Log Drums is a small handmade manufacturing business that developed from Tatton meeting percussionist Dan Magnus during art school training. By the end of Tatton’s 3 years at art school, he and Magnus ran a humming program of making and playing hollow wooden log sections with rawhide tensioned across them.

The pair camped for weeks in clearfelled coupes in Southern Tasmania where they sourced the waste log off cuts from the logging industry. Carving 20 or more ‘blanks’ in a stint they would then dry the chainsawn wood back at the studio, in an electric dehumidifying kiln, taking a further 4 months..

Each commissioned drum would then be uniquely carved over 2 weeks and the skin tensioned across the drum head. Several tensioning techniques were developed and produced using artisan scaled production. For 8 years Tatton and Magnus ran a fulltime business making and selling instruments around Australia. Now there are many Afro and Asian imports which has left Tatton able to focus more fully on sculptural pursuits. Magnus has moved focus to his plant nursery business at Woodbridge Nursery.

Marcus still makes commissioned djembe, conga and taiko for musicians looking for unique sound from Tasmanian rainforest timbers. He produces drum skins for all forms of drum and these can be ordered for postal delivery from Tasmania.