Who are you and what do you do?
Hello! My name is Lindsay, I’m a musician, drummer, composer and producer. I’m currently in my last semester at Berklee College of Music, majoring in Professional Music. My focuses are Drumset performance and Music Business.
It was love at first sight. When I was six years old, I spotted a shiny drum set on display at a local music store. My dad saw my interest. I was lucky enough to come home that day with a snare drum and a pair of red sticks! I started lessons and played in every band possible throughout elementary and middle school. My passion for music grew stronger every day. I wanted to learn as much as I could about so many different areas of music! Over the years, I picked up guitar, bass, composing, and audio recording. At 15, I began studying at the Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), a magnet school for the performing arts in New Haven, CT. Every day I got to hang with other jazz students. New Haven cats like Jessie Hameen II and Jeff Fuller taught us the language of music. I also studied with Bernard Purdie during that time. Throughout high school I recorded and gigged with Jazz, Latin, Rock, Pop, and other style musicians/bands throughout the New England area, especially with my own Jazz/Blues/Funk group that I produced, managed, and recorded with, “Lindsay Artkop and Friends”.
Now a Scholarship Student at Berklee College of Music, I major in Professional Music with a concentration in Drum set Performance and Music Business. I graduate this May, 2016! Some teachers I’ve studied with include Dave Dicenso, Ralph Peterson, Bob Gullotti, Tony “Thunder” Smith, Henrique De Almeida, Kim Plainfield and Jon Hazilla.
On May 7th, 2015, I won “Hit Like a Girl”, an international video competition for female drummers. This is my video:
Earning 1st place has already brought countless exciting drumming opportunities. Some of these include signing endorsements with Zildjian, Evans, Mapex, Vic Firth and Cympad, being scheduled for performances, interviews, lesson teaching and drum collaborations on DrumChannel, being featured in magazines like DRUM! and TomTom, working with famous drummers such as Kiran Gandhi and Shariq Tucker on video collaborations, performing a solo clinic at PASIC 2015, being included in the new Hit Like a Girl Contest mini-documentary, being invited to advocate and judge the final round of HLAG 2016, and much more. I also work with many bands/artists live and in the studio, and travel performing drumset clinics.
Here is a video collaboration I did at the Zildjian Factory over the summer with Shariq Tucker! Check out those cymbals in the background!! Here is a clip of me playing at PASIC!
I’m now pursuing a career as a touring drummer for established Pop Artists/Bands.
I also compose and produce my own original music videos. Below is the very first release, “Red Vibes” (Lots of drum gear to check out in this one!)
What do you use?
Zildjian Cymbals:
- 14” K Zildjian Constantinople Hi Hats
- 14” K Zildjian Hi Hats
- 18” K Zildjian Dark Crash
- STACK: 11” Zildjian Hybrid Splash (bottom) 8” Trashformer (top)
- 22” Zildjian High Definition Ride
- 20” Zildjian K Ride
- AUX High Hat: Zildjian 16” Dark K Crash (bottom) 16” K EFX (top) (Eric Harland Hi Hats)
- STACK: Zildjian 20” K Dry Light Ride (bottom) 12” Spiral Stacker (top)
Mapex Drums:
Mapex Maple MyDentity Custom Drums: Red Sparkle, Maple Wood
- Kick: 20” x 16”
- Snare: 14” x 8
- Toms: 10” x 7”, 12” x 9”, 14” x 14”, 16” x 16”
Evans Heads:
- Kick: 20” EMAD Clear (Batter), EMAD Reso (Resonant)
- Snare: 14” Hydraulic
- Toms: 10”, 12”, 14” 16” Black Chrome (Batter) (G1 Resonant)
NFUZD Electronic Drums:
Hardware:
- Armory 800 Hardware, Black Plated
Vic Firth Sticks:
Mics:
- Audix DP4 4‑Piece Complete Drum Microphone Package
I’ll focus on my drums for this, but when I was 13, I built my own electric guitar!
What would be your dream set up?
I’m grateful to say that I now have the majority of the gear that I’ve envisioned and dreamed of already. I’m very thankful to the Hit Like a Girl Contest for providing me with so much of that. For a while there I didn’t have the best tools to perform in certain situations. I wasn’t sure when or how I could change that. Now I come to any situation well prepared.
Of course, there’s always room for more ;)
Cymbals:
- Sound proof drum room (this seems to be a recurring theme here on the site!!!)
- L80 Series - for quiet gigs/practice
- Zildjian 22” K Constantinople Medium Thin Low Ride – I just need this!! haha
- Zildjian 21” K Custom Organic Ride – I met Pat at PASIC and now I want this cymbal even more!
- Cympad Optimizers, Moderators and Chromatics
Drums:
- A smaller kit for traveling
- Saturn V Kit – just awesome.
Electronic Drums:
Mics:
- I could list a lot haha, but I just need a solid pair of condensers right now to complete my mic situation
Thank you for reading!! Please feel free to say hello via any of the links below :)
