Review: New Online Drum Lesson Course

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I am writing this thread because I have seen numerous threads over recent months with people asking 'what is the best kit to buy'...

I hope this clears some stuff up.

There is no such thing as a best kit to buy. Let me assure you, whatever kit YOU like the best is the 'best' kit to buy, that is it. There is no real point in asking others on the best kit to buy because everyone has their own preferences.


That said, if you have no clue about what drum kits COULD be the best to buy, here are some well known, respected drum brands you should look at:

Pearl
Tama
Mapex
Yamaha
Gretsch
Premier
DW


all good drum makers, most have decent mid level kits, all have good pro level kits.

hope that helps.

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mods should make this a sticky in permanent bold letters

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i used to think rep was stupid, but the more rep i get the more i want it.

i reckon an admin should sticky a thread similar to this but with better wording, and more information.

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I read the fist post and thought sticky this. Why don't we let this thread be something to organize our thoughts including drums, cymbals, heads, hardware, accessories for any drummer looking for something to buy. Once we have all the necessary data we can put it in a new post and have it stickied.

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Dave

My Wishlist:
Aquarian Superkick BD head
SALUDA CYMBALS
Some new boom stands for those Saludas
New tom batter & reso heads
Shure SM57

My thoughts were to make a uber post that included all the basics and sticky then lock it. No discussion to muddy the waters. Once a newb reads the sticky, then ask away in the boards for discussion. I thought about tackling this awhile back but there wasn't much interest from the admins. I'd be happy to knock this out one day at work if you guys want me to. I've seen similar threads on other boards so I have a good idea as to what it should look like.

No offense James but if it's to be stickied there should be about 5-10 times as much info in the OP. + rep for you for the effort.

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I got three kits. Maple, birch, and ash. Shell material don't matter that much.

I think you should just post it here then have everyone else see if they like it, but we most likely will. We all know you don't have a job and just post on here for a living

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Dave

My Wishlist:
Aquarian Superkick BD head
SALUDA CYMBALS
Some new boom stands for those Saludas
New tom batter & reso heads
Shure SM57

something the would be good... james, john... you guys could jump on this....

differences in common wood types, plys, reinforment rings,:
Birch
Mahogany
Maple
and then discuss metal shells... bell brass, brass, aluminum, steel, etc.

features on hardware that are nice to have( e.g. knurled arms, toothless tom adjustment)
strap versus chain drive versus direct drive versus gibralters funky new one.

cymbal alloys from the various companies (meinl, zildjian, sabian, paiste, etc)

applications for the different head types

and notable drumsticks. example being the vic firth 7a woodtip really makes ride cymbals and hi hats sing. if you want a stick that is bigger but doesn't sacrifice the definition and tonality of your cymbals the vic firth peter erskine 'the ride' stick is a really good choice.

point out that most of your custom drum companies that operate out of peoples garages use keller shells.

take time do the research, ask the notable members(there are many) for there take on what they use. hijack the pearl forums and other various message boards with your inquiries

if you use information directly from a manufacturer please make note that it came from their site.

the potential thread to emerge from this would be astounding.

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Obsessed with the wisdom that the break beats posses.
-dirt

im willing to do an entire write up if someone stickies it. just give me the word and i will make an uber post.

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-chaz

pull me under, im not afraid

living on your knees, confority...
...or dying on your feet for honesty?
myspace.com/anavriniv

yea, all that would be good, along of a list of what is the same thing under a different name (like paste signature full crashes and aaxplosion crashed, vater Manhattan 7A and vic firth 8dn, and evans g1 and remo ambassador

and the best way to sort it would be most basic to most intimate under the following categories: drums, cymbals, hardware, comparisons, and misc, all a different post in 1 thread, with links to each of the categories from the first post (the first post is like a table of contents)

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I play drums on a drum set!

Official Thread-Jacker

yeah adding all that stuff in would be great, and the links to other sections is a good idea as well.

keyser seems to have more free time on his hands, and more knowledge about drums than i do so i vote he write it up, or maybe him and anavrin could pm each other and work on it collaboratively.

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maybe it could be a joint writing operation in this thread, and then someone posts it all into one thread.

__________________
I play drums on a drum set!

Official Thread-Jacker

well whoever can be bothered should write up a full one now, and we can all chop and change it until we're happy with a final then post that in a new thread.

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We can also appoint writing jobs for people. Let's say 1 person writes about cymbals, one person writes about drums, one person writes about heads and tuning, one on hardware, one on accessories like sticks and thrones, and it goes on.

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Dave

My Wishlist:
Aquarian Superkick BD head
SALUDA CYMBALS
Some new boom stands for those Saludas
New tom batter & reso heads
Shure SM57

I'll take one of the topics. I can be verbose when I need to be. Since someone already volunteered for cymbals, I'll take the drums and shell materials.

To clarify that last post, it will focus on the woods and metals, not the manufacturer and drum sizes. I plan to cover maple, birch, beech, oak, brass, bronze, acrylic, bubinga as well as ply vs stave.

Someone should do one on the different approaches the manufacturers have and the pros and cons of each.

i dont see where anyone took cymbals, so im going to claim it.

its cool that this is going to come together...ive been thinking that there needs to be something like this for a year or so, but i never got around to doing it or mentioning the idea. ill try to have my piece done within the next week or so. ill do a rundown of different alloys, cymbal making techniques finishing, how bells affect a cymbal, an application guide, and proper cymbal playing technique and care. basically, if it has to do with cymbals, ill cover it.

__________________
-chaz

pull me under, im not afraid

living on your knees, confority...
...or dying on your feet for honesty?
myspace.com/anavriniv

good job taking off with this... keep going!!!

__________________
Obsessed with the wisdom that the break beats posses.
-dirt

Many drummers often ask each other "what wood should I have in my drumset?" Over time, and due to market availability, the question seems to have been narrowed down to "should I go with maple or birch?" While these are the most popular woods, and for good reason, they are not the only choices available and in some musical instances may not be the best choice. I spend a good bit of time in music retailers and whenever I encounter someone who is informed I spend some time picking their brains. They encounter many musicians who play very different styles. The inputs that I have gathered from them over the years is used a great deal in the information I share with you here. Below is a delineation of the woods that are available from the major manufacturers and a description of the sound qualities of each.


We'll start with by far the most popular, maple. Maple is a very visually appealing wood that is the most commonly used in high end drumsets from the major manufacturing companies. It is well known for its sustain and natural enhancement of the lower end range of frequencies. Due to this it is ofter characterized as bassy and warm. This wood will adapt well to many different sonic applications and while it can achieve many different things with the right hoop and head combinations there are some sounds that a drummer will find difficult to achieve. Maple is used across many disciplines of music.


Birch has seen a surge in its popularity in the last decade. As detuned guitars became more popular, the overall bassiness of the soundscape of a musical combo increased substantially. When this happens, the natural low end of maple drums began to be swallowed by 7 string guitars tuned to C# or lower. Birch became a solution to the problem due to the greater prevalence of highs native to the wood. With the increased treble response, drummers could find a comfortable pocket in the sounds of their bands that were abandoned when the standard 440 tuning (EADGBe) was set aside. Birch drums naturally have a faster decay due to the muting of mid range frequencies and the accentuation of higher pitches enhances the projective qualities of the drum kit. Yamaha offers a line of birch drums that also include mahogany in the hybrid shell to help out in this regard. Birch has probably gained the most acclaim in the Hard and Heavy Rock circles exactly for these purposes.



With that said about the "Big 2", we would be remiss if we did not cover some of the more specialized woods as they may be more in line with what the drummer is looking for when reinvesting in his/her instrument. I will cover as many as I can recall, however with new concepts advancing constantly in modern drumming this may require some supplementation.


While not prevalent in many styles of today's music, Oak is becoming a more popular wood for jazz and country styles. With the natural low end of maple not really working for them, drummers of these styles find birch to be a bit of an overcompensation. Oak offers even more brightness than birch does without an overwhelming attack that just doesn't suit the approach that they are trying to take.


I'll go ahead and admit that before I did a little research, all I really knew about Beech is that it's used in firewood and beer manufacturing. According to Paul Bothner Music, Beech has a more focused tone that mimics the projection characteristics of maple. This wood is used in pop and RnB circles, predominantly, and is only known to be in major production by Yamaha. Evidently though, they have sold enough of them to still be in production as Yamaha's site notes.


Bubinga, or African Rosewood as it is also known, has become more popular in recent years. Famously, Danny Carey of the band Tool, commissioned Sonor to build a set of drums in specific sizes for him to use. For one reason or another, they were never put into mass production. It wasn't until Tama debuted the Starclassic Bubinga line that these drums were made available to the general public. This wood seems to cause some difficulty in pointing to the exact sound qualities inherent to it. For my ears, there are some characteristics of the wood that hybridizes maple and birch. There is a dark bassy tone when played at one dynamic and a punchier sound with more attack when played at another. From my ears, this wood seems to be the most sensitive to playing styles and head/hoop choices. A bit of a chameleon wood if you will.


Now that most of the woods have been touched on, let's give a little space for some of the other materials that are being used in drum production these days.


The clear plastic like substance made famous by John Bonham. Acrylic is clear by default and will often be found tinted into various colors. Acrylic is still available retail from Ludwig, Sonor, ddrum as well as a few others. The sound of acrylic is distinct and even without micing seems to contain a natural "noisegate" or compressed property. For my ears, the material accentuates the mid-range of frequencies moreso than any of the woods used in drum making. While capable of many things, acrylic has been criticized for missing that "certain something" when a stick or kick beater is "buried" into the head.


Most often used in the construction of snare drums, these metals have different flavors than the woods do. They are very sensitive to tuning approaches, often do not have snare beds, and can respond rebelliously to the wrong head/hoop combination. Brass and bronze are both copper alloys with the principle difference being the primary additive. Brass contains zinc, bronze contains tin. The major difference between brass/bronze and steel seems to be that steel has a higher degree of "ping" inherent in the sound. Bell Brass is a name for a grade of brass or the balance of metals comprising the alloys. It is typically way more expensive but its proponants state that it is necessary for the sound achieved. There is something to keep in mind with metal drums. Die cast hoops are almost essential due to their naturally dampening properties. A tri-flanged hoop does not do enough to control overtones and you may find yourself having to overmute the drum to get the overtones under control.




This post is not meant to be the "be all end all" on shell materials. Remember at the end of the day that music is almost completely subjective and there numerous other factors that have to be given weight when considering all of that mentioned above. Non standard tom sizes will cause variations, as will the use of coated heads, a heavier stick, resonant tom thickness and so on and so forth. The points made above are only mentioned as a starting point for your evaluations. You may find that a coated emperor under a die cast hoop on a maple drum gives you as much attack as you want. There are literally a million different combinations of things available. Remember to thoroughly evaluate several options before making any major kind of kit purchase. Only then will you really find something that you like, and that is what keeps you playing.

That's great start for drum shells. Also a few more woods should be researched including Ash, Poplar, Basswood, Cherry, and Walnut.

Also some things needed to be discussed for drum shells are bearing edges, thickness of shells, and depths/widths.

If James never created this post, nonne of this would be started. +rep for that i say!

__________________
Dave

My Wishlist:
Aquarian Superkick BD head
SALUDA CYMBALS
Some new boom stands for those Saludas
New tom batter & reso heads
Shure SM57

Double Braced vs Single Braced

The legs of you stands come in 2 main forms, double and single braced. Double is more heavy duty, and more costy. Single is more economic, however it is not as stable, and prone to movement, especially bad if you have a lot of multi clamps on the stand.

Omni-spheres/Opti mount/ball mounts vs Ratchet mounts

In Pearl style mounts there are 2 major choices in the tom arm, omni ball or ratchets. The ratchet will hold more securely, but it will not reach every angle. the Omni ball will reach every angle, but it is more prone to movement, and can easily slip if you push hard on the drum. In post mounting, as used by DW, TAMA, and other companies, the only choice is an omni-sphere mount.

The same is true for cymbal tilters, as the new design by TAMA allows infinite angles, while the old design with a ratchet inside only allowed angles in specified increments.

Memory Locks

Memory locks can be useful, and pointless. They are great on tom mounts, and the post that goes into the bass drum, because those are prone to slipping (in my experience) however memory locks at every joint can create havoc because in order to fully use them and collapse the stand, you must disassemble the stand, and with more than 1 stand, the tubes are easily mixed up, forcing you to use a separate bag for each stand, which takes up a lot of space.

Tube Diameters

The larger diameter tubes are more stable, but heavier, and cost more. thinner tubes are less stable, but cheaper and lighter weight.

Knurled or not?

Non knurled parts (except for the tubes that go into the base) rely on the use of memory locks to prevent slipping. They don't grip on the part that they are suppose to, and can slip easily. Knurled parts grip better, and are less prone to movement.





^feel free to add to it and edit it^

__________________
I play drums on a drum set!

Official Thread-Jacker