Batuka! International Drum Fest

Batuka! International Dum Fest 10th anniversary

The Batuka! International Drum Fest 2005 happened on November 15th in Sao Paulo, capital. It was an edition that got together friends, nice people and a good vibe. I can say that, in 10 years, the Batuka! conquered a selected audience of people who really know how important this festival is. People from very far came just to see the Batuka! International Drum Fest.

In ten Batuka!'s editions, we form a staff of professionals and friends. And this has been the secret of our success. I've been playing in various events abroad and can guarantee that Batuka! is one of the most important and prestigious festival of the sort. Last year, we were highlighted in two internacional magazines, Modern Drummer USA and the spanish Bateria Total, the latter is also distributed in South America. These magazines were showed during the Batuka! 2005.

The bar where the event were held (Café Piu-Piu) was completely packed. The stage was exclusively enlarged for Batuka! and a big screen was installed where messages from drummers and instrument manufacturers were displayed with all wishing success and long life to Batuka!. This edition was the one with more giveaways ever. In 2004, for each ticket you bought you had the right of a Batuka! CD. In this year, you had the right of a par of drumsticks. Some Backstage magazines (one of the sponsor magazines) were given as well as sponsors catalogs.

Contest

In this year, there were no contest because it was a commemorative edition and it's necessary a few months of planning, and my personal schedule was full. The 10th edition was postponed to 2006. My friend Virgil Donati was eager to come and insisted for me to do the event this year. I also had a personal debit with the talented Fernando Schaefer. It was then that I decided we were going to have the Batuka! in 2005.

Concerts

I invited Elóy Casagrande - a young very talented drummer (Batukinha! 2004 and Modern Drummer USA contests winner) - to be the truly representant of all Batuka!'s National Drummer Contest participants. His is an example of will, competence, musicality, Brazility, and honesty. It's was also my desire that the whole crowd that came to see Virgil, saw him too. That's Batuka!'s goal: to show what Brazilian is and with quality. By bringing internacional presentations, I can pack places and make people know new Brazilian talents.

Fernando Schaefer presented with Kiko Loureiro (guitar) and Felipe Andreoli (bass), both Angra members. They played songs from the latest Kiko Loureiro's solo album "No Gravity". Fernando drove the audience crazy when he presented with his current band "Endrah" with Fabiano Salles and César Passos. That was all about adrenaline! It's the second time Fernando presents at Batuka!.

For the thrid time, Virgil Donati came exclusively to Batuka!. It was a success as always! To see Virgil once or twice is not enough. The third with some many new things asks for a forth, fifth time and so on. It's very pleasing for our ears and eyes. Virgil is a fenomenon. He owns an impressive technique, a dynamic to drop the jaw! His is really amazing. He also gave two master classes for 30 musicians at the IBVF (Instituto de Bateria Vera Figueiredo).

Sound

The audio equipment was rented for the event. I passed the stage map to Emerson Rigoni who was in charge of everything. His is the Batuka!'s sound engineer since 2004. Fabio Badi and Nilson helped too. Because of the size of the venue, a mixer with sufficient channels was a concern, so that no stage changes would be necessary during the presentations. The mics used were Le Son and Audix - brands that always supported the event. The ambient sound and big screen were managed by Roberto, Café Piu-Piu's sound engineer for many years. Thiago Figueiredo was responsible for the opening with the big screen projection.

Audio Equipment Used - by Emerson Rigoni

Sound Engineer: Emerson Rigoni
Assitant: Fábio Badi
Stage Co-ordinator (roadie): Nilson

Expansom (www.expansom.com.br) was the company that rented the equipment for Batuka! It's a medium-sized company very competent. In the Batuka!'s case, I was the engineer responsible for the project and rental of the equipment.

The equipment had to be chosen very carefully because the venue although excelent was small. This way, it was equacionated the practicity needs.

Equipment Used
01 YAMAHA MIXER M3212
02 PA STACKS (2x ST215 and 2x ST218)
PA AMPLIFIER CICLOTRON (TIP1000, TIP3000, TIP5000)
CLAIR MONITORS
MON AMPLIFIERS TIP 2000
DAS PROCESSORS
8 COMPRESSORS AND GATES DBX 266XL
4 COMPRESSORS AND GATES DBX 1046
2 BEHRINGER QUADRAGATES MULTICOM PRO-XL MDX4600
2 EFFECT PROCESSORS SPX 2000
1 EFFECT PROCESSOR REV 500
06 CICLOTRON EQS TGE2313SX
02 ASHLY EQS GQX-3102
AUDIX AND LESON MICROPHONES

Micing a drum event is something new and fascinanting because the drum set is an instrument with a high degree of difficulty to mix. I had done it last year and had the same challenge to be precise and detailed. Every musician has its unique way, its personal taste. There, they play for an audience of musicians mainly with a high level of expetation. Being the engineer, I have to interfere the least possible by choosing the best mic and its best position to loyally reproduce the drummer's personal tone.

Drummers Equipment

Elóy Casagrande played on a Adah drum set with Evans drumheads, which are his sponsor brands. The drum set used wasn't his own, but one kindly lended by Adah. Fernando Schaefer used his own kit, a two bass drum kit Bauer with Orion cymbals, and Michael drumheads. Virgil Donati played on a Pearl drum set with Remo drumheads lended by Pride Music (Brazilian distributor), Sabian cymbals and Vater drumsticks lended by Equipo (Brazilian distributor).

Cultural Support

Liverpool, Sabian, Le Son, Gibraltar, Vic Firth, Audix, Evans, One Drum, Bauer, Orion, Vater, Adah, Michael Drumheads, Remo e Power Click. The magazines Backstage and Áudio Música & Tecnologia..