Mangini on The Enemy Inside

[The Boomr]

I'd been in and out of bands from 1997 to about 2012 and i'd just gotten tired of it.  **

I need to find a local jam night where I can get my drumming out




** Plus - helping my bro's business of filming live bands means I can get onstage at gigs with a camera . It's like you're in the band but without any of the shit that goes with it.




p.s I have found that Stagg stuff is actually awesome for the price. I had a £25 china cymbal that sounded EXACTLY how I wanted. Plus theyre £2 sticks are the perfect weight for me and their mid range hardware is pretty decent.

I definitely have not had my fill of performing, at all. Well, I've never actually been in a performing rock band, so there's that. I perform a lot, but mostly on saxophone in wind ensemble (my major instrument at school). I absolutely adore the drums though.

Hmm interesting. It's been a long time since I looked at getting anything new for my kit since in the past 4 years I mostly haven't played it. I know I got some teeny tiny china cymbal from some weird brand that is uh-MAY-zing, for really cheap, and actually I think my big 18" china was an off-brand too, and it also sounds perfect just the way I want, but was only $70 as opposed to a Sabian or Zildjian, prolly over $150 at the very least for a big china.

[Kotowboy]

My most expensive purchase was a Zildjian Avedis China. It was about £200 brand new.

That sucker was loud as fuck.

[The Boomr]

My most expensive purchase was a Zildjian Avedis China. It was about £200 brand new.

That sucker was loud as fuck.

Eesh. I try not to think about how much money I spent on getting all those cymbals back then..... Good thing is, when I go back to it this month and check everything out, it's all going to be decent-to-awesome stuff that I can stick with for at least a while longer (as long as my friends haven't lost anything!!  ) If I replace any cymbals soon, the ride cymbal would be next. I would still love to have a fusion set of toms (10 12 14/16) instead of the standard rock set (12 13 16), and two matching bass drums instead of a double bass pedal, but changing all that would be wayyyy expensive and it's not completely necessary. I can do with changing up the heads and using my iron cobras, for now

[Kotowboy]

Let me see If I can remember what I had from memory

L - R :
14" Sabian Manhattan Jazz hats
16" Stagg Crash Cymbal
10" Paiste 302 Splash
16" Stagg China

20" Paiste 402 Ride
18" Paiste 402 Crash / Ride / 10" Stagg Splash upside down on top.
20" Zildjian Avedis China.

[The Boomr]

That sounds pretty awesome. I could remember some of mine but I'd rather not rack my brain, at the moment I think I had a comparable number, at least, though. I did have this one thing I sorta made myself that was an old 14" broken crash with an old 12" (?) hi hat stacked on top of it, so it's like a washier more "shhh" sounding percussive cymbal. I do have that one little Sabian thingy that's like 3 layers I think, totally, flat, only 10" or maybe 8", and has sizzlers in it. It was great for being similar to MP's MaxStaxx or whatever, but way cheaper (although still expensive for such a small piece of metal! lol)

[Kotowboy]

I love effects cymbals. I love smaller chinas mainly for accenting and the upside down 10" splash on my ride was perfect for that.

[The Boomr]

I am a total sucker for effects cymbals, as well I had a splash too, think I usually had it side-mounted on one of my other cymbal's stands. *scratches head* can't remember. It's not setup anymore anyway, so doesn't matter much!

Boy, we're offf topic on this thread...

[Kotowboy]

Until Bosk gets his cape in a twist - so what

[Kotowboy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLkCWxYOMYc&hd=1

BACK ON TRACK.

[The Boomr]

Amazing. Proof that you can be the world's most technical drummer and still play with emotion Is there a thread anywhere that's just like a bunch of Mangini videos? Cause if not, there should be.

[Kotowboy]

Annoyingly there's barely any YouTube videos of Mike Mangini that have decent sound.

I'd say about 90% of them have Horrendous sound quality + His bass drum in that vid sounds gorgeous.

And as for that video I posted - I've said it before - his playing does absolutely nothing for me when he's on his own.

It's clinical and cold and a masterclass in technique but it doesn't *move* me on any level whatsoever.

I can appreciate what he's doing *technically* but as for the musical aspect - not one bit.

I grew up listening to Steve White ( Paul Weller ) and people like Graham Hopkins ( Therapy? ) who were just groove machines.

They inspired me to be *all about* feel and groove and playing for the song. I don't even care about playing fast or showing off.

When I was in my band - I would get *really* frustrated if I couldn't find the right drum groove for a song.

[Kotowboy]

Soz.. 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I see Portnoy voted

That was me.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Chose great. I highly doubt his most incredible drumming on the album is on that track, but I still loved it.

[johncal]

I hear people say that Mangini doesn't have the Groove or, MP really had stuff that fit the music better, etc so I went back and listened to a lot of the old stuff to see how it really holds up to me. While I really like what MP did, it actually seems simplistic compared to what MM did on ADTOE, and he didn't even write that stuff. He made it sound great with his improvisations and changes.

I thought Mangini did a great job on the new song, and BTW it's a METAL song. It's supposed to be machine gun fast, not grooving. It's hard to hear a groove in 64ths. There will be plenty of good stuff on the album where it's called for. Then again, when Mangini did play to the music on ADTOE, there were people that complained that he didn't do enough. He's not a showoff. He sits back and plays a support instrument the way it is supposed to be played. That's why there's only 1 drummer I know that claims to play "lead drums". Some of his tom rolls on the new song were amazingly fast, almost to fast to hear them. They sounded more like a machine gun in a descending tone than drums. I heard someone say he didn't do anything on this album that any metal drummer couldn't do. Sorry, but I can't agree with that statement. Yes, there are definitely guys that are faster with the double bass or blast beats, or whatever else you want to call out, but most of those guys are very one dimensional. In the drum auditions we saw a wide array of talents but they have to FIT into the band. As an example, everyone says how great Donati is, and he IS great, but he absolutely looked lost playing DT music.

that being said, I'm just throwing out my opinion. If other people are not happy with what he does, then that's the proper answer for them.

[wolven74]

I hear people say that Mangini doesn't have the Groove or, MP really had stuff that fit the music better, etc so I went back and listened to a lot of the old stuff to see how it really holds up to me. While I really like what MP did, it actually seems simplistic compared to what MM did on ADTOE, and he didn't even write that stuff. He made it sound great with his improvisations and changes.

I thought Mangini did a great job on the new song, and BTW it's a METAL song. It's supposed to be machine gun fast, not grooving. It's hard to hear a groove in 64ths. There will be plenty of good stuff on the album where it's called for. Then again, when Mangini did play to the music on ADTOE, there were people that complained that he didn't do enough. He's not a showoff. He sits back and plays a support instrument the way it is supposed to be played. That's why there's only 1 drummer I know that claims to play "lead drums". Some of his tom rolls on the new song were amazingly fast, almost to fast to hear them. They sounded more like a machine gun in a descending tone than drums. I heard someone say he didn't do anything on this album that any metal drummer couldn't do. Sorry, but I can't agree with that statement. Yes, there are definitely guys that are faster with the double bass or blast beats, or whatever else you want to call out, but most of those guys are very one dimensional. In the drum auditions we saw a wide array of talents but they have to FIT into the band. As an example, everyone says how great Donati is, and he IS great, but he absolutely looked lost playing DT music.

that being said, I'm just throwing out my opinion. If other people are not happy with what he does, then that's the proper answer for them.

This is my feeling exactly. I always felt that on ADTOE Mangini was playing to/with the band. This time around, at least with this single, it sounds more like they're playing with/to him. Which is as it should be. Mangini is the clock after all. I think there is plenty of "feel" to this song. Yes some of his double bass is very "drum machine-ish", but that just shows the man's skill. The man holds the record for the fastest single stroke roll with both hands and feet. It shows.

As for the rest of the album, I can't wait to hear what he brings. Now that I can hear everything clearly, it should be mind-blowing.

[lyfeternl]

I hear people say that Mangini doesn't have the Groove or, MP really had stuff that fit the music better, etc so I went back and listened to a lot of the old stuff to see how it really holds up to me. While I really like what MP did, it actually seems simplistic compared to what MM did on ADTOE, and he didn't even write that stuff. He made it sound great with his improvisations and changes.

I thought Mangini did a great job on the new song, and BTW it's a METAL song. It's supposed to be machine gun fast, not grooving. It's hard to hear a groove in 64ths. There will be plenty of good stuff on the album where it's called for. Then again, when Mangini did play to the music on ADTOE, there were people that complained that he didn't do enough. He's not a showoff. He sits back and plays a support instrument the way it is supposed to be played. That's why there's only 1 drummer I know that claims to play "lead drums". Some of his tom rolls on the new song were amazingly fast, almost to fast to hear them. They sounded more like a machine gun in a descending tone than drums. I heard someone say he didn't do anything on this album that any metal drummer couldn't do. Sorry, but I can't agree with that statement. Yes, there are definitely guys that are faster with the double bass or blast beats, or whatever else you want to call out, but most of those guys are very one dimensional. In the drum auditions we saw a wide array of talents but they have to FIT into the band. As an example, everyone says how great Donati is, and he IS great, but he absolutely looked lost playing DT music.

that being said, I'm just throwing out my opinion. If other people are not happy with what he does, then that's the proper answer for them.

This 100%

[mikeyd23]

This is my feeling exactly. I always felt that on ADTOE Mangini was playing to/with the band. This time around, at least with this single, it sounds more like they're playing with/to him. Which is as it should be. Mangini is the clock after all. I think there is plenty of "feel" to this song. Yes some of his double bass is very "drum machine-ish", but that just shows the man's skill. The man holds the record for the fastest single stroke roll with both hands and feet. It shows.

As for the rest of the album, I can't wait to hear what he brings. Now that I can hear everything clearly, it should be mind-blowing.

I agree with this totally.  On ADToE, it very much sounds like MM playing with DT, even his fills mostly followed the notes the guitar, bass, and keys were playing a lot of times.  With this new single, it really does feel like MM is driving the song.  Not playing "lead drums" like mentioned recently in this thread, but just driving the other instruments along like a drummer should.  I thought his playing on TEI was great, not the most technical, but the song wasn't DT most technical, so it worked really well.  Top notch MM performance in my humble opinion! 

[The Boomr]

Agreeing completely with all the Mangini love 

[Grizz]

Somebody just posted my thoughts to MP forum:
"Mangini is the Rudess of the drums, and I mean that in terms of both positive and negative connotations "

I agree with this. Rudess loses me when he goes into a chaotic flurry of odd-timed off-key notes, and Mangini is going a bit crazy on his drums. Sometimes, less is Moore.

One difference is that Rudess has an amazing array of uncommon toys (Harpejji, Continuum, Lap Steel) while I don't agree with Mangini's equipment choices at all. I like the sound of a Pearl Reference, but not so much the Reference Pure, which is really for drummers without techs/roadies to literally do the heavy lifting. I think that the CS/Black dots are almost as bad as pinstripes in terms of making the toms sound dead. Also, why ZBT Hats??? I know that he has like 4 sets of hats, but I have ZBT Hats because I'm 15 and can't afford better,  and they sound like trash. Not the good kind of trash either.
I hate the snare sound on TEI.

I may sound like an over-critical MP fanboy here, but I love MM, so this post is just pretty much here to point out some flaws to sort of counter the (well-deserved) positive posts.

I have found that Stagg stuff is actually awesome for the price.

I have a Stagg 3/4 guitar from when I played guitar (4th - 6th grade). I don't have a problem with it, but I know little about guitar hardware.

[LTE3]

I voted good. I thought thedrumming was solid but not insane. Being a drummer myself, there were a couple parts in there that made me go "wow", but for the most part it wasn't spectacular. Still good though. If the rest of the album has drumming like this I would be quite pleased.

I voted good as well. I can't hear his cymbal hits that well and I like some of the fills but some seem rushed and no snare sound to speak of only on tom setting.

[The Boomr]

I voted good as well. I can't hear his cymbal hits that well and I like some of the fills but some seem rushed and no snare sound to speak of only on tom setting.

What?