“ If the chance should ever arise, DEFINITELY, DEFINITELY Meet Your Heroes!!!”

simon ayton

"I have had the pleasure of working with Simon for a few years.    

Simon has a broad understanding of where music meets electronics and their intrinsic relationship.  His approach is focused, detailed and creative when needed.   

He's also a musician, which gives him the experiential advantage in his technical applications.  A humorous and talented peer."  
 
  Jon Farriss - INXS

 

"I got to know Simon very well over the years and have the highest regard for his musicality as well as his technical skills and knowledge in the drumming arena. 

Simon has many skills both in and out of the studio, demonstrated tremendous insight and is always generous sharing his expertise… 

He is a fine human being and a real professional.  I came to regard Simon not only as my man at Roland but as a friend and advisor. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mal Green - Drummer | Split Enz

 

Drumming Resources

You can probably tell, I love drumming!

I also love sharing my passion with anyone interested through articles, videos and in person. 

I've been encouraging others to drum since I started waaay back in 1984.

Here are some drumming resources that might interest you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Articles

Science Behind The Sticks -  (Learn how Blondie drummer Dr. Clem Burke has worked alongside a team of academics to study the physical benefits of drumming.)

It's Never Too Late to Learn The Drums (Why drumming is not a sport and there's room for everyone no matter your skill, physical ability or musical taste)

Drumming articles for parents, beginners, hobbyists and skilled players

Video

Drumeo - A great resource for performances, lessons and interviews on all things drumming

 

Music Production

You can upload your tracks to Dropbox or any other service and I can carry out the work needed to give your music the best possible sound using the ultimate combination of analog and digital equipment collected over 25 years of professional work... When done and you're happy, simply pay via PayPal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(See the short gear list at the bottom for the nerdy details...)

I pride myself on my work and I'm not happy until you are so changes are often easy and expected. Just ask.

Services offered:

*Custom Made Drum Tracks from a real drummer

*Mixing | Sound Editing | Mastering

*Restoration & Transfers: Cassette Tape/Record/VHS/DAT/MINI DV to digital media transfers

hum, air conditioner noise, clicks, hiss removal. Speed change, pitch correction of individual files or entire mixes.

Conversion from analog tape or records to digital audio files. Record to CD etc. Archiving of MiniDV and VHS video to DVD or MP4. 

 

*Custom made drum tracks

handcrafted specifically for your taste and musical style. Delivered as hi-resolution, multi-track audio and any MIDI data if required. 

Using a full acoustic setup with numerous choices of world-class drums and cymbals or V-Drums combined with custom sound libraries for infinite sound choices.

*Editing and mixing

 send me the drums, bass, guitars, vocal stems and I can mix your tracks. Depending on the material, I can also de-mix stereo audio and send you the individual parts-extract lead guitar, voice or other instruments from a mix for karaoke or 'minus' instruments for learning and performance. Great for teaching.  

*Final mix polish and mastering

for individual sounds, samples or entire albums following "Mastered for iTunes" standards and above

*CD and retro cassette production

including fades, gaps and volume matching.

Everything need for a professional sounding release either as physical CD or iTunes etc. CD's can be sent via mail, uploaded to drop-box or via any other method.

Tape never left the building - I can do short run cassette dubs for that retro factor!

*One on One Recording Skills (at your house or mine)

Learn the art of recording in a creative environment with a course designed and set a pace by you!

I can help you choose the right gear and learn how to use it.

Can cover straight forward computer and repair skills, microphones, effects processing, recording and mixing techniques and all the latest software and technology. 

Bring an idea for a song and leave with a finished recording to inspire and impress your friends and family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recording Systems

Logic, Pro Tools, Harrison MIX BUS, Cubase, Ableton, Cakewalk, Reaper

Heaps of plug-ins & huge library of classic reverb impulses including Lexicon 224, 480L, Eventide, Bricasti M7

RME Fireface 800

UA Audio DSP Plug-ins

Roland interfaces recording up to 352.8 KHZ 32 bit

Fairlight Series III & MFX2

Scope SonicCore 15 DSP system

32 bit 352,8 KHZ PCM or DSD 1bit DAC Audio playback - nice when used to transfer mixes to tape!

Mono Nagra tape machine

Technics Turntable for Record transfers

Rotel Cassette tape machine with Dolby B & C

Tascam DA-30 DAT machine

Mics

over 40 classic big valve, small transistor, ribbons, condensers, PZM's and dynamics:

AKG, Audio Technica, Beyer, Calrec, Crown, Earthworks, Gefell, Neumann, Rode, Royer, Shure and plenty of obscure stuff

Preamps

German 1982 RFZ all discrete analog console 

RME

Roland

Sebatron Tube VMP200eVU

Peach Tube M196SE

Outboard EFX

Roland SDE-330 3D Space Delay

Roland RSS-10 3D Processor

Roland RSS-8048 3D Dimensional mixing System

Roland Space Echo RE-20

Lexicon PCM-90 Reverb

Alesis Midiverb 2

Alesis Midiverb 4

DBX 160SL Compressor

Valley People Dynamite Compressors

Distressors

Delays

Modular EFX

Plasma Pedal

BOSS GT-3

Analog & Digital Synthesis

Fairlight Series III CMI sampler workstation with MFX2 recording

Creamware Scope with the best sounding digital synths EVER -MOOG- SEQUENTIAL ETC 

Euro Modular system with MakeNoise, Tip Top, Subcon and Roland modules

Roland SH-5 analog synth

Roland System 100M modular analog synth

Roland CR-78 classic drum machine ('In The Air Tonight', Blondie 'Heart Of Glass' etc)

Roland R-8 drum machine with all sound cards

Roland Jupiter-8 Analog synth

Roland JD-990 super jupiter digital synth with analog filters

Korg VC-10 Analog Vocoder

Korg Prophecy Digital synth

Waldorf Blofeld synth

Drums & Instruments

Brady Jarrah Ply custom kit 8, 10,12,14,16,22 , 

Roland TD-50 V-Drums, Superior Drummer 3 sound library, all sorts of percussion collected from around the world, various Premier, Tama, Pearl, Sabian, Zildjian, Fender, Music Man, Kramer, Maton, 17 stringed Vietnamese zither

Monitoring

  • KRK 2x E8 Expose all kevlar original series powered monitors, KRK Ergo room management system
  •  Bowers & Wilkins P7 (beautiful sounding headphones as used by Abbey Road Studios) 
  • 2x Auratone SoundCubes, 
  • B&W D100i hi-fi speakers for mix checking, 
  • RFZ broadcast radio speaker (excellent for dialogue/spoken word level and mono compatibility checking), 
  • lots of different headphones and tiny computer speakers to make sure your mixes translate as accurately as possible

  

I'd love to work with you!. Email me here!

 

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In The Clouds