What is your drum setup pet peeve?

I really don't get bothered by what other people do. I may not like their music but if they're playing out and they're good then they can set their drums up however they want.

That out of the way, there is some hipster band with a bunch if chubby bearded white dudes in plad, I don't care what their name is, the drummer plays a pretty standard stripped down setup. He had a single crash way above his head and some silly reason for having it there. I don't know why but this bothers me more than anything should. I don't know him but I don't like him, his crappy band and everything that he is.
 
Red Menace said:
I really don't get bothered by what other people do. I may not like their music but if they're playing out and they're good then they can set their drums up however they want.

That out of the way, there is some hipster band with a bunch if chubby bearded white dudes in plad, I don't care what their name is, the drummer plays a pretty standard stripped down setup. He had a single crash way above his head and some silly reason for having it there. I don't know why but this bothers me more than anything should. I don't know him but I don't like him, his crappy band and everything that he is.
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I was digging the positivity but that last part made me laugh.
 
MikeM said:
I always cringe when I see a rack tom in a basket low and to the side of the kick with about 3 feet between it and the floor tom. Add a ride cymbal right between them and I'm just standing there scratching my head.

I guess it's cool for the dude set up that way, but I could never get comfortable on a kit with toms separated that much. Don't really see the point not being able to move between them.
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In a stand or on a kick drum arm that tom is going to be separated more than a two rack tom/5 piece kit. What you're talking about almost sounds like any 4 piece setup out there, or are you thinking of something more extreme?
 
I dislike the scenario when a kit looks exactly right, but the snare is ~1" too high, or the throne is ~1" too low, resulting in rim clicks on the snare for a quarter of the first song before I learn to compensate.
 
I have tom angle anxiety.
I hate my own deep power toms mounted to my 22 inch bass drum on my gigging kit. I can't get my toms low enough and close enough together for my taste.

(Bless my new Yamaha Live Customs with the shallow toms.)

.
 
In terms of visuals, I can't stand those drum racks that some drummers use: they look like a fence was built around the drums, and usually holds way more than the drummer would ever use.

As far as playing, cymbal height and snare angle always get me. Some drummers have their cymbals so high you have to reach your arm up to play. Also, flat snares drums or drums tilted towards the throne are awkward and uncomfortable to play.
 
T.Underhill said:
In a stand or on a kick drum arm that tom is going to be separated more than a two rack tom/5 piece kit. What you're talking about almost sounds like any 4 piece setup out there, or are you thinking of something more extreme?
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I play a one up two down set up, so it's not that I mind some separation. It's the extreme cases where I can't visualize smoothly transitioning between toms. Seems to be for looks or something not playing related.
 
I mainly play in a 17 pc big band. All the other players simply pop off the mouth piece and through it in a case and are gone. I spend a good half hour packing stuff away. Same with the set up. I have to arrive an hour before the start or I won't have a place to set up. Well, they said life wasn't always fare.
 
keep it simple said:
Agreed. For some reason I can't work out, the standard 5 piece configuration just doesn't feel right to me. Positionally, I find almost all double tom bracket bass drum mounts to be restrictive in terms of positioning, so that probably doesn't help.

On the other side of the fence, pet peeve is drummers who haven't got a clue how to tune their instrument, or any appreciation of appropriate tuning for the situation. Disappointingly, that's 90%+ of drummers out there in my experience :(
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You need to check out Taye's SlideTrack mounting system. The SlideTrack with ball in socket Tom mounts is extremely adjustable....love it!
I'll be in the minority, but I don't like standard 4 piece set-ups (1 up, 1 down) or a 5 piece with 1 up and 2 down. I grew up playing the 2 rack toms above the bass drum, and I still like that best.
 
Super Phil said:
You need to check out Taye's SlideTrack mounting system. The SlideTrack with ball in socket Tom mounts is extremely adjustable....love it!
I'll be in the minority, but I don't like standard 4 piece set-ups (1 up, 1 down) or a 5 piece with 1 up and 2 down. I grew up playing the 2 rack toms above the bass drum, and I still like that best.
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Interesting design on the TAYE slide track. What is the receiver holes capability 1", will it clamp a 7/8" tube?


I have DW SLIDE TRACKS on different brands of BD's. The DW's are quite adjustable, tho quite heavy, which seems to only effect the hardware bag tho.

I prefer two toms on the BD, and understand the tough accessibility factor to the second tom, a slide track can make it more comfortable. Its so much easier setting up two toms on a BD as opposed to setting them up on two separate stands. All rental kits with BD mounted toms should have slide tracks IMO.
 

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Angled snare drums. Those drive me crazy. Unless you play traditional grip, then your snare should not be angled *grumble*
 
Not a peeve, but massive sized kits are boring.

To look at, listen to, and play. Even to think about.

I'm bored typing about them.
 
Red Menace said:
That out of the way, there is some hipster band with a bunch if chubby bearded white dudes in plad, I don't care what their name is, the drummer plays a pretty standard stripped down setup. He had a single crash way above his head and some silly reason for having it there. I don't know why but this bothers me more than anything should. I don't know him but I don't like him, his crappy band and everything that he is.
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I'm almost certain you're thinking of Battles. The supposed reason he puts his crash so high is to discourage himself from using it too much:

I didn’t want any cymbals but the hi-hats at first. Then I was like, “Okay, I’ll use one,” but I didn’t want it near me because I’d use it too much. So I set it high so I’d have to work to get to it. I wanted it to be significant; I use it as a marker. It’s like a master reset button when I go to the cymbal. Plus, it looks cool.
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http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2011/09/john-stanier-of-battles/#.VVRqqiFVhBc
 
My pet peeves originate with popular trends, which are often sparked by some famous drummer's opinion - right or wrong. For example, JoJo Meyer (sp?) recently remarked that single braced, straight cymbal stands don't inhibit a cymbal's resonance as much as double braced boom stands. I'm certain that we'll see the impressionables taking this as gospel truth and then it will be off to the races. Recently I've noticed many drummers leaving the top felts and wingnuts off their cymbal stands. Who knows who started this one. Then there's the use of the floor tom as the only tom on the kit, and the return to flattened tom and cymbal angles (I actually like this one - it looks classy :). There are dozens more, of course, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with following popular trends so that we can look cool, too. I just hope it doesn't again become popular to leave the bottom heads and hoops off our toms. I'll have to bow out of that one.

GeeDeeEmm
 
Racks (although efficient) are just plain U-g-l-y.
But my biggest peeve is:

I hate seeing a band where the drummer is hiding behind a wall of toms and cymbals..


One of the most frustrating things ever was seeing an amazing jazz drummer.. and I couldn't see a thing he was doing because he had a wall of angled cymbals surrounding him.. FAIL! If the audience can't see you play , you might as well stay home and send a recording!

For that reason I keep my toms as low as possible; 2 toms to the side of my kick and 2 floors close in to my kick leg. The position /distance between the tenors and floor toms is identical to the old classic setup (1 up 1 down). Cymbals are at a comfortable height with slight angles that don't obscure the view.
 
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