Callum Lee Gow

Drummer~Composer~Sound Design

Callum Lee Gow on SoundBetter

Trained and experienced musician and engineer, I am ready to help your project. Offering services of session percussion work, and Media Composition and Sound Design.

With a decade of drumming experience I am well versed in numerous styles and am ready to help your project with by hitting things with accuracy. I can make all the required sounds, from BOOMS to BANGS, to CRASHES and CLANGS. Happily able to write drum parts and provide Scores or MIDI data, or perform and record them to a professional standard. Every project has different artistic and logistic requirements, and I am flexible and will cater to each project as needed.

Although I am only just getting started in the Sound Design and Film Composing world, I have a thirst to develop my skills alongside other burgeoning artists. Check out my samples below to hear what I've been up to. Using a variety of hardware and software instruments, I can create music with a wide variety of textures. From orchestral scores, to a dirty electronic ambient score, I am willing and able to write it all.

I have completed an Adv. Diploma of Sound Engineering at RMIT, and graduated from Melbourne Polytechnic's Bachelor of Music. Through these institutions I have gathered a wide variety of skills and experiences, all of which I channel into each project.

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

Interview with Callum Lee Gow

  1. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  2. A: A hybrid set up! In my view it is the most flexible, and you can capture the best of both worlds. Different projects call for different sounds, so limiting a sonic palette by getting caught up in an arbitrary argument makes little sense to me.

  3. Q: What's your typical work process?

  4. A: Improvisation is a big part. Whether it's a drum project or a scoring project, improvisation always plays an important part. Putting on source material and just feeling an idea out, and recording it to be analysed later always makes me feel more attached to the piece, and results in a much more free and human sounding piece in the end. On the rare occasion where I start composing in Sibelius or Dorico, the end result always feels a little stilted, so if that happens I take it away from the computer and try to sing, play drums, piano or guitar to shake off the digital rigidity.

  5. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  6. A: I'm lucky enough to have two spaces at the moment - a smaller synth space, and a larger live recording room. I have 16 inputs in the large room, enough to do live band recordings and drum work. I prefer composing and mixing in my smaller room. I've got the fantastic Novation SLMkIII which is awesome to work with, and a couple of synths above that. The workflow in there makes it the obvious choice when sketching ideas. Depending on the project I jump between Pro Tools, Ableton and Reaper.

  7. Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

  8. A: I find that for different projects I'll cast my mind to different musicians and producers, there's no one style or approach that works for all. Recently I've taken inspiration from Lorn, Ludovico Primavera, Nils Frahm and Steve Harley.

Gear Highlights
  • DW Custom Series Drum Kit
  • Zildjian Cymbals
  • Shure Beta 52
  • Shure Beta 57
  • Rode M3
  • Rode M5 Stereo Pair
  • Steinberg UR824 Interface
  • Waves Platinum Suite Plugins
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