Jeff Ocheltree On Tuning John Bonham's Drums.mpg

[drummer4theperish]

One Beiber fan didn't like this video. lol!!

[sethrock1]

FANTASTIC ! ! ! Thank you for sharing...

[TylerNoble22]

Where did you get that roll of felt?

[HardRockDrummer666]

@TylerNoble22 Several places sell it - just not music stores for some reason. They only want to over-charge you for 2 strips at a time!! Try here: hardy-hanson Good luck!!

[HardRockDrummer666]

@TylerNoble22 JoAnn's Supplies also carries felt. You can also check any fabric store.

[nastymonsters2]

Opposites ...

[drumsanddrumming]

I`ve got a new Vistalite Amber kit (13, 18, 24) and a Gold Sparkle Classic kit, bought from Bobby Rondinelli- great kits!

[HardRockDrummer666]

@drumsanddrumming Right on! Bobby's a friend of mine - good people!! Knows his Ludwigs! Is that one of the new 3-ply Classics?

[drumsanddrumming]

@HardRockDrummer666 no, it`s a newer with the (is it 7 plyes?), still sounds very good.

[drumsanddrumming]

@HardRockDrummer666 that is the Classic series, maybe from earl 2000.s

[AlphaToker]

I'm confused, if it's not "chrome over brass" but "always metal" , what was the snare made out of? These days there are made out of chrome, brass and bronze so what is it?

[MrL1244]

@AlphaToker John Bonham's Supraphonics were made of Ludalloy, essentially chrome over aluminum. He allegedly preferred chrome over aluminum because he thought the chrome over brass was too dark sounding.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@AlphaToker The metal snares were a special alloy (mixture of minerals) made with iron/steel & aluminum that Ludwig called Ludalloy. Chrome is just a coating that is put on the shell - not a shell material like metal, brass, titanium, stainless steel and wood. Ludwig even chrome plated some of their acrylic Vistalite shells...

[drumsanddrumming]

@AlphaToker he is not very prompt, what he means is that Bonhams snare was made from "Ludalloy", a aluminium alloy. Bonham did not like brass

[MrL1244]

Gotta love that boomy 26" kick.

[NotATubeSurfer]

Sounds like Moby Dick from MSG '74, or any Moby Dick performance really.

[nawmang]

I'm not understanding the explanation of tuning the bass drum at 2:50. he explains: ".. .batter side was pitched up a lot higher than one would think ... that was the secret of his great sound was that the fact his heads were tuned up a lot higher on the bottom than they were on the batter side" ... tuned higher on the bottom?? the bottom lugs vs. the top ones? or batter side vs. front side of bass drum? maybe i'm not understanding the terminology. it's not the clearest explanation really.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@nawmang I think the terminology is what's confusing you here, bro! The "BATTER" side is the side that you hit - be it on top or in the back or...?? The other side is the "RESONANT" side. Jeff kinda loses himself at times like in the part about the Vistalites (9:30) he starts talking about bass drum claws and "T" rods for tuning and says he doesn't think they make them anymore... (10:25) Oh, I guess they do - here's a set of them right here...??

[nawmang]

@HardRockDrummer666 - thanks for the reply. i do understand the difference between batter and resonant. It's that he is not clear as to which side gets "tuned up a lot higher". he initially states the Batter side, then goes on to say the heads were tuned up higher on the Bottom (resonant) than they were on the Batter ... it's contradicting.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@nawmang On tuning the two heads, I go around and get them to about the pitch that sounds good to me on the batter head, then I tune each head and get them dialed in so that you get the same tone at 1" from each lug. Then when I put on the bottom or resonant head, I tune it to be about an octive HIGHER than the batter head like he talks about. Then I make sure that it's in tune all the way around the rim like I did on the batter head. I don't tune to a NOTE and all by my ear.

[nawmang]

@HardRockDrummer666 now THAT i understand - thanks. It's obvious now that this video was not intended for guitarists. :)

[HardRockDrummer666]

@nawmang Glad to help out, brother!! I think Jeff may/may not have done his share of partying in his earlier years as his comment about the T claws cracks me up!!

[drumsticks135]

Never thought of this, but seating a drum head looks like cpr

[MACOSXSL]

Incidentally, Jeff... get with the times! Use a battery powered dremel or B&D with a drum bit to rapidly remove/install tension rods. Acrylic sounds better with clear emperor or aquarian studio x, and super-2's.  Cs dots have never been that great.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@MACOSXSL I agree on the power tools but the kit you see in the video is my personal drum kit now and it wasn't until I put Remo Black Dots on the batter side that it sounded right! I tried Pinstripes, Powerstrokes, etc... Only the Black Dots had "The Sound" that I was after... You can see it on a tour of my drum studio on my channel...

[superchanneljim]

That snare sounds fucking amazing!

[cosmicbugloaf]

he's wearing danny carry's crest on his shirt, they met

and did a clinic together

[nickeax]

Just go and grab a couple of C12s kids! ;)

[Funkydrummer91]

I think the vistalite kit was very LIVE!

[cottonfever1221]

Good job,not many people were lucky(or skilled)enuff to be able to be part of his drum "team"(lack of a better word)lotta cool info,not regrets for you huh? THANKS BRO!

[tmaddrummer]

Thank you for this fine video and a bit of Bonham history!

[Sigurd82]

Boy, I could listen to that groove at 15:46 all day.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@lowertheboomscoop I think he meant that the drum tech thing was new to him, not drum tuning. Then he probably got to thinking it would be cool not to have to set up and tune, etc... My interpretation anyways.

[lowertheboomscoop]

im no drummer but if Bonham had already drummed and toured Zep's first six studio albums (which are arguably better than the two remaining albums) before meeting Jeff in 1975 then how important could this drum tuning be to his signature sound ?? Im guessing it sounded awesome because he was a born natural.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@lowertheboomscoop It's not so much that Jeff's tuning was an influance on Bonham's sound - it's more that he worked with Bonham and so he understands HOW BONHAM TUNED HIS DRUMS!!

[lowertheboomscoop]

@HardRockDrummer666 I hear what you're saying but at the beginning of the video Jeff claims that up until he and Bonham met, John had never heard of drum tuning! So I guess Bonham's sound is remo skins on ludwig drums tuned to whatever he thought was right, which was indeed pretty awesome. So what does he need Jeff for?

[superchanneljim]

@lowertheboomscoop Yeah, your no drummer.

[MACOSXSL]

@lowertheboomscoop Bonham could extract a certain sound from his kit because of his sledgehammer hitting but... Before Ocheltree, it was more a case of sound engineers doing their thing. Jeff is one of the pioneers of standardized approaches to getting drum sounds live and studio.

[aeronirvanazeppelin]

@juiceforjoe well you have to take into account that the 2002s were hammered differently and thinner back then, its easy to get confused

[gibson00000000000000]

MOBY DICK! 8:05

[Buishi]

C'mon Mark - no "When The Levee Breaks" intro?!?

[GenTorrio]

Why don't they use Vistalite drums in the studio?

[XxStrongDrums1996xX]

@GenTorrio Acrylic drums don't record as well as maple kits.

[beeterolds]

@XxStrongDrums1996xX Your absolutely right! Live they sound great! Recording sound is piss poor.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@beeterolds Yup! They resonate too much!!

[timoteodeldesierto]

Great video. Thanks so much for posting it.

[ruben79670]

@juiceforjoe i can't see a red 2002 red label ?

but i guess you're right

[killfroggy26]

Metal Ludwig Super Phonic 402

[ShivaTheAuspicious]

@killfroggy26 supraphonic 402

[killfroggy26]

@ShivaTheAuspicious lol cool.

[danny7674]

what kind of heads were used on the vistalite kit?

[XxStrongDrums1996xX]

@danny7674 Clear controlled sound heads from remo.

[Zebonka]

9:00

Been a few years since they've thundered like that, eh!

[blica1]

AWESOME !...and great little anecdote on Bonzo in the beginning !

[ruben79670]

What kind of Paiste cymbals are used in this video on the Amber vistalite kit 14:42 ?

there obviously not paiste 2002's..

Giant beats maybe?

[cheaptrades]

anyone notice his shirt

[HardRockDrummer666]

@cheaptrades You're talking about Jeff's T-shirt? I hadn't really paid it any real attention until you said that so I skimmed through it again real fast and all I made out is what looked to be a Mason's Lodge emblem in the center of that design on his pocket... Is that what you were talking about...?? You'd be surprised the wide range of people who belong to the Masons.

[cheaptrades]

@HardRockDrummer666 yeah its actually a danny carey shirt but inner symbol is aleister crowley. he studies hermeticism and alchemy and all that jazz.

[username4589]

@HardRockDrummer666 I'm pretty sure it's a Tool or Danny Carey shirt. If you go to his website, you'll see a larger picture of it

[FREETHINKITOVA]

@HardRockDrummer666 its a tool t-shirt thats danny carey's tech

[777operations]

@cheaptrades Danny Carey

[shebert14mco]

@cheaptrades Danny Carey (TOOL) T-shirt....

[HardRockDrummer666]

@Cliner92 I have another video - Tour Bonzo Bros. Drums.com. Notice that my big set has double heads! I know what you're saying!! THEY ARE LOUD and RESONATE LIKE HELL!! Without bottom heads on the larger toms they sounded like crap! I was bummed because I built that kit to sound as great as my reissue did on larger scale!! THREE TYPES of heads later I realized if I wanted that sound - I had to imitate those drums EXACTLY to get it... LOVE BOTH OF THEM NOW!!

[TheMetaldrummer1987]

@HardRockDrummer666 Agree 100% man. If you want the sound then you have to use what it takes to get the sound. Bonzo was very careful in how he tuned everything. Gives me the sense that in the first part of the video the way he was describing. Is as if he had recalled exactly what bonzo was explaining way back when. Also now most rock/metal guys tune this way with some variance on the batter head of course. So he did more in his short time then some drummers have with decades of time.

[HardRockDrummer666]

@TheMetaldrummer1987 What's ironic, Robert Plant said, "On the very last day of his life, as we drove to rehearsal, he was not quite as happy as he could be. He said, 'I've had it with playing drums. Everybody plays better than me. I'll tell you what, when we get to the rehearsal, you play the drums and I'll sing.' And that was our last rehearsal."

[TheMetaldrummer1987]

@HardRockDrummer666 Indeed. Bonzo i don't think ever knew what exactly he was doing and how he would influence everyone who knows of zep and picks up drumsticks. From his kick work to the flammy thing and buzz rolls and all he put into it. I think he got tired of it and wanted a break and maybe didn't know how to say "i want a break."

[HardRockDrummer666]

@Cliner92 If you notice, he said he wasn't sure if they made "T Handle Rods" anymore - well I guess they do, here's a set right here!! haha... Thanks for coming back to the party, Jeff!! But with that and that he never worked with the Amber kit as he stated - I agree with you on the felt strips 100%!! Take care, brother!!

[HardRockDrummer666]

@Cliner92 Personally, I tend to agree with you!! As the moderator at Bonzo Bros. Drums.com, I have seen literally THOUSANDS of photos of Bonham playing his Amber Vistalite kit and have NEVER seen a single felt strip in a bass drum ever!!

[DXpac20]

What does he mean by "live" when describing the amber vistalite?

[angelacevedo2112]

@DXpac20 he used them for oncerts live and what he ment how these drums were live is becuase the acrylic drums are really ringy and open tones sound waves bounce all over inside as would would be less and more toneddown acrylics are alot louder

[aroutioun1]

SUPER

[TheDrumChannel]

Really great video - very informative

[earlywalking]

Keep On Keepin On , Jeff