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127th AES Convention Coverage (New York, NY Oct. 9-12)
PRESS RELEASE
New Mike Portnoy Signature Snares
January 22, 2001
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Not only is Mike Portnoy one of the most influential drummers in progressive rock through his work in Dream Theater, Liquid Tension, and TransAtlantic, his influence can actually be documented as Mike has won Modern Drummer readers poll awards 13 times (including the six years running for Progressive Rock, a feat which placed him on the MD honor roll). To honor Mike's contributions to both snare drum playing and design, Tama is offering two very different Mike Portnoy Signature Palette snare drums. The 5 1/2" x 14" "Melody Master" features a 6.5mm Canadian maple shell that's thicker than a Starclassic Maple snare (5mm) for a tight, deep sound. Another unique feature is Mike's Three-Way tension adjusatable strainer that lets drummers change snare tensions (on-middle-off) on the fly. The second Mike Portnoy signature model is a 5 x 12" piccolo with a 1mm steel shell finished in matte black. It also features the Three-Way strainer.
Mike Portnoy comments from the new Tama Signature Palette Snare Catalogue:"I came up with the basic concept for my Melody Master signature snare drums (I named them after my daughter Melody) about four years ago. I thought about how many drummers use several different snares in the studio. Or how they have two snare drums on their own kit to get two different types of sounds. So I suggested to Tama the idea of a snare strainer that locked into several different positions as opposed to just two. In response they built me a custom drum with a foot pedal that activated the throw-off on the drum. It functioned much like a tympani or it could lock into three positions: off, lose, and tight. Later we took the three-position concept and applied it to the much simpler manual throw off that's used in the new signature snares. "With this unique Three-Way strainer, I can get different settings with the same drum from song to song - and I can even change settings from section to section within the same song. "Of my two signature models, one is a 5 x 12" piccolo-type snare with a steel shell. It has the attack to stand out on a track, but enough low-end to round out the bottom. The other is a 5 1/2" x 14" maple drum very much like the foot operated one I've been using for years. This new version will be my full-time main snare now as I'll retire the foot-operated one. "The two different models complement one another and they complement my kit. That's important because I think the snare is the most important factor in a drum kit. Ultimately, it's the main timekeeper in terms of creating a backbeat." For more information, visit their web site at http://www.tama.com/.
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