Beauty and the Beast - Kevin McNaughton

Kevin McNaughton's combined book setup for the touring production of Beauty and the Beast.

Kevin's write-up snd gear list below photos.

"When I approach a show that other musicians have played, I always go back and listen to the recordings. In this case I had several to choose from: The original Broadway cast recording with John Redsecker on drums and Joe Passaro on percussion, London cast recording, Australian cast recording, German cast recording, and even previous tour recordings were all used for reference.

This tour travels with a self-contained orchestra and I’m the only percussionist which requires me to perform a combined drum set and percussion book. The keyboards help out and cover some of the mallet passages during the drum-set heavy sections. I also have the Yamaha DTX-MULTI 12 to supplement timpani, chimes, xylophone, etc.

I wanted to make sure, even though this was a traveling show with a smaller orchestra and a combined book, that the acoustical integrity of the show on my end wasn’t sacrificed (beyond synthesizing the timpani - yuck!).

I outfitted the batter sides of my drums with Evans Strata 1000 Heads (with G1 Clear Resonants) and couldn’t be happier with the sound and durability they provide on the road. I’m also traveling with a live gong for those few passages where I have time to use the real thing. From what I’ve heard, the mallet parts were originally performed on a MalletKAT. This touring production provides a glockenspiel, and other than that, the mallet sections are synthesized on the keyboards and the Yamaha DTX-MULTI 12.

The Miller Machine is a complete and total game changer! I’m able to execute that perfect ‘ding’ without having to balance a beater in my mouth. Amazing! I mount the Machine on my tom mount using LP hardware.

We all have our ways of getting the exact sounds we want out of our instruments; here are some little adjustments I’ve made.

I used the hi-hat to get a piatti sound in certain sections of the score. The Soultone Extreme Series hi-hats I’m using have a beautiful sound and unique timbre, but the sustain is a bit too long for my liking in this show. To fix that, I took a Moongel and placed it on the top-hat to eat up some of the overtones. Works like a charm.

I’m using the LP Cyclops Tambourine more out of convenience and ease of access than the sound it produces. A quick and easy fix for me was to use Gaffers Tape and mute some of the jingles.

I’ve always been happy with the sound of my older Yamaha Stage Custom kick drum. I’m using an Evans G1 Batter Head and the Evans Ported Resonant Head. I lined the interior shell with some egg crate to control the sound."

Drums: Yamaha Stage Custom

• 22" Bass Drum
• 16" Floor Tom
• 12" Small Tom

Snare:

• DW 14" Performance Series Snare

Cymbals:

• Soultone 22" Gospel Series Ride
• Soultone 14" Extreme Series Hi-Hat
• Soultone 17" Crash
• Soultone 15" Crash
• Soultone 10" Gospel Series Splash

Percussion:

• TreeWorks Tre44 Studio Chime
• Miller Machine with Triangle
• Adams Glockenspiel
• Meinl Small Wood Cajon Castanet
• LP Sleigh Bells
• LP Cyclops Tambourine
• LP Rock Cowbell
• LP Granite Blocks
• Large Gong

Electronics:

• Yamaha DTX-MULTI 12 Electronic Percussion Pad used for Timpani, Chimes, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, and Gong

Kevin is a proud endorser of Soultone Cymbals.

Beauty and the Beast - Tour - Kevin McNaughton
December 2015