AEA Sessions: Zach Harmon – Drum Solo

Zach Harmon’s bellowing drums get the big ribbon treatment in this AEA sessions installment. This performance demonstrates the massive sound one can achieve with only a handful of AEA ribbon mics. A pair of spaced N8s above the drums capture the direct sound of Zach’s bombastic playing while an R88 20 feet in front of the kit records the natural ambience and reflections in the space. An R44CX on kick drum adds focus.

Zach Harmon perform “Drum Solo”

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Audio Stems

Listen to the individual stems below. You can compare the spaced N8s to the overhead R88 as well blend in the room R88 and kick R44 to create your own mix.

About The Artist

Zach Harmon was born into a musical family in Wisconsin. He began studying classical piano at the age of four and continued for twelve years. He was principal chair percussionist for most of his five-year stay with the Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra before becoming a member of the Wisconsin State Honors Orchestra in 2002.

Zach received a drum set as a gift at age fifteen, thus beginning his lifelong pursuit on the instrument. In 2003, Zach became a member of the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars with whom he toured Japan and performed at the 2003 Monterey Jazz Festival. Also in 2003, Zach enrolled in the Thornton School of Music at USC where he studied with the great Terri Lyne Carrington for two years.

After his sophomore year, he transferred to the Master’s program at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz where he studied under the tutelage of many of the great masters of Jazz including Ron Carter, Jimmy Heath, and Benny Golson. In 2005, as a member of the Monk Institute, he toured with Jazz legends Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock performing in a cultural mission through Vietnam.

In 2007, he toured again with Mr. Shorter and Mr. Hancock, this time throughout India. Zach has been studying tabla with Abhiman Kaushal for two years and recently recorded tabla on Terence Blanchard’s A Tale of God’s Will for Blue Note Records; he is now a Grammy award-winner for contributing to this album dedicated to the events of Hurricane Katrina.