The Drum Thread • Page 5

Finally dropped money on a used kit so that me and my roommate can finally move forward with this band thing we're going for. So, so excited.

 

@Cody can you upload a picture of it?

 

As luck would have it, in a story too long to tell here, my roommate's brother has the only goddamn copy of the garage key, so I'm stuck sitting on it until he gets into town tomorrow morning. Once i'm able to move it from the car to the garage, I will definitely throw a picture in here. It's not glamorous but I think for 550 bucks, it's a good start.

 

Sweet. I think as long as the shells are decent and you swap out the heads (if necessary) you'll be all set. No need to go overboard on your first kit.
Did you notice what brand they are?

 

Yeah, they're Pearl. Saban cymbals, Zidjian hi-hat stand, shells are in great shape and the cymbals are fine for now. I've been playing forever, just haven't owned my own kit in like a decade-plus. The drum store I bought it from said it was a pretty great combo of budget-saving and quality.

 

That definitely sounds like a good deal for that price. Awesome that you got cymbals, too. Looking forward to a picture.

 

Okay, so I've had it in regular usage over the past two days. Tuned everything up, it really sounds and looks great. In great condition, heads had very little wear, snare sounds stellar. Hi hat has a nice, open sound. Got lucky in just about everything but the cymbals. Not in bad condition, just not tonally syncing with the rest of the set. My roommate and I play mostly heavier post/noise/garage/gazey whatever rock, a lot of focus on dynamics, and I'm wondering what types of cymbals might produce I guess a sound that's spacey and loud and also bright-sounding? I don't fucking know how to talk about cymbals at all. Hahahaha.


Also, fuck, forgot that picture. Will grab it in the morning I PROMISE

 

Or if anybody just happens to know the cymbals the From Indian Lakes or Car Seat Headrest people use.

 

Now accepting: songs with awesome drumming. Rock preferred, but all genres welcome.

 

I watch this every few months thinking I'll get my chops up to Aaron's level. We all know that's never happening.

 

I have the same Dark Crash. That shit broke on me in less than a month.

 

I've had mine for a little over a month now with no issues. I've actually never broken/cracked/chipped cymbals before

 

I've probably broken/chipped 6 or 7 over the past 12+ years or so. I don't angle them and hit them so damn hard.

 

What is the best way to set up your cymbals to prevent them from breaking? I had mine angled slight upwards in my direction and both my ride and crash are broken now just after not even a year of doing that.

Is it best to angle them downwards a bit? That's how I've got them now. I'm really curious about this because I'd hate to buy a new cymbal soon only to see it break in under a year of playing with it.

 

Kit. It's not flashy, but I'm really proud of where it's already at. Sabian b8x crash/hi hat, zildjian zhr ride, pearl forum shells. Sounds great already.

 

@Cody nice. I forgot to mention before, check out Memphis Drum Shop on YouTube. They have a bunch of good quality videos of cymbals. There's a lot to search through, but you can get an idea of what sounds you like.

@Deathco_019 I don't have info to back it up, but I remember hearing it helps to have them angled down a little bit towards you.


I think my rides are on the thicker side and once they cracked a little, it was all over. I must have drilled them incorrectly because the cracks ran like there was no tomorrow.
I also tried to keep the cymbals flat and hit them hard at times. It was a bad combination that I will probably repeat in the future. Highly recommend extended warranties if you're able to get them.

 

I had a two-year warranty on my ride cymbal and it unfortunately broke about half a year after the warranty expired :(((

I gave my cymbal to my drum teacher to drill a bit into and his drummer friend told him not to do it because drilling into the cymbal will supposedly throw off the weight overall and it would just start cracking on the opposite side.

What I took away from the conversation with my teacher is that, once a cymbal tracks, there's no stopping it and it's all downhill from there.

I am excited to be buying a new ride cymbal soon though. I get paid again in nine days and it's gonna be for 80-90 hours worth of work so it'll be a good amount of $$$. Gonna drop some of that on a new ride. I'm leaning towards a 22" Zildjian K Light Ride, but I haven't decided yet and it stresses me out trying to find the right one!

 

Wish I knew about this thread earlier. I've been playing since I was 5 and its basically been all I've ever done. Started out training Jazz early on and then transitioned into more rock and pop music as I grew older. Listed below is my set up.

DW Collector's Series Ruby Glass Finish
22'' kick - Evans Emad
14" snare - Evans St Dry Coated
10" rack tom (don't currently use)
12" rack tom - Evans G2 Coated
14" floor tom (don't currently use)
16" floor tom - Evans Emad for Floor Tom

13" Mapex Steel Piccolo Snare Drum

14" Paiste Twenty Series Hi Hats
17" Zildjian K Custom Dark Crash
18" Zildjian K Custom Dark Crash
20" Zildjian K Custom Dark Ride

Cymbal Stands vary. I used to use a rack, but traded with a friend for stands. They're so old and need to be replaced. Basically all combinations of parts.

DW 5000 Hi Hat Stand
Pearl Eliminator Single Kick drum pedal

LP Tambourine attached to Hi Hat

Roland SPD-SK Drum Pad. I just bought this two days ago and I love it so far. I have to start creating my own samples, but I imagine its going to be wonderful to play live with.

As for sticks I've been using Pro-Mark American Hickory 7A's for a few years now. The reason for the thin sticks is that I hit hard. Like really fucking hard. I needed some volume control when I was in rock bands because all I wanted to do was smash shit.

This is the most recent photo I've taken without the drum pad. Had a china set up but didn't like it.

 

Tilt them downward's slightly. As you said in the other other posts, even drilling them only prevents further damage for so long. Once you have a slight crack, you know it's all downhill from there.

 

The cymbal should be angled toward you slightly, but it also has to do with how you with the cymbal. Instead of hitting straight through it, you want to basically slide the stick off of it.

This is a good video to explain it. I use to have an awful issue with breaking cymbals before someone explained this to me. Its something I had to really pay attention to to fix it.

 

That's a great video to watch. I might not be tilting them towards me enough so I'll play around with that soon. Someone I used to know was telling me about the swiping motion instead of just slicing it downwards in one specific area. I do a combination of both, but I'll work on getting into the habit of just swiping instead.

Thanks for the input!

 

Tilting towards you as well as loosening wing nuts help a ton in extending the life of cymbals, but as @Deathco_019 mentioned, glancing (or swiping) blows are probably true single best thing you could do to stop cracking cymbals.

When I was touring a bunch back in the day I was cracking cymbals like crazy and to be honest it was rarely if ever the cymbals fault. Since playing with better technique I've been about five years cymbal breaking free haha.

I'll post my drum gear list soon. Cool thread!

 

Oh man, Drumeo Edge.

 

20 minutes of playing is all it took to produce and pop blisters on my fingers. My hands and arms aren't used to playing at all these days.

 

That was me when we were recording last month. Just bought fingerless gloves by the end of it, haha.