Jeff Porcaro Tribute - Darran Muller using Yamaha Stage Custom Birch drums

Lately I've been thinking about some of the many drummers who are favourites of mine and how they have had a major influence on me and my playing. Since this year marks the 25th anniversary of the passing of Jeff Porcaro, I thought I would record a video of some of my favourite Toto tracks. These songs are timeless hits and showcase Procaro's amazing groove and musicality. My objective is to not copy Jeff's playing but to pay tribute to an amazing drummer by playing my own version of some of the songs that were made famous by his superb groove and touch.

A few weeks ago I was back in the studio at JMC Academy in Brisbane recording my version of these tracks with my Yamaha Stage Custom Birch 6 piece kit and some of my favourite Paiste cymbals.

THE SONGS
The song arrangement and audio for this video was mixed by Darran Muller.
Rossana
Child's Anthem
George Porgy
Africa
Hold The Line
Pamela

THE KIT
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch
22 x 17 Kick Drum
10 x 7.5 Tom
12 x 8 Tom
14 x 13 Floor Tom
16 x 15 Floor Tom
14 x 5.5 Copper Snare
10 x 5 Aux Snare

Cymbals - Paiste
12" Twenty Series Hats
16" 602 Modern Essentials Crash
19" Signature Full Crash
18" 602 Modern Essentials Crash
20" Signature Dry Dark Ride
16" Twenty Series China


HEADS
Toms are fitted with Remo clear Emperors on the top and Remo clear Ambassadors on the bottom.
Kick drum has Remo clear power stoke 3.
The Snare drum is fitted with a Remo coated Ambassador on the batter and an Ambassador snare side head on the bottom.

Mics
Kick - Shure Beta 91 (internal), Audix D6 (at hole), Yamaha Subkick
Snare - Shure Beta 57 (top), Shure SM57 (bottom)
Aux Snare - Shure SM57 (Top and Bottom)
Toms - Sennheiser e604s (10" and 12")
Floor Toms - Audix D2 (14") Audix D4 (16")
Hats - AKG 451
Ride - AKG 451
Overheads - Neumann U67
Room Stereo - Royer 121
Room Mono - Neumann TLM103

Studio
I was fortunate enough to use JMC Academy Brisbane's recording studio for this video. They have just installed a new SSL Duality console and it sounds like magic. The session was engineered by Daniel Spirovski and additional video footage was taken by JMC student Zach Blackaby.