L.A. Percussion Rentals: Keeping The Tempo

L.A. Percussion Rentals is the best kept secret in Hollywood. Serving the L.A. area and beyond, husband and wife team Abby and Dan Savell have been supplying the movie and music industry with their eclectic collection of professional percussion instruments since 2005. Need the exact Emil Richards rub rods used in the DeLorean reveal in Back to the Future? The flapamba or glock tree used in Frozen song, Fixer Upper? How about the glass marimba used for a prominent motif in The Bourne Supremacy? They’ve got you covered.

Abby and Dan are both percussionists by trade, and when they married they discovered that they were both big time hoarders when it came to eclectic sounds. So much so that between them they had enough of a percussion collection to rent out to the thriving local creative community.

Unbeknownst to them, this was to be the beginning of L.A. Percussion Rentals, which would go on to be the place to rent out high-end orchestral percussion, drums, ethnic and eclectic percussion instruments for orchestra staging for recordings, live performances, props, movies and tours in L.A. and beyond.

“We tend to be a hub for a lot of percussion, including all of this really crazy, eclectic gear,” says Abby. “When it comes to acoustic instruments and percussion, it's like cheese – they get better with age. Well, a lot of them do. Sometimes people are looking for a vintage, novelty chromatic instrument from the early 1900s, and they can get that here.”

That reminds Dan of the time they were asked for a very specific set of chromatically tuned bell plates for a project, which had to be tuned to the exact octave and pitch required by the client.

“Abby's brother, who's a rocket scientist, helped me figure out the six variables, and we got really good at it! But perhaps it doesn't make sense for a single orchestra to have a chromatic set of bell plates that might get used a couple of instances per year. Instead they can use a central place like us that has everything available. We have a lot of rare instruments, which is how we've found our little footprint here.”

Serving the thriving L.A. creative scene (although the last year has been quieter for obvious reasons), the Savells cater for orchestras, studio recordings, bands, pop and rock groups, live shows and more, and seem to have an instrument for every scenario – no matter how unique the requirement.

Ultimately, L.A. Percussion Rentals thrives on ambition:

“We all like that ambition, and that’s what drives us when we get commissioned to do something,” Dan confirms. “One of the things that we like about our company is that we're involved in a lot of groups that have a lot of creative ambition.”

“Definitely,” agrees Abby. “One of the things that's been very interesting for anyone involved in any level of production of music nowadays is that the digital world continues to bring an infinite amount of possibilities in terms of processing audio, no matter what the origin of the audio is.

"We’re always hearing about all of these new plugins being released, and it’s a constant cascade of these types of things. However, I would say that there's also been a rediscovery of exploring acoustic possibilities as well.”

Dan elaborates, pointing out that a lot of composers doing film scoring or composing modern, classical music are combining the types of instruments that L.A. Percussion Rentals stocks with digital effects to create more unique sounds.

“It’s the same with people working on the studio side of things, or sound designers from gaming companies; they’re using a lot of effects and plugins, but they are still always looking for a new, unique source to start at, which is where our unique collection comes in. Just having a different source point is a real jumping off point for them creatively. The end product may sound nothing like the instrument or item we have, but it's just a new palette for them to start their creativity from.”

A jewel in L.A. Percussion Rentals’ musical crown is the late Emil Richards’ collection of instruments. Richards was a respected vibraphonist and percussionist who played the bongos on the Mission Impossible TV show theme and the xylophone on the opening theme of The Simpsons, and it’s his iconic finger snaps you can hear in The Addams Family theme.

And if that isn’t enough to impress, he also accompanied George Harrison on tour and recorded with Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, Doris Day, Judy Garland, Nelson Riddle, Steely Dan and Sarah Vaughan.

In 1962, Richards went on a worldwide tour with Sinatra to raise money for poor children, which increased his fascination with ethnic percussion instruments. He went on to collect over 350 instruments, and it was his wish that when he entered into semi retirement that they continue to be played and remain together as much as possible. He gave 65 instruments to the Percussive Arts Society museum in Oklahoma, and a sizable part of his collection was sold to L.A. Percussion Rentals.

Their Emil Richards Collection includes common percussion, and more unusual instruments such as a flapamba, boobams, a glass and stone marimba, taiko drums, gong drums and rub rods. It is L.A Percussion Rentals’ pride and joy:

“It’s estimated that he played on over 2,000 film and TV scores, and that’s not even counting the endless amounts of regular albums,” Abby points out.

“He used to fly with Frank Sinatra on a private jet, so they just collected whatever instruments they wanted and didn't have to really worry about customs or anything like that. We have about 70 of the instruments that he was really well known for here, and so many of these have been used in film and TV scores and other albums as well. I'm so honoured to have that, and I'm so honoured that he called us.”

The Savells are very discreet, and (quite rightly) will not reveal the details of any recent or ongoing projects that are under wraps, but they feel that any that are 10 years old or more are probably safe to talk about now.

Big Back to the Future fans (“our kids are in the middle of watching it for about the 17th time on Netflix,” says Dan), they point out that Emil Richards’ rub rods (which they now own) were used in The Karate Kid, Beetlejuice, Lethal Weapon and the reveal of the DeLorean in Back to the Future.

“To me, that is super cool,” Abby enthuses. “I love the fact that I can hear those in Back to the Future and in a couple of other places as well. They have this ethereal quality that is like a cross between sound design and music, which is super awesome.

"I love the fact that I can play them with the soundtrack and it sounds exactly the same in person – they barely did anything to them. When you hear some of those instruments in the most classic songs and scores, it's kind of mind boggling.”

Other customers of theirs include Hans Zimmer, who composed the music for Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film, Sherlock Homes using Emil Richards’ cimbalom, a hammered dulcimer which was made by Venczel József Schunda in the late 1800s.

“Hans sent his team around to try and find the sound that he was after. They were FaceTiming with him and he was like, ‘Yep, that's the one; that's exactly what I'm after!’” remembers Abby.

Another time, a caravan of Disney employees descended on their warehouse searching for musical inspiration for a little known film – 2013’s Frozen.

“That was an interesting one because we were thinking they're gonna want a lot of ice- sounding instruments, but in reality, that wasn't the case,” reveals Abby. “It was like this huge field trip, and they were just having a blast.”