a crusade. Well here is the reality. I’m way better at making drums sound good than I am at playing them. So I’m just going to capitalize on that the most that I can. We are starting to run a little long on time here so the question that I’m sure everybody wants me to ask you is: So how do they get an endorsement deal and should I just give them your cell phone number?
Greg: (Laughing) Absolutely! Absolutely! No, I mean the thing with us is we are looking – we are always looking for the best. Our drummers on the roster in my opinion are the best drummers in the world. And we – that’s – you have to love our drums coming into it. It’s a thing of like you have to be passionate about our drums in the first place. So that is a major thing. And you can go to the Yamaha drums website for all your endorsement inquiries.
Danny: Oh is there like a Frequently Asked Questions about endorsements?
Greg: Sure, yea, yea, yea. There is a whole section on the website you know if they want to send in their stuff.
Danny: I’ll make sure I put the Yamaha link in the show notes here. So we can go to that. So should they not come up to you at Nam when you are busy with 12 people and hand you a demo tape?
Greg: (Laughing) No I get that anyway.
Danny: Or I mean a CD, or now it is a download card.
Greg: Or a demo tape.
Danny: A demo tape. Hello Danny is old. Wow.
Greg: A demo tape (Laughing). I think they still do demo tapes.
Danny: No guys hand out demo cards now. They don’t even do CDs.
Greg: Oh that is right. Here is my TPK.
Danny: Yes that is a download card.
Greg: Anyway I’ll still get that and that is cool. That is great. I’m always looking for amazing drummers.
Danny: Alright guys, I want to thank Greg for being on the show. One of my best buddies. I am so proud of you and you are doing a great job over there and I’m sure I want to have you back on the show. Actually I think you should just do the show every time with me.
Greg: Let’s do it.
Danny: As a co-host. I think that would be amazing. And yea, check the show notes guys. I’ll put links to the Yamaha website in there. Also the Drum Guru Facebook page is up and happening. I’ll put that stuff in there as well. Drum Tuning Guru website will be up soon. And as always if you can go over to iTunes and leave a nice review because we are the number one rated drum tune podcast on iTunes. Granted the only drum tuning podcast on iTunes. And actually one of the few drum podcasts period that I can find on iTunes that has anything to do with drumming. There is a few that has some video lessons or whatever but as far as information about drum equipment and how to make yourself sound insanely amazing this is pretty much the only one. The only place. So shoot over to iTunes, give me a good review there. Greg thanks again so much for being on the show.
Greg: Thanks Danster.
Danny: Alright, we’ll see you guys. Thanks.
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