The switch between electric and acoustic.

E

evraisgod

Junior Member
Here is my story guys.

I have been playing a low range electrical kit for two years now and i have obtained some decent skills. Being able to play at any time and relatively quiet has really helped but alas the time has come to upgrade to a 'real' kit. My electrical isn't the great substitute i once thought. I found this out when my band and i recently hired a practice room and there was already a house drum kit for me to play. I race over all excited and to my great dismay i couldn't perform half of what i considered to be my current skill level. I was in shock! Don't get me wrong i know exactly why this is, it was just a real eye opener at the time.

A month passed and i bought a second hand yamaha 9000 series, four toms, bass drum, crash, china and a ride along with all the stands. For this i paid £350 and was assured this was a good price since the ride alone cost £300.

Now my questions.

A. Has anyone experienced this change between electrical to acoustic?
B. Does anyone have advice regarding the first time purchasing of hi hats and snares?

Before i go id like to say i have been lurking on this great site for a few years now and i have learnt a lot from everyone here and for that i want to say a big thank you.
 
evraisgod said:
Here is my story guys.

I have been playing a low range electrical kit for two years now and i have obtained some decent skills. Being able to play at any time and relatively quiet has really helped but alas the time has come to upgrade to a 'real' kit. My electrical isn't the great substitute i once thought. I found this out when my band and i recently hired a practice room and there was already a house drum kit for me to play. I race over all excited and to my great dismay i couldn't perform half of what i considered to be my current skill level. I was in shock! Don't get me wrong i know exactly why this is, it was just a real eye opener at the time.

A month passed and i bought a second hand yamaha 9000 series, four toms, bass drum, crash, china and a ride along with all the stands. For this i paid £350 and was assured this was a good price since the ride alone cost £300.

Now my questions.

A. Has anyone experienced this change between electrical to acoustic?
B. Does anyone have advice regarding the first time purchasing of hi hats and snares?

Before i go id like to say i have been lurking on this great site for a few years now and i have learnt a lot from everyone here and for that i want to say a big thank you.
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I have an Alesis DM10 Electric kit. For a few months my acoustic kit was an hour away and I spent all my practicing time on the electric at home. I got the Alesis because I thought it would be as close to real drums as possible....wrong..There is an extreme increase in bounce on the electric kit especially with the bass drum. It required little effort to get higher speeds and when I got to my acoustic kit what I thought I had developed I had to do all over again. I have found that when I do practice on my electric kit it is never more than two days in a row and then I return to my acoustic kit. There is no real way to avoid the difference but I tend to practice any speed and control exercises solely on my acoustic and use my electric more for learning parts to songs or writing to songs and not for technicality and skill improvement. It completely gave me a false sense of accomplishment on double bass, unless I am using full leg motion while playing it I avoid forming bad habits by using the electric kit too much. I hope this helps.
 
Well I grew up playing acoustic drums. When I was in my twenties I purchased a Roland TD7 because I was living in a condo at the time and had my acoustics in storage. I then played only electronic drums for the next 20 years, mostly at church venues. Just recently I purchased my mid life dream kit, and have been readjusting to the acoustics.

Electronic drums give you a false sense of being better then you really are. It is much harder to get bad sounds from an electronic kit then it is from an acoustic. It is also a very controlled environment sound wise. The sound is clean and just the right volume. Dynamically they are much less sensitive to the wide pallet of sounds that an individual sample can produce. Plus your drums are never out of tune, so you don't have to worry about that.

I loved the electronics in church because I did not have to hide in a room, or sit behind a plastic wall. The sound was very easy to control. I could play my little heart out and not worry about blowing people off of the stage.

Just yesterday I was listening to some of the worship practices that I recorded. I used to think my TD20 sounded pretty good. Not any more. They pale in comparison to my Saturn's.

You also get extra rebound from an electronic kit, that you wont get from an acoustic. This makes you feel like you are much better at rolls and rudiments than you really are.

They are a great practice tool, but should not be used exclusively. You need to keep up on the acoustic as well to be a true drum kit player.
 
Cheers hvymtlmike and sticks4drums.

Feels like i have a new mountain to climb. Each drum has its own feel and range to be explored, i'm looking forward to this. No more pretending to be mike portnoy on the electrical for me!!

Could you guys tell me what snares and hi hats you play and why? i know i'm cheeky but any advice would be massively appreciated.
 
Well myself I use a Bronze Mapex, or Sonor snare because I love the sound. It is a perfect middle ground between wood and steel for sound. I use Sabian Paragon hats because I love the sound my favorite drummer gets from his, so I thought I would follow suit, and glad I did. They sound just like the very old Zildjian hats I had as a kid.
 
I use the Pearl Export Wood Snare that came with my kit I just put new remo heads on it. Has a good pop to it. For my hi-hats I bought Zildjian A Custom 14" Hats. They're crisp clean and bright. To be honest though don't take any opinions to heart. Head into a Guitar Center or music store nearby and try some out.
 
Just remember to wear hearing protection on your acoustics. They are much louder then the electronics. I run my drums through mics and a board so that I can wear headphones for protection and great sound. Like having electronics, but better sound and feel. :)
 
hvymtlmike said:
To be honest though don't take any opinions to heart. Head into a Guitar Center or music store nearby and try some out.
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There is the best piece of advice on getting what you want. Listen with your own ears, not ours.
 
sticks4drums said:
Just remember to wear hearing protection on your acoustics. They are much louder then the electronics. I run my drums through mics and a board so that I can wear headphones for protection and great sound. Like having electronics, but better sound and feel. :)
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Agreed! Even if you don't have mics wear isolation headphones or something similar and you will still be able to hear the drum sound the way you should.
 
thanks you two. i have £600 to spend so i'll check out my local store, although last time i was in there i wasn't treated so great. The drummer in there has a holier than thou attitude, really put me off asking questions. Do you guys think £600 will cover a snare and hi hat, the band i play with mix funk, metal and jazz. I know its a bit crazy. So maybe i should concentrate my search on versatility?
 
Regarding ear protection.
After i was in the practice room for the first time my ears were destroyed the next day. My bassist gave me his ear defenders he uses for work. They really block out sound, i definitely be using protection.
 
evraisgod said:
thanks you two. i have £600 to spend so i'll check out my local store, although last time i was in there i wasn't treated so great. The drummer in there has a holier than thou attitude, really put me off asking questions. Do you guys think £600 will cover a snare and hi hat, the band i play with mix funk, metal and jazz. I know its a bit crazy. So maybe i should concentrate my search on versatility?
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You can pull it off with that. I'm definately used to shopping on a budget. If you can find a decent solid snare you wilkl be good, don't need the most expensive one jsut the sound you think you want to use. Plus on a snare you can change heads and tune to your liking. Hi-hats on the other hand the sound you walk out with is what you get so make sure you like it but yes you can do it. And ignore those who choose to act that way they will have no effect on your life or your drumming. ;) good luck
 
Well I am a Sabian guy so I will recommend you look at their AAX Stage hats. Perfect hats for everything. The AAX Stage crashes are also a very versatile crash. As far as a snare goes, you need to decide what kind of material you want in a snare. Then you have a sea of choices. For price I would look at some Mapex snares. Well built, great sound, good prices.
 
You guys have been awesome! Thanks for answering my noob questions. I think there is just enough time for a bit of practice pad before bed. Good night guys.
 
Practice, practice, practice. Time is fleeting. Make good use of it. :)
 
Back to the e-kit to a-kit issues, I bought a high end e-kit recently so I can practice whenever I want. The thing is awesome to play and also have my band reherse at my house where we all plug into a JamHub to get virtually silent rehersals.(we all were headphones.) I have been able to improve my skills which have reflected on the a-kit. You will always sound a better drummer on a e-kit though due to the response of the heads, also some e-kits are better than others in this regard. It is important to keep up the a-kit playing as well so as not to get a false belief of your real skills, unless of course you have no intention of playing a-kits.
 
Sticks4drums speaks the truth.

The other thing is playing with other people is a world apart from playing along to records and so your shortcomings may be more to this than you may have attributed.

Cheers
Davo
 
Hey late bloomer. I have a jam hub too! These are great for silent band practice. I wish i had a fancier e-kit but i'm kinda glad i didnt since money is tight and i wouldn't gig without an acoustic anyways. This played a big decision in buying the cheaper e-kit. Oh man so much money for drums, why didn't i pick the ocarina!!!

Hello davo-london. I hear ya but this wasn't the case for me. For as much as i have had the time of my life blasting along to dream theater i have had just as much practice (and fun) with the whole band as a group. I'm very comfortable in this situation. The funny thing about the change in kits was i had to keep my playing very basic, this actually lead to a better performance on my part. Whilst keeping things simple it was easier to sit back and give a lot more thought to what was going on instead of which sick ass fill i was gona rip out next.

Now i only need to buy a snare and hi hats and then find i place to play acoustic, im psyched!

Thanks again for the input drummers.
 
Yep similar experience here, except not as profound as I was going between electric and acoustic fairly often. I was surprised as it was a top of the range electric kit with mesh heads. I sold it eventually and sound-proofed a room instead and stuck my acoustic in it, and never looked back.
 
Good evening Mark_S. Thats an excellent idea in sound proofing! I might look into this. If you dont mind me asking, how much did it cost? I know this will vary on the room size. Somebody once told me egg boxes work but i have a hard time believing this, plus i'm allergic to eggs!
 
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