Biography On Travis Barker

Travis Barker is arguably one of the most influential modern drummers that is still active in the drumming community. Not only is he known for being one of the most fresh sounding drummers, but he also has his own clothing line, TV show, and various advertisements. He has designed his own signature Zildjian drumstick, his own Orange County drum sets, and he plays Avedis Zildjian Cymbals.

Travis Barker's Achievements

In 1999 Travis Barker started his own clothing company “Famous Stars and Straps”. His clothing company specializes in making t-shirts, jackets, hats, and accessories like belt buckles and bandanas.
Travis generally plays a 4 piece drum kit from Orange County Percussion. Currently he has a kit made of Orange County Gold Acrylic Shells. His snare drum is 7x14 with large vents just to make sure that he is louder than everyone else. His toms are 6x10 and 14x16, and his kick drum is 22x22 with a gold plated DW 5000 bass drum pedal.

Travis Barker's Drum Kit

For cymbals Travis uses all Zildjian cymbals. Starting on the left side, he uses 14” A Custom Master Sounds Hi-Hats, and for his left crash he uses a 20” Z Custom Medium Crash. On the right side of his drum kit, he uses a 21” A Sweet Ride Brilliant, and a 20” Z Custom Medium Crash. For effects Travis uses an 18” Oriental China Trash and a Latin Percussion Rock Cowbell.

Travis Barkers Drumming Career

When Travis Barker fist starting playing the drums, at the age of 4 years old, he was inspired and influenced by jazz music. In school, Travis played in a number of jazz bands, marching bands, and rock bands. When Travis was about to graduate, he was approached by the drum corps, and aksed to audition. Travis declined because he wanted to go on tour with a rock band that he was currently playing with. Ever since that summer, Travis has been in and out of rock bands playing literally thousands of rock shows all around the world.
In 1998, Travis Barker replaced Blink 182’s drummer, Scott Raynor, when Scott failed to show up on time for their gig. Since Travis Barker was there anyways playing with his band “The Aquabats”, he was somewhat familiar with Blink 182’s set. After that show Travis quit the Aquabats and continued to Tour with Blink 182.
While playing with Blink 182 Travis Barker had many side projects including: Box Car Racer, The Transplants, and doing the drum tracks for Pink’s CD “Try This”. Travis has also been in music videos for P.Diddy, New Found Glory, Bubba Sparxxx, Black Eyed Peas, N.E.R.D., Xzibit, and Outkast.
In 2005 Blink-182 broke up, but Travis Barker, and Mark Hoppus stayed together and formed the band “+44”. They have released a CD entitled “When Your Heart Stops Beating” and Travis has continued being successful by doing studio sessions for Avril Lavigne and Expensive Taste.
Travis Barker is definitely one of those drummers who will never stop being successful. So far Travis Barker’s career has been everything that up and coming drummers can only dream of becoming. Not only do his fans, and band mates respect him, but he also has the respect of the whole music industry in general.

For free drum videos of Travis Barker check out the drum videos website.

DRUM TIPS FROM DRUM TECH PAUL HURD Paul Hurd is a Los Angeles based drum tech who has worked for years with Drum Paradise, one of LA’s top of the line drum providers for session musicians and recording artists in the area. Hurd shared with DrumTracks.com some of his tricks of the trade he’s learned from being a drum tech and working in the music industry. Say a drummer is setting out to get a new kit. Do you have any advice for them to get the perfect matching kit? I would say the most important thing for a beginning drummer would be to get a drum kit that is well balanced. If you are getting a small drum kit, you want to match it with an equally balanced kick drum. SO the rack toms and cymbals can be placed at a level that ergonomics come into play. Being physically comfortable behind your drum set is the first thing you should think about when getting your kit. Be aware of your size and your musical needs. It’s very important to get into the headspace of what’s going to be comfortable for you while you’re drumming. What’s the difference between buying a kit for live performance and recording? It’s important to find a kit that’s versatile and can be used for both recording and playing live. The first thing is absolute experimentation with recording. There’s so many different styles and configurations that can be applied to recording. Drums come in so many different sizes, shell configurations, that you would want to experiment with your sounds and use your ears. I’ve found experimenting and finding what most comfortable works is best. As a drum tech, you’ve set up drums for many artists in the Los Angeles recording studios including Henson, The Village, The Record Plant; What’s would you consider to be #1 thing you have to keep in mind when setting up drums for recording artists? In setting up for other artists has a lot to being aware of their set up and every angle of the tom and cymbals. One thing I’ve had to let go of was setting up as if it were for myself. There’s no rules to where things go. I’ve had to learn and get used to the drummers needs to get the feel for their perfect set up. Each setup I’ve done for drummers has been different from my own. I basically try to get a really nice tone out of the drums and to kind of leave it for the drummer to fine tune their kit after I’ve setup. I go over every detail, use photos, and am not afraid to call the drummer and double check on certain cymbal set ups they might want. I always leave extra heads for the drummer in the studio. It’s always best to be prepared for things going wrong. I’ve found this to be such an individual process, the more practice setting up each different artist, the more you’ll learn the subtleties of their individual kits and playing styles. Do you have any advice for tuning your drums? Basically, tuning for the room is the most important thing for tuning your drum set. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that a drum that sounds great at a certain tuning in one room might not sound as good in another room. Trial and error and practice is the best way to fine tune your drum heads. My set up at my band’s rehearsal studio sounds entirely different when I set up at a club to play live without changing any of the tuning. Each room has its own reflections and dynamics. Re-tuning your drum set every time you set up in a new room is very important if you’re going for a good drum tone. A drum set reacts very differently in each room. It’s important to always make sure you have fresh ears and build up from the start when you’re setting up your kit in a new place.

Setting up as a Drum Technician...

Mic - Drum loom first... Bass - Snare - Hi-Hats...carpeted drum riser marked out with gaffa tape...once kit is up change drum heads and tune...make sure everything is tight before a gig...after tuning, you mic up and then polish cymbals...wait for sound check...kick drum first, snare and so on...while the PA EQs the drums...monitor engineer for levels...wedge monitor and ear monitor...ur done !