Home made percussion

I enjoyed this cute video of an African boy making do with whatever he could get

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si5y7_VP2CM

Some of those drums sound pretty good. Have you made any percussives at home? (other than shakers)

How did they sound?

PS. Found another one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG0nya1NlQ4

I made a set of chime. Was looking for the thread with no luck. Made of aluminum rods and oak. I'll keep looking.

I've kind of stolen a bunch of my mothers meditative drums from time to time, she is pretty new age/bit of a hippy.

These items have included, a Tibetan singing bowl, a home made Bodhran and some kind of strange Vietnamese drum made out of dark wood with tight animal skin heads on both sides.

I make my own marimba mallets, I've made a slapstick, and I've almost finished making some wind chimes (can't find the right ties...).

Here is the link. enjoy.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28640

I recently started experimenting with home made percussion sounds to make practice at home more productive. I live in an apartment building so I have to respect my neighbours which is why I focus mostly on quiet alternatives.

The first thing I did was Jerry-rigging one of my pads so that it now has a kind of pipe band snare drum effect. I did this by placing bb gun bullets in a small metal lid which I attached to the pad by wrapping a thick rubber band around both the pad and the lid.

I also taped an egg shaker to a wrist band which serves as a great alternative for a hi-hat pedal sound when wrapped around the left foot. For bass drum sound I simply tap my right foot on the floor. The key is to record the feet by placing the mic (I use a cheap head-set mic) on the floor close to the feet.

Brushes sound great on any cardboard surface, my favorite being a pizza box. For the sound clip below I used an A4 paper sheet, which is also fine.

Then of course you can use pencils etc to make clave-like sounds.

As for recording, I use a program called Audacity. It is easily available on the internet and free.

I think that I am onto something here. Since starting these experiments I've really enjoyed practicing at home a lot more than before. Until recently I've done a lot of pad work at home, focusing mainly on pipe band snare drum scores, and I've felt a strong need to do something creative and new in order to make home practice more complete. I will definitely be experimenting with more ideas and maybe record some pad battles between my numerous alter egos

Here is a sound sample of my first recorded experiment:

http://www.mikseri.net/artists/runpusalaa/home-made-percussion-experiment-1/456173/

GD, the chimes look great. How do they sound?

Beethro, I like the sound of the clip. Well done! Have you used that setup playing with others?

They sound excellent if I do say so myself, and I think I just did.

Pollyanna, so far I haven't used the setup with other players.The brushes and pizza box combo would probably be applicapble in some acoustic settings though, as well as the snare sound pad.