Do any of you play the drums, or am I the only one?

[bandit2013]

Love playing the guitar as I have always enjoyed acoustic or electric. As of 2 years (I think it has been that long) I started playing drums. I started with an electronic kit with the mesh heads just in case this was not going to pan out. I have come to reason that I have reached the limits of what I can add to the kit. Lots of fun and some good mild aerobic exercise. Not I have taken it much further and I am considering an acoustic drum kit. This got me wondering if there were other guitar or bass players that play other instruments, drums for instance. For as long as I could remember even as a child, I always wanted to play drums. I did try out my drummer's kit long ago but at that point I was only focused on guitar. Perhaps I have a screw loose or other interests but the Drum thing has returned and now I am really into it more than I ever thought I would be.

If you play other instruments that are far removed from the guitar or bass, what is it if you are willing to share.

 

[bandit2013]

I made the bold move and ordered an acoustic drum kit along with a decent set of symbols and hardware. I am surprise that the cost was less than the Roland TD-15KV. In the short run, overall cost will be less as I also had to get a set of powered speakers and sub for the e-drums. Even with the additional cost of a mic set for drums and a mixer to accommodate the additional channels for recording, I am still ahead of the electronic version in cost factor. I am working on a project but doubt the real deal will make it unless I can adapt to it quickly. Now where to set up the kit is another story as it may not fit in my makeshift studio. Time for change to a new location.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I've done more as a drummer than I've ever accomplished as a guitarist. Played in a highland band for years. I wouldn't call it a touring band, but we did travel and I've played in various parts of Canada and the northern US.

More recently, I've been playing bass in a band. With bass I think being able to play both drums and guitar is good because the bass is a blend of rhythm and melody.

 

[bandit2013]

I've done more as a drummer than I've ever accomplished as a guitarist. Played in a highland band for years. I wouldn't call it a touring band, but we did travel and I've played in various parts of Canada and the northern US.

More recently, I've been playing bass in a band. With bass I think being able to play both drums and guitar is good because the bass is a blend of rhythm and melody.

I would definitely agree on the Bass. It is a surprising instrument indeed. I have recorded something and after adding the bass, the recording came more alive. Also playing the bass helps with the stretch of the fingers. I think it has helped me become a better guitarist in some respects. Also I see the bass as part percussion depending on what you do with it. Drums on the other hand, really have grown on me. I would prefer playing the drums than using a drummer plug-in that many do with recording and DAW software. That takes the fun out of it. I will soon come to realize how the acoustic set will make me feel by Wednesday. For now have to move the office to the studio and the studio to the office as the small bedroom is too small for all my gear. I can use the change of structure of my home. Besides, it is difficult to cram two other people in the studio when they come over. Having more room will prevent heads from hitting each other as one does get a bit animated during our sessions.

 

[bandit2013]

I was going to post a picture of the drum set... photobucket will not let me log in to upload..... Oh well, so much for that...

 

[bandit2013]

Had to bypass the login process and use facebook instead. Definitely something wrong with photobucket. I managed to get around the popup and other crap that is attempting to invade my pc.

 

[bandit2013]

It took me a while to figure out how to tune the entire set so each drum blends well. Yesterday I decided to go back to the original batter heads for the toms. Have the kick and snare dialed in where I think they should be. The Clear pinstripe heads sound great but was wondering how the coated heads would sound since I learned a few tricks. Trick one, tune the 10 inch tom as close to the snare with the snare wires off. Then adjust the other toms to fit as well as compare the how they sound individually with the snare drum. What ever I did, the kit sounds incredible, so much that I could not stop playing. I forgot I was a guitar player for a while. A reminder to get the rest of my gear set up in the new studio (man cave). Figured out how I can practice, record a rhythm track using a TC Ditto and play it back through one of the amps and let it loop.

 

[bandit2013]

I had something captured on the TC ditto and ran it though the RA100 so I can practice the drums. Well, it appears my gear has to be rearranged as the RA100 was overpowering the drum set. Probably best not to have the drum kit at an angle relative to the amps. One thing I did notice was the added ambience to the room with the acoustic drum set in place. Who needs a reverb when the drum kit rings out when you play through the amp. That was an added bonus in some respects.

 

[bandit2013]

Waiting on some new heads. Also considering getting an additional tom (13 inch). I never thought the acoustic drum set would be so addicting. Now I know the truth behind it. More effort is required that was needed with the E-drums. I finally got around to setting up the Roland TD-15KV next to the Gretsch set and played that for a while. It was not as satisfying. Recording with the Roland is much easier than the other but seems to be missing natural tone that I get from the acoustic drum set. Also, having a bunch of resonant tubes in the room when you play through your amp seems to add ambience to the guitar sound (as long as you remember to throw off the snare wires). I do miss the band days in the 90's. Wonder what my old band mates are doing now, too bad I did not stay in contact with them after I left the band.

 

[bandit2013]

Everything is working to plan, have the 9x13 on order, replaced all of the drum heads with Evans Hydraulics along with the appropriate resonant heads. For a novice drummer I do not have the experience with using moon gel or do I want to bother with rings and such. I do appreciate what needs to be done to get all of the overtones from being over powering. Especially with a tin like sound on the snare due to tightness of the drum heads. Sure enough the Evans Hydraulic heads were more pleasing once I had them all installed. Heck, I do not even have to mute or muffle the bass drum. All of the toms, snare and kick drum sound awesome. Working on getting an Off-set double kick pedal. I do not mind on getting used to traditional drum pedals but would prefer a more centered set up with the snare. Now all I need is some good recording gear. (stupid thought of adding another bass drum to the kit is rolling though my mind, need to see if they have it and rule it out sooner than later... :roll: )

All of us guitarists may spend several hundred to several thousand dollars on one instrument not including amp and effects and such. One has to take a different look at what a drum set really is.....an array of different instruments. Cymbals can be inexpensive to very expensive. Individual drums also have a cost burden too. Once you add in all of the hardware you begin to see drums in a different light. Why I waited until I was 48 years old to start playing drums is beyond reasoning. If I had only known they were this much fun I would have picked them up earlier in life. The bass is quite similar to playing guitar yet different. Now after 4 years of getting involved with other instruments, life is good. Drumming can be very addictive, the bass is fun too but drums are it for me. Still will not stop playing guitar as I get a lot of enjoyment out of that too.

 

[bandit2013]

Yesterday I found a few boxes on my door step. One was a heavy boom mic stand for use as an overhead. Another box had a pro-co snake in it. and the Third box is where the money was at,,,, all the mics I need to record a full drum kit. What is missing, a multi-track mixer. I know, all mixers are multi-track but they mix everything to a sereo or mono set of outputs. What I am after is a bit different for future change in recording gear. At the moment I am using a TASCAM DP-32SD for recording but does not have enough inputs to capture the complete drum set. In essence, I do not mind mixing the 12 channels down to 2 to record on the Tascam. The twist is, if I use the USB port connected to a computer, I can send all of the input signals to a DAW as simultaneous but separate entities. I am looking forward to the mixer as I can use that to blend the mix of mics and other sources (load box, cab-clone) before sending to the TASCAM. That will reduce the number of tracks consumed for recording one guitar track from 4 channels down to 2. I can also use the Mixer for post processing if the lexicon effects are as good as they boast (almost like re-amping) the Tascam has a few busses that I can send to an FX loop, feed to the mixer to add the internal effects and send back to another set of inputs. I have done this with a Strymon Big Sky and DIG reverb already (they function at line level). Sure, getting a DAW, computer, and all the other gear to record an master with would be more powerful than the TASCAM recorder but for now I am going low cost method. I did look into multi-channel DI boxes or interface for DAW use, the mixer was less than half the cost of the cheapest one.

Still waiting on a 9x13 inch tom..... been 3 weeks now.... I am sure it will come soon, hopefully will be less than 10 weeks of waiting.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I eventually hit a point with recording gear where I realized it was going to cost a lot of money to get to where I wanted to be and hit the brakes before I got into it too deep.

It gives me a lot of respect for how much you're putting in this.

 

[bandit2013]

+1, I have also gained some respect to those that have undertaken such a task. That is one deep rabbit hole to fall into....

I have set a budget and figured out how I can keep within the bounds of what I need to get the job done. '

Soundcraft Signature 22 MTK is the mixer I am considering. I am still looking at others and comparing features, options and reviews. Have not decided when to pull the trigger on it yet.

 

[bandit2013]

Finally got my 9x13 inch tom. Still debating on the tunings. for the toms they are tuned as follows: 3G, 3E, 3C, 2G#, 2E, 2C. Not liking the 3G on the 8 or the 2C on the 16. It sounds good but one seems too low and the other too high. Snare is 3F and bass is 1E. May try to get the snare to a 3E and use a standard for the drum sizes: 3F, 3B, 2B, 2G#, 2F, 2D. Funny thing, I have visited many drum sites on the tuning subject and it seems that those that question what notes to tune too are ridiculed. WTF? How idiotic is that? The trick is to find a universal tuning such that it is not way off for most keys. Perhaps it does not really matter but may sound better if the drum set is in a complementary key to the song I am playing too.

Have all of the mic's. Will need to get one more as I found the RODE NT1 sounds great as a room mic on the drum set. Have not jumped on the mixer yet but may get that on order today. My Tascam DP-32SD is limited to 8 inputs for recording. Bummer, I need 12 minimum. I did a preliminary sound test with the mics but had to remove three of them to get the condenser mics on board. (two floor tom mics disconnected as well as the snare). Actually sounds good with the overheads and one room mic off to the right side.

https://soundcloud.com/user-353100000/drumswav

Made a few changes to my setup. Now I have the mics mounted to the bottom of each tom. Snare mic is still on top. The overheads and the two condenser mics should capture the attack of the batter heads and the mics mounted to the bottom on the resonant side may get more snare wire. I did this previously without the condenser mics and it sounded just as good as when mics were placed on top. Also changed resonant head on the bass drum (returned to the stock head without hole). Sounds louder now. May need a pillow but for now will have to see how it turns out. Had to retune it as it was not where I wanted it. So much more to learn.... soon enough I will be recording again (good, bad or ugly as this is just for fun anyway).

 

[bandit2013]

I finally decided on what mixer to get. Soundcraft Signature 22MTK. From what I have learned about it, more than an analog mixer as this will process all tracks and send them over USB as individual tracks vs stereo mix. For the price not bad for the feature set. I could not get close to that with a digital mixer. Must be a hybrid format as it would have to have some good DAC's to process all channels as individual tracks. That would be ideal if I had a DAW to record with but at the moment I am using a Tascam DP-32SD. Will have to figure out how to use the groups as outputs so I can send the dynamics separate from the condenser signals to the Tascam recorder. Mixer has two stereo groups you can assign individual tracks to or group them together. Should be interesting. Hopefully not a steep learning curve to figure it out. At least I will be able to capture an entire band with full drums. Now what DAW to get? Will have to work out that detail later on as I will be getting a TC-50 soon. Just not in the mood to shop for a decent PC to record with at the moment. Would also have to be good with video editing to make it worth my while. Tascam should be sufficient. Now to learn how to play the drums and get some good stuff going.

 

[Billy Pro]

I love watching drumb performance, but I am not able to play

 

[bandit2013]

I love watching drumb performance, but I am not able to play

I was there three years ago. I blame this on my friend from work who bought an inexpensive e-drum kit for his children to play (actually he bought it for himself). Often times we would have three guitarist in one room (co-workers) so why not give the drums a try. I have been addicted ever since.... Started with a Rolland TD-15KV and had to get the two other trigger positions filled. That was fun and still is today but had to have the real deal so I moved up to a middle range acoustic set.

I still cannot play the drums either....getting better at it (me thinks). Awesome instrument to get some frustrations out or just to make noise. Good workout too as I have lost some weight since I have been playing. I never break a sweat playing guitar or bass unless it is hot out.

 

[braveluke]

Check my gears out!

It's not the best drum on the world but It's my best drum gears on my life.
My father gave me them in my 23's birthday.
I'm an engineer but I have the love for music, especially drums and learn it by myself.
I won't regret stopping learnt higher education for a drum class xD.

 

[bandit2013]

Awesome drum kit. Sometimes the vintage kits have a lot of life in them. I am new to drumming and never played drums prior to March of 2015. I had thought I started in 2014 but was mistaken. So I played for 2 years now. Never really practiced as much as I did with the guitar and found I only played the drums when I was composing music (added drum tracks last).

I did finally get a full drum kit recording and used an old project for the drumming. Deleted the e-drum tracks I made with the Rolland TD-15KV drum set. Acoustic drums are definitely different, take more effort and sound so much better. Still learning new tricks as well as tricks for recording.... Had to order some -20dB pads for the Tascam as I found the outputs were a bit too much for the inputs by 20dB. Max level on the mic inputs of the Tascam is +2dBu, the Soundcraft pumps out +21.5dBu. May explain part why there was signal shift in the recording as the compressor during mastering was adjusting levels.

https://soundcloud.com/user-353100000/roaster02wav

 

[bandit2013]

This past weekend I went shopping for some accent or effects cymbals and possibly a new snare to shake things up a bit with the drum kit. Always need more cymbals right? Well not necessarily. What does matter more than that is the snare drum. I do like the one that came with the kit, however I felt it was lacking something. I was looking for a deep snare more than 6 inches and having more than 8 lugs. Was interested in trying out a Gretsch artist Mark Shulman snare but could not find one locally. The clerk at one of the stores said he had a few that would blow my mind more so than the one I inquired about. Played a few in the store and decided on one that I thought had all of the features and construction quality that would be satisfying. I came home with a Ludwig 6.5x14 Black Beauty. Lets just say it is amazing. I could not believe what I was hearing and actually made playing the drums more enjoyable. I have also learned a few things based on my first recording session prior to getting the snare drum. Will have to see how things work out this weekend. I am really wanting to get the JP-2C into the mix as I have not worked that into a project yet. Actually with the new mixer on board, will have to also dial in the RA100 and see how that works.