Current Line Up v3

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

Long over due. This is mainly a 4pc acoustic kit with some pads mixed in. I've normally kept just the two pads by the snare, and one by the floor tom. Over the weekend I added the second pad by the floor tom and the two cymbal pads so we'll see how that goes. So far I've just used the sounds on the TD-6 for those pads, but I'm about to try and set it up so I can trigger loops that I create from my PC. I'm looking to possibly buy a sampler for live gigs, but not sure which one.

I've also got my two new Saluda crashes set up, and a bike bell mounted on the hat. I took the bell off of my oldest son's old trike (got a new one for Christmas) and strapped it to my hat. It has a very nice bell sound and makes me want to go out and buy a bunch of little bells to mount every where.

Premier kick 22x16
CB 700 snare 14x5.5
Black Gold rack tom 13x9 (refinished)
Black Gold floor tom 16x16 (refinished)
Zildjian vintage hats 15"
Sabian Pro Dry ride 20"
Saluda Diamond 16" thin crash
Saluda Mist-X 18" medium crash
Zildjian Custom K Session ride 18"

I'm really liking the new Saludas and I'm planning on getting a whole set mixed between Mist-X and Diamond, with maybe an Emperor. I'll probably trade in my Sabian ride towards it, but keep the K and my hats to later make a set mixed between Zildjian As and Ks.

You may think my rack tom is too far to the right (over the middle of kick), but with a 4pc set up it makes transitioning to the floor tom a lot easier. All I do is swivel my body a little bit and I can move between that rack tom and snare pretty easily. I've been messing around with the cymbal placement a lot lately and I'm trying to keep in mind where I want to put more cymbals when I get them (probably within a couple months).

First pic is the overhead but it's real hard to get a good pic like that because my kit is in the corner. Second pic is my Diamond, third is the Mist-X, and fourth is my bike bell. Fifth pic is a little photo montage I quickly and haphazardly threw together last night just for fun. Last pic is what I have in mind for my next cymbal upgrade.

http://sleepybrighteyez.com/video/GarberPhotos2006-3595.jpg
http://sleepybrighteyez.com/video/GarberPhotos2006-3637.jpg
http://sleepybrighteyez.com/video/GarberPhotos2006-3638.jpg
http://sleepybrighteyez.com/video/GarberPhotos2006-3639.jpg
http://sleepybrighteyez.com/video/DrumSet_Montage.jpg
http://www.sleepybrighteyez.com/video/GoalSet.jpg

[d.c.drummer]

Looks nice. Very symetrical.

When i play a four piece i move my rack tom to the right too because it does make things easier so don't feel like the odd man out.

Are those saludas really good? I see alot of people getting them but would you ever take one of thier cymbals over a comparable one from the big 3 if not considering price?

[kung_f00]

Unique setup ... I've always thought acoustic/electric kits are kinda cool, and the bike bell is a neat addition.

Question though: what program/website did you use for that kit setup picture? I've bee looking around for it but can never find it.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

Looks nice. Very symetrical.
When i play a four piece i move my rack tom to the right too because it does make things easier so don't feel like the odd man out.

That's nice to know. I was thinking of trying the rack tom on a spare snare stand to the left like what's usually done, but it's really comfortable where it's at now and I want to set my piccolo snare up with the extra stand. I'm also trying to get my left hand up to par with my right so that explains the symmetry- also because I like symmetry. Makes me feel at peace. hah!


Are those saludas really good? I see alot of people getting them but would you ever take one of thier cymbals over a comparable one from the big 3 if not considering price?

Well, I traded two old B8s in towards my new Saludas. The Saludas sound way better. I'm not giving up my hats or my K for them though. Sorry. :) To be honest I haven't played on a variety of top pro cymbals so I can't make a direct comparison. I think hand hammered cymbals definitely have a character of their own, much different than the machine pressed ones. I like the sounds of both, which is why I want a complete set of Saludas and a full set of Zildjians.

Unique setup ... I've always thought acoustic/electric kits are kinda cool, and the bike bell is a neat addition.

Question though: what program/website did you use for that kit setup picture? I've bee looking around for it but can never find it.

The bell is fun. I don't know if it would carry live, but I think it will do OK when I record. The mount on it fit perfectly around my hi hat clutch. Just imagine having a bunch of them on top of cymbals or attached to L rods. They take up very little real estate and I'm always looking for new sounds to use in my kit. I should take pics of the 'toy' percussion set my boys and I got for Christmas as well. It came with a larger tambourine that I can mount to the hi hat as well. I've already got a small one from an old toy set.

Drum Kit Builder II which is linked to somewhere in these forums. It's pretty fun, and it has a nice selection to choose from. The creator says you can import your own images. I had to compromise with the pics I chose when doing my layout, but the idea is the same. Usually I just do my layouts in Illustrator which works great.

[JAHdrumming]

Bout time we saw this! Nice kit. A very fluid set up.

[TopCat]

Left side ride...this guy means business.

[YOSOYDRUM]

I like your set up. I want to hear it.

by d.c.drummer
Looks nice. Very symetrical.

If you add a hi-hat on your right and change your 16" floor to a 14" floor, it would be very very symmetrical.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

A 14" floor sounds interesting and yes that would be very symmetrical with my 14" snare, but I don't think there would be a big enough interval between my toms. My kick is currently 22x16 but some time next year it will be replaced with my 24x14 so I definitely need a low floor tom. I may change my tom sizes to 14 and 18 or something. It'd be cool if I could find a couple old Slingerland toms in that size to match my kick and snare. I would love to have a hi hat on the right as well.

I can post a little recording tonight. It was with my old B8 Crash and without my Saludas though. It'll give you an idea. The next recording I do will probably be for Karl's solo which I still need to work on.

I've also dropped the cymbal pads and the one extra pad I added over my floor tom. I decided it was too much. I just have two by the snare and one over the floor tom right now. That's how I've had it for the most part but I wanted to try the extra pads again. Simplicity always wins.

[Zildjian 242]

cool set up. So what do you do to stop the unwanted triggering? I had a problem with that when I had a hybrid set up

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

On the TD-6 you can adjust many options for the pads. The main two that I work with for unwanted triggering are the sensitivity and threshold settings. I try to keep the pads as sensitive as possible, but bump the threshold up until I don't get any unwanted triggers.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

OK so here (http://www.sleepybrighteyez.com/audio/demos/SleepyBrightEyezDemo.mp3) is my most recent clip of my kit. It's a song I'm currently working on. I know it's extremely simple. I was originally just experimenting with recording my drums, but it was groovy enough to make me want to develop it further. I may have someone do some horn parts for this one as well. I'm not posting this in the "Your Playing" forum because this is unfinished. I only wanted to give you an idea of what my kit sounds like. The crash is my old Sabian B8 Thin Crash which has been replaced by the Saludas. The ride is my 20" Sabian Pro Dry. I believe my toms were in concert form for this recording. Three mics: OH, kick and snare. I'm actually pretty pleased with the sound of my kit in that recording. I'm playing bass and guitar as well. Currently working on the vocal part. It's pretty bare right now, but just listen to the sound of the kit. :)

[burgess-123]

really really nice kit how long did it take u to get every thing

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

Most of my drum stuff came about when I was in high school. I bought the Roland kit a few years ago. My Saludas are the newest- last Christmas. Most of it was second hand. My Roland kit and a few cymbals were bought new. I'm finally in the process of buying a brand new kit, and any day now I should receive the rest of my Saludas. My Slingerlands were my first drum purchase, about twelve years ago.

[tooldrums1000]

Your 5th picture down looks sweet. But how come you have electrics? i see that theres a splash on the floor whats that?

[cjl71178]

Very interesting setup. It looks kind of weird to me, yet it seems like it would be comfortable.

[fijjibo]

Very nice setup man.

I bet you can get all manner of sounds from mixing electronics into acoustic....

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

But how come you have electrics? i see that theres a splash on the floor whats that?

Every now and then I like to throw my pads on my kit for some fun. I usually put percussive sounds on them. The setup in this thread was a little excessive with the pads. I was experimenting a little. For a while I was just using three pads- two by the snare and one by the floor tom. I have an idea to trigger ambient loops for my band's songs, but I'm not currently working on that at the moment. I'm just focusing on basic drum parts for now, and when we finish writing I may try to add the ambients. I've got my kit setup a little differently now. I'm planning on taking new pictures when my new kit arrives which I really hope is this week- I've been waiting three months... ahhhhh!

Very interesting setup. It looks kind of weird to me, yet it seems like it would be comfortable.

This setup was very comfortable minus probably the cymbal pads. I think that was a little too much. The symmetry was nice. The ride on the left was very nice and I'm trying to figure out how to get it back there (currently have an extra crash in that spot and only one ride). It's definitely a setup I'm keeping in my play book. :)

I bet you can get all manner of sounds from mixing electronics into acoustic....

Ya, it's a lot of fun putting different sounds on there. I like weird FX and percussion sounds the best. In my current setup, I've been wanting to add a cow bell hanging off my kick. I think I may also use the option of sticking a single pad there to use whatever sound effect/percussion I need.

[cupcrazy4]

Awesome looking kit. I need a new ride (my current one sucks) and I have been looking at the 18" or 20" K Custom session, do you recommend it?

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

Awesome looking kit. I need a new ride (my current one sucks) and I have been looking at the 18" or 20" K Custom session, do you recommend it?

Yes, I do! It is a very sweet sounding ride. I would rather the 20 than the 18, but that is just me. It has one of the greatest bells I have ever heard. I no longer use the K in my setup though. I replaced it with a Saluda 20" Glory Heavy Dry which has a pretty similar sound, and sweet bell as well.