ChrisCirino
Senior Member
I hope this post will meet with much debate here on DW. I encourage any and all discourse on the matter. My words are not intended to offend, but instead are meant to elicit some thought from those who ceaselessly seek the ultimate drum sound. Truth be told I am not a professional drummer, but I do consider myself a skilled enthusiast and I have owned and do own more drum equipment then most (nay Bermuda or Bo).
So why do we seek this mysterious “resonance” from our poor drums and why do we endlessly parse over what is the best wood, bearing edge or suspension mount. Is there some infra-sonic Nirvana that we hope to fall upon whilst we twist and turn our drum keys? Do the things we drummers endlessly quibble over really make a difference? I say yes and no. Yes, we can produce qualitative and quantifiable differences in sound by changing this or that, but ultimately they make little difference in the application of our instrument. Please allow me to explain.
When I play with other musicians, I am keenly aware that my drum sounds must find a place within the spectrum of the bands overall sound. Guitarist and bassists are often victims of I scooped out all of my mids and created the perfect Metallicaesque tone but I can’t here myself in the mix. I beg you to listen to some tapes of the band playing together and then turn up your mids guys. At first they will say it is too harsh or shrill or whatever but ultimately they will concede that the collective does in fact sound better when everyone finds a place in the mix.
I know this may be seen as sacrilege but I posit this to my DW brethren, who cares if your 12” tom can resonate for an extraordinary amount of time or that you can show me on an oscilloscope that that your bass drum’s tail takes .08 milliseconds more to dissipate. These things are inconsequential in the general application of our instrument. I think we would all agree that the drum set is generally played as part of an ensemble. Most folks are not apt to sit through a solo drum performance and even Buddy had a band to back him up. Knowing this, shouldn’t we seek a sound that most benefits the collective?
Many factors besides construction and composition contribute to the sound of our drums. Room size, room construction and the placement of our kits within the room itself are often more tangible than the things we twiddle over. Admittedly shell material, bearing edge, lug type, rim type, suspension mount or not, and head selection all contribute to a drums sound. But to what degree? I contend that a lay-person (i.e. a non-drummer) could not distinguish any difference in the sound of most drums regardless of their construction and that in fact most drummers could not audibly distinguish between the oft debated different wood types or bearing edges used on drums. After querying my bandmates, on numerous occasions, about the changing of my snare drum, drumheads or whatever I am generally met with ambivalence or the ubiquitous “Did you change something?” I have grown accustomed to hearing that I still sound like me regardless of what set I play and that the things I believe will bring our music to new found heights, go unnoticed by others.
Does it matter if your bass drum is uber-resonant if you’re going to stuff it full of pillows, gag it with dampened heads or are going to cut a huge hole in the front head? Though I personally love that big open Bonhamesque BD sound, it has very little application in most modern music. Almost all of that luscious low end is gobbled up by other instruments competing for the same frequencies. To me the bass drum tom mount or virgin BD argument is another non-starter. If you do any of the above mentioned things to dampen your bass drum who cares if it is marginally diminished (this is also questionable) by a BD tom mount. This is more a question of preference and accessibility than sound. I have owned many a bass drum with and without tom mounts and I can distinguish no audible difference between a virgin and those saddled with a BD tom yoke. I have also owned nearly every major brand of drum set and most boutique snare drums as well. Regardless of the shell material or bearing edge cut, I have learned over time that with proper head selection and tuning I can get them to sound the way that I want.
Many of us never get to hear our instrument from the audience’s perspective. I have often thought my drums sounded too thin or “plasticy” from behind the kit only to find that they are killing it from FOH. Most of us are never going to play on stadium stages with suspended line arrays. Most of us must settle for playing in small clubs where our instrument is heard acoustically or with minimal sound reinforcement, like a lone kick drum microphone. Bottom-line: It’s great if your drums sound amazing from the drum stool, its better if they sound great in the audience.
So why does any of this matter? Bottom-line: The magic is in the man, not the drums. Just look at our own Bo Eder. His endless search for the perfect drum sound inevitably leads him down the same road and to the same destination with predictably the same result. Bo sounds like Bo on a Pearl BCX, Ludwig Classic, Gretsch USA Custom or any of the other 20+ kits you can see on DW.
So stop all the futzing about bearing edges, suspension mounts, and the obvious benefits of wormwood over maple and apologetically play what you like, for whatever reason. There is no best or better only preference and predilection. So rock out with your co%k out and enjoy the ride.
P.S. Bo, that was metaphor and don’t switch cymbals. They will not be better, just different.
So why do we seek this mysterious “resonance” from our poor drums and why do we endlessly parse over what is the best wood, bearing edge or suspension mount. Is there some infra-sonic Nirvana that we hope to fall upon whilst we twist and turn our drum keys? Do the things we drummers endlessly quibble over really make a difference? I say yes and no. Yes, we can produce qualitative and quantifiable differences in sound by changing this or that, but ultimately they make little difference in the application of our instrument. Please allow me to explain.
When I play with other musicians, I am keenly aware that my drum sounds must find a place within the spectrum of the bands overall sound. Guitarist and bassists are often victims of I scooped out all of my mids and created the perfect Metallicaesque tone but I can’t here myself in the mix. I beg you to listen to some tapes of the band playing together and then turn up your mids guys. At first they will say it is too harsh or shrill or whatever but ultimately they will concede that the collective does in fact sound better when everyone finds a place in the mix.
I know this may be seen as sacrilege but I posit this to my DW brethren, who cares if your 12” tom can resonate for an extraordinary amount of time or that you can show me on an oscilloscope that that your bass drum’s tail takes .08 milliseconds more to dissipate. These things are inconsequential in the general application of our instrument. I think we would all agree that the drum set is generally played as part of an ensemble. Most folks are not apt to sit through a solo drum performance and even Buddy had a band to back him up. Knowing this, shouldn’t we seek a sound that most benefits the collective?
Many factors besides construction and composition contribute to the sound of our drums. Room size, room construction and the placement of our kits within the room itself are often more tangible than the things we twiddle over. Admittedly shell material, bearing edge, lug type, rim type, suspension mount or not, and head selection all contribute to a drums sound. But to what degree? I contend that a lay-person (i.e. a non-drummer) could not distinguish any difference in the sound of most drums regardless of their construction and that in fact most drummers could not audibly distinguish between the oft debated different wood types or bearing edges used on drums. After querying my bandmates, on numerous occasions, about the changing of my snare drum, drumheads or whatever I am generally met with ambivalence or the ubiquitous “Did you change something?” I have grown accustomed to hearing that I still sound like me regardless of what set I play and that the things I believe will bring our music to new found heights, go unnoticed by others.
Does it matter if your bass drum is uber-resonant if you’re going to stuff it full of pillows, gag it with dampened heads or are going to cut a huge hole in the front head? Though I personally love that big open Bonhamesque BD sound, it has very little application in most modern music. Almost all of that luscious low end is gobbled up by other instruments competing for the same frequencies. To me the bass drum tom mount or virgin BD argument is another non-starter. If you do any of the above mentioned things to dampen your bass drum who cares if it is marginally diminished (this is also questionable) by a BD tom mount. This is more a question of preference and accessibility than sound. I have owned many a bass drum with and without tom mounts and I can distinguish no audible difference between a virgin and those saddled with a BD tom yoke. I have also owned nearly every major brand of drum set and most boutique snare drums as well. Regardless of the shell material or bearing edge cut, I have learned over time that with proper head selection and tuning I can get them to sound the way that I want.
Many of us never get to hear our instrument from the audience’s perspective. I have often thought my drums sounded too thin or “plasticy” from behind the kit only to find that they are killing it from FOH. Most of us are never going to play on stadium stages with suspended line arrays. Most of us must settle for playing in small clubs where our instrument is heard acoustically or with minimal sound reinforcement, like a lone kick drum microphone. Bottom-line: It’s great if your drums sound amazing from the drum stool, its better if they sound great in the audience.
So why does any of this matter? Bottom-line: The magic is in the man, not the drums. Just look at our own Bo Eder. His endless search for the perfect drum sound inevitably leads him down the same road and to the same destination with predictably the same result. Bo sounds like Bo on a Pearl BCX, Ludwig Classic, Gretsch USA Custom or any of the other 20+ kits you can see on DW.
So stop all the futzing about bearing edges, suspension mounts, and the obvious benefits of wormwood over maple and apologetically play what you like, for whatever reason. There is no best or better only preference and predilection. So rock out with your co%k out and enjoy the ride.
P.S. Bo, that was metaphor and don’t switch cymbals. They will not be better, just different.
