Love the way he discounts bearing edge difference, then right at the end of the video, tells us that a particular snare is more crisp because he put the resonant side bearing edge he favoured on that drum.
Anyhow, he's correct and incorrect in equal measure. Heads, tuning, stick choice, playing style, room, all have a potentially greater affect on the resulting sound compared to any physical attribute outside of size, but yet again, here's someone trying to ascertain contribution value of one or two features in isolation, whereas the character of a drum (or lack of) is a combination of many factors, and the best instruments augment those features towards a defined goal.
As he built all the examples here, I wonder if he ever questioned if he has a knack of building consistently generic sounding drums?
Andy, I believe at one point he does say he likes the "feel" a 45 degree bearing edge gives him. I assume he's talking about rebound, springy-ness. And you have to remember, this is a continuation of TWELVE videos. He does nearly an hour in one single video, mostly about bearing edges.
Play a roll on the edge and tell me they all sound the same.
I don't really agree.
Other reasons for having several snares is the they'll be set up for specific things and those various setups may display the differences more.
He's shown exactly what you've described on other videos. Depending on where you hit a drum, the sound can certainly change. He tries to take out certain variables. He's mentioned that if you put 2 different drummers on a single kit, a rock drummer and a jazz drummer--that most-likely that one kit will sound different depending on the drummer.
He's being very objective, or at least trying to. He tuned the drums the same, hits them the same, etc. . . .
And remember, this is about what he calls ultra-hype. It starts out as discussion on how people are paying out boatloads of money for certain kits because they buy into the hype. He just wants to show, and basically proves through a ton of work and hours and hours of videos, that basically and objectively, that all drums sound the same.
Yes, I only posted his first video. But the title does say part 12. There's more than just this 39 mins.
I like the idea of multiple snares. I don't agree with everything.
He also mentions wood densities, and types. A direct quote, "Basswood does not sound like Bubinga". He's not saying that there aren't some variations that can occur. This is also from a different vid.
He mentions that some drums are cheap, some are not. And agrees he wouldn't buy nor play, a $15 4-lug drum. But that's in a different video.
Pete, you said your most expensive snares are your best sounding. . .REF I guess, would say prove it. Put the identical heads on your pricey vs less expensive snares. Tune them as closely as possible, LET OTHERS HEAR, and decide if there's a
truly discernable difference. You paid for the pricey snares, would you even admit to one sounding worse than one of the cheaper ones, if it did? I would hate that.
I absolutely WANT to believe that if I buy a high end drum, it will sound btr than everything else I own. I just built a snare. It's the best sounding snare I've ever heard! Bias is powerful.
To the person that said they haven't owned a kit over $750 etc. . . .I fall into a similar category. I just can't bring myself to spend TOO much, in the first place. I feel good about my tuning ability, I buy good drum heads, etc.
I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. What each person does is his/hers. Has no effect on me.