For the first time in the history of 'The Voice,' All Access was granted to Drummerszone in the studio, on stage and to record the drummer holding the Dutch drummer's seat for 7 years on the most successful TV Show on the planet for the past decade. In this first of four articles, Hans Eijkenaar, drummer on The Voice of Holland (the original version), gives you a full video gear rundown, including his hybrid setup that makes it possible to sound like any world hit song live on television.
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Voice in 2019, Drummerszone had full clearance during a rehearsal day with contestants to be aired later on TV. The media secrecy on this level is always strict. But Hans his reputation with production company Talpa gave us a carte blanche to do a full feature on him.
Do not film the contestants! This was the one restriction we had to honour during our day in the studio. As if we could care about the contestants! We finally had our ultimate seat, right next to the drummer for The Voice, in the studio and literally on stage!
During this rehearsal day, we got to spend hours with Hans Eijkenaar. Although rehearsals might sound like the obvious moment for a feature like this, we haven't seen or found any moment where any media outlet had this amount of freedom with a drummer on The Voice. That is mainly because on The Voice...
...the Tapes are always Rolling Rehearsals on this level are just as tight as a live production, except for the timeslots, commercials and other cues during even more official recordings. Still, everything played on The Voice is always being recorded, mixed and mastered the very same day. And all that footage may be used for snippets in social media, or for additional productions to the show when The Voice is broadcasted.
There is no room for mistakes. Never. Talking about pressure when your drums are being recorded all the time, and there is no time to fix even an off-placed snare drum hit.
How does a drummer pull this off? Mind you, all the drummers playing for The Voice have over at least a million viewers watching and listening to their music. In four articles we go after this question on three topics, with two extra videos.
The gear you need to do a show like this.
What a season of a TV production this big entails for every musician in the band.
What the drummer's job really requires when playing on the highest level in music.
the additional videos A The Voice studio & stage tour Hans Eijkenaar also hosts a complete studio rundown, including the modular stage of The Voice.
What it takes to be a drummer on a high-level production like this In 6 stakeholding points, Hans explains in 1 minute what it takes to get to where he is.
The drum gear Hans Eijkenaar's drums are like any other setup that any hybrid drummer could use. He talks about his almost life-long relation with Sonor drums, Remo drumheads and Zildjian. Besides playing Zildjian for his entire career, he also has his own Zildjian Signature drumstick model, a specialty in the Zildjian family in recognition of his tremendous career.
Hybrid drumming The Roland gear used on the show is just what it needs to be. A Roland TM-2 trigger module, a V-Drum pad, and the KT-10 bass drum pedal give Hans that electronic 'live-touch'. This because Hans likes to play his drums live. Even when it is a digital sound, it needs to feel like playing an acoustic drum. His touch on the KT-10 clearly doesn't influence his time or feel on any level.
The Voice All Access: The Gear of drummer Hans Eijkenaar Watch all Hans Eijkenaar's gear in this video, straight from his studio spot on The Voice.
Next up in The Voice All Access
The Voice Studio Stage Tour with drummer Hans Eijkenaar
A season's production rundown with drummer Hans Eijkenaar
The Drummer's Job
Hans Eijkenaar uses
Porter & Davies
QSticks - Hans has all the QSticks series in his stick bag. In the video he shows QSticks' Purple 2B Scandinavian Maple.
Remo drumheads - All the toms have Pinstripe Clear on top, and Ambassador Clear on the bottom.
- The snare drums: Ambassador Coated on top, and Ambassador Hazy on the snare side.
- Bass drum: Powerstroke 3 Clear on batter side, and a Powerstroke 3 Ebony on the front.
Sonor Drums SQ2 Series - 22x18 bass drum
- 10x9" tom
- 12x10" tom
- 14x14" & 16x16" floor toms
- 14x5" snare drum
- 14x5" Designer snare drum
Zildjian Cymbals - 18" Kerope crash
- K 22" ride cymbal
- 20" Sweet crash
- 20" A Custom EFX
- 14" K Hi-Hats
Zildjian Hans Eijkenaar Signature Drumsticks
Hans Eijkenaar Hans Eijkenaar is a first call studio and session drummer and a teacher at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. A legendary drummer that has recorded over 400 albums for countless artists with international hit songs. Since 2012, he is the drummer for The Voice of Holland.
He has toured worldwide with artists and bands like Candy Dulfer, Hans Dulfer, Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), Gino Vannelli, Jimmy Haslip, Kayak and many others.
Together with his wife Marieke, they produce mobile apps for IOS on their label Go Independent Records.
Apps on Go Independent Records
Steve Gadd Loops The famous beats by drummer Steve Gadd, recorded with Steve Gadd himself. To play along or record your own songs with the legend. Learn more...
Drum Clinic HD Multicam video in HD, with drum lessons on many levels, focused on groove, improvisation, sound and more. Learn more...
Drum Loops HD Drum loops in many styles, accompanied by fills and crashes to make a stereo live drum track on iPad or iPhone. Learn more...
Drum Loops HD2 The sequel to Drum Loops HD! More loops, fills and sample-library for iOS musicians. Learn more...
Percussion Loops HD Recorded by Jeroen de Rijk, percussionist for Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars, David Guetta, George Duke, Pat Metheny and countless other artists. Learn more...
