Travis Orbin - "Project 15"

http://travisorbin.bigcartel.com/product/tunes

About the tune -
http://travisorbin.com/Project15.htm
I composed "Project 15" back in 2008 while still in Periphery. It was going to make the debut but obviously that went out the window upon my leaving. I set out to compose something that was comprised of quintuplet riffs yet still retained a heaviness that could fit within the band's general 'sound'. I feel that quintuplets are quite accessible in 'feeling' them (after much counting, practice and practical application) and beneficial/useful within song composition. It's refreshing to hear them after being bombarded with sixteenths and triplets, the former being incredibly common in all genres of music - especially metal.

Anyway, when realizing that I still had the drum tracks from when I recorded at Audio Hammer (more on this very soon), I had Will fix it up. I contacted Adam (Edgemont) to see if him and maybe Pete (Luetzeler) would be interested in recording the tune and they were all over it. Adam played the riffs that I wrote -- making appropriate changes when necessary -- and Pete composed a second voice to make it even more weird and atonal-sounding. I filmed the entire session (this was early 2009) but it was well before I knew about how fussy my camera can get after recording for long stretches of time, so there's footage missing and such. I must've put a shirt on at some point during the tracking; I know, it looks kinda funny. Also comical is the fact that the footage fades out during the part that Adam and Pete had the most trouble nailing, hah. You'll never know how I played it, mwuahah!

About the recording -
Sometime in 2008, I decided that I wanted to actually record -- not program -- my drums for the Periphery debut, an idea that was not met without some initial resistance. Through a mutual friend I came in contact with Brian McTernan, who provided me with a price quote. Misha convinced me to instead record with Mark Lewis of Audio Hammer, as he was a fan of his production work. I obliged and offered to pay for it to further convince everyone that it was all worth it. After recording twelve or thirteen tunes in two and a half days, a few days of minor editing and a long drive home from Florida to Delaware, I found out that I was sent back with raw tracks (no plug-ins). I mention this for better or worse, just so there's little attachment to Mark's actual work. Will had to blend in the samples that Taylor and I took from the Dyed In Grey session to get it to sound decent enough (the ghost notes are still natural however, as with the DiG session as well). He also mixed all of the drum tracks, but Adam mixed the tune as a whole.

I'm not 100% comfortable with revealing all of this information; it's something I've wrestled with for quite a while. I'm not looking to stir anything up - just stating some facts. The drum tracks weren't used for the debut because: 1) I left the band to pursue SEA, 2) they were raw and required much work to sound satisfactory, and 3) Matt Halpern joined the group and some of the parts changed. There isn't any animosity on end. I just wanted to get something out of the money that I put into tracking and this seemed like a really cool idea/opportunity to do so. I'm very happy with how everything turned out!

Full drum set transcription:
http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c116/shaftninja/?action=view&current=tr...
Tempo = 97 BPM

http://www.travisorbin.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• travis
• orbin
• adam
• edgemont
• pete
• luetzeler
• dyed
• in
• grey
• allan
• holdsworth
• meshuggah
• mike
• mangini
• virgil
• donati
• david
• garibaldi
• dennis
• chambers
• vinnie
• colaiuta

[jobencore]

It looks like you are using different sticks...back during this time were you using smaller sticks?

[shaftninja]

@jobencore Indeed, the Mangini sigs.

[PRDrum5]

Hey Travis, would you be able to do a quick video on how you set up your mics for recording and any general tips?

I know your a busy guy but I'm sure that it would be greatly appreciated by more people than just me.

[Varydrummer14]

00:50 Disappearing top clutch!

[Mp5Drummer]

QUINTUPLETS MOTHERFUCKER

[Clancedrums]

@fregodrum its a twenty

[iloveskateboarding45]

k fuck, this is a fucking insane video. what the fuck!?

[fregodrum]

How small is that bass drum. Geez. Looks like a 16 or 18

[spacitydrummer4JC]

Wow. I bet playing this took some deep concentration.

[tbdrummer2]

This song is ridiculous...

[jonithedrummer]

1:08 that fill

[shaftninja]

@chazzable Haha, thanks man.

[chazzable]

@shaftninja i hope enough people do buy this so you get your car

[shaftninja]

@monkeyllama7 Thank you for both your gracious words and being receptive to my work!