A Modern Day Touring Drummer's Gear Requirements...Holy Smokes!

Compared to some metal and prog guys this isn't much at all.

I’m really glad Dave Weckl and Vinnie and the other great prog players are doing their thing. Weckl in particular is just inspiring with how deep his groove is, even in 17/16 time playing polyrhythms down the toms in 32nd notes. LOL

But I SURE don’t ever want to have to haul that much gear, or learn those ridiculous drum parts. Jesus. No thank you.
 
In that scenario, you're hired to do a job, & the required elements are specified. Do you need all that stuff for a show to sound good? --- almost certainly not, but the hiring artist / production believe you do, so you either get with the program, or they get another player.
This

It reminds me of when Mike Mangini took over the Dream Theater gig, and people comment about why he had so many drums/cymbals, and people saying "if it were me, I would usher in a new era of using less" Well, then you wouldn't get the gig, because the band wants the big set up. Same thing here.
 
I’m really glad Dave Weckl and Vinnie and the other great prog players are doing their thing. Weckl in particular is just inspiring with how deep his groove is, even in 17/16 time playing polyrhythms down the toms in 32nd notes. LOL

But I SURE don’t ever want to have to haul that much gear, or learn those ridiculous drum parts. Jesus. No thank you.
Good point.

Remember back in the 80's/90's Weckl carried triggers, samplers, and all his own processing gear.

He always had the racks of electronics behind his set.
davewecklmasterplan.jpg
 
Good point.

Remember back in the 80's/90's Weckl carried triggers, samplers, and all his own processing gear.

He always had the racks of electronics behind his set.
davewecklmasterplan.jpg


He still does. Things have just become smaller. Mixer with everything built in and smaller active speakers.
 
7? I can’t imagine why I’d need more than 3 or 4 on any one gig. Is John Mayer’s setlist really all that diverse? Lol

Yes, it actually is. Much of his material sounds good with a cranked 13”, some with a deep, fat 7X14, some with brushes, and a few points in between. I’ve seen him with other drummers, and the songs have a different feel when the snare sound doesn’t match the track. And through a modern PA system with the best engineers running it, yes, you can tell a difference, even in an arena.
 
Yes, it actually is. Much of his material sounds good with a cranked 13”, some with a deep, fat 7X14, some with brushes, and a few points in between. I’ve seen him with other drummers, and the songs have a different feel when the snare sound doesn’t match the track. And through a modern PA system with the best engineers running it, yes, you can tell a difference, even in an arena.

I don’t see 7 snares. I can see 3. One high and tight, 1 low and deep, and 1 in the middle. But I guess if you’re not hauling your own stuff, you wouldn’t care.
 
I can see the argument that drummers should be encouraged to experiment with various auxiliary instruments in order to broaden the variety of sounds that they bring to the table. Equally so, touring drummers with the means should be likewise encouraged to showcase these instruments in the interest of furthering the art....

Example:

On a smaller scale.. Chill and watch as this gent throws down with the xylophone.
 
I don’t see 7 snares. I can see 3. One high and tight, 1 low and deep, and 1 in the middle. But I guess if you’re not hauling your own stuff, you wouldn’t care.
Plus one metal or brass, plus one for it’s nice cross stick, plus one vintage, plus one LM400 or Acrolite.

On a national touring level, what you take isn’t just for the road gig — it’s also for any session that may happen in between shows. If you’re in Paris on your day off, and get called to record, you’ll want to have your stuff with you. It’s the big leagues, and JMs repertoire has a very wide scope, and Mayer himself thinks drummers and drums are important enough that he hired SJ to produce him, resulting in best work. This is maybe the only gig on earth where you’d want 7 snares. But it’s totally reasonable in this particular situation.
 
I have a lot of the same gear including the Octapad and the RT-30s, except I only have one Macbook....two Macbooks? that's overkill :) . It doesn't need to be used on all gigs, it's there for recording and a couple of different projects.
 
Not to take the thread off track, but Mr. Copeland is a musical genius. A true master.
you're not wrong, add J.P. Gaster, Danny Carey and Will Calhoun to the mix and you have quite the list.
 
I agree, and have often thought that when guitarists (I also play guitar—very, very poorly) change their guitars every song. I mean...if you're in an 80,000 seat stadium, chances are you're not really going to hear the difference between the Strat and the Tele and Les Paul, especially once it's gone through however many pedals and the rest of the sound system.

I always assumed that was for tuning and not tamber.
 
I always assumed that was for tuning and not tamber.

It could be either or both. Many guitar players in som of the old big groups want to ise the guitar the wrote/recorded the song on. SJ probably went for the same thing.

Some guitar players bring few guitars, but if you have a start, a Paul and a tele it's most likely for timbre and/or feel. If you're diverse even the pickups. Action for slide or whatever.

Someone like Jeff Beck will use one guitar. That's his voice.
 
I can see the argument that drummers should be encouraged to experiment with various auxiliary instruments in order to broaden the variety of sounds that they bring to the table. Equally so, touring drummers with the means should be likewise encouraged to showcase these instruments in the interest of furthering the art....

In most cases, drummers are hired guns, and are brought in to play the songs, not to further the art. The drummers who don't know the difference won't be working much, and that applies to any point in the artistic spectrum. The pros known when to turn it on & off, which is why you always hear them playing the right parts, regardless how mainstream or adventurous the artist is.

Bermuda
 
Thanks Kamak for the Stewart Copeland vid. I got much enjoyment from that.

The "Have a Cigar" vid slays me too.
 
It probably depends on the gig.

This is the requirement for this gig.

I don't really consider a 6-piece + aux snare and some sort of multipad usual. The rest is for reproduction, backup and technical convenience.

There's no additonal percussionist, so.....

Compared to some metal and prog guys this isn't much at all.


I share this sentiment. Something tells me that the backups probably came from a hard lesson learned as well haha.
 
In most cases, drummers are hired guns, and are brought in to play the songs, not to further the art. The drummers who don't know the difference won't be working much, and that applies to any point in the artistic spectrum. The pros known when to turn it on & off, which is why you always hear them playing the right parts, regardless how mainstream or adventurous the artist is.

I think you and I are agreeing on some level. In a hired-gun scenario, you can get by with a minimalistic kit and sample pad. On the other end of the spectrum, you would have an "analog analogue" of each instrument you need to represent. To me, the balance between the two is determined by means (logistics, financial, etc) and artistic vision (can you make an actual/real rainstick entertaining?). Put another way... Do you push a button on the pad, or do you Cirque-Du-Soleil the shit out of that triangle.

An aside:

When we're on stage as performers, anything you do to fill your idle time and bandwidth for the sake of entertainment/art is desirable/encourageable. In some cases, it can be a costume change. In other cases, it can be dance, choreography, backing vocals, etc, etc. The guys with huge stage setups are just doing the same, but with additional instrumentation.

When we were signed in the 90's, In addition to guitar and vocal lessons, I was pushed into college level dance, choreography, public speaking, etiquette, stage, music, and set design. At the time, I simply was enjoying the freedom being a 16yr old at college. I thought the classes were stupid. Then I learned enough to recognize when other entertainers were using the disciplines.

Re: Two laptops = Hot failover.

You have the time between songs to fail over when your kit goes titsup. There are 40,000 people watch you. Ready, set, go.
 
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