This is a cover of the song “Mind-Spun” from Animals as Leaders’ 2014 album, “The Joy of Motion.”
I covered “The Woven Web” a few months ago and have been meaning to cover more Animals as Leaders since then. Their music is groovy, brutal, complex, and so good! This song in particular is one of my favorites on the album and I hope I do it justice! I learned this song by writing the notation out piece by piece in Sibelius. That drum notation is available on the Transcriptions page.
Not much is new in terms of gear on this cover – other than an extra tom and the addition of a cymbal here or there. I’m still using CAD Touring 7 drum mics, with the exception of an Audix D6 on the bass drum. I also used two overhead condensers, one on my right pointing directly down at the bell of my 18″ Meinl Benny Greb Byzance Sand Medium Crash and the other pointing directly down at the bell of my 16″ inch Meinl Byzance Traditional Crash. The snare, rack toms, and both floor toms were miced on their batter heads with the remaining instrument mics via rim clips or, in the case of the snare, via a low mic stand.
I’m using a custom drum set made of Keller drum shells and Pearl lugs and rims. I worked with the maestros at Columbus Pro Percussion in Columbus, Ohio to build this bad boy. For cymbals, I’m using pair of 13″ Meinl Thomas Lang Signature Byzance Fast Hats on my left, a Meinl 16″ Byzance Medium Crash on my left, a Meinl 18″ Benny Greb Signature Byzance Sand Medium Crash on my right, a Paiste 18″ Signature Thin China on my right, a pair of 14″ Meinl Byzance Dark Hats on my right, and last but not least, a stack consisting of a 14″ Zildjian K Mini-China (with jingles drilled into it by yours truly) and a 10″ Zildjian A Series Brilliant Splash on my right.
