Final drum battle with Beta microphones in Reykjavik
Eppingen/Germany, March 30, 2012 – - After local heats in 23 countries in Europe and the Middle East, and following a nail-biting finale in a nightclub in Reykjavik, Iceland on March 10 featuring drummers from Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and the UK, the winner of Shure Europe’s Drum Mastery 2012 competition has been decided.
The aim of the competition was to find the best drummer in Europe and the Middle East not currently making a living from drumming. The official competition web site, www.drum-mastery.eu, had over a million hits after it launched, there were thousands of downloads of the music track to which interested entrants were asked to drum along, and in total, hundreds of drummers from 23 different countries entered before the closure date, who were then whittled down to small groups of the best entrants from each country.
The finale was a close-run affair featuring the five winners of the previous national heats, who were all flown to Iceland for the event. The day before the big ‘drum-off’, the five finalists warmed up at a music school in Reykjavik, where they jammed with Darren Ashford (www.darrenashford.com) and were given drum miking tips by Shure engineers. The following day, the final drum battle took place at the Gamli Gaukaurinn Club in Iceland’s capital. After a performance of Mezzoforte’s Gulli Briem, the finalists’ drumming skills were judged by the local audience measured by a “clapometer”.
Each of the five separate drum kits, one for each finalist, was 
miked up with no less than seven Shure Beta drum microphones, making for a total of 35 Shure drum condenser mics on the stage at once.
Antonio de Marianis of Italy won the day by a whisker, netting the coveted title of Shure Drum Master 2012, as well as the star prize of Shure products worth 5000 Euros, including headphones, personal monitoring systems, and of course drum microphones, as well as a Paiste Alpha cymbal set. Of all the original entrants, Anton James Olsson of Sweden won the prize for Best Performer under 20, and walked away with a full set of Shure Beta drum mics for his impressive drum technique, comprising a Beta 91A, three Beta 98AMP/Cs, two Beta 181/Cs and a Beta 52A.
Jury leader Darren Ashford commented: “The standard of finalists was extremely high and any one of them could have taken the Drum Mastery crown. They all played fantastically and contributed to what can only be described a highly entertaining and emotive performance. There could only be one winner, and on the night Italy’s Antonio De Marianis played with a combination of musicality, style and individuality which resonated with the hearts and minds of the audience and judges.”
Antonio De Marianis added: “We were five drummers with completely different styles and this made the competition more interesting and exciting. The masterclass with the great Darren Ashford was also precious; he gave us invaluable advice. I couldn’t imagine I was going to win; it was a wonderful surprise and a unique, unforgettable experience.”
Videos of all of the finalists’ performances from Iceland can be found at the competition web site, www.drum-mastery.eu.
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