Many years ago I had the opportunity to chat with Jeff Campitelli, who told me that, on the last album he had recorded with Joe Satriani, the producer insisted he use a different snare on every track, but by the time they finished mixing, they all sounded the same anyway.
We did the towel thing when I was playing at a church... We were trying not to blow the band off the stage + easy to be more dynamic... We did 1/2 the snare drum and all of the floor Tom on curtain fills ... It was nice with half the snare for builds on songs we would not over power the band ... Ps I don't play there anymore they got too quiet
The tea towel thing seems to be the only one that really works. Everything else is psychological. Drilling and routing cymbals works to a point but it’s probably better to replace them when they are too far gone.
Not psychological, you can literally put the sounds into audacity and see the waveforms are eeeever so slightly different. Maybe you do not know what to listen for or you are not that used to the sound of drums.
@@DumbArse it's incredibly subtle, and it's hard to say that minor differences in tuning/how heavy you hit the drum aren't affecting the waveforms as much or more than the hacks themselves. I wouldn't say it doesn't do 'anything' to the sound, but other than the tea towels the change in sound is so minor that you would be better off tuning differently or adding a plugin rather than going through the effort for these.
In rock & roll context, would you really want to strain your ears to hear the difference? People are so obsessed with details like these that they forget about making good music first, and when they do they edit and automate the hell out of it anyway... ;-)
@@DumbArse As the other reply said the difference is so minor that it could have other explanations, but I also wanted to emphasize that we're talking about an instrument sound which means we're really talking about something that would be heard in the much denser context of actual music rather than the very sparse and zoomed in demonstration here. If the difference is so subtle that you can barely hear it when it's the only sound, there's no chance any actual human is going to really pick up on whether or not you used any of these "techniques" when listening to the drums mixed with a full band. So even if we grant that you're absolutely correct and there is a literal difference, it isn't a meaningful difference since it won't have a noticeable impact on the final product. You would be much better off spending any time and energy you'd invest into this kind of pretentious tweak on improving the aspects of the song people will actually hear (or if it's already fine then just moving on to write something else), this is the worst kind of "perfectionism" where you're basically just making up meaningless tasks to inflate how much work you've put into a track without actually improving it in any way.
To build on the disc under the snare drum thing... a studio trick I've seen is to put a small ish cymbal under (ish) the snare drum, and actually point a mic into the cymbal. I think it's much more of a sound than just a wooden disc under the snare
. To build yet again on your cymbal trick a flat metal disc ie a saw blade would reflect more that a piece of wood. Wood probably absorbs sound more than metal.
I similarly heard that the main thing there was a change in the bleed on other mics (I think, the kick mic) - which you can hear more at the start when you're playing the *whole* kit … fwiw! Anyway nice work on this channel!
This video reminds me of my 13-year-old self creating my own electronic drum pad, in '83 and with instructions from a musicians' magazine: I used one of my bongos for this (which had been my very first 'toms') and glued a circle of tin foil onto the skin's underside and mounted an old guitar pick-up underneath this; This would basically work on the same principles as an electric guitar's strings and pick-ups. When I plugged it into an amp, all I heard was a very underwhelming "tsh-tsh" noise instead of the expected Simmons®-like "doo-doo" sound, though - I eventually figuered that I'd also need a sound module to plug this into, which the article had somehow forgotten to mention 😄
@@joeday4293 - LOL! Yes, totally! 😂👍 And it hadn't stopped there either! After a later issue of the same magazine was released and had Eddie Van Halen with his famous guitar on the cover, I somehow believed it to be a great idea to modify my _own_ guitar like that (My very first one, too! A Strat copy for around 300 bucks) and ripped out all the electronics and replaced them with only that old humbucker pick-up from my 'awesome' e-drum pad plus 1 Volume control: 1.) My guitar looked absolutely horrible afterwards compared to EVH's because of its sunburst finish, and 2.) I still wasn't suddenly able to also _play_ like him! 👎😄
Hi David, I saw this recent post of yours and it brought back some memories for me and my friends back home. This is what I wrote to them all. Alright this is for my peeps in Indiana that grew up with me and the Percussion Center. I was working at the Percussions Center in Ft. Wayne as a young man. Nearl Graham was my drum teacher for a long time. Here on this video is one of the things I was around as a young man. Neal Graham was the owner of the shop and was one of the most creative people I knew. He had out of the box ideas that he made come true several times. Vibra- Fibing was one of them. It was weird to see this TH-cam vid. Plus hearing Neals voice on a phone call was once again was haunting. Unfortunately Neal passed away almost 10 years ago. Any way this shop was all about drums and drummers. Not a guitar in sight. PS- Most of Neil Peart's drum sets in the beginnng years were built at Ft. Wayne's Percussion Center. I remember the Slingerland kit getting vibra-fibed. The process was laborious for sure. However, it was smooth on the inside unlike pearl's version which looked like a hand full of shredded fiberglass thrown in the drum and then sprayed with resin. The quick shot of the Tama kit does not show the cool finish it had. A whispy inked purple wood finish. All of these kits that came out of the percussion were designed by Neal Graham the owner however most the labor was done by Larry Yeager now a tour manager for Fleetwood mac. Both of them could build things from nothing and turn it into something. The are other stories but a lot custom builds came out of this shop when I was very young. I now realize what a special time and environment that was back then. back a lot of memories. Thank you, very much. Here is was I wrote to my friends back home. I watch your channel a lot and you doing a great service to all the drummers out there. Shop's like Neal and Channels like yours help drummer still come together as a community. Bravo!
Bernard Purdie had a snare drum reflection disc that he was personally selling/distributing years ago. I was working at Columbus Percussion and he walked in, while on tour with Aretha and tried to get us to stock them. His pitch was to throw it on the floor and specifically use it to amplify brush playing. He did a demo for us and i'm pretty sure he just played louder when he threw the disc down. Love the dude's playing, but we weren't buying it 😂
the snare plate works, I usually use 3 large round river rocks , and put them under the snare between the snare stand feet on carpeted floors - this diffuses the snare sound back up into the overhead mics and the drummers ears , gives a nice air to the sound .
repairing cymbals/modifying them is a super cool process, and can last for years and years. I worked with a local machine shop, we found the trick is slow speeds and very very low pressure. Cutting out cracks, or small edge cracks(if its less than 1/4" ish you can save a majority of the sound of the cymbal and even some taper), and some kind of lower support mount made of wood in the shape of the drum. Something else to consider is balance, when you take mass out of one side its good to do the opposite side so the cymbal balances, since your taking a large enough bit out to change mass on one side the sound was going to change anyway. I had 2 a custom crashes we shaved several cracks off the edge. I played them for another 9 years, and only paid $35 for the pair(plus the fee of the machine shop, your mileage may vary) Find a local machine shop and work with them, they do custom stuff all the time. If you're doing it at home, you are limited on how much you can mod because of the limit and inconsistency of hand tools. not that its impossible but if you're looking for gigging/recording quality and more longevity, using big mills etc at those shops help keep the integrity of the surrounding cymbal in check.
Here’s one I tried when I was 16 or 17 around 1980, way before internet and when you only heard things by word of mouth (which is how I heard this) or in Modern Drummer. An older, more experienced drummer told me that if you wanted to tame the ringiness of a steel snare, stick some maxi pads on the inside of the shell. From what I remember, it did help some. And my sister was none the wiser. 😂
A lot of these is all the same logic. Put something fragile and thin on the inside drum liner to amplify overtones and dynamics. Put something that absorbs the sound to do the opposite, cotton balls, a towel, a pillow. It's all the same logic and was huge in the 70s.
@@lifeunderthestarstv I agree. And today, there is a large portion of drum accessories designed to muffle drums and cymbals, such as moongels, rings, snareweights, muffled heads, etc. When I started drumming, none of these existed. We had to improvise. 😎
I remember Hal Blaine saying that he used Rubbermaid bathtub appliques to muffle his drum heads. Back then, they had that sort of daisy/asterisk 70's shape. Came in different colors too! ✳ I still use Dr. Scholl's moleskin where the BD beater hits.
I love how I watch this channel, specially the drum hacks, with MASSIVE interest, while all drums I own are a millenium electric e-kit, a pair of broken bongos I bought for 2€, a toy tambourine and a sleight bells
I once had planned to (1970s) replace my Sears and Roebuck Pearl blue sparkle shells with aluminum at my friends fathers machine shop. We cut and rolled a piece of 1/4" aluminum stock and took it to a shop to have it welded, they welded it crooked, made them redo but it was out of round by then, but we tweaked it and put hardware, hoop and head on and and it made an ok timbale he he! I gave up the idea! I would like to see someone experiment with shells I could only dream of; Solid wood, glass, different plastics, aluminum and clay! Keep up the good work! PS a drum shell must play a physical supportive roll and have resonant and reflective and absorptive acoustic qualities (thicker vs thinner shells)...:)
Ever since I heard of one-piece Brady snare drum shells, I've wanted an entire kit that way. Maybe someday when I have more money than sense, since I don't have much of either. LOL
I've done the towel thing, but mostly for small rooms and apartments. even stuffed them full of shirts and stuff. Taped the cymbals, ( like two or three pieces of electrical tape.) and I could play drums in an upstairs apartment. Old dude beneath just thought I was listening to the stereo and never complained.
This was a lot of fun to watch. Back in the 70s I had a Pearl fiberglass and wood set. It sounded great. I did a lot of shows with it and it always cut through.
My current kit has one of those 70’s Pearl wood-fiberglass kits for my 24 kick and 16 floor (currently an auxiliary kick for me, I use a 15x12 stainless snare w/ a hydraulic head as my floor). When I got it it also came with a solid fiberglass 12 concert tom. Definitely works enough for me, especially cause I got those three plus a Pearl steel snare for $200 total locally
David you’re my fav TH-camr! Watching you since ages and I think it’s just mindblowing to see your journey and how you improved as a musician itself! As a recording engineer your sound hacks are SO useful and really creatively enhancing my workflow! Thanks for your things man! All the best from görmany
Never heard of any of these except the tea towel which I do sometimes use when I want a muffled, dark jazzy sound to my drum sound without having to post-process it (which I enjoy way more; analogue sound hacks instead of post-processed ones).
Yes, analog all the way. I once worked on a film soundtrack, scoring a battle scene with ancient Chinese swords and such. I hit wrenches, pipes, and other metal tools to get various sounds. The producer liked it and asked which sample library I used. I told him "Craftsman".
Reflectivity is impedance. Stronger materials are more reflective. It has been shown that applying metal film to the inside of the drum can make it 3dB louder. You have to glue the foil on with epoxy to get the effect, it is similar to the glass fiber, and basically makes the drum slightly brighter and louder. Loose tinfoil will sap energy out of the drum.
I like wood disk under the snare. But I heard difference only with the full drum set being played. From my experience: I put small wooden panel of axis in front of the didgeridoo when playing in guite dead room. That way I get reflections back to my ears and hear articulations better.
When you have a crack with a hole drilled at each end take a hack saw blade, push it in the crack at the hole & saw along the crack so the edges don't rub together. It slows down the spreading of the crack
I had a brand new Pearl WoodFiberglass kit I bought at Strings & Things in Memphis, late 1980. Chrome (real metal wrap). 24/18/16/14/13...these drums weighed A TON! But...they sounded great. Amazingly bright and warm at the same time. I still have them. Lugging them around was the equivalent of schlepping 2 Marshall double-stack amps.
I used old strips of fabric for my Ringo sound. I was talking with a friend of mine and mentioned how i didnt have the right tuning intervals on my toms to do Come Together. I put some strips of fabric (my family are tailors) on the drums so they wouldn't hurt his ears (is much older then me), soon as i played my drums, i noticed they sounded EXACTLY like Ringos on come together.
My first kit was a 7 piece Pearl kit. Personally I prefer the sound of wood. I remember the long strands of fibreglass they used which was kind of a cool conversation piece.
Our 4 song demo back in 1992 was recorded in Toronto with Canadian Loonie 1$ coins that were taped on the bass drum skins in front of the foot pedal batter for more of a kick. The drummer loved it. We did anything to sound like D.R.I.
I used a dremel to keep the edges of a crack from touching. It worked. The metal on metal sound disappeared but it didn’t sound like it did before being cracked.
Old school Pearl wood-fiberglass drums used random matrix chopped glass mat instead of cloth. The finish wasn't perfectly smooth and the fiberglass was quite a bit thicker than a single layer of 6k cloth. They projected pretty well but nothing like a Reference!
I thought all of them had significant effects- which is surprising. The wooden disk- close to the snare especially- made it sound more punchy and gave the kit a drier, less open sound. To my ear at least. I think the foil might have just sounded different from inside the kick though. You can hear it rattling a bit in the highs. Seems less resonant in this clip for some reason too. I'll have to try it myself. Really cool video!
You can graze a crack with a torch and brazing rod if you are careful. I did a 22 inch heavy ride. Lasted for 3 decades - just have to be VERY careful with the torch.
I thought about cleaning the area really well and applying flux and solder to fill the crack. You should be able to use a lower heat. Have you ever tried it?
Hey David. Just wanted to leave a comment on your latest video saying I love the content man! It’s awesome. I can’t get enough of your channel. I’ve learned a ton about the ins and outs of drums besides the playing portion. Thanks a bunch, bro! Keep the content coming PLEASE! :)
I've done the rivet hack on some cymbals before and instead of a T towel I used a washcloth on the snare. Also have done the wallet on the snare drum batter head for a FAT sound
Honesty at this point I could watch David do any so called drum hack and would be enjoyable to watch. Welp, time to piss off my neighbors and jam out 🥹 This channel always makes me want to play
Some hacks you did not include: -the "dead ring". Similar to the towel thing I guess, just not as dampening. It was very common in the days I played live a lot. You take an old skin, cut it into a ring that you put over the snare drum to damp it somewhat. Fixate it with the CORRECT tape! :) Nowadays folks buy those things for a pretty penny. We used it as a quick fix, when you needed to change a broken skin and there was not enough time to properly tune the drum. -the coin. Only for the bass drum with a mic. You take a coin (the biggest one you can find), protect the skin with the CORRECT tape, and fixate the coin where the ball hits the coin (again with the CORRECT tape!). Then you change the soft "blanket type" hammer to a wooden hammer. It makes a click sound that sounds really silly without a microphone, but add the microphone and you have a "wet and slick" sound when you play live. I remember some live drummers had a bowl with broken coins beside their drumset... :D
I just did a similar thing today at a concert, the local floor drum was ringing as hell, i just put my hoodie on the bass drum and place one arm on the floor Tom. Perfect.
I have that same I Call Fives shirt! I think we played a few shows with them in Virginia around 2010 if you remember a band called All Heart from Hawaii 🤘
Lol! In the over 50 years I've done just about every drum hack you can imagine! From Jig Sawing cracked Cymbals to a smaller size to driving 10 penny nails on an angle in front my Bass Drum Spikes to stop it from walking!
Rather than wood, I know a guy use put a couple pieces of large tile chunks. Used 3 to virtually cover the floor under the snare without setting the legs on an uneven surface.
My first kit was a Tama rockstar I got used and the shells were lined with legit sheet metal. Never did an A/B and didn't realize it wasn't a factory installed deal until after the drums were sold off.
OH MAN! I had forgotten all about "Vibro Fibing" man good find! Hey David, with that last snare drum hack, try setting an upside down snare head in the basket then put the snare on top of that. I have heard that it actually cuts down on overtones, lowers the volume and focuses the fundamental of the drum more.
Whenever I watch these videos I always feel like an old man who can barely hear because whenever there's a comparison I cannot tell even the faintest difference
It may be that you need better speakers or headphones? There are times where I'll find videos like this when I have my laptop put through my stereo via bluetooth, and there are other times (like tonight) where I will just listen via the laptop speakers (which at least reproduce some sounds, but nothing at all to brag about. Just like my recordings, I will listen to different systems, just to see what the recordings sound like. While I much prefer good systems, it is important to remember that not everybody has a near-field reference monitor system, so in order for people with a $25 sound system (cheap earbuds) or whatever to listen without harmful distortions (mega-bass, which is my downfall), those cheap systems will "out" your recordings! Haha! That said, even at almost age 61, I am still learning new things. I am only in the last couple of years immersing myself into the drum culture. I am a string and brass player by trade, but I should have done this years ago. In soccer, they call it "touches," where you practice by touching the ball with your feet, just to see what happens if x and y, then r and z, or whatever variables you choose. To me, it's the same in recordings and instruments and amps: You simply try different stuff out, to see what you like and what you don't like. And the worst part of this is that one technique may work for you, but not for someone else. All this to say that I feel your pain, in that I can barely notice a change in the comparisons myself! But I am starting to discern more and more, as I listen to more and more, and start to understand what drummers are looking for in building their kits. And in the case of this video, I think David's point is that there in fact is not a ton of change in the old-school drum hacks. But we all live and learn! All the best to you as you learn to discern! 🙂
Wow never heard of drilling a cymbal to fix a crack that shit works gr8 on this old Custom Zildjian Z Med 16 inch crash, that was on my attic floor and is now on our set!
Try aluminum flashing it’s stiffer, it’s cheap and can be found at Home Depot. I used some for a wrap alternative, I had the idea of lining the inside of my kick with it but haven’t got around to it.
Love it dude! Thanks for the shout out! I read that Porcaro used to cut out the carpet underneath the snare in drum booths back in the day, which was what made me want to try the wood under the snare thing … obvi didn’t want to cut out the carpet in my own room lol!
I thought the "towel hack" was so common that it's more just a "technique" now 🤷♀ Used towels for years to get punchier sounds and eliminate/reduce the ringing overtones (especially on the school's old beat up snares nearly beyond repair)
As an HVAC tech, I braze copper all day long with Oxy/Acetylene torches. I'm curious whether or not a more appropriate solder than the typical silver/phosphorus solder would work to weld small cracks in cymbals. I bet if it was done quickly without warping or melting the cymbal, it could yield a decent result after some filing and sanding. The lack of capillary action might prove to be problematic but I want to try now.
The thing I heard about drilling at the end of a crap is that the material is actually cracked a lot further than you can see on the outside. So you need to figure out where the crack went and drill there. Otherwise you just drill a hole in the crack and it keeps cracking. Not a clue how to correctly do that though 😶
I also completely thrashed the first “nice” cymbal I ever bought. It was a used A custom china that already had a few cracks in it. Picked it up from MME for like $120 . Beat the absolute devil out of it.
Try the old Vibra-Sonic hack; which is just basically a VERY thick coating of white paint (or multiple coats if you wanna go crazy). It was a specialty of Hayman Drums in the UK in the late 60's
Your repositionable disk could use a servo mechanism. Then, you'd have a mechanical version of a resonant filter, enabling all the techno drumming. The Aluminum foil in the bass drum made me wonder what it would be like if you hung one of those beaded curtain things in there. People used to use them to somewhat cover a doorway, when there was no door there, but then you'd have beads dragging all over you when you walked through them. They tended to make interesting noises from all the little wooden balls clanking together though, so inside a bass drum may add quite a bit of interesting, unwanted noise.
Has anyone tried any of these hacks before?
E
@jasondonlon how’d you get it to say 69 years ago?
@@bgrmoose5997 It's part of his name.
Not yet, but soon ;)
Next, fill your snare drum three quarters full of cheezits and see how it sounds
I love the way the fiberglass makes it sound exactly the same as before
Maybe you don't know what you're not hearing.
Exactly
especially when the metal band plays with the drummer...
It sounds alot more bassy, I play bass, not drums, but i have become accustomed to hearing the differences, and nuances
@@Skyunai It sounds like a pass or envelope filter to me.
I love how guitarists and drummers unite in chasing acoustic nuances that will be absolutely buried in a mix, if there's a difference at all.
Right? As if whoever is mixing isn't just going to EQ it a certain way anyhow. Jim Lill's videos on things like this are really great!
Meanwhile bass players be like “So I just plugged my fender precision into a DI”
Many years ago I had the opportunity to chat with Jeff Campitelli, who told me that, on the last album he had recorded with Joe Satriani, the producer insisted he use a different snare on every track, but by the time they finished mixing, they all sounded the same anyway.
We did the towel thing when I was playing at a church... We were trying not to blow the band off the stage + easy to be more dynamic... We did 1/2 the snare drum and all of the floor Tom on curtain fills ... It was nice with half the snare for builds on songs we would not over power the band ... Ps I don't play there anymore they got too quiet
Ssshhhhhhhh!
its a well known facts that churchgoers are afraid of drums. thats why they build those plexiglass walls around them #real
Or use electric kits(imo nothing beats an acoustic kit)
@@Stretchwiz electricity is also known to frighten some churchgoers
@@Stretchwiz I use one at church, the cymbals don’t wash well
The tea towel thing seems to be the only one that really works. Everything else is psychological. Drilling and routing cymbals works to a point but it’s probably better to replace them when they are too far gone.
The cymbal most likely to crack is the one that already has.
Not psychological, you can literally put the sounds into audacity and see the waveforms are eeeever so slightly different. Maybe you do not know what to listen for or you are not that used to the sound of drums.
@@DumbArse it's incredibly subtle, and it's hard to say that minor differences in tuning/how heavy you hit the drum aren't affecting the waveforms as much or more than the hacks themselves. I wouldn't say it doesn't do 'anything' to the sound, but other than the tea towels the change in sound is so minor that you would be better off tuning differently or adding a plugin rather than going through the effort for these.
In rock & roll context, would you really want to strain your ears to hear the difference? People are so obsessed with details like these that they forget about making good music first, and when they do they edit and automate the hell out of it anyway... ;-)
@@DumbArse As the other reply said the difference is so minor that it could have other explanations, but I also wanted to emphasize that we're talking about an instrument sound which means we're really talking about something that would be heard in the much denser context of actual music rather than the very sparse and zoomed in demonstration here. If the difference is so subtle that you can barely hear it when it's the only sound, there's no chance any actual human is going to really pick up on whether or not you used any of these "techniques" when listening to the drums mixed with a full band.
So even if we grant that you're absolutely correct and there is a literal difference, it isn't a meaningful difference since it won't have a noticeable impact on the final product. You would be much better off spending any time and energy you'd invest into this kind of pretentious tweak on improving the aspects of the song people will actually hear (or if it's already fine then just moving on to write something else), this is the worst kind of "perfectionism" where you're basically just making up meaningless tasks to inflate how much work you've put into a track without actually improving it in any way.
Neil Graham was the percussion instructor for my high school. So great to come across this and hear his voice again.
Your playing has become really natural and tasteful, been following for years and have noticed loads of improvement recently.
To build on the disc under the snare drum thing... a studio trick I've seen is to put a small ish cymbal under (ish) the snare drum, and actually point a mic into the cymbal. I think it's much more of a sound than just a wooden disc under the snare
hmmm nice! gonna try it!
. To build yet again on your cymbal trick a flat metal disc ie a saw blade would reflect more that a piece of wood. Wood probably absorbs sound more than metal.
Simon Philips always sets up on a wooden platform for the reflection.
I play in a carpeted room. I put a few pieces of 8x8 thin wood under the snare when recording to brighten the room sound of the snare
I similarly heard that the main thing there was a change in the bleed on other mics (I think, the kick mic) - which you can hear more at the start when you're playing the *whole* kit … fwiw! Anyway nice work on this channel!
This video reminds me of my 13-year-old self creating my own electronic drum pad, in '83 and with instructions from a musicians' magazine: I used one of my bongos for this (which had been my very first 'toms') and glued a circle of tin foil onto the skin's underside and mounted an old guitar pick-up underneath this; This would basically work on the same principles as an electric guitar's strings and pick-ups. When I plugged it into an amp, all I heard was a very underwhelming "tsh-tsh" noise instead of the expected Simmons®-like "doo-doo" sound, though - I eventually figuered that I'd also need a sound module to plug this into, which the article had somehow forgotten to mention 😄
LOL, 13 year olds are so dumb. Take it from a former 13 year old. ✌😄
@@joeday4293 - LOL! Yes, totally! 😂👍 And it hadn't stopped there either! After a later issue of the same magazine was released and had Eddie Van Halen with his famous guitar on the cover, I somehow believed it to be a great idea to modify my _own_ guitar like that (My very first one, too! A Strat copy for around 300 bucks) and ripped out all the electronics and replaced them with only that old humbucker pick-up from my 'awesome' e-drum pad plus 1 Volume control: 1.) My guitar looked absolutely horrible afterwards compared to EVH's because of its sunburst finish, and 2.) I still wasn't suddenly able to also _play_ like him! 👎😄
Hi David, I saw this recent post of yours and it brought back some memories for me and my friends back home. This is what I wrote to them all.
Alright this is for my peeps in Indiana that grew up with me and the Percussion Center. I was working at the Percussions Center in Ft. Wayne as a young man. Nearl Graham was my drum teacher for a long time. Here on this video is one of the things I was around as a young man. Neal Graham was the owner of the shop and was one of the most creative people I knew. He had out of the box ideas that he made come true several times. Vibra- Fibing was one of them. It was weird to see this TH-cam vid. Plus hearing Neals voice on a phone call was once again was haunting. Unfortunately Neal passed away almost 10 years ago. Any way this shop was all about drums and drummers. Not a guitar in sight. PS- Most of Neil Peart's drum sets in the beginnng years were built at Ft. Wayne's Percussion Center. I remember the Slingerland kit getting vibra-fibed. The process was laborious for sure. However, it was smooth on the inside unlike pearl's version which looked like a hand full of shredded fiberglass thrown in the drum and then sprayed with resin. The quick shot of the Tama kit does not show the cool finish it had. A whispy inked purple wood finish. All of these kits that came out of the percussion were designed by Neal Graham the owner however most the labor was done by Larry Yeager now a tour manager for Fleetwood mac. Both of them could build things from nothing and turn it into something. The are other stories but a lot custom builds came out of this shop when I was very young. I now realize what a special time and environment that was back then. back a lot of memories. Thank you, very much. Here is was I wrote to my friends back home. I watch your channel a lot and you doing a great service to all the drummers out there. Shop's like Neal and Channels like yours help drummer still come together as a community. Bravo!
Man, the camera in the bass drum is killer....nice work dude!
Bernard Purdie had a snare drum reflection disc that he was personally selling/distributing years ago. I was working at Columbus Percussion and he walked in, while on tour with Aretha and tried to get us to stock them. His pitch was to throw it on the floor and specifically use it to amplify brush playing. He did a demo for us and i'm pretty sure he just played louder when he threw the disc down. Love the dude's playing, but we weren't buying it 😂
Bernard is great but, yes...
Me sitting on the toilet listening through the phone speakers and judging: "Yea, I can hear the difference!". 🧐
the snare plate works, I usually use 3 large round river rocks , and put them under the snare between the snare stand feet on carpeted floors - this diffuses the snare sound back up into the overhead mics and the drummers ears , gives a nice air to the sound .
Holy shit
repairing cymbals/modifying them is a super cool process, and can last for years and years.
I worked with a local machine shop, we found the trick is slow speeds and very very low pressure. Cutting out cracks, or small edge cracks(if its less than 1/4" ish you can save a majority of the sound of the cymbal and even some taper), and some kind of lower support mount made of wood in the shape of the drum. Something else to consider is balance, when you take mass out of one side its good to do the opposite side so the cymbal balances, since your taking a large enough bit out to change mass on one side the sound was going to change anyway. I had 2 a custom crashes we shaved several cracks off the edge. I played them for another 9 years, and only paid $35 for the pair(plus the fee of the machine shop, your mileage may vary) Find a local machine shop and work with them, they do custom stuff all the time. If you're doing it at home, you are limited on how much you can mod because of the limit and inconsistency of hand tools. not that its impossible but if you're looking for gigging/recording quality and more longevity, using big mills etc at those shops help keep the integrity of the surrounding cymbal in check.
Here’s one I tried when I was 16 or 17 around 1980, way before internet and when you only heard things by word of mouth (which is how I heard this) or in Modern Drummer. An older, more experienced drummer told me that if you wanted to tame the ringiness of a steel snare, stick some maxi pads on the inside of the shell. From what I remember, it did help some. And my sister was none the wiser. 😂
A lot of these is all the same logic. Put something fragile and thin on the inside drum liner to amplify overtones and dynamics. Put something that absorbs the sound to do the opposite, cotton balls, a towel, a pillow. It's all the same logic and was huge in the 70s.
@@lifeunderthestarstv I agree. And today, there is a large portion of drum accessories designed to muffle drums and cymbals, such as moongels, rings, snareweights, muffled heads, etc. When I started drumming, none of these existed. We had to improvise. 😎
@@DougDrums its cool how far it's come man, I still remember messing with pillows and towels in the bass drum in music class 😆
I remember Hal Blaine saying that he used Rubbermaid bathtub appliques to muffle his drum heads. Back then, they had that sort of daisy/asterisk 70's shape. Came in different colors too! ✳ I still use Dr. Scholl's moleskin where the BD beater hits.
@@CardinalEgan Thanks for sharing that. Hal Blaine is possibly my all time favorite drummer!
I love how I watch this channel, specially the drum hacks, with MASSIVE interest, while all drums I own are a millenium electric e-kit, a pair of broken bongos I bought for 2€, a toy tambourine and a sleight bells
I once had planned to (1970s) replace my Sears and Roebuck Pearl blue sparkle shells with aluminum at my friends fathers machine shop. We cut and rolled a piece of 1/4" aluminum stock and took it to a shop to have it welded, they welded it crooked, made them redo but it was out of round by then, but we tweaked it and put hardware, hoop and head on and and it made an ok timbale he he! I gave up the idea! I would like to see someone experiment with shells I could only dream of; Solid wood, glass, different plastics, aluminum and clay! Keep up the good work! PS a drum shell must play a physical supportive roll and have resonant and reflective and absorptive acoustic qualities (thicker vs thinner shells)...:)
Ever since I heard of one-piece Brady snare drum shells, I've wanted an entire kit that way. Maybe someday when I have more money than sense, since I don't have much of either. LOL
I've done the towel thing, but mostly for small rooms and apartments. even stuffed them full of shirts and stuff. Taped the cymbals, ( like two or three pieces of electrical tape.) and I could play drums in an upstairs apartment. Old dude beneath just thought I was listening to the stereo and never complained.
I like the table idea at the very end. Like George Carlin always said, "You gotta have a place for your stuff. Then you can get more stuff!"
This was a lot of fun to watch. Back in the 70s I had a Pearl fiberglass and wood set. It sounded great. I did a lot of shows with it and it always cut through.
the tea towel sound is SO good, kind of crazy how much of a difference it made
Wow. It's amazing how everything but the towels made absolutely no fkin difference what so ever. I'm astounded.
My current kit has one of those 70’s Pearl wood-fiberglass kits for my 24 kick and 16 floor (currently an auxiliary kick for me, I use a 15x12 stainless snare w/ a hydraulic head as my floor). When I got it it also came with a solid fiberglass 12 concert tom. Definitely works enough for me, especially cause I got those three plus a Pearl steel snare for $200 total locally
David you’re my fav TH-camr! Watching you since ages and I think it’s just mindblowing to see your journey and how you improved as a musician itself! As a recording engineer your sound hacks are SO useful and really creatively enhancing my workflow! Thanks for your things man! All the best from görmany
Never heard of any of these except the tea towel which I do sometimes use when I want a muffled, dark jazzy sound to my drum sound without having to post-process it (which I enjoy way more; analogue sound hacks instead of post-processed ones).
Yes, analog all the way. I once worked on a film soundtrack, scoring a battle scene with ancient Chinese swords and such. I hit wrenches, pipes, and other metal tools to get various sounds. The producer liked it and asked which sample library I used. I told him "Craftsman".
Dave speaking inside bass drum is just hillarious
Reflectivity is impedance. Stronger materials are more reflective. It has been shown that applying metal film to the inside of the drum can make it 3dB louder. You have to glue the foil on with epoxy to get the effect, it is similar to the glass fiber, and basically makes the drum slightly brighter and louder. Loose tinfoil will sap energy out of the drum.
I was totally amused, you made me laugh out loud, I like your humour..." as far as I know the kitchen's still there!"
I like wood disk under the snare. But I heard difference only with the full drum set being played. From my experience: I put small wooden panel of axis in front of the didgeridoo when playing in guite dead room. That way I get reflections back to my ears and hear articulations better.
Neil also used the Vibra-fibing on his Ludwig kit (Modern Drummer 1988 (June maybe) - article 'The Quest for Drums')
The first kit of his you ever heard that did not have that process was his first DW kit.
When you have a crack with a hole drilled at each end take a hack saw blade, push it in the crack at the hole & saw along the crack so the edges don't rub together. It slows down the spreading of the crack
I had a Pearl wood/fiberglass kit in the late 70's and I loved it.
love the attack on the fiberglass. little more punch.
Love my Pearl Wood/Fiberglass kit. Looks great, too!
I had a brand new Pearl WoodFiberglass kit I bought at Strings & Things in Memphis, late 1980. Chrome (real metal wrap). 24/18/16/14/13...these drums weighed A TON! But...they sounded great. Amazingly bright and warm at the same time. I still have them. Lugging them around was the equivalent of schlepping 2 Marshall double-stack amps.
I found a 22 inch metal trash can lid I use as a beater head sometimes. Super cool tone.
I used old strips of fabric for my Ringo sound. I was talking with a friend of mine and mentioned how i didnt have the right tuning intervals on my toms to do Come Together. I put some strips of fabric (my family are tailors) on the drums so they wouldn't hurt his ears (is much older then me), soon as i played my drums, i noticed they sounded EXACTLY like Ringos on come together.
Great video! Some subtle changes. I don’t think I loved any of them enough to try them myself, but it’s cool to see them tested. Thanks!
My first kit was a 7 piece Pearl kit. Personally I prefer the sound of wood. I remember the long strands of fibreglass they used which was kind of a cool conversation piece.
I wanna try the wooden disk and then add a cup holder into it LOL
Our 4 song demo back in 1992 was recorded in Toronto with Canadian Loonie 1$ coins that were taped on the bass drum skins in front of the foot pedal batter for more of a kick. The drummer loved it. We did anything to sound like D.R.I.
I used a dremel to keep the edges of a crack from touching. It worked. The metal on metal sound disappeared but it didn’t sound like it did before being cracked.
Old school Pearl wood-fiberglass drums used random matrix chopped glass mat instead of cloth. The finish wasn't perfectly smooth and the fiberglass was quite a bit thicker than a single layer of 6k cloth. They projected pretty well but nothing like a Reference!
I thought all of them had significant effects- which is surprising. The wooden disk- close to the snare especially- made it sound more punchy and gave the kit a drier, less open sound. To my ear at least. I think the foil might have just sounded different from inside the kick though. You can hear it rattling a bit in the highs. Seems less resonant in this clip for some reason too. I'll have to try it myself. Really cool video!
You can graze a crack with a torch and brazing rod if you are careful. I did a 22 inch heavy ride. Lasted for 3 decades - just have to be VERY careful with the torch.
I thought about cleaning the area really well and applying flux and solder to fill the crack. You should be able to use a lower heat. Have you ever tried it?
hahahaha 10:27 "That thing is dusty as hell, I better sand the dust off"
The only channel I give thumbs up before watching the video!
Seeing the creativity from decades ago was really cool!
Another fun episode David! Regarding the vibra-fibing you definitely have to add more sheets. Sometimes it's as thick as a ply or two of wood.
Posted just in time for me to enjoy getting my drumset back after it was stolen. Great video
Yeesh. There is an especially hot seat in hell reserved for instrument thieves. It's only one floor above where they keep the pedos and elder abusers.
Hey David. Just wanted to leave a comment on your latest video saying I love the content man! It’s awesome. I can’t get enough of your channel. I’ve learned a ton about the ins and outs of drums besides the playing portion. Thanks a bunch, bro! Keep the content coming PLEASE! :)
I've done the rivet hack on some cymbals before and instead of a T towel I used a washcloth on the snare. Also have done the wallet on the snare drum batter head for a FAT sound
Those 80's Tama Superstars are gorgeous!
especially with that preference at the end, i love the way you think haha
LOVe the idea of different weight rivets for different sounds..
0:10 Vibra-Fibring shells
3:14 aluminum foil inside bass
5:31 Drilling holes in cymbal cracks
8:36 tea towels
9:36 reso snare disk
Thank you
I use sport tape, batter and reso heads on all my toms. Leaves no residue at all, easy to put on on and take off, dampens them right down.
Idea: cut another circle in your snare shelf for a cup holder. Now you can have pop with your cheez-its.
It's a well known fact that the holes in acoustic guitars are there to keep cheetos and luncheon meat to feed the drummer between sets.
Honesty at this point I could watch David do any so called drum hack and would be enjoyable to watch. Welp, time to piss off my neighbors and jam out 🥹 This channel always makes me want to play
Some hacks you did not include:
-the "dead ring". Similar to the towel thing I guess, just not as dampening. It was very common in the days I played live a lot. You take an old skin, cut it into a ring that you put over the snare drum to damp it somewhat. Fixate it with the CORRECT tape! :) Nowadays folks buy those things for a pretty penny. We used it as a quick fix, when you needed to change a broken skin and there was not enough time to properly tune the drum.
-the coin. Only for the bass drum with a mic. You take a coin (the biggest one you can find), protect the skin with the CORRECT tape, and fixate the coin where the ball hits the coin (again with the CORRECT tape!). Then you change the soft "blanket type" hammer to a wooden hammer. It makes a click sound that sounds really silly without a microphone, but add the microphone and you have a "wet and slick" sound when you play live. I remember some live drummers had a bowl with broken coins beside their drumset... :D
I just did a similar thing today at a concert, the local floor drum was ringing as hell, i just put my hoodie on the bass drum and place one arm on the floor Tom. Perfect.
Really great presentation, and research!!! Great video my friend.
I have that same I Call Fives shirt! I think we played a few shows with them in Virginia around 2010 if you remember a band called All Heart from Hawaii 🤘
My 1976 Ludwig 9 pie e with 6 melodic Tom's 18 floor tom 24 inch bass with ghost pedal. Was a composite
Lol! In the over 50 years I've done just about every drum hack you can imagine! From Jig Sawing cracked Cymbals to a smaller size to driving 10 penny nails on an angle in front my Bass Drum Spikes to stop it from walking!
I can’t help but think of John Good every time someone starts knocking shells
Rather than wood, I know a guy use put a couple pieces of large tile chunks. Used 3 to virtually cover the floor under the snare without setting the legs on an uneven surface.
With each video the hair and beard continues to grow more majestic
It looks like a bad wig. Does this guy not own any mirrors?
The gorillas at the Memphis Zoo don't have as much hair as this dude. Hell yeah I'm jealous.
That snare night stand is awesome ;)
My first kit was a Tama rockstar I got used and the shells were lined with legit sheet metal. Never did an A/B and didn't realize it wasn't a factory installed deal until after the drums were sold off.
Rack Tom at a wacky angle vs horizontal and Batter coated vs clear resonate heads are some "hacks" I like.
OH MAN! I had forgotten all about "Vibro Fibing" man good find!
Hey David, with that last snare drum hack, try setting an upside down snare head in the basket then put the snare on top of that. I have heard that it actually cuts down on overtones, lowers the volume and focuses the fundamental of the drum more.
WES ! ..is this for an 'only TOP mic' application ? ....or, you imply a MIC on top + Bottom application... with the Bottom mic, BELOW your idea ?
Whenever I watch these videos I always feel like an old man who can barely hear because whenever there's a comparison I cannot tell even the faintest difference
It may be that you need better speakers or headphones? There are times where I'll find videos like this when I have my laptop put through my stereo via bluetooth, and there are other times (like tonight) where I will just listen via the laptop speakers (which at least reproduce some sounds, but nothing at all to brag about. Just like my recordings, I will listen to different systems, just to see what the recordings sound like. While I much prefer good systems, it is important to remember that not everybody has a near-field reference monitor system, so in order for people with a $25 sound system (cheap earbuds) or whatever to listen without harmful distortions (mega-bass, which is my downfall), those cheap systems will "out" your recordings! Haha!
That said, even at almost age 61, I am still learning new things. I am only in the last couple of years immersing myself into the drum culture. I am a string and brass player by trade, but I should have done this years ago. In soccer, they call it "touches," where you practice by touching the ball with your feet, just to see what happens if x and y, then r and z, or whatever variables you choose. To me, it's the same in recordings and instruments and amps: You simply try different stuff out, to see what you like and what you don't like. And the worst part of this is that one technique may work for you, but not for someone else.
All this to say that I feel your pain, in that I can barely notice a change in the comparisons myself! But I am starting to discern more and more, as I listen to more and more, and start to understand what drummers are looking for in building their kits. And in the case of this video, I think David's point is that there in fact is not a ton of change in the old-school drum hacks.
But we all live and learn! All the best to you as you learn to discern! 🙂
I remember reading old jazz drummers would paint inside the wooden drum shells. I’m not sure what kind of paint either.
Big fan of the Ringo tea towel method. Love your channel man
This first thing I did when I got drums like 5 years ago was stuff a blanket in the kick drum and on the toms it works since I lost the key
Ohhh! I'm torn on the tea towels hahaha There are aspects of both that I enjoy haha
I couldn't concentrate on the sound of the 'vibra-fibed' snare because that cymbal you crashed sounded so damn amazing!
I've always had a towel or blanket in my kick haha
Wow never heard of drilling a cymbal to fix a crack that shit works gr8 on this old Custom Zildjian Z Med 16 inch crash, that was on my attic floor and is now on our set!
LOL....Nice touch with the CHEEZ-IT at the end.....Not a "HACK" but a GREAT "SNACK"....
Well, the table drumhack is definitely the most useful here.
Thanks for spending time I won't need to spend
Try aluminum flashing it’s stiffer, it’s cheap and can be found at Home Depot. I used some for a wrap alternative, I had the idea of lining the inside of my kick with it but haven’t got around to it.
6:05 it's called "stop drilling" very common repair in the aircraft world to keep stress cracks from spreading
The more I see that Acrylic DW kit, the more I feel like I need one.
Real cool camera work and some really nice transitions!
Loved the end
I think the foil made the bass drum sound a bit more wrinkly but also added a little sparkle on top. At least visually.
Love it dude! Thanks for the shout out! I read that Porcaro used to cut out the carpet underneath the snare in drum booths back in the day, which was what made me want to try the wood under the snare thing … obvi didn’t want to cut out the carpet in my own room lol!
what I've tried before is to lay a drumhead under the snare stand, its even more reflective than the wood- batter side on the ground!
For the rivots I use round head fasteners, you can take them in and out easy and for 449 they are a 100 box
I thought the "towel hack" was so common that it's more just a "technique" now 🤷♀ Used towels for years to get punchier sounds and eliminate/reduce the ringing overtones (especially on the school's old beat up snares nearly beyond repair)
As an HVAC tech, I braze copper all day long with Oxy/Acetylene torches. I'm curious whether or not a more appropriate solder than the typical silver/phosphorus solder would work to weld small cracks in cymbals. I bet if it was done quickly without warping or melting the cymbal, it could yield a decent result after some filing and sanding. The lack of capillary action might prove to be problematic but I want to try now.
Maybe copper or bronze rod? I'm thinking solder though, so you can use less heat. Have you tried it yet?
The thing I heard about drilling at the end of a crap is that the material is actually cracked a lot further than you can see on the outside. So you need to figure out where the crack went and drill there. Otherwise you just drill a hole in the crack and it keeps cracking. Not a clue how to correctly do that though 😶
Bro I had idea you were in Richmond. You're right up the road from me. Small world. haha. Keep up the great work.
I also completely thrashed the first “nice” cymbal I ever bought. It was a used A custom china that already had a few cracks in it. Picked it up from MME for like $120 . Beat the absolute devil out of it.
Try the old Vibra-Sonic hack; which is just basically a VERY thick coating of white paint (or multiple coats if you wanna go crazy). It was a specialty of Hayman Drums in the UK in the late 60's
that floor tom in the tea towel hack was absolutely meaty without the towel
Your repositionable disk could use a servo mechanism. Then, you'd have a mechanical version of a resonant filter, enabling all the techno drumming.
The Aluminum foil in the bass drum made me wonder what it would be like if you hung one of those beaded curtain things in there. People used to use them to somewhat cover a doorway, when there was no door there, but then you'd have beads dragging all over you when you walked through them. They tended to make interesting noises from all the little wooden balls clanking together though, so inside a bass drum may add quite a bit of interesting, unwanted noise.