Drums From LA (DFLA)

I was in elementary school when my dad set up his ‘70s Slingerland drum set in the basement. It had all the original hardware and not a resonant head in sight for any of the tom-toms. When I got to 5th grade I joined the percussion section. Unfortunately, there was only 1 snare drum for 3 percussionists…so I carried the Slingerland snare drum and snare stand to school most days. I even had to sneak in a wrench because the snare stand had a rusted wing-nut controlling its height. It was no surprise to my parents that years later I would want to become a professional musician.

Fast forward a bit and I fall in love with music directing in college. I graduate Berklee and move out to LA to take my show building dreams to the west coast. Within a few years I was producing shows at Los Angeles concert venues…stretching anywhere from the small 250 cap Moroccan Lounge to 1200 people at the Fonda Theatre to the 17,000+ Hollywood Bowl.

Myself and my crews would often find ourselves revisiting these venues with different artists and always challenging ourselves to do better each time. Post-show ‘partying’ usually involved calling my best friend and FOH Jamie Hamburg to discuss what things went well and what things didn’t…usually discussing the sound of the ‘room.’ It got me thinking about all the spaces and acoustics that these venues held within their walls.

I ran the idea of recording a drum sample pack at these historic venues by production managers who seemed curious and excited about the outcome. I made a plan to record in early 2024, called some of my friends to help me out and I think we’ve done a great job of capturing some really cool sounds in some really cool rooms.

The dream is to eventually record at the Hollywood Bowl. I’ll need a few timpani if you know of a guy.

- Jacob Harelick