Behind The Kit 20
Cymbal Anatomy Part 4: Bell Size
Bells are an over-looked aural enveloper. Whether or not you’re riding them on a funk chorus, or blast-beating them straight into the abyss, this part of the cymbal really impacts your cymbal’s overall sound. Let’s look at how the size of a cymbal’s bell (or whether or not a cymbal has a bell) shapes your tone. Flat […]
Restoring a Thrift Store Snare Drum
If you’re someone who pinches every penny like me, or just someone who wants to wear other people’s used clothes, the thrift store is a great place to frequent when you’re in the buying mood. But short of an old church organ too big for your sub-compact car, there aren’t ever that many musical instruments […]
Cymbal Anatomy Part 3: Thickness
So far, we’ve discussed attributes that affect your cymbals’ overall tone, namely its hammering and lathing. Here we’ll discuss one of the most important features that affects a cymbal’s aural envelope: thickness. The thickness of your cymbal shapes everything from strike feel to its attack, decay, sustain, and release (terms familiar to synthesists that might […]
How to Build a DIY SubKick
Yamaha made a splash in the drum miking game when their SKRM-100 SubKick collaboration with session drummer Russ Miller was released in 2004. The practice of wiring a speaker in reverse to act as a transducer has been around for a long time in production, but was made widely accessible with the SKRM-100 release. Ever […]
Cymbal Anatomy Part 2: Lathing
The grooves that make the sound move: lathing. Lathing is the rarely mentioned cymbal spec you may not know about, but you’ve certainly seen. These record-like grooves allow the cymbal to resonate and send the resonant frequencies out into the world. Lathing is the process of removing surface material from the cymbal, while it is […]
What to Consider When Buying a New Drum Kit
Trying to navigate the vast scope of drum companies, kit sizes and materials, it can get confusing and hard to make a choice for your first kit. Finding the perfect shell kit to base your entire drum sound on is incredibly important and there are many variables to keep in mind. From considering your drumming […]
Cymbal Anatomy Part 1: Hammering
Those small divots in your cymbals have a larger impact on tone than you might think. Hand hammered, machine hammered, what’s the difference and why should it matter? You’ve read it before, in the ambiguous, adjective-filled world of cymbal descriptions: hand hammered. What do they mean? How does this affect my cymbals’ sound? We’ll explore […]
Why Drum Tonewood Matters
The shell kit is a drummer’s main weapon when fighting for a spot in the mix and drum tonewood has to be chosen to match a drummer’s mix desire. From punchy, attack-driven shells to low and slow, resonance-based ones, choosing the right drum tonewood is all about your taste. Though many tonewoods have cool aesthetic […]
Snare Drum Maintenance Guide
Few things in music have as profound an effect on tone as providing regular maintenance to your snare drum. By giving your drum a little T.L.C. every now and then, you can bring an old, dead-sounding snare back to showroom status and keep it up-and-running for years to come. By knowing the ins and outs […]
