Hello everyone, and welcome to entry number six in my “Drummers I Love” series! This week, I will be talking about the drummer I believe to be the most mechanical I have ever seen. I will admit that I am not yet totally familiar with all of his work, but that is definitely not necessary to see exactly how well-practiced and talented this man is. When it comes to technical precision in both song writing and tracking, he is mostly unparalleled in the business. This drummer is none other than…
Travis Orbin – Drummer for Darkest Hour, Independent
Taken from https://drumgearreview.com/2015/03/20/rigged-travis-orbin/
To begin, let’s take a look at Orbin’s regular kit layout:
Taken from https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/439101032392822539/
I really enjoy how unorthodox this is, but there is a reason for it. It may not be totally represented in the cymbal placement, but Orbin is a completely ambidextrous drummer. I am not sure if he is naturally ambidextrous or if this is a very trained talent that he has, but he has total and likely nearly equal command over both sides of his body. This being said, he keeps his setup fairly symmetrical and uses his ambidexterity to provide natural panning to the music and also conserve energy. As you can see in that picture above, Orbin does not use any rack toms; instead, most of his fills are linear ideas between the low-end sound of his floor toms along with his kick and snare combined with embellishments from the various cymbals he is using at the time. With the rise of prog and metal bands such as Periphery (Orbin was actually their drummer before Matt Halpern) that accent the use of cymbals, it does make sense to emphasize the use of lower-end toms and adhere to today’s trends in metal. To sum all of this up, let’s take a quick look at one of his many YouTube videos. Here’s “Wizardry Mind” by Cartoon Theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MooaHSPBwD0
As I stated, most of what I have already described can be summed up simply (full pun intended) in just the first 20 seconds of this video. The song starts with a drum solo that is seemingly all over the place, but after watching a few more minutes you will just realize that this is how Orbin does things. Above all of this though, I would like to point out that Orbin is seemingly reading sheet music the entire time whilst recording this track. This is not the most common practice nowadays, especially at this high of a level with so much to focus on within one’s own playing. Regardless, Orbin demonstrates yet another ability that he has clearly worked very hard to perfect. In fact, let’s go down a checklist of things I have mentioned so far; mechanical precision, complete ambidexterity, symmetrical setup that conforms to modern metal, and ability to actively read very complicated sheet music… what else can I add to this? Of course, there’s more. Let’s take a look at Orbin’s playthrough/interpretation of “Dr. Jekyll” by Miles Davis. That’s right. Jazz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0fAhiR9XAw
Now I know people are going to comment on how mechanical he remained for a jazz playthrough; this is just Orbin’s style. Jazz is traditionally a very loose, free, and uncomposed genre, all of which is out of Orbin’s typical playing field; despite this, he makes it work. There are some things to point out though; even though this is at 95% speed of the original song, Orbin is playing 300+bpm bebop jazz with Vic Firth SRH2 Ralph Hardimon “Hammer” Corpsmaster Signature sticks (which are heavy marching snare sticks) and mostly uses a lot of wrist motion. From a comfort and efficiency perspective, this is absolutely absurd. To make this style work for him, he actually switches to his left hand on a left-side ride at the 3:50 mark to allow his right hand to rest a bit. Of course, the average drummer would never open-hand swing at a tempo like this with their weak hand, but Orbin doesn’t have a weak hand. Watching this video, all I can see is absolute dedication to one’s craft. No matter the genre, style, or speed, Orbin will make it work in whatever way he can. This is exactly why he has been hired for hundreds of recording sessions, as can be seen on his website.
In summation, Orbin is the pinnacle of how far practice can get someone. I know of other ambidextrous and mechanical drummers, but Orbin takes it to a whole different ball park in consistency. Drummers and musicians like him inspire me to work even harder and reach new levels. He is also a reminder of how important it is to continue to be the best you can be in your craft as far as the arts are concerned; without that persistence, success will be harder to achieve. Thank you for gracing us all with your amazing efforts Orbin, and I anxiously await the projects and work you have in store for us. To finish, here’s one of Orbin’s most insane playthroughs I have seen. Thank you for reading, and here is “Eigenvalue” by Pete Peterson:
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