#259 Tony Lymon & Mike Zellers- Percussionists, Audio Designer/Engineers & More
This episode is sponsored by Dream Cymbals, and their 24” cymbal bag.
Today’s guests are Tony Lymon and Mike Zellers.
Tony, is the former Assistant Director of Bands at Petal High School in Petal, Mississippi and current co-music arranger/show designer for the Petal High School marching band. Tony is the director and show designer for the Petal Indoor Percussion Theatre, a national WGI Percussion Scholastic World Finalist. He has twice been awarded the Outstanding Junior High Director of the Southeast Mississippi Band Directors Association and the 2008 Mississippi Bandmasters Association AE McClain Outstanding Young Band Director Award. Tony was also the Founder and Director of Eminence Indoor Percussion Ensemble, a regional and national WGI Open Class finalist and championship ensemble.
Tony holds a Bachelors degree in Music Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Certification in 3D Architectural Rendering from The 3D Training Institute of New York. He was a member and principal percussionist in the world renowned Southern Miss Wind Ensemble and Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra. While at Southern Miss, Tony was the percussion arranger for the Pride of Mississippi Marching Band and USM indoor percussion ensemble. Tony was also a member of the World Champion Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps (Bloomington, IN) from 1991-1993. In his three years of DCI experience, he won the DCI-Midwest Solo Timpani Champion and the 1994 Percussive Arts Society International Solo Timpani Award. Tony’s original marimba composition “Of Thoughts and Thinking” has become a standard in percussion literature. The piece was most recently recorded by German percussion artist Cornelia Monkse on the CD Marimba 2 and was featured in the French documentary film Le Ciel.
After college, Tony pursued a professional performance career for eight years with the pop/rock band King Konga. While with King Konga, Tony toured the world selling out venues in nationwide. The group did a post September 11th USO tour for the US Military in Hawaii and South East Asia. The four-piece band gained critical acclaim reaching #81 on the AC Hot 100 Pop Charts with “Something Good.” With a rare accomplishment by an independent band, King Konga captured the eyes and ears of many major record labels and the band went on to perform at Woodstock ’99. Tony has also performed with The Mississippi Symphony, Mobile Opera, Hattiesburg Civic Light Opera and The Meistersingers Orchestral/Choral Ensemble.
Tony recently wrapped up a season as the sound designer for The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps and currently serves as Creative Designer for Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps. He is the owner of Eidetic Creative, a multimedia creative designs solution business. He currently resides in Petal, Mississippi with his wife Emily and 12 year-old daughter Colette.
Michael currently serves as the Director of Percussion at Leander High School in Leander, TX. In addition to working with the high school students at Leander, Michael is also the percussion director at Running Brushy Middle School. Zellers received his Master in Music Performance from the University of Delaware and his Bachelor’s Degree from West Chester University.
Michael Zellers is currently the electronics designer for the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle corps form Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to joining Boston’s staff, Michael served on the percussion staff of The Cadets from 2011-2015. He served as a front ensemble technician from 2011-2013 and the Electronics designer from 2013-2015. During his time with The Cadets, the corps won their 10th DCI World Championship in 2011 and The Cadets Percussion section received the Fred Sanford Award for Best Percussion Performance in 2013. In addition to his most recent work with the Cadets, Zellers has worked with the Jersey Surf and Reading Buccaneers.
R.I.P.
Rest in peace to Melvin Parker. Melvin passed away Friday December 3rd, at the age of 77.
Melvin was an iconic drummer for the legendary James Brown and has played with his band on many notable tracks. -Article
Happy Birthday!
Happy 76th birthday to the late great Tony Williams.
Happy 64th birthday to the wonderful Sheila E.
Happy Birthday to friend of the show, Jhair Sala. Jhair is a world-class and in-demand percussionist who performed with the Pedrito Martinez Group. When the Peruvian-born Jhair Sala was barely three-years-old, he sat with his father beating on wooden boxes known as cajons. At that tender age, Sala's inherent percussive talents were pushing through. -Article
Gig Alerts
Shout-out to the Percussive Arts Society for posting about this job opening. The United States Navy Band, located in Washington D.C., has an immediate opening for the position of Percussion - Concert/Ceremonial Band. To fill out THE APPLICATION, CLICK HERE.
Damon has some gigs coming up. You can check out all the upcoming dates on HIS WEBSITE.
Marcos Torres is having a birthday Jam this Thursday night at La Fonda.
Educational Spotlight
The 2021 Modern Drummer Festival Airs in December 25th 2021. You can pre-order your pass by purchasing either the “2021 MD Festival Pass” or the “2021 Modern Drummer VIP Bundle”. The VIP bundle saves you 20% on the included items and gives you access to last year’s 2020 Festival.
You can see who will be performing below.
Iconic Recording
Fleetwood Mac and The University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band play together "Tusk" and "Dont stop". Concert in 1980.
The article the features other drumline/pop collaborations can be found by CLICKING HERE.
Mail Time!
Damon mentions keeping track of the different grooves he knows in a little notebook for the various instruments he plays. Similar to a glossary or encyclopedia. He also has some books like the two by Ed Uribe that have a lot of patterns and grooves to help him remember. Here are the links: Afro-Cuban Book - Brazilian Book.
Music News
Former New York Times Journalist Accused of Bilking Artists’ Royalties ‘Apologizes Unequivocally’ - Article
The video backstory and other details can be found below.
How much money does Mariah Carey make every Christmas? Let’s do some quick and dirty back of the napkin math on the Queen of Christmas’ revenue.
“All I Want for Christmas is You” was released in 1994, and it quickly propelled Mariah Carey to the top of the Christmas charts year after year. When she was just 24, Mariah Carey wrote the song as part of her first Christmas album (also wildly successful at the time). The song has been covered by Ariana Grande, CeeLo Green, My Chemical Romance, Kylie Minogue, Mumford and Sons, and many more. -Article
Damon was a guest on the Secret Famous Podcast with Paul Maddison. You can check it out everywhere podcasts are listened to.
Mike and Tony Interview
The song leading into the interview is called “Something Good” by Tony’s band, King Conga.
Mike and Tony talk about the importance in sound reinforcement in the pageantry world, but also how this should be part of the music education that is happening for students.
Mike talks about some of the evolutions in amplifying to make setup and breakdown happen a lot faster. Backup batteries and powering on before performance are two things that help work on a football field/basketball arena.
Tony and Damon talk about rehearsing logistics and setup and breakdown as well as the notes for the show.
Tony talks about marching with the Star of Indiana and having to compete with other sections, to be heard in the front ensemble.
Damon and Tony talk about being locked down in a pandemic and learning computer programs like logic and final cut pro. Mike talks about doing virtual concerts and exploring composition and home recording.
Mike talks about integrating technology into band class time. Tony talks about learning how to run a drum camp virtually.
Tony talks about learning the ins and outs of sound engineering from being in a recording studio first and asking engineers, then going to YouTube tutorials. Shout-out to Rick Beato.
Mike learned from sampling first to add to his compositions. Then, trial and error and YouTube tutorials.
Tony mentions the Marching Arts Audio group on Facebook.
Damon brings up knowing what the group is supposed to sound like before you splurge on gear.
Shout out to Pulse Percussion group and Ian Grom.
Tony and Mike talk about a hierarchy of how to get the best sounds, and what order you evaluate your needs from performance, implements and gear.
Tony mentions some gear like the Behringer x32, SM57s for dynamic instrument mics vs condenser mics.
Mike mentions trying out the gear options before purchasing. With regard to boards, he mentions Allen and Heath, the Behringer, and Yamaha. He also talks about speakers. He mentions the Line array setup. A line array is a loudspeaker system that is made up of a number of usually identical loudspeaker elements mounted in a line and fed in phase, to create a near-line source of sound. The distance between adjacent drivers is close enough that they constructively interfere with each other to send sound waves farther than traditional horn-loaded loudspeakers, and with a more evenly distributed sound output pattern.
Mike suggests active speakers instead. He mentions QSC, Yamaha and PreSonus as options. He warns staying away from buying a package and buying a la carte based on your needs.
Tony suggests staying away from wireless and shotgun mics without having an expert on hand.
Damon warns using mostly dymanics, sparingly on the condensers and avoiding ribbon mics.
Mike talks about bleeding and how he addresses it. Tony talks about his approach with scoring and gate.
Tony mentions how feedback is an issue as well and what he does to address it with scoring first and some panning as well as placement and proximity.
You can follow Mike on Facebook, at the Boston Crusaders and Leander High School among other places. If you would like to hire him or ask more questions, you can email him here: Michaelzellers@gmail.com.
Mike gives another shout-out to the Marching Arts Audio Group.
Tony is on Facebook, Instagram at the Carolina Crown and Petal High School. If you would like to hire him or ask more questions, you can email him here: tony.lymon@gmail.com.
Tony has a coffee brand, Eyrth Beat. He roasts his own beans and more! You can follow Eyrth Beat on Facebook and on Instagram. He is also a member of the Band Director Coffee group.
Damon and Tony talk a little bit about coffee history.
Tony uses Ludwig Drums, On2 Percussion, Remo Drumheads, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Zildjian Cymbals, and PreSonus Audio.
Mike uses Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Remo Drumheads, Pearl Drums, and Adams Percussion Instruments.
The song leading out of the interview was from the Boston Crusaders 2018 show, S.O.S. which can be seen below.
