In June SONOR welcomed the Spanish artist Zebensui Rodriguez, a hard working drummer and the main guy behind one of the most successful Spanish-language YouTube platforms, ZebenDrums. We sat down with him to ask him three questions about SONOR and his ambitions as a drummer.
SONOR: First of all, welcome to the SONOR artist family, Zeben! When you visited the company back in February, you seemed to quickly fall in love with our new SQ1 series. What was your initial thought, why did you chose the Birch sound?
Zeben: I was worried that SONOR would be just like another companies, however right after getting to know the background and its wonderful history, I knew this is a kind of relationship I am looking for- full of positive vibes and with same ambitions- so I knew that SONOR is the right partner in my journey. I chose Birch because of its wide variety of nuances, very powerful, but at the same time so rich. All these attributes made me entirely fall in love with it since the very first moment.
SONOR: You are the main guy of the ZebenDrums YouTube channel, along with your associate. When did that started, can you tell us about your daily routine running the channel, producing videos, and being an active player?
Zeben: This project would have never become reality without the support from my associate Diego Del Monte, who had the trust in me as a professional and who helped me to build ZebenDrums from scratch. The adventure began in February 2013, when Diego convinced me (after several discussions of course) to record our very first video. Now 5 years later, we are the most seen drum channel in Spain and the second in the world in Spanish language. ZebenDrums of course greatly impacted our lives, it is a madness hahaha! Twice a week we are meeting to discuss the strategy for our next videos. We review in detail potential topics, content and design. Then the day of the recording we meet already at 6:30 to have sufficient time for several cuts as needed, before we start with our actual work. I mainly work as a drum teacher, but also I am part of couple of bands, so I prepare myself for rehearsals, as well as I am recording etc. Then equally important I try to spend as much time as possible to study, so I can keep evolving and improving myself as drummer. Sometimes it is of course quite difficult to combine ‘a normal life’ with our project, which is getting bigger day by day. But ZebenDrums represents my dream and my passion for drums.
Q: Birch seems to be the “go-to” wood when it comes to recording. How does it benefit you during the process of recording?
Zeben: Birch is an explosion of nuances, so powerful, incomparable with any other sound. The number of layers makes it easy to fit with any type of recording and adaptable to any style of music. Powerful, strong and rich sound with every single stroke!
Check out Zebensui Rodriguez´drum channel here (in Spanish language).