I usually have to watch at least three different demos before I start to believe I have a real idea how the drum sounds. So many factors in the video-making process affect the sound—tuning, miking, damping gels, the room, external processing, etc.
I watched one the other day where the demo guy was raving about how amazing the drum sounded right out of the box, without even tuning it; oh but he put a snare weight on it, and added some eq and reverb… no big deal… right? Ugh I wanted to slap him.
On the flip side there are some bigger shops who do three different tunings, with and without damping, and three different mic setups: up close, overhead, and whole kit. Those shops are freakin heroes and I truly hope they get a good return on their efforts.
I also have a particular axe to grind with demo guys who just recite the most basic and incurious specs and marketing lines as though that was helpful or insightful in any way. Some of these dudes have zero idea how anything works, so they say the most embarrassingly ignorant stuff, with a big smile like they are Presenter of the Year, when clearly they are just on the clock “making content” for their store’s channel.