By Keith Augeri
The advent of affordable home studio recording gear has given many guitar players (particularly those with enough room or space) the option to contemplate having their own “house drum set”. There are many obvious advantages to owning a “house drum set”. Although there are many ways to obtain drum sounds, I’ve found that a good sounding kit can be a great addition to any practice space.
O.k. so which drums to buy? Tackle a few other issues first and you’ll have a better chance of making a truly “sound” investment.
The first question is what style of music you will be playing? Although most styles of music can be performed on any kit, certain drums may be more appropriate to certain musical genres. If you think about what you generally track when recording drum parts the snare drum, bass drum, and hi-hat are the most important sounds; ride, toms, and crash sounds are usually secondary.
I have been asked in the past to help select drums to outfit a rehearsal or recording studio and here is my general observation: I have found that a smaller set of higher quality “tubs” and cymbals is more advantageous than say, that octa-plus set that your uncle has had kicking around in his garage for the past several decades and has offered to donate to you.
A five-piece kit is probably the most drums that you will need but if it’s a question of a really high quality 4-piece or a mediocre 5-piece, go with the smaller kit. An ideal set-up would consist of a 20” or 22” bass drum, a 10” or 12” rack tom(s) and a 14” or 16” floor tom; with a 5 x 14 snare.
The budget will always be an issue, especially if the instrument is one which the buyer (a non-drummer) may not even play. Budget priced kits usually have (if the kit is a 5-piece) tom-toms in the following dimensions: 12, 13 and 16 inches, which has always mystified me. The two “rack tom” dimensions offered are only one inch apart, which really limits the tuning or interval possibilities. This is not what you want (I won’t get into the proper tuning of drums here, as this is beyond the scope of this article).
If the style of music is not be-bop or straight ahead jazz, then that 18” bass drum probably won’t work out. That said you don’t need over-sized drums to get a big drum sound. I own a 20” bass drum which has worked out in virtually any situation I’ve been called for (the only exception being light jazz gigs, and for that I’ve made a bass drum out of a 16” floor tom). If the drummer in your band is more comfortable with a 22” or 24” bass drum, then you should consider that in your purchase (22” bass drums are generally the standard dimension).
Snare drums that I’ve found to be most versatile are in the 5” – 6” (depth) range, and I recommend a 14” diameter. I’ve found that this dimension is better suited to obtaining good rim-click sounds, and that you can vary the sounds that this size drum can get with the choice of heads (another topic that that deserves more space than we have right now). The piccolo and specialty snare drums can end up sounding pretty one-dimensional.
The tom sizes I prefer are 10,12,14 and 16 inches. In most cases a 14” floor tom can sound as fat as you need it to be, with the proper tuning and head combination. The 2 inch interval in diameter size seems to allow for each of the drums to be tuned to its’ optimum spot, while having a distinct voice and separation.
I’m partial to the warmth of maple drums; birch drums tend to have a brighter sound (great for snare drums). The sharpness or flatness of the bevel edge (where the drum head makes contact with the shell) greatly affects the tone that any drum will get. To give a example that most of us can relate to; Ringo’s sound was vintage Ludwig drums, with a rather blunt (opposed to sharp) bevel edge cut resulting in a less resonant, rounder sound. In contrast, Jimi Hendrix’s Mitch Mitchell used Gretsch drums with thinner shells and a more precise bevel edge cut resulting in a more resonant and ringing tonality.
At this point a word about the types of heads may be useful: I’m really fond of Evans’ double-ply models for all my toms. I have always favored a coated Remo Ambassador for my snare; it just seems to always work for me. Bass drum heads with built-in muffling are all the rage at the moment, and I’ve found them to really work well.
Any discussion of a drum set purchase must at least include some mention about cymbals. There are now several options with respect to cymbals; my experience has only been with Zildjian or Paiste. A good set of hi-hats, one ride cymbal, and one crash cymbal is a good starting point. I’d recommend 14” hi-hats – again a standard size, with a 16” crash, and a 20” ride.
If you currently have any drummers that can vet the drum set you’ve found, or will assist in the acquisition enlist them, but if you can articulate what you are looking for you should have no problem finding the right set for your purposes. There are a host of variables to consider, and it can be overwhelming to try to keep up with all the new products; hopefully this column hasn’t added to the confusion.
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