Monday, August 6, 2012

Mastering double kick drumming, part 1

What's up fellow blasters and shredders?! Buried somewhere deep within my hectic schedule, I finally found some scraps of free time. In the resulting new instructional video series, I'll be focusing on double kick drumming.

Many of you have emailed me asking "How can I get faster feet?" or "How can I build my stamina when playing double kick?" In this and the following videos, I'm going to share what I've learned over the years in the hopes of answering some of those questions and maybe even making you happier drummers.

First up: a basic single stroke exercise which should get you started regardless of your level. I'm demonstrating a gradual increase in speed, but remember to begin at a tempo that's realistic for you. And don't forget the keys to success: Practice, Patience and Perseverance!


 


Feel free to email your requests and questions to info[at]dirkverbeuren[dot]com.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Die Crawling Studio: first anniversary

Hey everybody! This new video and press release just went out... Enjoy!

Studio drummer Dirk Verbeuren's Die Crawling Studio is celebrating its one year anniversary! Equipped with a personalized electronic kit and stellar Toontrack software and sounds, Die Crawling has been Verbeuren's lair of choice when laying down drum tracks for bands such as Naglfar, Bent Sea, Powermad, SCD, Anatomy of I and Colosso, as well as his smash hit MIDI pack series for Toontrack, the Library of the Extreme.

Check out the Die Crawling 2011- 2012 promotional reel:
 





Always at the forefront of metal drumming, Verbeuren took part in October’s infamous first edition of Sick Drummer Camp, instructing and performing alongside high profile drummers such as Gene Hoglan, Sean Reinert, Derek Roddy, George Kollias, Gus Rios and Danny Walker. In 2012, with two highly acclaimed Tama/Meinl clinic tours in Europe and China already under his belt, Verbeuren will lay down drum tracks for Soilwork’s upcoming album The Living Infinite as well as his side project, Bent Sea featuring Shane Embury and Sven De Caluwé among many other unannounced recordings. In the meantime he's booking a follow-up clinic tour in Asia and is looking forward to touring the United States to reach his American fans.

Die Crawling Studios has opened up Verbeuren's availability to record with numerous talent packages and he's always seeking to participate in the next exciting project. Says Verbeuren, "It's always a blast for me in the studio. I feel at home behind the kit and get a ton of inspiration from all the new music being created around the globe. One thing I never want to stop doing is working with other musicians. Die Crawling Studios is one of my ways of contributing to the world of music. I love it!"
 
For more on DIRK VERBEUREN
Go to: http://www.dirkverbeuren.com

Monday, April 9, 2012

French drum clinics 2012: video diary

This February, I toured Europe to present the awesome Tama SLP snare drums and Silverstar series, as well as the excellent Meinl Classics Custom Extreme Metal cymbals. Here's a little video diary of the French leg of the tour!




Live excerpts: "Let This River Flow" and "Stabbing The Drama" by Soilwork, "Asphyxiate" by Scarve, "Surrender" by Jeff Loomis and "Juular" by Devin Townsend Project. Soundtrack: "Night Comes Clean" by Soilwork.

Soilwork © Nuclear Blast Records
Scarve © Listenable Records
Jeff Loomis © Century Media
Devin Townsend © Inside Out Music


Friday, March 30, 2012

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to present to you: The Toontrack Challenge! When the fine folks over at Toontrack realized that the Can You Play This video featuring their Drumkit From Hell EZX had an amazing 8 million + views, they asked me "Can you actually play this?" I answered with the video below. Enjoy!




# All sounds heard in the video come from Toontrack's Superior Drummer, the world's leading drum sampler.

# Dirk Verbeuren is the drummer in Soilwork. Besides recording and performing with renowned artists such as Devin Townsend, Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah), Jeff Loomis (ex-Nevermore), Aborted, Powermad and his own bands Bent Sea and Scarve, Verbeuren is also a longtime Toontrack endorsee. He's the drummer behind the Library Of The Extreme series of MIDI packs, and he contributed to the MIDI that comes with The Metal Foundry SDX (an expansion for Superior Drummer).


Monday, February 13, 2012

Tama drum clinic tour February 2012

Here's a video presenting my European drum clinic tour for Tama and Meinl. I'll be in Sweden, France and Germany performing songs by Soilwork, Scarve, Devin Townsend Project, Jeff Loomis and more starting today, Monday February 13th. For more details and tourdates, visit my official website. See you at one of the shows!




Friday, January 20, 2012

Tuning the Tama S.L.P. snare drum

People often ask me about tuning drums, so here's a little video showing how to get the best tones out of your snare.

And while we're at it, let's check out an exclusive piece of Tama craftsmanship, shall we? The kick ass snare drum featured in this video is the Tama S.L.P. Vintage Steel, officially presented at NAMM 2012 along with the new Tama Silverstar series. I'll be presenting both the S.L.P. and Silverstar during my upcoming European drum clinic tour. More details about that very soon; meanwhile, enjoy this new vid and keep those questions coming!





Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Superior Drummer, part 1

Thanks everyone for your kind comments! I'm gonna do my best to answer all of your requests.

Let's kick things off with Superior Drummer. This amazing piece of Toontrack software changed my life, and for those of you who don't know it yet, I highly recommend checking it out. Here are the basics of using SD with an electronic drumkit.