THE CONNECTION
Taiko's inclusion into popular music has become a phenomenon, most recently it has been featured with the band 30 Seconds to Mars on their tour for their single "Up in The Air." The largest performance that combined Taiko with Up in the Air took place at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. However, in many of the performances of the song, taiko is very inaudible, contributing very little to the sonic content of their song despite the drums playing throughout the song.
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30 SECONDS TO MARS ON CONANNotice how the taiko players are playing throughout many parts of the song but there is very little heard from the drums themselves. Granted, the drums might not have been properly mic'd and thus they do not have as much sound collection and projection as the other instruments. However, the taiko are still very powerful instruments that are capable of filling concert halls without any methods of sound reinforcement.
The look of the performers are very formidable, and their presence is very much a part of the performance, even though they are not heard. |
Now let's add the taiko rhythm as seen in the video to the track and compare the two sounds. Here is a track of the first instance that the taiko appears within Up in the Air. It is a very simple 4-count beat that is looped eight times. This section makes its appearance two times within the song.
TAIKO RHYTHM FOR UP IN THE AIR
The portion of the song that the taiko appears is in the chorus. The audio snippet is below:
UP IN THE AIR (ORIGINAL)
The rhythm to this section is very catchy, but it does not have much power or presence but rather it focuses on the singer's voice, which is a fair point. Taiko was chosen to be incorporated here during live performances though, and there would be a reason for this inclusion otherwise the taiko rhythms could be placed elsewhere in the song, or even omitted.
UP IN THE AIR (WITH TAIKO RHYTHM)
Listening to a combination of the two, the taiko blends very well with the chorus and the percussion, giving a more complex sound to the mix as a whole. Though it might detract from the sound of the vocals, the added depth in percussion can be a good tradeoff. In comparison to the original audio, the percussion is distant but has more complexity in the pitches and timbres of the many different drums used in the setup. With the addition of taiko, the bass is much more present and louder, removing some of the intricacies of the drumkit. The difficulty will be in balancing the two unique percussive sounds to form a very unique blend that contributes nicely to the song.
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In the radio edit, there is an audible example of taiko's appearance in the bridge at 3:03. There is a very large difference in sound between the taiko and the drumkit and they blend very nicely together.
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OPINION
Now that you have heard the difference between the two sounds, with and without taiko. Which would you prefer listening to in the actual song?
And, as addressed in many of the other pages in this website, the uses of taiko within music can be very widespread. With hearing this example, are you encourage to hear more taiko within the world of other genres, specifically popular music?
And, as addressed in many of the other pages in this website, the uses of taiko within music can be very widespread. With hearing this example, are you encourage to hear more taiko within the world of other genres, specifically popular music?
