Your votes please! Short or long sustain.

Andy

Andy

Honorary Member
I'm interested in finding out what percentage of drummers prefer short sustain, & what percentage prefer long sustain. I've often found that drummers who don't play live so much, prefer a shorter sustain, as it gets them closer to a recorded sound, whereas those who do play out live frequently, believe sustain adds body to the sound in the overall band mix, & that short sustain drums sound boxy in the same setting.

Here's two clips to help you. Both recorded, as far as I can make out, with handheld recorders of some description.

This Yamaha is mighty short http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv7clk0tg_w

My comparable quality Spauns are tuned for sustain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyWG-eCo2uc

These are only examples to help out. Please don't base your vote on these clips, but on your general take on your preference. Thanks, Andy.
 
I prefer the sound of your kit Andy - I'm not sure what it is about the Yamaha, but I didn't enjoy the sound of it. I usually love those kits.
 
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First off, you should really be ashamed for continuing to call yourself KIS on these boards after clips like this.

That said, there is no comparison.

I didnt hear them as long/short sustains, I heard them as the SPAUNs were singings, the OAKs werent. The have a great tone, btw , but the SPAUNs are somewhere else.

Why are we voting?

( I cant believe I going against a Yammie!!!! )

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aydee said:
First off, you should really be ashamed for continuing to call yourself KIS on these boards after clips like this.
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+1. "Simple" my far arse! I think KIF would be a good new name ... Keep It Flash :)

Terrific playing, Andy. That's the one flaw in this little experiment, better players make the drums sound better and the other guy wasn't in the race.

Is it possible for you to get a on a Yammie and be filmed playing it?

I had fairly short sustain when I was younger but opened up more as I got older. The danger with open toms, though, is making mud pies with the bassist. Been there done that. Had the local music paper describe one of my bands as having a "touch of dirge". Ouch!

As for snare ... I used to go to great pains to get rid of snare ring but a video of Walle's here totally turned my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVySx-yzrB4. For sheer enjoyment that open trashy sound he gets in that clip is right up there with Bruford and Bonzo for me.
 
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I prefer the sound of your kit, Andy. But the reason is not so much the sustain, although that's a desirable byproduct. That Yamaha kit didn't have the benefit of even tuning on the toms, judging from the clarity of the notes (or lack thereof). Having a drum out of tune with itself will certainly reduce sustain, but will also kill the pitch. It would be better to accomplish short sustain by using different heads but keep the tuning even. Uneven tuning just produces a thud.
 
Afetr watching both videos, I decided I wasb't going to base my decision on the videos. A friend of mine has a Tama kit that he's got muffled to hell, and I hate it. My kit, on the other hand, is completely open aside from a GMAD on the kick batter if that counts...

I like sustain, to me it sounds worlds better, especially when you're playing with other people.
 
I wouldn't call either of those kits a long sustain. Definitely prefer the tuning of the second kit, with that minor pitch bend to the upper toms and the lower toms tuned to their near-bottom notes. That formula to me means short sustain. A lot of my firends' kits are tuned like tympanis, they ring on forever, which I don't like. I see that sort of tuning as appropriate for jazz, but not rock n roll or pop.

So my vote is short sustain.
 
aydee said:
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First off, you should really be ashamed for continuing to call yourself KIS on these boards after clips like this.

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Noooooo, this is an older clip of me noodling. It just happened to capture the tom sounds nicely. C'mon guys, it's sloppy, it's allowed to be, we all noodle, right?

aydee said:
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I didnt hear them as long/short sustains, I heard them as the SPAUNs were singings, the OAKs werent. The have a great tone, btw , but the SPAUNs are somewhere else.

...
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Double nooooo, thanks, but these are just examples, it's not a kit sound competition, I just had the clips to hand.

aydee said:
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Why are we voting?
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I'm interested in the percentage bias. This just might help me make decisions re: my new kit design & it's commercial viability.

Pollyanna said:
+1. "Simple" my far arse!
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What's a far arse? Do you have a near arse too? Dammit, should have known you guys would get off topic at the first opportunity!

motleyh said:
I prefer the sound of your kit, Andy. But the reason is not so much the sustain, although that's a desirable byproduct. That Yamaha kit didn't have the benefit of even tuning on the toms, judging from the clarity of the notes (or lack thereof). Having a drum out of tune with itself will certainly reduce sustain, but will also kill the pitch. It would be better to accomplish short sustain by using different heads but keep the tuning even. Uneven tuning just produces a thud.
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1,000% agree. If this was a kit comparison, it wouldn't be fair, because one kit is tuned reasonably well, the other isn't.

Pkaneps said:
Afetr watching both videos, I decided I wasb't going to base my decision on the videos. .
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Superb! That's what I'm after.
 
Spreggy said:
I wouldn't call either of those kits a long sustain. Definitely prefer the tuning of the second kit, with that minor pitch bend to the upper toms and the lower toms tuned to their near-bottom notes. That formula to me means short sustain. A lot of my firends' kits are tuned like tympanis, they ring on forever, which I don't like. I see that sort of tuning as appropriate for jazz, but not rock n roll or pop.

So my vote is short sustain.
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Ah, now that's interesting. When you refer to your friend's kits being "tuned like timpanis", are they also tuned high? Open question, if you could have the same level of sustain as your friend's kits, but at a lower tuning according to your preference, would you like that option?
 
I don't know, I keep confusing myself. I don't think any drum really does long sustain, but I like SOME sustain, at least...I've never been keen on drum sounds that are all attack and not much else, they have no presence. But you wouldn't want your toms to keep ringing out over everything else, that would sound terrible, like a piano with the sustain pedal down all the time. It has to be musical sustain, there's no point in sustain for the sake of sustain.

However, weirdly I think I might go for a bit more sustain than either of these examples.
 
Haven't even watched the videos yet, and I know my answer - long!
 
keep it simple said:
Ah, now that's interesting. When you refer to your friend's kits being "tuned like timpanis", are they also tuned high? Open question, if you could have the same level of sustain as your friend's kits, but at a lower tuning according to your preference, would you like that option?
Click to expand...

I would say they are probably tuning them high.
I think you may really have three distinct levels to consider: the heavily muffled, the well-tuned but not overly ringy (your kit), and jazz tuning. I prefer the middle.
 
Without clicking on the links...

Lllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg

I wanna hit a tom and still hear sustain into the next bar!

I wonder if it has anything to do with being a teenager in the 80's and hearing all that reverb they used to put on drums at the time.
 
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