Downsizing

[k-train78]

So recently, very recently, I decided to downsize my kit mainly for the sake of a quicker easier setup and tear down for gigging, but also to push my limit for skill. What I mean by this is making all the sounds that I did with my larger kit before, but with less. Kinda really proved to myself how good I am by making all the fills and sweet sounds I did before when I had 5 toms, and like 12 cymbals lol, and now Im down to 3 toms and 6 cymbals. Just makes ya feel good! And easier gigging setup/teardowns always nice to :)

Anybody else been through this? Please feel free to share your experiences with downsizing your kit and any pros or cons that may have come with doing so!

[Ethan01]

Nice dude! Yeah i downsized as well, 4 piece w/ 3 cymbals. I'll start to add more drums once I exhaust the options I have... but I haven't yet and I doubt that's gonna happen anytime soon!

[Spanishfunk]

Good initiative!

I recently downsized my 5 piece to a 4 piece. I must say it really takes your creativity to a next level. However I had to get used to the gap between the upper and floor toms during fills.
I'm currently thinking about reducing cymbals to hats, ride, crash. This should be enough to get through smaller gigs. Generally speaking, I increasingly like larger cymbals with washier sounds so you have to hit them less times.

[eamesuser]

I don't know if it is because I started on a 5 piece,but the extra tom seems make it easier for me to fill in a rock band context,and it seems to me that a good deal of rock music was recorded on a 5 piece.I generally use a 4 up 4 down,4 drums, a ride, hi hat and two crashes,I should work on it more but a little old school cross sticking seems to help when playing rock on a 4 peice for me.

[Naigewron]

I've never had a huge kit, but I find it fun to downsize from five to four pieces now and then, and maybe remove a cymbal or two. I've played both rehersals and gigs with the 4-piece setup. I also sometimes take away my slave pedal to get away from my overuse of quads split between my hands and feet (RLKK and RLRLKK, etc).

And of course it's always great fun to play with just kick, snare and hihats (and possibly a single ride or crash), but I haven't dared try that in a band setting. I think that would just be a little too limiting :-)

[bobdadruma]

I began to downsize a few years ago and I have never looked back.
My life is much easier now.
I play 4 and 5 piece kits.
I use Hats, Ride, Crash/Ride, and a Splash.
I sometimes add one other cymbal but not for most gigs.

It didn't take me long to adjust to the small kits.

[Ethan01]

All you need to know about downsizing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiyldCtJgX8&feature=related

[caddywumpus]

I got to a point where I decided that downsizing would save SO much time. I'm not such a fan of "doing more with less" on my kit as I am with minimizing setup and tear-down time, which, of course, includes the number of trips to and from the car. Check out the link to my kit's thread in my signature. I'm quite proud of the system I came up with for all of my hardware...life has been SO much easier with this arrangement!

[bobdadruma]

I got to a point where I decided that downsizing would save SO much time. I'm not such a fan of "doing more with less" on my kit as I am with minimizing setup and tear-down time, which, of course, includes the number of trips to and from the car. Check out the link to my kit's thread in my signature. I'm quite proud of the system I came up with for all of my hardware...life has been SO much easier with this arrangement!Caddy, I think that you and I think alike.
We just want to play! We don't want to fool around with gear and trips to and from the car.
You are one of the people here that inspired me to go to smaller kits.
You helped to change my life for the better.
Thank you!

[caddywumpus]

Caddy, I think that you and I think alike.
We just want to play! We don't want to fool around with gear and trips to and from the car.
You are one of the people here that inspired me to go to smaller kits.
You helped to change my life for the better.
Thank you!

Oh my goodness! Um, you're welcome! Thank YOU! I've enjoyed watching you change to the dark side as well!

I was just interested in the idea of the Yamaha HipGig kits, nesting kits, concert tom kits, etc...sets that were compact and easy to tote around. I found problems with each of them, from their sound to the "extra steps" involved with unpacking/setting up. I wanted an arrangement that was compact to travel with, yet simple and quick to set up. I looked at the hardware that was out there and experimented, eventually coming up with my set up. I'm always on the lookout for things that will make it even more compact, lighter, or quicker. So far, I haven't found anything.

I have all of the hardware ready for my round badge kit when I finally get around to re-wrapping it. THAT kit has another take on the compact/light hardware transportation. You'll see! Stay tuned...

[Bo Eder]

I've actually played 4-drums and 3 cymbals for a long time. I think I'm maintaining my balance by going to 5 drums and 2 cymbals. But yes, if you're hauling it all around by yourself, lots of drums just gets old.

[bobdadruma]

Oh my goodness! Um, you're welcome! Thank YOU! I've enjoyed watching you change to the dark side as well!

I was just interested in the idea of the Yamaha HipGig kits, nesting kits, concert tom kits, etc...sets that were compact and easy to tote around. I found problems with each of them, from their sound to the "extra steps" involved with unpacking/setting up. I wanted an arrangement that was compact to travel with, yet simple and quick to set up. I looked at the hardware that was out there and experimented, eventually coming up with my set up. I'm always on the lookout for things that will make it even more compact, lighter, or quicker. So far, I haven't found anything.

I have all of the hardware ready for my round badge kit when I finally get around to re-wrapping it. THAT kit has another take on the compact/light hardware transportation. You'll see! Stay tuned...I have taken a similar path. I began with the purchase of a Pearl Rhythm Traveler kit a few years ago.
I then bought a Tama Stagestar kit and I modified that kit to suit my needs.
I then I added some ddrum toms to my Pearl RT kit.
I also downsized my old Standard size antique Gretsch kit.
I have also begun to use lightweight hardware in various configurations to work with my different kits.
I make three easy trips from the car now too.
I use a small hardware bag that requires no wheels because it is so light.
I have gotten creative with lightweight hardware that allows this all to happen

I found a way that works for me that is within my budget and desires in small kits.

We have both taken slightly different routes to achieve the same goal.
We used what worked for us by selecting what we liked and modifying it to suit our needs.

I love this about drumming! You can put a kit together in any fashion and budget that you desire to get what you want.
There are no rules or restrictions to limit your creativity in the configuration of your kits.
Anything is possible. A drummer only has to use his/her imagination!

I also found issues with the standard compact kits that were available just as you did.
Just like you, I found answers to these issues that suited my needs better.

The funny thing is this. If you were to play one of my kits, you may or may not like them, even though they were partially inspired by kits that you have shown here.
Another mystery of drumming!

[larryace]

My downsizing consists of a recent decision to forego hardshell cases and opt for bags instead. Hardshell cases for a bar band drummer are overkill.

[bobdadruma]

My downsizing consists of a recent decision to forego hardshell cases and opt for bags instead. Hardshell cases for a bar band drummer are overkill.Yes they are, If you move your own gear there is no need for them.
I have seen many drummers showing up for a gig carrying at least 50 LBS of gear that they did not need.

[baodes]

I have an used 5 piece set that I bought for a $100 (Honestly it was a steal for a beginner like me.) And I took off my mid rack tom because: The finish is nonexistent on it, it was just a plain wood shell, so it looks out of place and I hated the fact that I had to angle it. So my kit now consists of a snare, a rack tom, floor tom, bass drum, hihat, crash and a ride. I seriously want to hug it haha.

[larryace]

Yes they are, If you move your own gear there is no need for them.
I have seen many drummers showing up for a gig carrying at least 50 LBS of gear that they did not need.

You'd be referring to me Bob...I may even forego the bags eventually. So what if my exotic veneered DW's get scratched? (I'm trying to convince myself that it's OK)

But I like a few choices soundwise. Not necessarily a lot of drums, 3 toms is plenty for me, but I have to have 3 crashes plus a splash, in addition to the ride. Oh I need 2 cowbells and a drumset mounted tambourine too. And I hang a vibra slap on my mic stand. Oh and there's the wind chimes. Can't forget the vocal and drum mics and their stands and cords. Gotta have some carpet too, right? Plus I have to record every gig so I need my tripod and recorder. And if I video, I need a tripod for that too. Crap I forgot to hook up my monitor! I just have so much gear. Takes me an hour to set up, tune up. cases put away, recorders whirring and water bottle filled minimum.

I just love all my sound choices though, especially the percussion stuff, they add a lot of fun to the songs. The hardshell cases were really a too much though. It's not like baggage handlers are tossing them around...

[Deathmetalconga]

Like most people, I played on a mid-sized set (5 to 8 pieces) for many years. I recently went from 4 to 2 toms and I must admit I like it. It's not so much the setup factor (although that is nice) but playing with fewer toms forces you to play differently.

[Wavelength]

I've played a four piece with four cymbals for a long time, and sometimes, if the stage is small (or the means of transportation leaves something to be desired) I downsize to a 3+3 setup. Surprisingly, there seems to be little difference...

[Bo Eder]

You'd be referring to me Bob...I may even forego the bags eventually. So what if my exotic veneered DW's get scratched? (I'm trying to convince myself that it's OK)



Hey Larry - it's OK!

I hung with Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez (of Oingo Boingo) long ago and he showed up with a 24" DW natural maple bass drum that he took the front lugs off of, converting it to a single-headed bass drum. And in it he had his snare, a small tom, and a roto-tom. He carried it like a bag of groceries! I did carry his cymbal and stick bags. The drums had seen better days but he played the crap out of 'em! It was nice to see beat-up great drums! That's what they're for!

[Naigewron]

All you need to know about downsizing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiyldCtJgX8&feature=related

How's this for downsizing then? :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyO7lvzfw5Q

[Pollyanna]

I was just interested in the idea of the Yamaha HipGig kits, nesting kits, concert tom kits, etc...sets that were compact and easy to tote around. I found problems ... the "extra steps" involved with unpacking/setting up.

Yes, I've noticed that with the RT I bought this year. My old Rogers with Memoriloc was heaps heavier and took a lot more lugging, but it was a breeze to set up.

The RT is fiddly to set up, especially the 4-legged kick drum. To quote Orwell ... two legs good, four legs bad.


y downsizing consists of a recent decision to forego hardshell cases and opt for bags instead. Hardshell cases for a bar band drummer are overkill.

Agree. I only ever use soft cases. Having said that, a week after buying the kit I managed to drop the kick drum down the steps into my block of flats and dinged it.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_eIRZl6Cv0yo/R1baI-jyveI/AAAAAAAAAss/ADfq4MlOR1s/s400/homer_doh.gif

Oh well. It's not visible to audiences and it's not as though RTs have great resale value.

[keep it simple]

My downsizing consists of a recent decision to forego hardshell cases and opt for bags instead. Hardshell cases for a bar band drummer are overkill.Agreed, until you put them in a van, & a 4x12 uses your kick as a buffer! Soft cases if you're transporting the kit in a car. Hard cases if they're going in a truck.

[Naigewron]

Yes, I've noticed that with the RT I bought this year. My old Rogers with Memoriloc was heaps heavier and took a lot more lugging, but it was a breeze to set up.

The RT is fiddly to set up, especially the 4-legged kick drum. To quote Orwell ... two legs good, four legs bad.


I had the Rhythm Traveller Gig kit (the same four-legged kick version) as a practice kit at home before I bought my Roland. I only set it up one time, but it was still extremely fiddly to get that kick properly stabilised. Definitely not the best design choice there, I agree, and I'm glad I didn't have to do that often. I'm sure I could have memory locked the legs somehow, but it still wouldn't have been optimal.

My current setup is designed with ease of setup in mind all the way. Memory locks on the floor tom legs, straight stands for everything except the ride and everything goes into my bag with a minimum of de-assembly (or is it desembly?). So even though I've always played a 5-piece, my current set is definitely downsized when it comes to setup and teardown time when compared to previous kits and setups.

[Pollyanna]

I had the Rhythm Traveller Gig kit (the same four-legged kick version) as a practice kit at home before I bought my Roland. I only set it up one time, but it was still extremely fiddly to get that kick properly stabilised. Definitely not the best design choice there, I agree, and I'm glad I didn't have to do that often.

Yes, the first few times were a struggle. After 50 or so times setting up I'm getting better at it. I found the trick is, once you have a rough idea of the angles you do a quick "draft" setup, get the pedal on, and then do the detail work.

But it's nowhere near as easy as popping in two memory-locked legs and tightening - a few seconds' work. The plus side is it's just three trips to the car, even including extra stands, djembe, bottle of water, sticks, H2 recorder etc. I expect some of you guys could do it all in two trips.

Do you have roadies? I'll never have that luxury again (not since friends helped out in my teens to be part of the buzz, such as it was). I plan to find a sucke ... er, boyfriend who's happy to help with the lug and then amuse himself until it's time to lug out :)

Another thing I like about small kits is they narrow your focus more to the song and the groove.

[Naigewron]

Do you have roadies? I

I wish :-)

The best I can hope for is that the other guys help me carry my stuff from the car.

[Pollyanna]

I wish :-)

The best I can hope for is that the other guys help me carry my stuff from the car.

Damn, you spoiled my little fantasy :) Thankfully, the guys help me lug out but I'm on my own from the car to my flat. Definitely a motivation to keep things small ...

[Bernhard]

Reality check:

See what Mark Guiliana pulls out with a little 4 piece set and two cymbals (video 2)
Make sure to watch till then end - great Drumsolo:


http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/markguilianadhaferyoussef.html


http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/markguilianacohen.html


Bernhard

[Pollyanna]

There's a fella who knows how to have fun with a hats, kick and snare. Dhafer was diggin' it! Very Chick Corea--ish vibe to me.

Mark sounds like he has an inbuilt quantiser. Another universe.

[jer]

In it's heyday, 5-6 years ago:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b226/jeremydrury/ohspace2.jpg

About a month ago I brought my 2nd floor home for storage. I haven't been using a second crash since the beginning of the year.

Nowadays (I took this last month):

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b226/jeremydrury/photo5.jpg

Lugging gear around was the main reason for moving away from a double kick, lots of cymbals kit - a change in approach to how I play drums moved it from a 5-piece down to the 4 that you see above.

It was a fun task to re-write parts written on the big kit to work on the small - the key was in maintaining rhythms; double bass parts as a fill on a floor tom; mulit-tom fills broken up by using the snare instead of a mid-tom, etc... Loosing the splashes really made me start exploring sounds one can get out of cymbals, (and make me want to replace the A Custom with something more versatile). Was a great experience transitioning between the 2.

[Coldhardsteel]

Recently, I've decided to cut down my kit to a four-piece. This is mainly due to a lack of preferred hardware to set up with, but oh well. A rack can wait.

I have hi-hats, crash, and crash/ride.

Using a cut-down setup really does seem to help one think about what they can do on the kit. While my stuff is at school, I normally take their snare and hi-hats and just my crash and ride, hole up in a practice room, and work out beats and cymbal/snare fills I can think of.

Right now, the biggest I plan on getting my kit is an aux. snare and a china. Big enough to be able to fit any gig, yet small enough to be a relatively set-up/tear-down.

Man, I used way too many "/"'s in that post.

[bobdadruma]

Aside from my smaller kit being easier to transport.

The 14x18 inch bass drum tunes and sounds like a dream. It likes to be tuned on the tighter side. I get great pedal action from it and it punches like a pro boxer when I want it to!

I can set my mounted toms low and flat.

The smaller dimensions of all of the drums makes them sound great in a small room.
These drums are low volume when I want them to be and they punch when I open them up.
They sound great at all volume levels.
I spend less tuning time.

I'm using a 13 inch snare and I also like it because it sounds great and the 1 inch difference allows for a more comfortable set up.

My cymbals are close and I can pull all kinds of sounds from them.

I don't have to reach for anything!
I rule this kit instead of it ruling me.

[gdrumfoot]

I am constantly amazed at how much fashion or current trend affects what or how much gear we choose to use live (sometimes studio). When highly visible top-line drummers choose to downsize (or up for that matter) too many of the drumming community follow like lemmings. This has happened once already with punk in the late 70's (at least here in the UK) Since the nineties, grunge, britpop(?) it has become prevalent again except for metal or possibly fusion. Surely the idea is to use what is appropriate for what music we are playing and what we wish to add to it and to a degree our own playing style/ sonic preferences. As for technical challenges posed by downsizing I dont know about you guys but I use the same technique on whatever,just make a few adjustments. I know there are practical aspects to this regarding size of stage/riser, set up time,transport etc but it should never be correct to downsize because "its easier" ie less bother. I play in both a blues band and a rock band; in the rock band I use, when possible, a large kit as the range of covers we do calls for chinas,bells tambourine, spashes etc and my personal preference for four toms, two up two down, plus hand percussion. In the blues band....no way! 5 piece+4 cyms.....job done! In the past I have played mainstream jazz or 60's pop on 4 piece + 3 cyms, again, job done.
Be yourself, its irrelevant what others think or say.
Incidentally in both bands we load in ALL the gear together and out again till were finished...just the way it should be

[Kenny Allyn]

Minimal size ... with winning style!

Pee Wee Jackson (from mycymbal) playing the GC drum off using only a kick. snare, hats and two cymbals, blew the judges away (I was one)
with what he could do with that very minimal setup! He is going to represent the city at the finals, and I hope he stays with the formula.

I'm told by several in the know including the guys over at the Mem Drum Shop that the "trend"
they are seeing is to smaller kits, but with larger diameter cymbals ...

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k220/kennyallyn/misc/PeeWeeJackson.jpg

[bobdadruma]

I am constantly amazed at how much fashion or current trend affects what or how much gear we choose to use live (sometimes studio). When highly visible top-line drummers choose to downsize (or up for that matter) too many of the drumming community follow like lemmings. This has happened once already with punk in the late 70's (at least here in the UK) Since the nineties, grunge, britpop(?) it has become prevalent again except for metal or possibly fusion. Surely the idea is to use what is appropriate for what music we are playing and what we wish to add to it and to a degree our own playing style/ sonic preferences. As for technical challenges posed by downsizing I dont know about you guys but I use the same technique on whatever,just make a few adjustments. I know there are practical aspects to this regarding size of stage/riser, set up time,transport etc but it should never be correct to downsize because "its easier" ie less bother. I play in both a blues band and a rock band; in the rock band I use, when possible, a large kit as the range of covers we do calls for chinas,bells tambourine, spashes etc and my personal preference for four toms, two up two down, plus hand percussion. In the blues band....no way! 5 piece+4 cyms.....job done! In the past I have played mainstream jazz or 60's pop on 4 piece + 3 cyms, again, job done.
Be yourself, its irrelevant what others think or say.
Incidentally in both bands we load in ALL the gear together and out again till were finished...just the way it should be
I grew up playing during the 70's.
I began with a 4 piece kit.
I followed the trend back then and I bought a 7 piece kit that eventually grew to a 10 piece with many cymbals.
I played a big kit for many years.
I never really felt at home on a big kit.
A few years ago I realized this and I slowly went back to small again.
My age and health also played a roll in my decision to downsize.

You are correct, The small kit may not be for everyone.
There are many factors that will determine the size of the kit that a drummer plays.
Everyone should do what is right for them.

I have never had anyone from the audience comment at a gig that I should be playing a larger kit.
Just the opposite, I get compliments on my playing and my small kits. People like them.
They work for me.

[jer]

too many of the drumming community follow like lemmings.


I think it's more about being inspired by our influences than following like lemmings.